Unfair Disconnect Penalties for Server-Side Crashes

SUMMARY OF THE ISSUE:

Subject: Unfair Blanket Disconnect Penalties for Server-Side Crashes

Hello DBD Support Team,

I’m a long-time player who’s invested significant time and money into Dead by Daylight, yet every time your servers crash or freeze—something completely out of my control—I receive an escalating disconnect penalty (now at five minutes and rising). Treating every drop as a rage-quit with no distinction is unfair to honest, paying customers.

Why this is a problem:

• Server-Side Issue: My logs clearly show these disconnects originate from server failures, not my connection or hardware.
• Customer Investment: I’ve purchased DLCs and spent countless hours—penalizing me as if I’m intentionally quitting disrespects loyal players.
• Gameplay Impact: Continuous penalties make the game effectively unplayable for those of us who play in good faith.

What I’m asking for:

1. Immediate Action: Manually reset my penalty timer and compensate me for lost play time (e.g., in-game currency or renown).
2. System Improvement: Implement a method to distinguish server-side disconnects from voluntary quits—using crash logs or error codes—to automatically waive penalties when the fault lies with your servers.
3. Timeline & Updates: Share an estimated schedule for rolling out these changes or a temporary workaround so the community isn’t stuck indefinitely.

Thank you for taking this seriously and protecting honest players. I look forward to your prompt response.

PLATFORM: PC

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW THE ISSUE OCCURED:

Step-by-Step Reproduction of the Disconnect & Penalty Issue

1. Game Launch
   • Start Dead by Daylight on my upgraded Alienware R16 Aurora.
   • Main menu loads normally; no client-side errors or warnings.
2. Matchmaking & Server Connection
   • Queue for a match and connect to the dedicated DBD server.
   • “Connected to session” message appears; ping and server region look normal.
3. Gameplay Begins
   • Enter the match, play for 2–5 minutes without any performance hiccups.
   • FPS remains stable; no client crashes or local network drops.
4. Server Freeze
   • Suddenly, the game “stutters” or locks up for several seconds.
   • All players freeze on screen; no input from me or the server.
5. Client Crash / Disconnect
   • The game client closes to desktop or returns to the main menu with a “Connection Lost” error.
   • No error code on my end—logs indicate a timeout or disconnect at the server side.
6. Automatic Penalty Assessment
   • Upon relaunching or re-entering the matchmaking queue, I’m notified of a “Disconnect Penalty.”
   • Penalty timer starts at 30 seconds and increments with each successive crash (now at 5+ minutes).
7. Repeat Occurrence
   • I repeat steps 2–6 every match.
   • Penalties continue to escalate despite never voluntarily quitting.
8. Logs & Evidence
   • I've forwarded all crash logs to you when prompted to do so right after the crash to notify you of crashes.
   • Logs confirm fault lies with the server’s stability, not my hardware or internet.
9. Impact
   • Penalties make matchmaking wait times excessively long.
   • Honest, paying players are effectively barred from playing until the root server issue is fixed.

VIDEO:

PLAYER LOGS:

• Player logs are required from PC players only.
• Additional Note:
  You can’t simply deflect responsibility by saying “it’s automated” when your team designed and deployed this penalty system—you created these rules, so claiming you “can’t do anything” isn’t a valid excuse.

after this latest disconnect, the time penalty has increased to 15 minutes.

Penalty has now climbed to 15 minutes, and I literally can’t play, every server-side crash immediately adds more time. This feels like I’m being bullied by the very system meant to protect players. I’ve already uploaded screenshots; please acknowledge this is on your servers and stop penalizing honest, paying customers. Any ETA on a fix?

penalties continue, now survivor side penalties are adding up:

I've never had issues with high demand games like Helldivers 2, Mortal Kombat and dozens of other games with high system requirements unless its an error from the game side or server side and Dead by Daylight is the only title in my library of games that instantly blames my connection and stacks disconnect penalties against me whenever the server has hiccups or for whatever reason it is.

I’ve invested too much time and money into this game to be treated like I’m rage-disconnecting every time your servers hiccup. Please adjust your penalty logic so that server-side failures no longer punish honest players. Thank you.

7/6/2025

Every time i jump into a match, the game freezes and disconnects me from the dedicated server and then immediately slaps me with disconnect penalties as if I quit on purpose.

This game freeze and disconnect penalty cycle isn't new, it started happening a year or two ago, then fixed not it's back. Each time I join a match the game freezes and drops me then assesses a penalty because it claims I disconnected as if I quit on purpose.

7/8/2025

Subject: Still Getting “Freeze and Disconnect” Penalties—Just Happened Again

Hello DBD Dev Team,

I was just disconnected mid-match again after the game froze, and I’ve been hit with the same disconnect penalty despite using a wired, high-end PC and stable internet. This is exactly the “freeze → disconnect → penalty” issue that’s plagued the game for years.

Please:

1. Reset my penalty timer immediately so I can actually play.
2. Update the penalty logic to exempt any disconnects caused by server freezes.
3. Provide a clear ETA for when this longstanding bug will be fixed.

Thanks for your prompt attention.

One more thing, I’d like to suggest scrapping the disconnect penalty timer altogether in your next update. Removing it would:

• Prevent penalizing players for server-side failures
• Eliminate frustration and restore trust in the matchmaking system
• Ensure that only intentional quitters face consequences

I believe this change would greatly improve the experience for everyone. Thanks for considering!

I literally cannot finish more than one game without being disconnected. The disconnects have been happening all the time, randomly during any match now, but I've decided to start reporting them as its impacting the enjoyment of actually playing the game and completing event objectives, so I decided to start reporting it now since the disconnects increase in frequency, no matter the time of day, I can't play more than one game without being disconnected and being hit with time penalties.

7/8/2025

I don't even know what is going on anymore or why I'm being disconnected.

7/9/2025

Matchmaking is still locking me out…

7/10/2025

Subject: Ongoing “Freeze → Disconnect” & Session Errors (Screenshots Uploaded)

Hello Dev Team,

I’ve already uploaded screenshots of the exact errors to the bug report, but here’s the key detail:

• “Connection Lost: The connection to the user or party has been lost. No network connection – a network connection is required to access this content. Press here to display your Cloud ID.”
• “Account Error: You are currently logged in on another device. You will be logged out of the other device and connected on your current one. Proceed?”

These messages appear every time the server freezes mid‐match. After accepting the “another device” prompt, I’m immediately hit with a disconnect penalty—as if I quit on purpose—even though I only ever play on a single PC and have a stable connection.

Please:

1. Acknowledge that these are server‐side session clean-up failures, not client issues.
2. Remove or waive penalties for any “Connection Lost” or “Account Error” events caused by server crashes.
3. Provide an ETA for when the freeze/disconnect issue and the associated penalty logic will be permanently fixed.

Thank you for looking into this. I appreciate your attention to a solution that protects honest players.

“Connection Lost: The connection to the user or party has been lost. No network connection–a network connection is required to access this content. Press here to display your Cloud ID.”

“Account Error: You are currently logged in on another device. You will be logged out of the other device and connected on your current one. Proceed?”

so, it seems like the server isn’t cleaning up after crashes and hence piling on penalties.

Please advise, thank you.