I received an unfair permaban

Hello. A couple of days ago, I received a permanent ban on my account. I've been playing league since S3, and I have spent hundreds of dollars on this game.

I'll try to keep this post relatively to the point and clean looking, but English isn't my first language, so I am sorry for that.

Early august, I received a 14 day ban after being overly active in chat - some bad games with teammates that were griefing, afking and similar, and in my frustration I wrote things similar to "9x this fucker" and "you fed your ass off, thats why we lost". When I received the 14 day ban, I thought it was harsh, but not something I felt necessary to complain about - I understood that I probably may have broken the rules. I also did some reading around the internet about what warrants a ban these days, and it seemed as if the system was stricter than before. So when I got my account back, I just turned off the chat completely.

It worked wonders for a few days, but playing primarily splitpushers, I find communicating with my team is helpful for us winning - telling them what I will be doing, making calls etc. This went fine too, of course as always you'll get bad games. After two bad games, I got the ban hammer. Now, I'll first show the chatlogs without context, then I will explain how I remember the games. These are the two games given as reasoning for the permanent ban of my account:

1SPIRIT

Sep 8, 4:32 PM PDT

Hello.

I have played league since 2013.

When I returned to playing league this summer, my competitive mind got to me and I recieved a 14 day suspension. I vowed to not be toxic again, so I have been behaving and focusing on not being toxic.

To my surprise, I was permanently banned on an account I've spent hundreds of dollars on for the following:

Game 1 In-Game 1SPIRIT: this is insae 1SPIRIT: literally 1v2 for 2 minutes 1SPIRIT: nothing I can do 1SPIRIT: ok, guess we lose since im so bad 1SPIRIT: unlucky 1SPIRIT: if it was so obvious, amumu, maybe you shouldve stayed so we got doubles 1SPIRIT: just go next 1SPIRIT: and 9x kayle 1SPIRIT: its that easy 1SPIRIT: report 1SPIRIT: can we just go next? 1SPIRIT: i dont want to play a 30 minute game with a troll 1SPIRIT: and lose 1SPIRIT: get tower 1SPIRIT: nobody cares 1SPIRIT: you ruined our game 1SPIRIT: Im splitting bot, just hope they play bad and gift u kills 1SPIRIT: go grp 1SPIRIT: u take any chance to flame 1SPIRIT: insane 1SPIRIT: its like u want to lose 1SPIRIT: why flame jinx over that? 1SPIRIT: insane 1SPIRIT: imagine being a diamond player flaming in gold 1SPIRIT: prety cringe 1SPIRIT: wouldve been an easy game if people werent constantly flaming and tilting each other 1SPIRIT: zero attempts at teamplay 1SPIRIT: just rage 1SPIRIT: nope.. 1SPIRIT: cant put the blame on one player 1SPIRIT: we havent even lost 1SPIRIT: but ur not even trying to win just flaming everyone 1SPIRIT: we are losing base 1SPIRIT: lol 1SPIRIT: u need to 4man 1SPIRIT: if we 1-3-1 its guaranteed lost 1SPIRIT: why fore a fight? 1SPIRIT: the one thing we shouldnt do 1SPIRIT: I cant 1SPIRIT: do anything 1SPIRIT: I was so far ahead of jax 1SPIRIT: just let me split and we win 1SPIRIT: but u keep forcing fights Post-Game 1SPIRIT: we lost as a team

If we take a look at this game out of context, I may come across as a bit whiny, but later in the game I become a mediator and clearly attempting to win the game.

What happened in this game was that our support Kayle decided to roam and grief because she didn't like the way our ADC played. The ADC was bullied several times during the game, and I attempted to defend her. You can see this in the post game chat too, where I type "we lost as a team" after my teammates tried to blame the ADC for our loss.

Here is a game where, even though we have a literal griefer and troll on our team, I still try to win when I see there is a chance, even though I originally wanted to give up because of the troll.

Game 2 Pre-Game 1SPIRIT: same for me In-Game 1SPIRIT: I'm not trying to fight 3v5 1SPIRIT: you're dead, akali is bot 1SPIRIT: if they want to go die thats fine, Im not in 1SPIRIT: our win condition is teamfighting with Jhin 1SPIRIT: if you keep taking bad fights we cant win 1SPIRIT: jesus christ 1SPIRIT: you see im top, you go feed urgot, then blame me for being the other side of the map 1SPIRIT: I can group, but I need cs. I pushed the wave, you ran and fought 4v5 1SPIRIT: this is unwinnable cause you keep feeding, its fine. Not my fault, I'll just go next. 1SPIRIT: smart to go fight 4v5 then 1SPIRIT: if you cant win it 1SPIRIT: thats really smart 1SPIRIT: keep pinging me 1SPIRIT: you did it again 1SPIRIT: nice 1SPIRIT: Im literally pushing out top wave 1SPIRIT: that is pushing into us 1SPIRIT: you go fight 4v5 1SPIRIT: and blame me for no bieng there 1SPIRIT: wait for me to push the wave in 1SPIRIT: you have no idea what you're doing 1SPIRIT: I cant babysit you all game 1SPIRIT: 11 death akali 1SPIRIT: gj¨

In this game, I am the victim of bullying. I am answering to criticism in an adult manner, explaining why I didn't join in on a bad fight, and generally attempting to win the game by discussing win conditions and what we should and shouldn't do as a team.

I also answer to criticism where several teammates blame me for basically everything happening in the game. I explain why I was in the right for doing what I did, and that it isn't my responsibility if they die without me.

You could argue that this isn't constructive for the game, and I agree that a better approach would be to simply not type anything at all. But we have to remember that this is in the context of a permanent ban - I am merely communicating with my team, throwing no slurs, inflammatory words and so forth.

Let me quote the summoners code:

_"Whether you're discussing game balance and champion viability, trying to form a premade team, or just want to express your affection for the legendary and infamous Gentleman Cho'gath, we encourage you to share your thoughts with other players." _ It feels to me that this isn't the case at all - I am very clearly discouraged to share my thoughts with other players, because doing so even when attempting to win the game results in a permanent ban.

After submitting a ticket to the support team, I get the following reasoning for the permanent ban:

"So, negative attitude is not something we take in lightly. Negativity can refer to targeting other players, being argumentative, blaming, giving up and overall creating an edgy environment for everyone else.

As long as your punishment is applied correctly I'm afraid it can't be altered :(."

So as far as I can understand, Riot believes that I am one of those things, and thus deserve the permban. Lets look at what I am clearly not:

• I am clearly NOT targeting other players. I am answering to criticism directed at either me or my teammates. Targeting other players would be to single out players for gameplay reasons or similar, not answering to flame or griefing.
• I am clearly NOT creating an edgy environment. Again I am existing in two games where the attitude is already bad - Game 1 there is a griefing troll, game 2 we are losing hard and I am being harassed.
• I am clearly NOT blaming - Game 1 there is a griefing troll, who I criticise for trolling and flaming, but I do not blame them for the game. In game 2, I answer Akalis criticism by pointing out that she herself has died 11 times - answering criticism, not blaming anyone.

So what I can be said to be doing are the following:

• Being argumentative: It would be fair to say that I am arguing, but "being argumentative" means not giving up on the argument, shifting focus from the game or refusing to let something go. In both games, I make my statements and return to focusing on gameplay, attempting to win the game. If this part is a bannable offense, then I believe we might as well turn off the chat, because any meaningful discussion or subjective statements of happenings ingame is too close to being bannable, and players cannot reasonably be expected to know where that line lies.

• Giving up: I wanted to forfeit the first game as our Kayle support was griefing and trolling. I never gave up gameplay wise, and continued to play to the best of my ability. Wanting to forfeit cannot possibly be a bannable offense considering the /ff option exists in the game. If forfeiting, or expressing a wish to forfeit is a bannable offense, then you have to remove the option from the game, because as it stands, players such as myself believe that giving up on a lost game by forfeiting is legal and legitimate. As long as I keep playing for the win to the best of my ability, surely wanting to go onto the next game and vocalizing that in chat isn't bannable?

Closing arguments:

I think I make a good case for why I haven't broken the rules, and why this permaban is beyond unreasonable. I have to ask myself, what does Riot gain from banning me? What I see in those chat logs is a player that tries to win without resorting to slurs, inflammatory speech, bullying or any rule breaking behavior.

I am essentially a paying customer being banned from my account without breaking the rules. Does riot see those chatlogs and say "This is the kind of player we need to keep away from the community" ? Is that the sort of behavior that warrants a permanent ban from the game? Every day I've logged onto the rift, and in every game I see worse behavior from my teammates. It doesn't bother me, because I think that the people answering to the criticism, still trying to win and play the game, keeping away from slurs or inflammatory comments aren't doing anything bad. I only report the people actually engaging in blaming, flaming, griefing and so on. Because that is hurting the game, the team spirit, and individuals. Who am I hurting in these chatlogs? The people who insulted me, griefed my game? Not even they can have been offended by my comments. I just do not understand how this can be a ban Riot stands by.

If Riot stands by the decision, that I have been rightfully banned, and refuse to use any sort of discretion to view this situation holistically and see that I am an honest player that is just trying to win without being mean spirited or rule breaking, then I hope you can see that I am deserving of a second chance, or at least have a discussion about my behavior, and that you can see the potential in me to not break the rules, as I truly just wish to play the game without breaking the rules.