I didn’t find any topics related to this, if there are and I missed them, I am sorry.
I have been noticing this problem for some time now, and today the last straw broke this horse’s back (so to speak). I was playing a t5 combat recon 5v5 when 2 of the players on my team quit the game before it even started. There need to be some penalties for abandoning the game, whether it is midway through or before it starts. I know that if you leave a battle, the ships in that battle are unusable until the battle ends, but that is no punishment at all. Any player could simply equip new ships and queue again. The players also miss out on the rewards from that game, which is also hardly a punishment, as it would only deprive them of a max of 400k (in t5 with a license) and several thousand synergy, which is extremely easy for most players to earn back. It is highly unfair for the team to have a player ragequit and abandon their team. In large battles (which are rare in t5, and only happen when the population is high in other tiers) one player disconnecting usually isn’t a big deal. But in small games (which 90% of all t5 games I get are) it is detrimental to the team. Being down a player in a 3v3 or 4v4 game basically ensures that your team will lose.
Look at League of Legends for example. If you leave games of League enough, you get temporarily banned from playing (anywhere from 1 hour to 7 days). I don’t think the punishment needs to be that harsh, but something similar would work.
Before I continue, I want to emphasize that a punishment should only apply to players who intentionally leave. Not players who’s game crashes, loses internet connection, or anything along those lines. If a player intentionally quits the game before or during the match, I do think the current punishments should be in place, but I also think that the player should be punished much more. The extreme being after, say, 3 or 4 disconnects, the player is banned from playing for a 12 hours or so. The punishment needs to only be enough to teach the player that leaving the battle is bad and that they won’t be able to play the game for a time if they do it. If the player continues to leave games, the punishment should ramp up.
Any other thoughts?