Boards›Player Behavior

My Experience With Riot's Automated System and Why I Am Never Spending Money On League Ever Again

ChodeBubbles··15 votes·2,057 views
Screw Riot Games

Hello Summoners,

I woke up a few days ago to see that I was permanently suspended for using malicious 3rd party programs or modifications to my client. I have never cheated once or broken the terms of service, yet it seems no matter what I said in my defence to the employee handling my support ticket it didn't matter, they are far too confident in their system to even consider that I was innocent. So here is the deal, I am a bronze 3 player with 4.7/6.9/10.3 KDA, a mediocre match history and all around normal low skill player, any sort of reviewing any of matches will make it clear that I am not a cheater and am very much a real person sucking at the game not a bot or whatever. So why was I ban hammered? You tell me, apparently riot support isn't willing to reveal anything about the reason for fear that their vulnerable system could be comprised. Why am I writing this? I'd like to see some actual investment in my case rather than a cut and paste/you're screwed response. I spent nearly $300 on my account and played for around a year's time and now out of the blue I get banned for no reason.

Some points of my defense:

-why would I risk losing my account by cheating or modifying it when creating a second one for that purpose makes way more sense -My stats speak pretty clearly for my performance which is mediocre at best, not convinced pull up logs of my gameplay? -I have a web filter on the campus I live on, which restricts and records attempts to view any questionable or immoral sites such as hacking -Live on college campus and use shared wifi, maybe something with that could explain it? -I have more stuff listed in the support ticket screenshots...

Also here is a list of my friends who can back me up in saying I have never cheated or violated the TOS:

ArchmageofPuns (roommate who lives with me and is setup right next to me) CFB Jackal I Like Sports Nomatic Walrus DrButtonMasher Gunbar Purp Jakessnake3895 SolusXD

30 Comments

ArchMageofPuns5 votes

I am ChodeBubbles's roommate, and I can testify that he has never cheated or used third party sources in his entirety of playing this game. We have a decent sized community that plays this game on our campus. He has committed a lot of time to this game as we all have and he would never risk a ban on an account he has worked so hard on. Riot has not been able to give him the exact proof of how their infallible system determined he was scripting, and refuse to look into the case any further into a system that obviously has a flaw as it banned someone who never cheated. He is an average player at best, and his KDA's should prove that he could not be scripting what so ever.

OnlyYouCanHearMe9 votes

Just to clarify something, it is not that Riot is not able to give proof of the use of a third party program/account modification. Riot has the proof, however they choose not to provide the exact information to players who are being punished for botting/scripting/hacking/etc, because if they provided those players with that information, then the developers of the bots/scripts/hacks would know how they were being detected, and would immediately change them to make it more difficult for Riot to detect. I know it must seem like they are being secretive, or making a decision without evidence, but Riot is fairly good at collecting evidence regarding the use of banned programs. They do not ban players without having proof that the player's account has been connected with software that is not allowed.

I can understand this being incredibly frustrating, and certainly angering, especially if the OP has never used a program for the purpose of cheating. However, not all programs that are considered "malicious 3rd party programs" are for scripting. It can refer to many different types of software that modifies the game. Some of these are scripts, others are programs for custom skins that happen to have additional functions (like timers). At one point in time, the use of Curse Voice was actually a bannable offense, because of the timers it provided, even though most people would never think of it as a "malicious" program. I don't think I've ever actually seen a person come through the boards who was legitimately banned for the use of a scripting program. It's almost always another program like the ones you can se listed here that they have unwittingly found themselves punished for using.

ChodeBubbles2 votes

Yeah I heard something about these other things that get you banned but the deal is I don't even have a skin mod or anything to change my game at all, I bought a crap load of skins on my account so I never needed one

ChodeBubbles2 votes

I'd even let them remote into my system to prove my innocence

OnlyYouCanHearMe3 votes

Do you have any sort of gaming keyboard or mouse? Anything that has macros enabled on it? I know this is extremely frustrating for you, as well it should be. But Riot's system for detecting exploits (scripts/hacks/bots/m3pps) is actually quite thorough. While it is possible that a mistake was made, what is much more likely is that you have some program or software on your computer that you are not aware is considered a bannable one. You may not have even been aware that it could be used to exploit the game and gain an unfair advantage. But unfortunately, in League as well as in life, an ignorance of the law is not considered an excuse for breaking it.

I see where some of the other guys have recommended that you keep submitting tickets to Player Support, in hopes of reaching a supervisor, or someone who will give you more information or will be more able to discuss your evidence. Should you choose to do so, I would gently recommend that you try to refrain from losing your temper or cussing in your correspondence. Given the amount of time and money you have invested in your account, it's perfectly justified for you to be upset, but people will be less receptive to your please if you come across as angry and abrasive. Even if you have to step away from your keyboard and vent for a few minutes, that will be much more beneficial to your case than replying back and letting your frustrations get the better of you.

Rather than fussing at the support specialist for not being able to tell you anything, you may have better luck by telling them something like this: Thank you for taking the time to look into my case. I understand that you are unable to reveal any specific information as to how a malicious 3rd party program was detected on my account, and I will not try to ask you to violate Riot's policies in that regard. What I would ask is if there is any way that I can provide you with evidence to support my innocence. I am aware that Riot's system is very thorough, but I have also been thorough in reviewing my computer system as well as anyone who may have had access to my computer, and at no time have I installed or utilized any software to modify or interact with League of Legends.

Basically, I just typed the same thing you said in your ticket. But if you were a Support Specialist who went through dozens of tickets (if not more) every day, which one would you be more sympathetic to? The thing about this sort of ban, they come in waves, often quite a few weeks or even months after they are detected. Which is why you will see quite a few posts on the boards about 3rd party program bans right now.

I'm not inclined to think it was something to do with your school's wi-fi, as your roommate was not banned. I looked at your match history, and nothing jumped out as being suspicious for account compromise/sharing. There were a few inconsistencies with farming, but not really to the extent that I would suspect there was a program involved. Honestly, it looked like you found certain champions easier to farm with. And it should not have anything to do with Skype, your anti-virus or Curse. Many people run Skype and Curse, as well as the more well known anti-viruses. While Curse Voice was at one time a banned program due to the timers it provided, once they were removed, it was allowed officially. Have you used any of the voice/announcer modifications? Or do you run any sort of program for capturing replays?

ChodeBubbles1 votes

I'm gonna for sure open more tickets, I am also gonna take some screenshots of my system programs and whatever I can think of to prove my innocence

ModPeriscope1 votes

No, don't open more tickets. It just kicks you to the back of the support que.

ChodeBubbles1 votes

Then what do you suggest I do man?

OnlyYouCanHearMe1 votes

It will only drop you to the back of the queue if you open multiple tickets at the same time. That measure is in place to keep people from overwhelming the support staff with multiple tickets on the same issue.

From my understanding, once a ticket has been closed, Support may prefer for players not to submit new tickets without any additional information. As without having any new evidence, new tickets are somewhat of a drain on the Support Staff's time, as they cannot change anything without a valid reason, and there are always going to be many more tickets submitted by other players that they actually can do something about.

But the key word there is without. When you accumulate additional evidence to support your cause, you can open a new ticket. There is something you need to be prepared for though. You may encounter a Support Specialist who reads over your ticket, and sends you the same reply that you received before. Try not to let it discourage you, or anger you too much. While the common answer that you will get from Player Support and forumers alike is "Riot does not overturn bans," it actually has been reported by people on the forums for certain bans involving account compromise or exploits; with the only ban I have actually never seen overturned being toxicity. But in the cases where the bans were overturned, it was not an easy process. It involved weeks, sometimes even a few months of interacting with Support, and quite a few tickets before the players were able to justify their innocence. I'm not telling you this to get your hopes up, as much as I am trying to let you know that you may have a bit of an uphill battle ahead of you, but if you are genuinely innocent of these charges and are patient and polite when dealing with Player Support, you may be able to exonerate yourself.

Unfortunately for players like you, there are quite a few less savory players who have no compunctions about using cheats and exploits. And when they are caught, they also submit tickets to Player Support. And they claim to be innocent of the charges. To you, you have submitted a single ticket and gotten a reply that seems as though the Staff member didn't want to bother looking into your case. To them, your ticket was probably one of the thousands of tickets they have read from angry players, of which at least half are probably lying. And the angry, lying cheaters have done their job so well, that Support, by nature, almost has to be a bit wary of what any players tell them. It's very frustrating, and it isn't fair to the innocent players who are caught up and tainted by the "guilty until proven innocent," but it isn't Player Support's fault either. The blame lies with the actual cheating players who have ruined the credibility of the general playerbase in the eyes of Support. As difficult as it may be, when you are getting frustrated with a ticket, try to keep that in mind, and not snap at Support, as that will only hurt your cause in the long run.

I Like Sports3 votes

lol, firing him up at the same time. "He is an average player at best, and his KDA's should prove that he could not be scripting what so ever." lololololol

Nomatic Walrus4 votes

Please fix this issue! I know this guy personally and he would never do anything to get his account banned. This is outrageously frustrating and I've been talking to my clan about reporting this issue. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to resolve this issue for him.

I Like Sports4 votes

He would never cheat or try to manipulate the system. Can someone from Riot please look into this further and actually spend some time on this case? It's not fair that someone wrongly accused him of using 3rd party software to cheat and there is literally nothing he can do to save his account. Please Riot consider your fanbase and make this right.

SwainLaneWinGame4 votes

Keep re-opening the case and ask for a supervisor and a real person.

ChodeBubbles2 votes

I certainly will, I wish I could call them

CooL Ice Tea4 votes

And why would you say this was a a bot? Because the player support is writing more in kind of a business style then "trololol, mate we gotcha you can't make things up here"?

Seems like nobody here works in an office and has customer contact.

Frostmorne4 votes

honestly. i feel for you. their automated system is terrible and im sure they know it. But when you are too lazy to do anything about it. its not a shocker

kTnoJoXYPV3 votes

I just got banned as well and received the 3rd party fluff email. I would say there's something going on but they aren't going to believe it. My match history; http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-history/NA/39321737

Anyhow to clear the air, Yup no cheating here, EVER. I own every champion over the course of 3 maybe 4years now.... I don't play ranked, mainly just ARAM and the special events when they show up. the occasional random bot game and even more rare a pvp game with friends. There is no motivation to cheat as nothing I do warrants it, and feel free to review my match history. There is no point in putting my account at risk due to time/money spent. Yes I've submitted a ticket as of 15 minutes and have to await the outcome. Definitely ruined my evening. I just hate getting lumped in with the fold.

I just ran a scan and no malicious items found, Told League to run a full repair. Nothing is wrong. Just super frustrated, almost to the point of super pissed as I have dumped a lot of time and money into this game over the years.

ChodeBubbles2 votes

It sucks so much, I love the game and playing with my friends but getting the corporate cold shoulder really put a bad taste in my mouth. I feel like any sort of long term suspension punishment for any reason should have a real person review it. I'd really like a phone call from them, that would make me feel valued as a paying customer.

EDIT Never thought about it being some sort of virus on my pc, I'll run a scan on my system now and see whats up

kTnoJoXYPV3 votes

I just got a canned responce back;

Aurelise Aurelise (Riot Games Player Support) Mar 6, 20:32 PST

Hey Jubilee,

I'm Aurelise and I'm part of the Riot Support team.

Your account has been permanently suspended after a thorough investigation confirmed the use of scripts, hacks, exploits, or unauthorized third-party programs to gain an unfair advantage in game. Accounts that use such programs are subject to permanent suspension as these compromise the competitive integrity of the game.

Regardless of intent, the use of these programs is explicitly against the Terms of Use, which can be found here:

NA: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/legal/termsofuse

This is the end of the line for this account. The ban will not be lifted under any circumstances.

Aurelise Riot Games Player Support Ahri ♡

You bet I lit into them this is ridiculous; No there is no way, Please don't give me a canned response like that. This literally just happened. I don't feel you guys are actually looking over anything and just taking the easy copy/paste answer. I literally just went over a full scan of my rig nothing malicious at all found. League did a full scan/repair and loaded up just fine. I had a printer queue that failed to print that is IT. You guys need to take another look at whatever pinged your system as it should be pretty damn obvious theres no cheating/mods/scripts/hacks/exploits or whatever you want to call them.

If I sound upset you bet I am, "a thorough investigation" would mean viewing my replays, reviewing logs, account history, match history. None of that has happened. Is there a number I can contact a supervisor or actually speak with someone as this is an atrocity they way this is being handled.

So mad right now.......I agree they need to have a real person review these.

KORGtuners2 votes

Have you tried using hate speech? Riot is pretty good at noticing that.

ChodeBubbles1 votes

Doesn't matter, I was banned only under the pretense of "cheating/scripting/unauthorized software" if there was any other reason stated by them to me I would have included that in my post.

KORGtuners1 votes

You didn't understand.

Here in this forum. If you insult Riot and make false accusations, they are more inclined to respond. This is because Riot and a percentage of forum goers, enjoy the spectacle that is "smiting".

DrButtonMasher2 votes

I can also attest to his lack of cheating, scripting, modding, or the like. We are all bronze. Our win rates and KDA should prove it as well. This needs to be rectify by riot. There is no way that they should be allowed to do this to an innocent person. I understand that Riot must keep their specifics a secret but they must be able to provide some form of defense. Listen he put money into this account and he either needs the money back or needs his account restored in full. Anyway I just want to give further credibility to his case.

EvanThomas2 votes

If this thread makes any headway, could someone please reply? I would like to see where this is going but finding this post over and over again just to check would be a hassle...

ChodeBubbles1 votes

I got you

EvanThomas1 votes

Much appreciated.

CFB Jackal2 votes

Hey guys, I know ChodeBubbles personal and back his entire story as well as speak to his character. He is a man of high moral standards who would never go to this sort of extent as to lie about something that is as big a deal as this. He has never used scripting programs and I would submit that this at least deserves someone from the higher tier of leadership from RIOT to respond. It is highly unprofessional to treat your customers like this, in my humble opinion. At the very least a customer service representative could give him a call and TRY to work through this with him. Believe it or not, computers have been wrong in the past and you cannot trust a program to be 100% accurate. There are too many systems in the world to track them all with 100% efficiency. Be the RIOT we know you are and reach out to your players who have supported your company.

ChodeBubbles1 votes

Thanks man, I am gonna take the advice of a few other commenters here and take a more diplomatic approach to my interactions with Riot, I am angry for a legitimate reason but I want to do all I can to get real help.

ChodeBubbles1 votes

I appreciate you guys who wrote lengthy posts helping to explain or share your experiences, I will update y'all with every new response I received from riot

ChodeBubbles1 votes

I would very much appreciate a further look into this from Riot, in fact if I could contact a representative over phone that would be ideal.

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