PSA: I spent alot of money/time in the game, but was still banned... why?
Someone asked me to do a thread about the loss of personal investments, especially because this gets thrown around alot and people don't realize certain things about what's considered thiers. Feel free to reference this or the other thread about toxicity: Toxic/griefing/feeding team made me become toxic, so why am I banned/suspended and they arent?
Anyway, so why exactly can they take everything away from you at any given time... terms of use
4.3. Do I “own” the Virtual Goods I unlock? (No. What you “unlock” is not the virtual good itself, but rather, a qualified right to access it in the Game.)
You have no ownership or other property interest in any of the Virtual Goods you unlock, regardless of whether you acquired access to those Virtual Goods using Riot Points, Influence Points or Hextech Crafting. Virtual Goods have no monetary value. You can’t redeem them for cash. You can’t obtain any refunds for purchasing Riot Points or Virtual Goods, except as expressly permitted by us. You can find our current content refund policy here.
We have the right to delete, alter, move, remove, or transfer any and all Game Content—including Virtual Goods—in whole or in part, at any time and for any reason or no reason, with or without notice to you, and with no liability of any kind to you. We don’t provide or guarantee, and expressly disclaim, any value, cash or otherwise, attributed to any data residing on servers we operate or control, including any Game Content attributed to your account. The sale or transfer of your right to access certain Virtual Goods, Influence Points, Riot Points or Hextech Items may only be conducted via services approved of or provided by us, if any.
4.4. Once again: I don’t own these Virtual Goods? (“No!” shouted all the lawyers.)
NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY HEREIN, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOU SHALL HAVE NO OWNERSHIP OR OTHER PROPERTY INTEREST IN YOUR ACCOUNT, AND THAT ALL RIGHTS IN AND TO YOUR ACCOUNT ARE AND SHALL FOREVER BE OWNED BY AND INURE TO THE BENEFIT OF RIOT GAMES. YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO CLAIM, RIGHT, TITLE, OWNERSHIP, OR OTHER PROPRIETARY INTEREST IN THE GAME CONTENT THAT YOU UNLOCK OR ACCUMULATE, REGARDLESS OF ANY CONSIDERATION OFFERED OR PAID IN EXCHANGE FOR RIOT POINTS OR VIRTUAL GOODS. FURTHERMORE, RIOT GAMES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE IN ANY MANNER FOR THE DESTRUCTION, DELETION, MODIFICATION, IMPAIRMENT, HACKING, OR ANY OTHER DAMAGE OR LOSS OF ANY KIND CAUSED TO THE GAME CONTENT, VIRTUAL GOODS OR RIOT POINTS, INCLUDING THE DELETION OF GAME CONTENT, VIRTUAL GOODS OR RIOT POINTS UPON THE TERMINATION OR EXPIRATION OF YOUR ACCOUNT.
When you play this game, you don't own it. You literally don't own any of it. When you make an in-game purchase, you are only "allowed" to use the stuff that you are playing with. You are only "allowed" to play this game, and you are essentially leased the content subject to the prices Riot deems fit to sell the "use" of those particular things, regardless whether you think this is wrong and regardless of how much you really want to buy them for. Riot owns all of the property of the game and you only have the right to use it for as long as they think it is "OK" for you to use it.
(mind you, this doesn't stop anyone of us from spending 500+$ on the game LOL. It's def a fun game and almost all online games are like this)
So, this leads us to the next part:
2.1. How can my account be suspended or terminated? 2.1.2. Us.We may terminate or suspend your account if we determine, in our sole discretion, that: (a) you have violated any part of this Agreement; (b) we have stopped offering the Riot Services in your region; or (c) doing so would be in the best interests of our community, the Riot Services, or the rights of a third party.
2.2. What happens if my account is terminated? (No LoL for you.)
If your account is terminated, you’ll no longer have access to it, including any of the associated data or content (e.g., champions, skins, Riot Points, etc.). You’ll not be entitled to any refunds and we’ll have no liability to you. We also reserve the right to terminate any other accounts you may have created (also without any refunds or liability to you).
You understand and agree that using the Riot Services comes with the risk that your account may be terminated or suspended and that, whenever you use the Riot Services, you’ll bear this risk in mind and always conduct yourself appropriately.
According to this, Riot has already reserved the right to remove people from the game that they honestly don't want playing it. If they believe that you are a bad person who completely deserves to not play their game (even if that is true or not, regardless of the circumstances and whether or not they are right/wrong in what they say): then they will remove you completely from the game, and they are completely justified and have every right to.
How you view your own misbehavior doesn't matter. Whether Riot is actually morally right or wrong doesn't matter: if you have broken the terms of use then Riot can remove you from the game or can remove your rights to use certain parts of the game because you already agreed to give them these rights when you decided to play this game.
When you decided to make a purchase, you agreed that Riot has the right to take it all back from you at anytime, regardless of what you beleive is fair and regardless of what you think is right. They are not liable for any purchases you have made as those things are considered "their" property not "yours". When you purchase something it is only you buying the "rights" to access them as that property is entirely riots. When you get suspended or removed: those rights cease regardless of purchases.
Just think about that next time you decide to troll your teammates, and the next time you think it's ok to be toxic/inflammatory or decide to use language that isn't appropriate. You are being a toxic person at your own risk. Just remember, if you are caught then you entirely deserve disciplinary action and Riot is completely justified (in most cases). And, if you are permanently removed from the game because Riot thinks there is no place for you in this game, then its probably because of continual toxicity and/or you breaking the terms of use without remorse. And if you are banned because of your lack of reform, this means that you completely deserve your punishment..
SO, be nice to people and your teammates because its honestly worth it. Also, do not undermine Riot for what they can or cannot do, they are doing everything they can to make this community better. They deserve our better judgement and support if we personally want to make this game better.
It's easy for you to criticize them because you personally don't know how much work goes into creating this game and managing it.
If you want the experience to improve, YOU have to be that change because YOU ARE the community.
