PSA: Buying content and/or playing a long time does not make you immune to rules

I have been seeing many posts discussing how "well I played a long time with good behavior" or "well I bought RP/skins/content/XP boost/etc" and how that should somehow make someone immune to punishment. And both of those are patently false and illogical.

Imagine if you went to a movie theater. You have been going to this same theater since you were 2-3 years old with your parents. You're now a teenager going to the movies - you've been going for 10+ years. You buy a ticket every single time you go (as you obviously must) to see a movie you want to see.

Movie theaters have rules. Many times, these rules are posted either in the lobby, ticket counter area, concessions area, or even sometimes printed on the receipt/ticket - but they all have rules. Part of these rules is obvious (i.e. buy a ticket if you want to see a movie; don't steal/assault others; etc.), however there is also the conduct part of the rules. For example, in many theaters, it is against the rules to utilize your phone in such a way that the brightness may disturb others. In many theaters, it is against the rules to talk, converse, or exclaim loudly in a way that is noticeable to others. There are many other things prohibited in a theater - but let's just focus on those two things.

Neither prohibited act is illegal. You cannot be arrested for using your phone, or for talking loudly. However, the theater, a private business, has every right to determine what conduct it wants to allow on its private property. Most theaters, in the consideration of the vast majority of their customer base, choose to prohibit these types of acts that tend to make others not enjoy their movie as much - thus preventing the alienation of their customer base by those who are selfish and have no concern for others. If you choose to not follow the theater's code of conduct, you are violating your portion of the contract/agreement you made with the theater as a condition of your ticket. Your ticket to the movie is something that the theater can revoke if you violate the agreement you made with them upon purchase. You don't have to break the law to be kicked out - they have every right to kick you out of the theater for violating their code of conduct - and they don't have to refund you, as you agreed to follow the code of conduct when you purchased the ticket and failed to do so.

Now, let's go back to looking at this teenager who has been going to the theater for 10+ years, since they were a baby. Over the past year or so, he/she has been getting more rebellious/rambunctious/etc. He's decided that the rules of the theater don't really apply to him, and that the theater won't actually kick him out if he breaks them. So he starts using his phone during the movies. After a time or two of asking him to put it away, another patron goes and complains to management - who throws the teenager out, and gives him a stern warning that he needs to behave or he will be banned from the theater. The teenager behaves for a few weeks, but then starts talking loudly during the movies - again - disturbing others. This time, the management kicks him out, bans him from the theater, and warns him that they'll call the police if he ever sets foot on the property.

It does not matter that Mr. Teen has been coming to the theater for 10+ years - or that he bought a ticket for the movie. This person refused to uphold their part of the agreement, and thus has lost the privilege of accessing the movie he wanted to see - and in fact has lost the privilege of all future movies at that theater even if he had already bought tickets for them. Purchasing RP, playing for many seasons, or any other form of "payment" to Riot does not absolve you of your responsibility to uphold your part of the bargain - namely, being a decent and constructive member of the community. Riot has always and will always do what they think is best for the majority of the community - well over 75% of players never even see as much as a chat restriction - much less a permanent ban. And the majority of the community does not like dealing with the phone-using, loud-talking, rude players who have no concern for others in the game.

TLDR: buying RP, playing for a long time, or any other form of "investment" does not absolve you from following the rules you agreed to when you signed up to play League - and in fact you agree to any time you buy the RP to begin with.