Not participating vs not helping

[Hagglefoot]

It seems that not helping team during fights and specifically saying you will not defend towers or participate in battles is not against the rules? I want to be clear on this as this is pretty much making a way for players to stop playing without receiving a ban. Instead of going AFK players can simply "farm the game out" as opposed to sitting in the pool.

[`Yori]

Not defending or being in team fights is a gray area. You can still get banned for it as it counts as illogical refusal to participate. There are a list of factors GMs have when viewing these types of reports. A person's griefing history is one of those factors.

[Castiel]

That is incorrect, if you refuse to play with your team while the game is undecided and avoid AFK detection you can get suspended.

[Hagglefoot]

That is incorrect, if you refuse to play with your team while the game is undecided and avoid AFK detection you can get suspended.

I just reported a game where for nearly 15 minutes a person stated clearly that they were not participating in battles or defending to teach the team a lesson by losing. This was deemed appropriate behavior by a GM. I tried to get a screenshot of him further taunting us in chat after the game, clearly claiming he didn't fight so we would lose, but the screenshot button was not working and print screen took a picture of my desktop instead of the game for some reason.

The only thing I see that could have made it appear otherwise was he used his ulti as chronos at the last part of the game for a kill steal, causing a team genocide on us.

[tiGa]

I just reported a game where for nearly 15 minutes a person stated clearly that they were not participating in battles or defending to teach the team a lesson by losing. This was deemed appropriate behavior by a GM. I tried to get a screenshot of him further taunting us in chat after the game, clearly claiming he didn't fight so we would lose, but the screenshot button was not working and print screen took a picture of my desktop instead of the game for some reason.

The only thing I see that could have made it appear otherwise was he used his ulti as chronos at the last part of the game for a kill steal, causing a team genocide on us.

send a SGM (like Castiel) a message with the ticket number/match id. maybe he can look into it.

[CallMeCold]

The AFK detection system is designed to allow players the opportunity to remove allies who have stopped participating, reclaiming gold and items to better help them continue the match. AFK Abuse is the act of no longer participating in the match while simultaneously bypassing AFK detection.
Source (http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?396388-What-is-Griefing-Demystifying-the-Rules-of-Conduct-and-Common-Reporting-Mistakes#03)

The problem you are encountering is in fact answered in the FAQ section of this forum. The last sentence points out that even if a player avoids the AFK detection by continuing to farm, if they are "no longer participating" then it is considered AFK. In the end it is up to a GM to decide if the player is just trying to farm safely or if they are purposly avoiding engagements without any intention to win the game. (aka the player is farming to keep his or her stats up but does not try to make moves to win the game) Persionally I find this hardest to access when you see players who will solo-push a tower while their base is under attack and the other 4 players are tying to defend. While this may seem like they are AFK farming, some players will believe their team can defend at a tower 4v5 and would see the free tower kill as helping the team as much as porting back to defend with you. In this case it should not be justifiable as an AFK ban.

However, if the player chooses to ignore fights which he or she has no reason to avoid other than to spite their team or in order to farm stacks while loosing a base or rax they are definitely guilty of AFK abuse and you should pm the match id to a GM with a description of the infraction.