*TL;DR at the bottom*

Hello, everyone! I’m a OG player and endorsements always felt lackluster and not rewarding enough, if you ask me. They used to give mystery boxes, BP experience points nowadays (which is even worse IMO), and that’s about it.

So I’ve been thinking about it: How about making it actually more useful? Well, as there are currently 5 different levels, we could split them in three sections. I will explain:

(Numbers are merely illustrative, as their purpose is to offer an example)

-Neutral karma-

[0] Your base karma. This is where you start, and it will fluctuate towards negative or positive karma depending on how you perform in your games.

-Negative karma-

If players get reported, are early leavers, chat spammers, perform voice chat harrassment, etc., are pushed towards negative karma.

[-1] First level of negative karma.

• Players will get a warning.
• -15% XP penalty.

[-2] Second level of negative karma. You can’t go any further than that.

• Players will get a warning.
• -25% XP penalty
• 30m wait for every game.

Note: Endorsements have more weight in this level, meaning that you can easily get back to level -1. Also, players in this level will eventually get back to -1 as long as they don’t keep getting reports. Lastly but not least important, further reports could turn into a temporary ban.

-Positive karma-

Players are pushed towards positive karma if they endorse or get endorsed.

[+1] Players are promoted to the first endorsement level.

• Exclusive border art that can be toggled on or off.
• +10% XP bonus.
• Players will get a priority queue every 7 games.

[+2] Second endorsement level. You can’t go any further than that.

• Exclusive border art that can be toggled on or off (fancier version).
• Players have access to exclusive cosmetics and emotes that can only be used in this level.
• +20% XP bonus.
• Players will get a priority queue every 4 games.

(This level has more weight towards +1, meaning that players in this endorsement level will have to keep their good behavior up to remain in it. Reports will not weight heavily in order to prevent their misuse, but if they keep repeating they will eventually lower the endorsement levels accordingly.)

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So how do endorsements work, exactly? Well, you endorse someone who made a great play, behaved like a wonderful teammate, or simply because you wanted to. However, in addition to the small amount of XP you get by endorsing, you will also get a few extra karma points. This basically means you don’t have to be the one endorsed in order to achieve your positive karma.

This is how the karma thresholds would look like:

[-2] >>>>> [-1] >>> [0] <<< [+1] <<<<< [+2]

As I’ve mentioned before, the further you are from neutral karma, the heavier the weight towards [0] is. Let’s say you’re currently here:

[-2] >>>>> [-1] >>> [0] <<< [+1] <<<<< [+2]

In order to remain in [+1], you must keep up with positive karma, or the weight will eventually place you back in [0]. This can be done by either endorsing or being endorsed (if I had to put an example, if being endorsed has a value of 100, endorsing would be 5). Now let’s say you’re in the deepest depths of negative karma.

[-2] >>>>> [-1] >>> [0] <<< [+1] <<<<< [+2]

"Well, fuck. I can’t play another game for another 30 minutes. What should I do?"

a) Do something else in the meantime. b) Go take a break. c) Alright, where’s my hint?

This penalty behaves like a soft ban and is intended to encourage players who are in this level to put aside the game for a small while. We’re all humans and definitely not perfect. Competitive games have the -unfortunate- tendency to bring out the worst from one when things aren’t working as intended. The best way to combat these kind of situations is to let your brain refresh from the dopamine excess. Seriously, it doesn’t any good, and you’re not only hurting others but yourself too.

Being in [-2] you need to play a specific number of games, get endorsed or wait long enough to let the karmic weight place you back in [-1]. It doesn’t take that long, but keep in mind that further reports will keep the player in this level.

By the way, why are endorsements so essential for the karma system? I’m glad you asked! You see, endorsing takes place when a match ends. So in a way to prevent early leavers and to give an actual reward, players need to stay for the entire game to earn positive karma. Remember: You may earn positive karma by endorsing as well!

Thank you for reading this far, I really appreciate it. If you have any suggestion, don’t hesitate to share it!

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TL;DR

Endorsement system turns into Karma system. They share the same amount of levels, but they’re now split in three levels:

• Neutral karma: [0] (This is where you start)
• Negative karma: [-1] and [-2] (Depending on the level, penalties can be really harsh)
• Positive karma: [+1] and [+2] (Depending on the level, players are rewarded with different incentives)

Karma would look like this:

[-2] >>>>> [-1] >>> [0] <<< [+1] <<<<< [+2]

A few quick points:

• The further you are from neutral karma, the heavier the weight towards [0] is.
• You need to get endorsed to remain in positive karma. In addition, now the endorsement system gives you not only XP, but also positive karma by endorsing too (though the earned amount is much lesser).
• Players who are in [+2] are rewarded with great incentives. For example, they have access to exclusive cosmetics and emotes, as well as a hefty XP bonus for their constant efforts.
• On the other hand, reports, early leaving, harrassing in voice chat, etc., will push the player towards negative karma.
• Players who are in [-2] will get a 30 minute ban after every game they play. The “soft ban” will lift after a certain amount of games, get endorsed or wait long enough to get back to [-1]. It doesn’t take that long, but keep in mind that further reports will keep you in this level.