Some League of Legends players are reporting that they’re being banned from the game for using third-party applications that reveal the names of players in their pregame lobbies.
This revelation was made by League players in a recent Reddit thread discussing the banning of former LEC-level mid laner Czekolad, who got clipped for using a third-party extension.
Before the 2023 preseason, you could see your teammates’ summoner names in your lobbies. But that was changed in an effort to keep players’ identities (and intentions for the upcoming game) under wraps until you loaded onto the Rift. Back in the day, you could use applications freely that would allow you to get a glimpse at the identity of your teammates, but the introduction of Riot‘s Vanguard anti-cheat software in League has put a stop to that practice.
Many players have reported that although permanent bans have been threatened and floated out into the ether, two-week bans feel more common for those who have also been punished for using lobby revealers.
Lobby reveal apps are controversial because they allow you to look up the stats and preferences of players in your game. They could allow you to potentially use target bans or influence the picks of your teammates based on what they prefer to play. Keeping lobbies anonymous, while definitely a jarring change for veteran League players, is a change that does promote competitive integrity.
“I’m gonna assume that’s only useful in higher rank lobbies, where players repeat,” one commenter named Alicization said. “In low ranks, it’s probably rare you match up with the same people again and again.”
If you’re someone who is using a lobby reveal application on your PC, you’re likely going to get banned from League sometime soon. We highly recommend anyone who has been using this kind of software to uninstall it immediately—before you log into League next—as there’s a chance Riot’s Vanguard software will detect it and permanently shut down your account.
