Friend mass reported and suspended. No feedback provided via appeals

Support Customer Support
1

A friend of mine was suspended under the PVP Non-Participation/Exploitation category for one month in December 2021. In November 2021, he was suspended for the same category. We suspected the first suspension was due to lack of participating in an AV weekend. He would join battlegrounds while working, run up to a bunker, cap and defend it. This can result in little to activity in the current AV environment (for reference, I have accrued 17k honor today with 90 honorable kills).

After the ban concluded, he proceeded to play much more carefully and ensure active participation. I believe, with relative certainty, that he only accrued 15-25k honor over between the bans. The majority (greater than 70%) of battle grounds and 100% of arenas were played with me. I can assure you no exploitation or non-participation occurring in those games.

He appealed and requested feedback on what he did to merit the ban - asking for date, time, actions he took. Each of those requests were denied with a canned response along the lines of “we’ve reviewed the actions and are upholding the ban.” No details provided and we have no idea what he did wrong.

We more recently learned that his account has been flagged with a very large number of social reports that would lead to action being taken. He tried to discuss with a customer support agent over live chat, but was again stonewalled.

While I understand the details of what the ban is for is between you, Blizzard, and my friend, the player, I am very concerned about how this has played out. Should I live in fear of someone retaliating/lashing out over something as simple as a PvP game with mass reporting and my account getting banned?

How should someone approach this situation? The appeal process is clearly not working.

2

Blizzard never gives this information. While it may help your friend realize what they did wrong, it’s also prime data for hackers and botters to circumvent the system. So they just do not give specifics as a blanket policy.

I will tack on, while it’s completely my own thoughts/experiences and not Blizzard Official, a lot of the time what we see come through here on CS is people playing how they think they should and not necessarily with the whole of the group. Your friend may be guarding the tower but it’s a team effort and they need to be rolling with the team as a whole. If it’s a bum rush to the boss, they need to be with the group. Most of the times these sanctions are the result of multiple reports and instances, not just one or two BGs.

Your word isn’t the data that Blizzard uses to determine these sanctions. The look into every instance and thoroughly investigate things. That your friend already had one sanction works against them with this now being their second offense. It’s not that it doubles like chat offenses, but they’ve got a record now of this being a thing.

Ultimately, you cannot do anything for your friend. They have to appeal and appeal again until they get the official “no more appeals will be accepted” response. There isn’t any other recourse and it’s only something your friend can do. You have no place in the discussion between them and Blizzard.

[EDIT]
Adding some links from another similar case to back up what I said.

8 Likes
3

The appeal is just a request for a GM to review the logs, to see if the penalty that was applied was appropriate, and is not meant to provide the details your friend asked for. Cheaters would love for this type of detail to avoid future detection, so sadly it won’t be given.

The penalty could have been late applied for something that happened before the dates noted, sadly there is not much more information that can be provided here, other then to encourage your friend to appeal until support states not further appeals will be accepted.

The number of reports mean very little, one report could cause the same penalty as a number of reports, as long as the Gm reviewing the report and in game logs finds evidence of rule breaking. Though GM staff are human, which is why we currently have the appeals process.

9 Likes
4

I won’t debate the nuances of battlegrounds, but being a lemming rather than performing an impactful task (e.g. capping an objective) for fear of being reported/banned is not a good MO for a game.

I understand my word is not something they will take, but it could also indicate there is data in the various logs of actions. My issue isn’t with the build up to this. It is how the post-suspension actions have played out.

5

Please look to my post above where I added screenshots from a recent post under a similar situation. It’s not for us to argue or debate, this is Blizzard’s stance/thoughts. If it’s something you and your friend may like to see changed, you can certainly suggest it in the Battleground’s forum so the Devs can see it, or through the in-game suggestion interface.

I mean this as kindly as I can make it. You have absolutely no dog in this race. Everything is between your friend and Blizzard. Whether you agree or disagree or played with them every single moment of every single day - their account was the one sanctioned. They have a history of non-participation, so it’s a little more damning the second time around. I can appreciate that you want to help them out, but you can do absolutely nothing except forward along the advice to keep appealing until they’re told to stop, and perhaps change their method of playing since it’s now gotten them in trouble twice.

9 Likes
6

The title is more than a little misleading, Tedmoosby. Reports for non-participation, even if made by a lot of players, have limited outcomes.

The first is during individual matches. If you were to be reported for non-participation to the point where it triggered the /afk system then you would receive a debuff that would require you to get into combat soon after. If you do not get into combat you will be removed from the Battleground with a debuff.

The second is that those reports may prompt an additional investigation into the level of participation that is taking place in those matches. It is important to understand that these investigations do not look at a single match, they look at multiple matches.

That is very likely, as in many cases a lone “defender” isn’t seen by everyone as actually participating because the bulk of the fighting, and the fighters, are at other locations pushing forward. If enough of the group you are with doesn’t see defending a point alone as a valid strategy, it might be a good idea to work with the current group and adopt their strategy instead of fighting to implement your own, solo.

Sorry, we simply will not provide details of our investigation to avoid people attempting to skirt the system.

That is simply a notification that the behavior your friend may be exhibiting, such as participation in public chat, is being reported by other players. It is a warning to examine that behavior and try to curb it.

The only automatic action that will result if they continue to receive reports is that they may be temporarily squelched while related reports are reviewed. That squelch can last 24 hours and can be appealed. If chat is found by a Game Master that violates our policies further action may be taken which can include a temporary silence or suspension from the game.

We cannot provide details based on warning reported, that is not the point of the system.

Again, mass reports do not lead to account closures or suspensions unless and until those reports are reviewed for inappropriate content and then action is taken. You should only “live in fear”, if you are violating those policies.

Without knowing who your friend is I cannot really look at their account, nor if I could would I really be able to provide details but it seems to me the appeal process is working exactly how it is intended to. The non-participation appeal was reviewed and upheld, no details are supposed to be provided at any point. The second, what sounds like just a warning, doesn’t need to be appealed because no negative actions have happened yet, it is just a “Hey, a bunch of people think your behavior isn’t acceptable, maybe cool it a bit” notification.

14 Likes
7

Familiar with this one. The player in question never received the debuff from this function - Idol or Inactive.

The other reporting options under “Report Player for” is the more likely scenario. I can see how evidence for Language, Name, or Guild Name would be provided easily by the system. Cheating is likely much more ambiguous in terms of the data generated.

It makes sense why you can not provide those details for the reasons you stated, but it also puts the player in a tough spot. If they do not know what they are suspended for when they believe they are playing in accordance with the EULA/TOS, then how are they supposed to correct their behavior? You’re asking them to find a rock and hope they get it right. This is exacerbated if what Kozzae said is true and the second suspension could be a result of things that happened before the first. This, coupled with no ability to discuss or refute the situation, is what drives me to live in fear.

I have my doubts about whether the review requested through the initial appeal was done properly or with any objectivity. The appeal was completed 12/24 and could’ve been done by someone wanted to wrap up for the day to get home to family. I wouldn’t be surprised if they concluded that the reports filed, and not the actions taken by the player, were valid and closed the review. A second look at this would be greatly appreciated as any subsequent appeals reference the original review.

1 Like
8

Yes, however, a category like “Cheating” isn’t specifically investigated by our Game Master staff. In most cases that data is directed towards our Hacks team who perform those investigations. Cheating can be fairly ambiguous, which is why we have policies and procedures around what we consider cheating. Just as we have specific criteria that we look for when we are determining if someone is participating in Battlegrounds or not.

Yeah, it really doesn’t work like that. If a Game Master didn’t have enough time before they needed to clock out for the day they would either, not pull a new ticket, assign the ticket to another Game Master who did have time, or simply put the ticket back into the queue for the next available Game Master to take.

Your friend will want to submit a new appeal then. That is the only avenue available for an appeal. Even if your friend were the one posting on the forum we wouldn’t be able to do anything else here, this is not an avenue for appeal.

14 Likes
9

Then they should look into possible issues with their UI or an addon may be blocking it from showing up. They might want to consider a Full UI Reset to rule out such issues.

They weren’t reported for cheating, they were reported as AFK.

In this case, it’s actually just as simple as staying in the fight. Stop camping a spot with no action and join the rest of the group.

You’re welcome to doubt how they handle appeals, but since this isn’t even your appeal, you’re basing it completely on the say-so of your friend.

Hopefully your friend re-opened their appeal (or started a new one) as that’s the only way for it to be looked into again.

8 Likes
10

As much as I would like to believe the scenario about not pulling a new ticket, I’ve been around the corporate world long enough to know better. Especially when Blizzard has outsourced several of it’s non-developmental activities such as customer care. A service contract with throughput targets likely drives those relationships and the actual outcomes being irrelevant.

Requesting an appeal through the system is effectively asking him to bash his head against the wall more than he already has. A third party, likely the same, will review it and “determine” no further action is required. Assistance to help facilitate a review by a, for lack of better terms, badged Blizzard employee would be appreciated.

He has pulled his subscription as he feels as though he cannot play the game without being at risk of being banned longer for simply PvPing. Some insight into how to find the behavioral rock would go a long ways here.

11

Except they haven’t? It’s handled in-house. As far as I’m aware it’s always been in-house, despite the narrative people like to spin.

12 Likes
12

Yeah no, that’s not what happened as everything with Blizzard like this is done in-house. Seeing as there’s info that most folks don’t want some random person getting and using whom knows what.

This isn’t a “keep putting a ticket to get a ‘good’ GM.” The folks who handle the appeals follow the same rules on how to handle things. There isn’t a way to get what one wants because they say such.

Stop “defending” and go fight with the rest of the group.

7 Likes
13

Thanks for your input. I would like to keep this between me and Vrakthris.

14

Just an FYI, the forums isn’t a ticket, and the blues here ain’t able to help in this cast. Along with the fact anyone in good standing can reply to any given thread.

7 Likes
15

Customer Support is a forum for players to assist other players. We’re allowed to offer what we can, and if any of us were spinning untruths or providing false information, it would quickly be called out and/or removed.

You’re operating with distinctly incorrect information in quite a few areas. Myself and others are only trying to get you in the right direction and help where we can.

8 Likes
16

I can see Vrak typing, but just a reminder, anyone with an account can post on these forums. If you want private communication between you and Blizzard, the best way to accomplish that is through a ticket.

10 Likes
18

I’m sorry your experience is different, but that doesn’t make you correct. It is also important to understand that, our Support staff is our Support staff who are trained by us and follow the policies and procedures that we have laid out.

No, it’s asking them to submit another appeal. A “badged Blizzard employee” does review the appeals. Your belief to the contrary doesn’t change that.

I’m sorry to hear that. I did already provide insight into what may be the issue with the behavior. Participating in a group match and going your own way is generally not in the spirit of a group endeavor.

Since there really isn’t more that I can provide here, and you seem to feel that I am lying to you I don’t really see a reason to keep this thread open.

I do wish your friend well wherever their gaming takes them.

14 Likes
19

You are welcome to ignore their replies, or simple not answer them. They however, have every right to post here. If you wish to have a private discussion with staff you’ll want to submit a ticket, though as was pointed out earlier, this matter does not involve you and we’ll not be able discuss your friend’s account with you.

19 Likes