Could players who disconnect because they are losing be penalized more severely, please?

I am increasingly encountering players who disconnect because they are losing; it has become unbearable and makes the game unplayable. I’ve had as many as three consecutive games like this, and it likely accounts for about 30% of the games I win. Is it possible to impose stricter penalties on these players—for instance, by issuing a temporary one-week ban? The situation on Lichess is becoming completely ridiculous; it’s an absolute nightmare, and every single time, I end up wasting two minutes just waiting.

There is a system in place that deals with this behavior automatically. The staller/rage quitter/aborter gets temporarily banned as soon as a certain threshold is reached, then the ban durations increase based on the frequency of the misconduct. Ultimately, the account can be terminated.

There is the other side to this. The disconnected player coming back right before their timer has run out and the waiting player has left.

Could there be a sound effect that plays when a player reconnects? Or sound effect that plays when you have been waited for a minute for a move?

I just had a 10min quick game game where the opponent disconnected after 2 minutes. From my experience they never come back so I left that disconnected opponent game in the background hoping it would just be there when I finish. After all it was like a 2 minute wait. Then I started a new game and forgot the first game. Considering it a sure thing.

Something like 7 minutes later a sound plays and it is the 1 minute warning. The player had come back and I had no idea. I basically lost a game due to inactivity and I'm sure the other player was frustrated too having to deal with their disconnection and then having to wait for me to move for like 7 minutes in a 10 minute game. And then having to deal with my surrender because it made me no sense to continue with 40s left against their 8 minutes.

I know it was my fault when I wrongly assumed he wasn't coming back. But usually they don't come back. They just leave. I think these situations could be improved so this doesn't happen unintentionally.

Having to wait 2 minutes for honest disconnection issue is not my gripe. To me the issue is that apart from manually checking for something that rarely happens there is no warning or indication that the rare thing has happened in the background.

I think a sound cue that plays ("opponent reconnected") would at least make it clear there is a disconnected game where the opponent has come back. Having to check manually is the obvious solution but also tedious when in 99% cases they are not coming back. Sometimes this has happened to me 2 or 3 times in a row.

I also feel like this is a tactic that could be abused. Start a game, play for a minute and then just disconnect. Then come back when you still have couple of seconds before your diconnection timer runs out. Make a move and watch your opponent's time running out because they have left for another game or just gone. A very annoying tactic to play against.

Thank you for the moderator's response. I am aware that there is an automated system in place to handle this, but given the number of players who engage in this behavior, it is clearly not effective—could you consider improving it? While disconnections can happen to anyone, it is extremely frustrating when players do this intentionally out of anger instead of simply forfeiting, especially considering how often it occurs.

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@allusernamestaken756

you brought up an interesting idea about the sound notification when a player comes back to the game.

there’s a green light next to a player’s user name when they’re online (unless they’re winged). so the system knows when a player is on or off line. could that light be coordinated with a sound? i’m guessing it could. there could be a toggle switch for each to decide they want the notification or they don’t.

as it is now, i set a timer when the other player drops out of the game so that i’m reminded every so often to go back and see if they moved. half the time they do move, minutes before their clock is due to run out.

Agreed! these players have 0 class and should be punished more severely.

@kanou219 said ^

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do not "up" discussion it is spamming!