Boards›Player Behavior

Is it unreasonable for me to keep pursuing justice? [Long]

KuribohOP·1/11/2016, 9:45:16 PM·4 votes·1,262 views

EDIT, UPDATE: After 2 months, 24 days, 29 support tickets over 2 accounts (yes I got an account banned/suspended from customer support) I have finally gotten justice. http://prntscr.com/9wgqhl.

(I made a post similar to this awhile ago but felt the need to do a more detailed more updated version)

On the 11th of October I hit lvl 30 on this account on the 12th of October I played my first ranked game and by the end of the 24th of October I had played 17 ranked games (13 wins, 4 losses). I came to log on about 2 weeks after this (can't remember exact date) and found out my account had been suspended for "MMR boosting" as I have played every game on this account myself. I will talk in detail about my inquires on this suspension but TLDR: 23 support tickets later I am still none the wiser as to why they think someone else played on my account. Not only do I not know why they think someone else played on my account they haven't even disputed the evidence I have provided them that I have played every game myself. And I have now been suspended from RIOT games support without a warning or email or anything.

After reading the email I had been sent saying I had been accused of being "MMR boosted" which came with a definition I submitted my first ticket telling them that they had made a mistake and that I had played every game myself. He replied with a copy-paste of the definition and closed the ticket. I then made a second ticket saying that I know what "MMR boosting" is and that I have not taken part in it. I was then told they "have clear evidence that I had another player play ranked games on my account" but that I was welcome to provide any evidence I thought was relevant. I then proceeded to talk about where I play game on that account from (my home time address and my term time address), my mentality going into my lvl 1-30 games compared to my mentality going into ranked games, the fact that I play on my main account (TypicalBailey EUW) much more frequently than I play on this account and that if you compare my games on that you will see my ranked games are as you would expect. I mentioned that I had been to multiple LOL events with my uni and was happy to play in person in front of a rioter and that I would get similar results. I was then told that they did not take games from my other account into consideration and would not despite knowing I own both of them. (This is just making the sample size small for the sake of making it small and only lowers the overall accuracy by increasing the variance). This either means that there sample size was 17 games or that they included pre lvl 30 games which I played infrequently with many more games being played on EUW in between and where the MMR is not know accurately as pre lvl-30's rarely play against lvl 30's. If you compare pre lvl 30 games where I can't be bothered to try very hard because it is full of smurfs flaming other smurfs to ranked games where I am trying my hardest of course their will be a difference this is not very surprising. So I deduced that their sample size was either very small or it was not very accurate. So I waited until after my suspension and played some more ranked I am currently Plat 5 with around plat 3/2 MMR with 30 wins 13 losses. I have submitted many tickets asking that they simply compare the ranked games I have played after the suspension to whatever games they did not think were me previously so that they could see that all of the games were me. Unfortunately the only responses I got were "we consider this matter closed" followed by the closing of the ticket. There were some other responses in there that I can't remember and can't check without going through allot of emails a couple of responses I do roughly remember were "proving that you have played those games does not prove you played the others" whilst this is sort of true the basis of the argument is that the previous games were me by showing that I play exactly like I did in those games. The whole basis for their argument is that I apparently don't play like I did in those games so if it is an invalid argument then they have no basis on which to claim I have been "MMR boosted". Another response was something along the lines of "doing so would reveal too much about our investigation techniques" if carrying out an investigation into an accounts involvement in "MMR boosting" is too revealing of the investigation then the first investigation would have never taken place. I don't know what frustrates me more when they don't say anything and close the ticket or when they write some flawed logic and close the ticket. On my 23rd ticket the support staff just changed the status to solved without typing anything I reopened it by asking why he had changed the status to solved without solving my issue to which he just changed the status to solved again so I reopened it and he said the case is closed and changed the status to solved and after I reopened it again I was suspended from customer support. I have now submitted an inquiry into my suspension from the support site via another account thought that inquiry has finally had a response after 4 days confirming that my account was suspended from customer support and that this account will be as well if I continue to pursue justice. I talked to arbiter Daen about this in a private chat and after a bit of discussion all he could really do was reassure me that it won't happen again though he didn't seem overly confident in RIOTs decision I did however feel less frustrated after and do appreciate him taking the time to talk (if only the support staff were more like him/her). I just recently private messaged a RIOT employee explaining my situation not sure if anything will come of it but it is worth a try.

So that is my experience so far. The as RIOT would call it "the player who got boosted to Gold 3 and seamlessly and legitimately climbed to Plat 5 once his suspension expired." sounds convincing doesn't it. Anyway if you have any questions feel free to ask.

21 Comments

Lithium Rosa1/12/2016, 10:49:35 PM2 votes

It's kinda ridiculous if Riot keeps saying "we have clear evidence" but never show a single tiny piece of them.

Samus721/11/2016, 9:51:17 PM1 votes

The only thing I have to say on this is "Insufficient data." I don't have enough information to know why Riot did what they did. While I know what "boosting" is, I would need to know more about them.

I suspect most people on the forums are in a similar boat. This is something you'll have to take up with Riot. But if you've done so and they said the punishment stands, you may not get any further.

Colgate Gator1/11/2016, 9:53:49 PM1 votes

Just as other people have said, we don't have enough information to back you up, the number of people claiming to be innocent for X reason of ban and then being shown they are full of BS is extremely high for me to give you the benefit of doubt.

That being said, if you truly have been wronged, then keep contacting Riot and get to the bottom of this.

themachamp1/11/2016, 9:57:11 PM1 votes

Riot has grown too big to care. It's like trying to reason with wal-mart......or exxon mobile or something.

Jubbinaut1/11/2016, 10:30:00 PM1 votes

Your concerns have been addressed elsewhere by other Arbiters, but there's a couple things I want to make note of here that I hadn't seen elsewhere.

{quoted}

(This is just making the sample size small for the sake of making it small and only lowers the overall accuracy by increasing the variance). This either means that there sample size was 17 games or that they included pre lvl 30 games which I played infrequently with many more games being played on EUW in between and where the MMR is not know accurately as pre lvl-30's rarely play against lvl 30's. If you compare pre lvl 30 games where I can't be bothered to try very hard because it is full of smurfs flaming other smurfs to ranked games where I am trying my hardest of course their will be a difference this is not very surprising. So I deduced that their sample size was either very small or it was not very accurate.

This section in particular is what I want to clarify.

To the best of my knowledge, Riot doesn't rely on statistical analysis to determine the validity of MMR Boosting bans. Neither is performance a determining factor. Rather, they seem to rely on a combination of IP addresses and login times, and a player's "fingerprint" - which is the only factor that variance or sample size might be relevant regarding, and which is built based on your overall play (notably, "not trying" isn't likely to make an impact on that data).

As such, the limitations you indicate here are exceedingly unlikely to have any impact on the validity of their conclusions.

Another response was something along the lines of "doing so would reveal too much about our investigation techniques" if carrying out an investigation into an accounts involvement in "MMR boosting" is too revealing of the investigation then the first investigation would have never taken place.

I believe you misunderstood the intent of their statement. They aren't saying that a second investigation would by itself be revealing - but that comparative investigations could be (much like in logic problems, where the correct answer is derived by comparing multiple related statements to each other).

So that is my experience so far. The as RIOT would call it "the player who got boosted to Gold 3 and seamlessly and legitimately climbed to Plat 5 once his suspension expired." sounds convincing doesn't it. Anyway if you have any questions feel free to ask.

It's important to keep in mind that comparative rank isn't really meaningful to Boosting bans, either - though I'll gladly grant that that's certainly counter-intuitive. What matters is whether someone else played a Ranked match on the account in question.

Daen1/11/2016, 10:33:35 PM1 votes

I talked to arbiter Daen about this in a private chat and after a bit of discussion all he could really do was reassure me that it won't happen again though he didn't seem overly confident in RIOTs decision

To clarify, in our discussion I made sure to bring the case directly to the attention of Riot Player Support, and they re-checked the suspension to determine that there was indeed clear evidence that led to the punishment.