GamerDoc

Former esports player, Staff Anti-Cheat analyst lll at @RiotVanguard

My opinions/tweets are my own.

[GamerDoc @ItsGamerDoc]

https://t.co/16znyeE0bN

[AL7B @AL7Bval]

Thank you RIOT

[ogisada @ogisadaDMA]

Game: Valorant
AC: Vanguard (VGK)

Vanguard got updated and added “Digital Signature Verification” to detect and block malicious drivers that access unauthorized memory regions.

Users running an RDMA setup with a USB network adapter are now getting blocked when using various drivers.

[VALORANT @VALORANT]

New Map Rotation? Corrode Changes? Check all the new updates with 13.08 https://t.co/cCxhYxRuy7

[GamerDoc @ItsGamerDoc]

Probably late, but I just finished Ghost of Tsushima. It was a visually stunning game, and the combat mechanics were pretty fun. It's something I had been putting off for a while, but it feels nice to finally finish that game after years of putting it off my to-do list

[GamerDoc @ItsGamerDoc]

@nickeverdox @user958723 @Trick2g @drewlevin @RealAlicopter

[GamerDoc @ItsGamerDoc]

On that VALORANT ban, the issue we called out then was that the alts weren’t owned and hand-leveled. That was the detection.

This detection is the party MMR being held down so a lower account can climb.

There is many forms of rank manipulation we address and will continue to address.
https://t.co/35HMwhcs36

[GamerDoc @ItsGamerDoc]

@RealAlicopter The reason

https://t.co/tzTkVQxzzq

[GamerDoc @ItsGamerDoc]

There's a lot of mix-up about who this was even about, so here's some visual representations.

Let me be very clear @RealAlicopter is not why the party got penalized.

What the system flagged is the party MMR (blue) being held down because they were alternating between multiple different accounts to lower the party MMR, while the highest player in that lobby (red) stayed much higher, and a lower-skilled account in that party jumping a huge amount of LP in a short window. That's hitchhiking / queue-boosting: you change what the matchmaker sees so someone can climb faster than that account would on its own.

Red = highest MMR in the party.
Blue = party MMR. The filled gap is the lobby getting easier than the stack's real skill.

Playing with friends on ranks you're eligible to queue on is allowed. Dragging the party rating down, so a much lower account can ride up is the part that isn't.

[GamerDoc @ItsGamerDoc]

@user958723 @Trick2g @drewlevin @RealAlicopter Yea shit.... so? you caught me doing my job.... ?

[GamerDoc @ItsGamerDoc]

There's a lot of mix-up about who this was even about, so here's some visual representations.

Let me be very clear @RealAlicopter is not why the party got penalized.

What the system flagged is the party MMR (blue) being held down because they were alternating between multiple different accounts to lower the party MMR, while the highest player in that lobby (red) stayed much higher, and a lower-skilled account in that party jumping a huge amount of LP in a short window. That's hitchhiking / queue-boosting: you change what the matchmaker sees so someone can climb faster than that account would on its own.

Red = highest MMR in the party.
Blue = party MMR. The filled gap is the lobby getting easier than the stack's real skill.

Playing with friends on ranks you're eligible to queue on is allowed. Dragging the party rating down, so a much lower account can ride up is the part that isn't.

[GamerDoc @ItsGamerDoc]

This isn't new, and I don't think it's confusing for players at your level. We put it in writing since 2025 and over time we have punished 296,416 boosters

33,083,190 RR removed
105,718,655 LP liquidated.

+1000 LP in a single week is not "playing with friends for fun."

Players who grind honestly toward their Ranks and beyond do so over months of consistent effort. Hitching a free ride to the apex ranks on the back of a five-stack that outclasses the lobby isn't fun for anyone else in that game it's ruining the Ranked experience for every player who's trying to climb legitimately.

Q: Can my Challenger friend duo with me on an alt so I can learn?
A: Not in Ranked because that would be boosting, but you're welcome to play in normal Summoner's Rift queues or other game modes. We understand that this might not be what some friends who play together want, but to the rest of the players in the lobby it's simply not fair and ruins their Ranked experience.

- 10/6/2025 Source: https://t.co/XNNRZK7z3r

Community Pact: hitchhiking / queue-boosting is a lower-skilled player queueing with a higher-skilled player matchmaking wouldn't normally allow, to climb beyond their normal ability.

- Source: https://t.co/1cyifFXozt

Anti-Boost: don't use alts to party-bus friends. Rank the alt first, or the rank they picked up on the ride can get removed.

- Source: https://t.co/6dErEnjHIV

Hopping accounts because Flex placed Alicopter in Gold, then boosting with Master+ / Challenger friends, is exactly the fact pattern those policies cover. it is rank manipulation by definition.

Playing Ranked together on accounts whose actual skill levels are naturally eligible to queue together is the version that's allowed that's the distinction.

[GamerDoc @ItsGamerDoc]

Yes, by definition, that's deliberate smurfing it decreases match quality and stomps players who never opted into that fight. If they just want to play together, unranked queues and custom lobbies exist for that. Ranked is where people bring their best and try to improve against real competition. Devaluing that after the time and energy people put into their rank is genuinely disrespectful. What's the point of competitive play if your Rank you have worked towards too gets treated like this?

[GamerDoc @ItsGamerDoc]

The 'fairer matchmaking' argument works if it's one friend of a different rank. It doesn't hold when the low account is being swapped between multiple alts specifically to keep the party average low that's not natural stack variance, that's manipulating what MMR the matchmaker sees.

[GamerDoc @ItsGamerDoc]

@void_speaker @Trick2g @drewlevin The community pact is literally that it shows you and warns you about this before you agree to play ranked.

[GamerDoc @ItsGamerDoc]

@doobermario @Trick2g @drewlevin Don't focus on Alicopter alone here they were alternating between multiple accounts to lower their party MMR average below their true bracket, while the majority of the players were higher MMR players.

[veloo @Velocityy07]

Dec'25: MB preboot DMA vulnerability closed
Jun'26: More aggressive DMA protection
Jul'26: Anti-smurf / Anti-boost expansion
Aug'26: Boosting-ring investigations/action
Sep 15: 10K~ player ban/action wave
Sep 17: 296,416 rank manipulation accounts actioned

HOLY COOKED! 👊