LoL system bans Faker during Worlds 2023 for disconnecting from a match

League of Legends’ auto-ban system banned professional player T1 Faker during Worlds 2023 after Busan had an internet outage.

League of Legends is a game that requires a consistent internet connection. Not only are you constantly sending packets of information to the server, but you’re also receiving information about what your teammates are doing, how the game is being played, and more. Without an internet connection, it’s simply impossible to play League of Legends.

This means that anyone whose internet connection drops out whilst playing League will also be dropped from the game, forcing their champion to AFK in spawn. Disconnecting from the game can have a negative effect on your team, and if done often enough can result in punishment from the system.

For some reason, that’s exactly what happened to Worlds Winner T1 Faker whilst playing solo queue. Faker was detected by the system for going AFK during one of their games and was subsequently suspended for 14 days because of it.

This was due to an internet outage that had taken over Busan during the time, something the professional player had no control over. Unfortunately, they were reported for leaving the match and were handed their suspension.

Obviously, Riot reconciled their mistake immediately, unbanning the world champion. However, that didn’t stop Faker from writing an apology letter to the devs for their disconnection.

One player in Faker’s match was streaming and showed Faker randomly disconnecting after being killed by Nautilus and Lee Sin in the middle lane. They reported them after the match which eventually resulted in Faker’s punishment.

It’s clear that this was not meant to happen on Riot’s behalf, especially since they were so quick to unban them.