game account ban banned

A banned game account is a problem that almost every gamer will sooner or later experience during their time playing video games. Game bans will and can usually be issued for any reason whatsoever with or without proof by the developers / publishers or moderators of a game. Generally, the Terms of Service of any online game worth is salt will give the owners of the game the right to Ban anyone from their game service for any reason. However, most bans are usually issued for game hacking / cheating, toxic behavior, exploits, real world trading and we are seeing increasing cases of accidental bans. – If there is any recourse to unban an account depends on the game, but generally the chances are about 50% of getting a banned account back.

Why Account Bans exist

While in offline games is traditionally impossible to Ban players from using the game, aside from it being generally unnecessary, in online games and ‘live services’, there is a necessity to take abusive, toxic or players that cause damage out of the system to keep the player base happy and conserve Resources.

So as an example if someone is running thousands of Bots in a free to play RPG, they are using a lot of Server Resources while not spending any Money, they may even try to compete with the game developer by selling in-game currency, which makes banning them from the game a logical choice to maximize profits and stop unfair competition. – Overall banning players is absolutely necessary for any online game to keep a friendly and fair environment for everyone and is something any serious game developer needs to do.

game rule bans

Legal – Is Proof Required to Ban a Player from a Game?

No, generally no proof is required to Ban anyone from any game. Generally the Terms of Use of a game will specify very clearly that any account can be banned for any reason at any time. Even if for some reason the Terms of Service do not specify this, it will still be an uphill battle to try and get a banned account back through legal means: Imagine you are a guest in someone’s house and are misbehaving and they kick you out. This is simply a reasonable thing to do, even if you did not sign a contract specifying that the owner of the house is able to kick you out, even if you paid to be there.

Of course law always works of a case-by-case basis, but generally banning players, even if the Ban comes with no evidence of proof, even if it is accidental, is absolutely legal and well within a game owners or game developers rights. It is simply something consumers need to be aware in this time of live service games that no matter how much Money they invest in their accounts, they can always lose them any second and may never get them back.

temporary game ban

Automated Bans

Most bans on game accounts these days are not issued by a human, rather are issued automatically after suspicious activity is detected: Automated bans may be triggered by fishy statistics, such as K/D ratios, headshot ratios, suspicious trade history, detected cheating software or Game Hacks, Bot detection, connection to known real-world-trading accounts, banned IP connecting to an account, refunded transactions, abuse in chat history and many other data points that can be used to detect breach of the terms of use automatically.

Generally, games that issue automated bans will offer good methods of recourse for accidentally / falsely banned players to unban their accounts and gain back access to their game.

automated game ban

Game Hacking Account Bans

One of the major and most infamous reasons for gamers accounts getting banned for playing a game is of course game hacking, be that messing with game memory through a memory editor like Cheat Engine, using DLL injection, using automated farming Bots, using Exploits, modded clients, such as APK Mods or modded iOS game apps, using Aimbots, Wallhacks, VAC and many other cheating methods.

Account bans for cheaters are usually issued automatically through software detection of black listed code (detected Game Hacks), too many reports on an account, suspicious statistics and or movement, but in rare cases accounts will be reviewed manually either by game Mods or other players that will check replays of logs to detect game hacking manually.

Generally, if one is not using detected software, then a player will have to act extremely reckless and toxic in order to get reported enough times to actually get banned. These systems are made to Ban obvious cheaters, not the ones that try to hide their cheating activity and use the cheats to improve their gameplay slightly, not to dominate the game.

game hack account banned

Avoiding Banned Accounts when using Cheats

The simplest way game hackers hide their cheating activity, aside from software solutions, such as aim smoothing, delays and such features is to use cheating software with empathy and respect not only for other players, but the game and its developers as well and generally trying to be a good person despite using hacks to play a game.

Using cheating software and app as a crutch instead of a tool of domination is the most effective way to avoid getting banned, as well as choosing the less obvious method over the more obvious one, such as choosing a Wallhack over an Aimbot.

Anti-Ban

A feature that is often advertised in shady Mods and Game Hack of questionable repute is the ‘anti ban’ feature. – It basically means nothing as there is no way to avoid bans using Game Hacks, as the processes that get an account banned are all happening on the game servers, rather server-side.

And that a Game Hack download does not get you banned instantly should be expected and should not be a feature. So overall, anti-ban is just a marketing term that shady download sites use to bit people into downloading.

permanent game ban

Unbanning Game Accounts

If it is possible to get back a banned game account depends on many factors: The reason you got banned, if you spent Money, the game, the support person you get to talk to, or if you get to contact support at all, the mood of the person you talk to, if you got banned by mistake or not and more.

Generally, it pays to be friendly and humble, rather than entitled and upset. If the Ban is your fault, you have two choices: Either you lies and claim someone else did it or you are honest and you repent and bed for forgiveness. If you go with ‘ I got hacked’ or ‘I’m sorry’ or if your little brother got a hold of your gaming device is your decision, but you need to know that once you chose a story, there is no going back.

For game hacking the chance to unban accounts is generally very low, as the automated systems that detect specific Game Hacks are very accurate and basically never misfire. For other ban reasons the chances are usually better, if you are being honest. For real world trading or account trading the chances are pretty much 0, as this kind of activity is costing the developers a lot of money. It pays to do some research on the game forums to figure out how bans are issued and how the data that leads to a ban is collected before staring a support ticket asking for reinstatement.

IP Bans, HWID Bans, Client Bans, Account Bans

  • In an IP Ban the ‘Internet Protocol address’, which is a unique identifier of your internet connection, is banned from accessing the game, requiring you to change your IP, use a VPN, proxy of different connector to play again.
  • In a HWID Ban the hardware identification code/number of your gaming system is banned from accessing the game, requiring you to change the identifier or device to play again.
  • In a Client Ban the specific game Client you used to connect to the game installed on your system is banned from playing the game, requiring you to reinstall the game to change the Client identifier to play again.
  • Account Bans will be issued in every banning case pretty much, which means that the account you used to play a game and log into the game is banned rom play. Any of the other methods or all of them can be stacked on top of a game account ban to make it less likely for the banned person to play again.

Sources / References

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address
[2] https://www.webopedia.com/definitions/hwid/
[3] https://hackerbot.net/wiki/11-game-hack