The LoL Community Urges Riot to Remove the Surrender Option

In recent discussions among the League of Legends (LoL) community, a significant number of players have advocated for Riot Games to remove the surrender option from the game. This feature, which allows teams to concede defeat before a match officially ends, has been criticized for promoting a defeatist attitude too early in games, particularly in ranked play.

The core of the issue lies in what players describe as an “FF culture,” where the inclination to surrender at the earliest opportunity overshadows the potential for a comeback.

Notably, an incident involving the professional player Jankos was cited, where his team chose to surrender despite his significant contribution to the match and potential to lead them to victory. This instance highlights the frustration within the community over premature surrenders that rob teams of possible wins​​​​.

This Jankos clip shows how FF culture is completly out of control, is just a self-fulfilling prophecy where ppl expect to ff at 3mins, and so should be removed from the game
byu/Public-Love7300 inleagueoflegends

Critics argue that the surrender option fuels a negative gaming experience, encouraging players to give up rather than strive for a turnaround. The sentiment is that some players are more interested in personal glory than teamwork, choosing to surrender if they cannot be the standout performer, regardless of the game’s winnability​​​.

In response to such concerns, Riot Games has previously updated the surrender system in the 13.16 Patch. These changes aimed to make the surrender process more reflective of a team decision rather than being dominated by individual preferences.

The updates include anonymity for players initiating a surrender vote, a cooldown period preventing the same player from repeatedly initiating surrender votes, automatic resolution of the vote once it’s mathematically impossible to pass, and clearer communication within the surrender prompt about the type of vote being called.

These adjustments were planned to address issues of surrender vote spamming and promote a more positive team dynamic​. However, it looks like it’s still an issue among the League of Legends community.

Furthermore, these developments and ongoing issues reflect Riot’s efforts to balance the competitive integrity of League of Legends with the quality of the gaming experience. While the surrender option provides an escape for players from seemingly unwinnable or frustrating games, it also poses challenges to the spirit of competition and perseverance.

The previous changes to the surrender system were a step towards mitigating these challenges, but it looks like Riot needs to come up with a new plan.