So, I've been playing for a little (well, probably getting close to 100 hours) while, and I have one, and only one large problem with the game: the community in general (well, a good chunk of it), BUT more specifically, quitters. Very specifically survivor quitters. I've only had a few killers outright quit the game on me, frankly. But survivors? It's actually starting to get rare for me to find a game where none of the survivors quit, especially if I play well as the killer.

Let me pull out a few quick anecdotal examples. First, we have the time I was playing as the wraith at mother's den. Two people join, same time, both with all caps superhero names. SWF, surely, no doubt in my mind. I don't mind it, and two more people trickle in, and we start. Mother's den, I spawn on a hill. I decide "hey, I'll stand here and see if I see anybody for a little bit." Worked, saw someone, and went right after them. Hit them once, chased them for about 10 seconds, and they teabagged and quit. A few seconds later, the other superhero named player quit. (Frankly, because of the way the match went, I let the other survivors grind for points, and they let me get some too. Not a lost cause for time). After the match, I found out that the person I found had a purple key, with two purple addons. They quit to save the item.

Another one that happened this morning. Again, wraith (I swear I play other killers), this time at the ironworks. Prestige 3 claudette pops into my lobby. Since I've been having issues with the matchmaking since the update, OK, whatever. Let's go. They play well, and get the gens done and a door open with no sacrifices. However, I hit a meg and chase her to a gate. The survivors get greedy, and start double healing her right by the door. I hit her, downing her, and chase the other two out. I grab her, hook her, and camp. I wanted at least ONE kill, after all. Besides, the doors are open, they won easily enough. But wait! Here's the prestige 3 claudette to the rescue! After failing the blind me with a flashlight, and hitting her once as we played ring around the rosey near the hook, she unhooks meg. I hit her again, downing her. Meg runs out and gets away. Alright, fair enough, works for me. They got a few more points and traded spots. Except when I pick the claudette up, she DCs. And then starts flaming me in the post game lobby for camping.

One last one, then my suggestions, I swear. This time, as a survivor, one of the swamp maps. (Or is there only one?) Anyways, one guy gets downed within the first minute (vs cannibal, I think), proceeds to hook suicide, and actually mistimes his quit, and gets the DC anyways. Another person gets downed a tiny bit later, and hooks suicides, literally with me right in front of her, trying to get her off the hook. Not a straight DC/quit, but....close enough, frankly. I've had similar matches with straight quits too, of course, as a survivor.

Now, my suggestions.

Now, we can all agree that this game is heavily based on progression, right? So, beyond just temp or permanently banning players, there's one other thing I can think of that can be done to strongly deter DCing. Hit them where it hurts: their progress. A survivor that DCs (not because of the killer DCs/crashes, etc, of course.) should first, and foremost, lose the item and addons they brought into (or found during) the match. This flat out stops any players like from the first situation. This, obviously, can't apply to killers since killers lose addons when the round ends anyways. Secondly, I think they should also lose progress on the perks they brought in. One tier of each perk? The whole perk? Up for debate. I think that's severe enough to dissuade it. I originally thought a large negative to bloodpoints would work, but I realized, high level players won't care. But reducing their current build? That'll make them spend bloodpoints in order to get back the where they were, ending up with the same effect as the reducing their blood point total, but pissing them off more in the process (which is kind of the point)

Any thoughts? And frankly, if you dislike this idea at a core level without any decent reasoning, I would probably bet on you DCing on a regular basis :P

EDIT: I would like to point out that this would apply to both survivors AND killers. I mean, except the item bit. Killers don't get the keep their add-ons either way, as you know. Also, as a stop-gap measure, giving more bloodpoints (approximately equal to how much the opposing party could have reasonably gotten from the rest of the match if they pushed for finishing.)

For example, if the killer quits, full stop give a survival bonus to the survivors. It would be, lore wise, like the killer lays down and takes a nap instead of doing the entity's bidding. The survivors will, in short, survive. This also eases the pain of a shortened match, or right near the end. Also helps if someone burnt a blood-point boosting offering, like an escape cake or bloody party streamers (Had that happen. It hurts).

Same thing for the killer too, except consider it one full sacrifice. They gave up on that life. (I did think about the whole lore "survivors that lose all hope become killers themselves," and forcing DC survivors to play a match as a killer, but they likely would just be toxic on that side too) Mind you, an 800 bonus is nice, but that's still less than how much you WOULD get for a full sacrifice. (I didn't realize how close it was though, maybe just bump it to a full 1000 per survivor.)

And there's the whole rank thing to consider too, but I'm not going to, simply because I don't care. Ranks don't do anything for me, so I don't bother going after them, or really give them any extra thought.