Apex Legends Dev Wants To Add Harsher Penalties For Lazy Players

This is a great time to be an "Apex Legends" player — the game's new 3v3 mode, Arenas, had players so excited after it was teased that the game's servers couldn't keep up when it was first released. Additionally, Respawn has worked to keep the game from becoming stale, and has regularly updated it with a variety of different features that make it worth playing in 2021. Based on recent comments from Respawn's Lead Game Designer, Carlos Pineda, "Apex Legends" may be adding a new method of dealing with pesky "early leavers."

On May 18, Pineda took to Twitter to ask for player input on the new Arenas mode, as well as to offer suggestions of his own. Pineda wrote,  "So I understand everyone is excited for Ranked Arenas, but what other Arenas updates would you like to see? I'll start: [a] penalty for early leavers." 

What Pineda is touching on is a massive problem in the "Apex" community. As Twitter user ShotzbyGabe said, "I can't get a full squad without at least one of them going AFK (away from keyboard) and usually [the] opposing team quits mid match if they are losing."

Pineda wasn't just listening on Twitter — the conversation was taking place on Reddit as well with an Ask Me Anything thread on the "Apex Legends" subreddit. There were actually nine Respawn employees listening and responding to comments. There, Pineda confirmed that leaver penalties and loss forgiveness are "definitely" being looked into.

Many Twitter users had plenty to say about how the game could combat early leavers, including some popular systems adopted by other games. Twitter user @itisashane mentioned an honor system, linking to a TikTok that explained how it worked. The idea is that people lose honor the more they go AFK, and eventually, they would only be matched with other players with low honor scores.

Meanwhile, Twitter user @k_morgan__ mentioned the simple idea of adding in a few trackers to show off to team members in order to stop people from going AFK the minute something goes wrong. They proposed a win streak indicator and a clutch tracker, which would show how many times a player has won a match single-handedly against three opponents.

While players likely won't see these kinds of changes being implemented overnight, it's always encouraging to see a developer reaching out and actively listening to players' suggestions and concerns.