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Banned for Unauthorized Third Party Programs? Here are my findings, after months of tickets.

Cpt Jack Bird··3 votes·639 views

FIRST AND FOREMOST: THEY ALMOST CERTAINLY WON'T UNBAN YOU.

It CAN happen, and HAS happened very rarely, but it looks to be in the realm of a 1-5% chance.

SECOND: THEY WILL NOT SHARE CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE.

I jokingly say that Riot is definitely a fan of the United States Terrorism laws, but they do own the game, so there's only so much you can rant about the injustice of it.

THIRD: ANYTHING ELSE, THERE IS A CHANCE THEY WILL SHARE

Ask and go to further tickets. I was told by multiple support staff that they could not even confirm that innocuous third party programs or keyboard macros were not my ban source, as it would make it easier to pinpoint the actual program that got me banned (which, sadly, doesn't exist -- but any system large enough has errors, and if the error is at the system level it's not like a ticket-handling department has the technical skills to find out without doing things way above their pay grade).

Then, I got another support staff to, in fact, do just that! Let's hope they didn't get in trouble for it. Now, without further ado, here is my general list of findings.

  • They confirmed it wasn't my joking about a hacks website (that offers no hacks that my friend hosts as a joke -- it became a running joke after I responded to some silly hacking accusation with it)
  • They confirmed it wasn't the like... one third-party program I ever had (wooxy for a skin thing for like 1 patch) or razer keyboard macros.
  • They got pretty mad when I wouldn't stop ticketing*. One of them threatened to ban me from ticketing, but it turned out that was literally a lie -- the next support confirmed such. They were still professional, obviously, but it got surprisingly personal, for example:
  • They were inconsistent -- one support said they could tell me literally nothing, including the first two points I DID get informed about by another, and one of them claimed they would permaban me from ticketing, and claimed the matter was permanently closed even as I kept getting to open tickets and get replies about it.
  • One of them admitted to being an MtG judge! That was cool.
  • After long enough, they get so sick that they copy-paste the exact same line in response to every ticket and instantly close it. Ironically, the best way to continue ticketing at that point is to get a script (lol) to reply through email for you.
  • It's much more efficient to reply through email, as it requires no login or ticket system.
  • Player Behaviour is MEGA understaffed. Riot probably has like 20 people tops on a team handling how much input? They're fucking SWAMPED, just alone I've seen the same names like three times over.
  • They literally told me to take it to the forums multiple times.**

Anyways, this doesn't have too much purpose -- I'm an oddball who's now made a hobby out of keeping my ticket open, but I figured if you're shocked about your account and in the dark, it might at least make it less of an unknown.

Oh, also, if you're actually banned for hacking, don't even bother posting -- it won't get anything back, and nobody would believe you even if you were legitimately innocent -- and the innocent banned aren't a collateral that will help you out at ALL, so you're just being a dick to people that have no relation to the guys who banned you. If you wanna spite Riot, there are plenty of ways, some of them even monetary, but this is 100% not it.

I've tried to mention no names for the sake of civility, so if I messed that up, please let me know so I can drop them instantly.

*Here's an excerpt: "Well, again, I maintain that I've been banned in error, and that your supposed proof is negligent. You will deny this, and thus the impasse shall continue -- that's okay, let's just be mutually understanding on the point of that perpetuity." - me "Actually that is not okay, and at this point even though I have tried to come to find a resolution with you we shall seek to end your ability to continue any correspondence with us permanently. Should you choose to continue this folly." - support staff

Additionally, one member tried to close the ticket non-permanently so I wouldn't get a notification to reply, and couldn't open a new reply ticket.

**"We are consistent with our stance and are aligned in decisions made. If you have additional feedback I recommend bringing that to the boards for visibility. As there are no other questions or concerns, this ticket is closed."

16 Comments

zSkeletoRz2 votes

After repeatedly being told I was a dirty n*gger yesterday, by a three man premade, who is still playing games... Don't expect much from this trash company other than to try to bleed money out of little kids or anyone else who doesn't know any better.

Pure trash. I know more honest drug dealers than this company.

iisabrina2 votes

Riot is in a sorry stance right now, I honestly believe their support staff are the outsourced third party workers from Mexico, India, Pakistan, etc. they do lie to you consistently and the minute you threaten legal consequences they stop talking.

I had a ban/restriction on an account a few months ago and I shit talked them in the email. I told them what a bunch of lousy people they were for being so ridiculous.

you are right most of the time nothing will be done because their tribunal workers are illiterate.

But here is the risk riot is suffering, they are very close to a class action lawsuit that will burn their company to the ground. They have pissed off a large number of people and the recent few lawsuits in the news about their absurd policies does have law firms considering riot as their next target.

If riot lets it get out of control and it gets to this level their president is going to end up being one of those "ceo's" who cant step out in public for the amount of corruption in that company.

Cpt Jack Bird1 votes

See, given what I got from them as they got more annoyed, I highly, highly doubt they're illiterate. Shoddy or inattentive, maybe -- they have a lot of tickets.

This isn't a "fuck riot", just a list of things I've found ticketing them a lot. If it was, I'd be calling out support names left and right, hoping that anyone else who gets them will make their job worse. And while I think some of them are... underperforming, I'm not out to get them, lol.

This is a thing that sucks, sure. But lawsuits? Over what? What are the damages? Riot owns every account, lol. The only voice you have is to quit playing -- it's your wallet. They get your money, or they don't. There's no lawsuit that'll work, not on this case -- suits and pressure have been over unacceptable contracts and negotiations regarding players/organizations -- their customer service being bad has nothing to do with any of that. Otherwise, you could just go around suing indie game devs for having literally 0 custserv.

iisabrina1 votes

Im going to keep this short, Riot may own the accounts but they agree to a terms and conditions with each user and as users add money to their Riot points they have a right to access the purchases with those riot points. Banning someone without conclusive evidence (and this has happened to me once, and I NEVER script, I dont even run fucking itunes in the background to make sure I get maximum ping efficiency) is considering theft. The way I can simplify it from legal context to laymans terms is a gym revoking your membership for saying youre a roid user with no evidence and no explanation.

Riot is currently being sued for something similar by a small party and losing.

If it comes to a class action lawsuit it will be based on incorrect bans/chat restrictions for toxicity. (I plan to participate in one of these cases and I have an account with evidence backed up that was banned for the only phrase being used "Please stop feeding" the entire duration of the account to prove riot is incorrect.

Riot DOES have an algorithm in place in their automated tribunal to focus RP purchasers/users since they know they are addicted.

Damages would include RP costs, will also include potential to generate stream revenues (tyler1 although he was toxic as fuck and deserved it), people who werent toxic and got banned and had the potential of revenue. Anyway thats as far as I will explain for now. Customer service has nearly nothing to do with the lawsuit itself besides lying to the customer.

Cpt Jack Bird1 votes

I'm in the banned with no evidence boat. I believe that, because people don't tend to be that mad about nothing. Riot DOES have a clause saying that you don't actually own the RP or any right to goods purchased with it -- that doesn't always hold up.

But uh...

"Riot is currently being sued for something similar by a small party and losing." [Citation Needed]

The part of me that's frustrated about the banning and quality of service would LOVE to think that Riot's getting punished for what happened to me in the larger scale, but I'll believe that when you've got the proof that it's happening.

"Riot DOES have an algorithm in place in their automated tribunal to focus RP purchasers/users since they know they are addicted." [Citation Needed]

Okay, that's just a biiiiit conspiracy memey, sorry. I'll believe it when, again, I see proof. I know, I'm a sleeping sheeple.

The best suit you could make on forcing Riot would be to claim that the way Riot obtained the hacking data illegally and in violation of privacy laws, in which case even if they denied this, they'd have to reveal proof of methodology to defend succesfully. Also, most people who get unjustly banned have no potential stream revenue, being that they tend to get first-class treatment and UNbanned if there's a few thousand people who will be mad and make trouble for Riot. They don't have the resources in the department to get everyone unbanned with thorough checks for the system itself.

I do feel that everyone should, if actually unjustly banned, keep an eternal ticket, because that would at least force them to budget more staff for decent customer service (since it's so primitive they have NO WAY to stop spam at ALL, they can't even blacklist me lol). If it doesn't, then you waste paid working time, and eventually the money drained will outweigh the money you gave them in RP.

iisabrina1 votes

1st citation, google riot games lawsuit, you wont have all the information in each deposition but you can go on the CA high court and should be able to obtain most of the documents

2nd citation, I cant provide that information to you, my law school has it and will use it as a teaching mechanism but the actual evidence is classified.

There are multiple suits you can place on Riot, the number 1 suit being the RP that has been lost as well as the time to set up each account to the level they were banned at. That alone will have very heft collections and dues.

If my firm/school were to do this, they would attack riot with hefty legal fees. They were also compromised by poodle corp, similar to the target lawsuits that ensued after they were hacked, each user of league who was compromised can also sue for punitive damages since they failed to enact a secure system.

Riot is a highly profit driven company that often neglects the promises they make (including privacy).

Cpt Jack Bird1 votes

Well, I can't find more than PaiN (suing over poaching rules) and Parallel Networks, LLC for suits against games, but I'm relatively ignorant about all of this, but given Riot's a bit of a mess as a company, I can see it (wonder how much it matters when it goes back to tencent, though).

As far as algorithms to ban payers above all else go, I'll have to wait until it comes out somehow (if there's a scandal) to really believe it for myself -- sadly, I'm a sceptic at heart.

This is pretty interesting, though, and I'm certainly less sceptical about it than I was at the start.

Nik Nikerson1 votes

I have googled it, and I can't find anything. PaiN is suing them, but that's in Brazil, and a completely different matter.

And I'd really like what law school you're attending, and why they have information on Riot's practices that they aren't allowed to disclose to the public, but apparently are willing to share with their students. Also, why is the information classified?

iisabrina1 votes

Ignoring your first paragraph.

  1. What does this information mean to you? Are you a riot employee?
Nik Nikerson1 votes
  1. If you only have one point, you don't need to number it.
  2. Why does it matter if I'm a Riot employee or not?
iisabrina1 votes
  1. I can number it if I want, nothing wrong
  2. Because the information is irrelevant to you. If you wanna stir a fight on the internet, get off your butt, go work out, and fight someone in real life, not behind a computer screen.
Nik Nikerson1 votes

I'm not trying to fight with you. I'm trying to get more facts so I can judge whether or not to believe your claims.

Last time I checked, I spend my time and money on Riot's game. If you have information that would impact my decision to continue to do so, it's very relevant to me.

If you don't want to discuss claims you've made, don't post them in a internet forum intended for public discourse.

iisabrina1 votes

The information you requested in most of your stuff has to do with my schools decision to share this information.

When a subpoena is filed, the information may remain classified until further time to disclose to the public.

Nik Nikerson1 votes

Well yes, because there are things you are saying that don't make sense. Like, why would your law school have access to proprietary and confidential information on Riot's business practices?

And I'm really doing my best to search up active lawsuits against Riot, and I'm not finding much. It would be appreciated if you could possibly point me in the right direction.

Nik Nikerson1 votes

What lawsuits?

Friendly Ram1 votes

This was educational. Thanks for the kind look at player support.

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