Punishment FAQ + General Board Knowledge Database
Hey guys! I'm working on putting together a board database of frequently asked questions, general board knowledge, and common misconceptions. This is going to be a work in progress, but I figured I'd get at least part of it up now. Hopefully people find this useful.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT WITH INFORMATION YOU THINK A SECTION IS MISSING, INFORMATION YOU NOTICE IS WRONG, OR EDITS YOU FEEL WOULD IMPROVE THE CONTENT
#TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Section 0 — Using the Boards
- Section 1 — Punishment Basics / Contacting Riot Support
- Section 2 — Non-Behavioral Punishments
- Section 3 — Behavioral Punishment Systems / Reporting [Forthcoming]
- Section 4 — Common Behavioral Questions / What Is Report-Worthy? [Forthcoming]
- Section 5 — Addressing Common Complaints [Forthcoming]
- Section 6 — Punished. What Now? [Forthcoming]
#SECTION 0 — USING THE BOARDS
Most situations can benefit from a post on this board, but sometimes the best course of action is to contact Riot directly.
If you have an issue with one of the following types of punishments and are seeking clarification, Riot Support is likely to be your best course of action. This knowledge database contains further information on all of these subjects, but a board post is unlikely to gain you any further information than what you can read here.
- Banned for account sharing / account purchasing
- Banned for use of 3rd party software
- Banned for other non-behavioral issues
- Did not receive information for why you were banned
Everything else we can help with, if you approach the situation with an open mind (and your chat logs, when and if appropriate to the discussion). :)
#SECTION 1 — PUNISHMENT BASICS / CONTACTING RIOT SUPPORT
- 1-1 — Punishment Goals & Punishment Tiers
- 1-2 — Reasons for Punishment
- 1-3 — I Don't Know Why I Was Punished
- 1-4 — Contacting Riot Support
#1-1 — Punishment Goals & Punishment Tiers Riot issues punishments against players who violate the terms of use or the Summoner's Code. The goal is to keep players who cheat, harm the experience of other players, or violate Riot policies from playing League of Legends, to force them to make a new account as punishment for their violations of the terms of use, or to warn them that their behavior needs to become more positive to prevent future, more severe punishments.
Punishments are divided into four tiers. Traditional negative behavior often progresses up the tiers with each subsequent punishment, but many infractions (including extreme negative behavior) can and often do skip one or more levels. Outright terms of use violations like account sharing, use of 3rd party programs, etc. usually progress immediately to a permanent ban.
The tiers are as follows:
- 10 game chat restriction (limited to only a few chat messages per game)
- 25 game chat restriction
- 14 day suspension (unable to use the client for 14 days)
- Permanent suspension
In the case of punishments other than permanent suspensions, a significant number of games of good behavior can result in your account regaining part or all of its good standing, thus reducing the severity of future punishments you might receive. The system will NOT inform you of this though, so it's best to remain on good behavior for as long as you possibly can.
#1-2 — Reasons for Punishment There are a few reasons you can be banned. Here are the most common.
- Negative Behavior (including toxic chat behavior, excessive negativity, intentional feeding, trolling, and others)
- Use of 3rd Party Programs
- Account Sharing / Account Buying
- Riot detecting that your account may be compromised
- Problems with financial transactions on your account
- Other terms of use violations
##—THE GOOD NEWS If your problem is one of those italicized on the above list, the ban is likely just a safety feature and should be easy to lift! Simply send in a ticket to Riot Support and they'll help you resolve the problem and get back to playing ASAP. Remember to see our section below on contacting Riot Support!
##—THE BAD NEWS If the reason for your punishment is not italicized on the list above, things get a little trickier. In the section Punished: What Now? we'll talk a bit about each of these reasons and what options, if any, you might have. Advance warning: punishments for these reasons are usually non-reversible unless they are found to be applied in error.
#1-3 — I Don't Know Why I Was Punished If the reason you don't know why you were punished is because you never got a reason from Riot, there's an easy fix. Sometimes an e-mail fails to send properly, or you simply overlooked it, or there's a system glitch. To solve this, send a ticket to Riot Support and they'll be able to let you know what's going on. Remember to see our section below on contacting Riot Support!
If the reason you don't know why you were punished is because you don't believe your actions merited a punishment, keep reading. We'll talk about that later.
#1-4 — Contacting Riot Support First and foremost, the link is right there in the header of this section. With that out of the way, let's talk about a big misconception about Riot Support: the idea that it's their job to solve your problem to your satisfaction.
This isn't entirely true. Their job is to solve your problem if it is an error on their part, or if doing so is in line with their terms of use and their other policies. Riot really does value their players and, if they are able to solve your problem, they will always happily do so. If they can't, however, it's their job to resolve your problem in the manner most in keeping with Riot's policies. This resolution may not be the one you want, so be prepared for this eventuality if you're asking for exceptions to standard policies, and specifically if you're attempting to reverse a punishment.
##—How to Talk to Riot Support Here's a brief rundown.
- Be polite.
- Be honest.
- Wait patiently.
- Do not threaten legal action.
—Be Polite: Player support does want to help you, or at least help you understand why they can't help you. You're much more likely to make them understand your situation and possibly be willing to do a bit more digging on your behalf if you're friendly and understanding instead of angry. Remember — they're doing their job, and if you're in violation of a rule that's really not their fault. They're doing their best to make you happy within company policy, and getting angry at them will only worsen the situation.
—Be Honest: Riot can and will check. If you know you behave in a negative manner and claim not to, Riot will find out. If you know you've used 3rd party software, Riot will find out. So be up front and admit to your mistakes if you've made them...or simply understand that, in those instances, contacting Riot Support in the first place won't assist you much, if at all.
—Wait Patiently: "Bumping" your ticket only pushes it to the back of the line. Riot usually responds within 48 hours, and often much sooner. Resist the temptation to respond to a ticket multiple times unless you have important new information you forgot to add, as that will only increase the time until you get a response.
—Do NOT Threaten Legal Action: Seriously — do not do this. If you threaten legal action Riot is required by corporate policy to cut all contact with you until they hear from your lawyer. There will be no further conversation with Player Support you, and your chances of getting anything resolved without a lawyer involved drop to zero. Note that Riot's policies are also all entirely legal (we'll discuss this in layman's terms later), so this course of action will not really get you anywhere.
#SECTION 2 — NON-BEHAVIORAL PUNISHMENTS
- 2-1 — 3rd Party Programs
- 2-2 — Account Sharing / Account Buying
- 2-3 — Other Non-Behavioral Punishments
#2-1 — 3rd Party Programs Use of any program or process that interferes with League of Legends is forbidden, and is punishable by an immediate permanent suspension upon detection. It doesn’t matter if you were just “testing” it to see what it does, or if it’s a program that isn’t designed to get you an in-game advantage (such as a skin changing program): all such action is prohibited. This policy applies to unintentional program usage as well, so be extremely wary of downloading any program or using any service that may interfere with League of Legends, or of playing League of Legends.
Also be careful when playing on a friend's computer or a public computer — if there is inappropriate code or software on the machine you're playing on, your account may be flagged for third party software usage even thought you were not directly aware of it. Therefore, make sure you trust any computer that you play League of Legends on.
Unfortunately, due to the risk of revealing the process Riot uses to detect programs (and thus creating further security vulnerabilities), Riot does not reveal their internal evidence in cases like this. If your account is banned for using third party programs and you choose to contact Riot Support be aware that, while they can and will double check their information, there is not much they can do to help you if the ban does not register as an error, as bans for third party programs are never lifted unless they are applied in error (a rare occurrence).
The best course of action if you wish to continue playing on a new account is to delete any potentially offending programs, run a virus/malware/root-kit scan on your computer, and reinstall League of Legends in case of any lingering issues.
#2-2 — Account Sharing / Account Buying Account sharing is forbidden, and is punishable by an immediate permanent suspension upon detection. While to some people this sounds silly, it is both to preserve the integrity of financial and personal information and to preserve the MMR system used to determine player skill (by preventing another player from playing on your account to increase its ranking).
Purchasing a League of Legends account is likewise prohibited and punishable by immediate permanent suspension, since this is both account sharing (over two separate “owners”) and specifically prohibited by the terms of use.
Bans for account sharing or account purchasing are never lifted unless they are found to be applied in error (a rare occurrence).
#2-3 — Other Non-Behavioral Punishments The two most common non-behavioral punishments not listed previously are if Riot detects that your account may be compromised or if there is a problem with a financial transaction. In these cases your account may be permanently suspended as a safety precaution, but a quick chat with Riot Support is usually sufficient to resolves these issues.
Other non-behavioral punishments exist, but are infrequent. For more details on what to do if you receive a punishment not discussed here, open a ticket with Riot Support.
