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Account banned because someone only reported it for scripting?

Kalla·11/6/2016, 3:29:25 PM·3 votes·2,179 views

Hello support boards! Almost a week ago, my boyfriend's account was permanently banned for "third party applications". He has tried through Riot support tickets and talking to multiple support people to figure out what exactly caused this to take place. Sadly, all he's gotten is mostly uncooperative people (one who even became obviously aggravated with his inquiries) who won't tell him what he was banned for besides simply saying "third party applications" and that he can feel free to create a new account if he wishes. Now, the only thing he has ever used on his computer are mouse macros (that do not alter his game play, they're only chat things (NOT timers or anything like that) which if anything should get him a temp ban for spamming or chat restriction) and Overwolf. He very, very briefly had Overwolf installed on his computer. It was for less than 2 days and it didn't even work properly, which is why it was then uninstalled. This was at least a month ago. He has nothing else downloaded/installed on his computer that has to do with League of Legends game play at all. Now, conveniently, the Ask Riot segment was just posted and has a question about mouse macros and also a link to what is accepted vs what isn't accepted. It states both macros that don't alter your game play (which his don't) and Overwolf champion overlays are accepted by Riot Games and don't currently break the ToS. He sent them this information and got the same generic response- "third party application" and feel free to create a new account if you feel your behavior will be positive.

I also sent a support ticket. I stated that an account I'm familiar with had been banned, specified that it was not my account ("My boyfriend's account was banned"), and didn't give any specifics of the account as I am not the account holder. I asked questions about third party programs, specifically Overwolf, since that's all he's ever attempted to use. The first response I got was a person saying that this wasn't really their department so they were gonna transfer my ticket to someone else. Cool, that's fine. I appreciate the response letting me know about that! The second response was that account sharing is against Riot's Terms of Service and that if I am found to do it again it can result in a permanent ban. Like, what? Excuse me? I never said anything about account sharing, made it pretty obvious that the account I'm on is mine and that I was talking about a different account- and even then I was just asking questions about specific applications/functions, not about a specific account or trying to get information about a specific account. I didn't get any response that even touched on any of the questions I asked, merely a warning that I shouldn't share accounts. I was kinda annoyed by that and I'm not sure if it was an actual person who just ignored everything I said or somehow a bot decided my message seemed account share-y, but anyway I responded back stating that the account I was on was mine and that I'm just asking questions as a third party. I re-asked my questions and provided links to both the Ask Riot and the thread that talks about what is allowed vs what isn't allowed and that was 3 days ago. I haven't received any sort of response since!

So, the only other thing we can think of is that he was banned for scripting - even though he's never done it before. He played against someone who got very upset at the way the game was going and accused him in /all chat of scripting and said that he was going to report him for it. I have zero doubts that he actually did, I'm just surprised that anything could have happened from it. As far as I'm aware and have looked into, nothing was done wrong that breaks Riot's Terms of Service or the Summoner Code. I'd really appreciate it if someone could answer my questions and maybe possibly someone could talk one-on-one through email possibly to give an actual REASON for the account ban besides the generic "third party". (If talking through e-mail or private ticket were possible, I would be more than happy to provide the account name/whatever in-private so that you could speak with the account owner about the specifics of the ban itself as I am not it.) Here are the questions I asked in my email:

Does the use of Overwolf applications warrant a permanent suspension of an account? Why? I've found statements from the creator/owner saying that they work with Riot to prevent such a ban. If so, why is it not a blanket ban of anyone who has them installed? Why are pro NALCS streamers allowed to continue using them without reprimand? (Earlier in my response I posted about how I've had friends who have Overwolf installed for months prior to this incident and have had zero issues with their accounts, also stated that there are pros/streamers who use it and are obviously not banned as well)

And then another question just to cover everything, would macros that type things in chat be bannnable for third party applications? NOT things like dragon/baron timers or blue timers or summoner spell timers or any kind of timers or game play related things. Things like /all YOU CAN'T MILK THOSE and /all CAW CAW CAW. And even then, would it warrant a permanent ban and not even a chat restriction, 7 day ban, or something less extreme first?

Thank you for your time if you've read through this! And thank you if you end up responding :) I appreciate it greatly. We mostly use our accounts to play normals and ARAMs together after work. We've put a lot of effort into both of our accounts and spent a lot of money overall on both (buying for ourselves and buying each other gifts). I've been pretty devastated that he got banned and that no one has really seemed interested in helping or communicating at all. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks again <3

13 Comments

Breaku11/6/2016, 3:39:26 PM4 votes

Unfortunately, the scripting detection software works, and it works well. If it flagged him, he was scripting. They don't ban people for third party apps just because someone reported them.

The only possible defense would be someone else accessed his account and used scripts while on his account. Check his match history as make sure he recognizes all of the games played. If he doesn't, see if support can verify unauthorized access to the account.

Usually these 3rd party app bans come from purchased accounts, where the account seller used a bot to level an account, and then sold the account. So if the account was purchased, that could be your answer as well.

Serevas11/6/2016, 3:37:16 PM1 votes

In all likelihood it's extremely possible that his account got flagged for third party applications by that dude's report. Then they looked for third party software, didn't specifically look at the fact that it was overwolf, but did see that there was third party software.

So he gets banned for a report claiming scripting, even though the third party application they found was overwolf in all reality.

Zezockary11/6/2016, 3:40:08 PM1 votes

If the mouse macro program he is using has other options which allow for performance enhancement, even if he does not use them, they will still detect the program and flag it.

If it does not then idk.

OneMustFall11/6/2016, 3:48:53 PM1 votes

If you think Riot just bans people off a whim without first analyzing gameplay patterns and using other methods for detecting scripts, you're mistaken. Plenty of people use Overwolf in League without getting banned. Scripts have inhuman Actions Per Minute and are constantly pinging the server to read data and add lines of code to the client. Riot can tell the difference between this and macros.

Basically this means if Riot has detected you as scripting, you were scripting. They are so confident about their detection process that bans are never reversed.

AzureDragoon11/6/2016, 6:30:50 PM1 votes

Hi there. I do know Riot recently posted a Q/A response on the Nexus section that included a question about gaming mouse/keyboard customization (including Razer), found here,

Also linked in the article is this helpful post, created by Wuks, one of the community Arbiters, on what is and isn't allowed. Regarding Keyboard/mouse Macros, Wuks mentioned latter in the thread that something that lets you perform a single particular action (essentially, an alternate keybind), is ok (I.E. "Attack-Move" to a mouse button. Or "Ability 3 (normally E), also response to Mouse Button 3"). What isn't allowed, is something that lets you pull off something like combos with a single button press.

Scharen12/1/2016, 1:08:55 AM1 votes

I have no idea what any of these programs are, and my account got suspended and my season rewards got stripped from me because of it. I get that you guys think this system works but it doesn't I was gold 5 your average player a 48.5% win loss ratio and a 2.8 kda nothing special right? And when I ask for the evidence they tell me they won't disclose it