“Why can’t I access the game? Did I get banned?”
As a player, you agree to follow our Terms of Use and Code of Conduct upon usage of our services, and Nexon has a right to ban accounts that violate these guidelines. Nexon America has various ways of enforcing this policy, ranging from chat and communication blocking, to temporarily suspending an account from accessing the game, to a full ban placed on the account that prevent access to all Nexon games. If your account has been banned from playing a game, you should see a message upon logging into your character in game stating that the account is blocked, and a duration for how long the block is.
“I got banned for no reason. Where is the proof?”
Every ban placed on an account has a reason associated to the ban (e.g., hacking, botting, etc.), and has evidence that has been gathered by GM's (Game Masters) either in-game or through game logs. Other bans are placed by Nexon's proprietary game security system, "Nexon Game Security" (a.k.a NGS). Bans done by this system are based on criteria set by GM's that they have deemed to be abusive in nature. Rarely does a ban not have a valid reason or some form of evidence behind it. If a ban is found without proper or sufficient evidence for the ban, the ban will be released.
All evidence gathered by Nexon including video evidence, screenshots, game data, game logs, chat logs, player reports, etc. are proprietary and will not be shared with the player. While we understand that this is an inconvenience to banned players who wish to see proof, this is a necessary policy that Nexon must adhere to. Evidence gathered against a player often contains proprietary information such as discrete moderating methods, various in game commands, proprietary tool features, detection criteria, player personal information, and other forms of sensitive information. This information in the wrong hands may then be used to bypass security systems and game moderation methods that are currently in place. This would ultimately make it harder for GM's to keep truly abusive players away from the game.
“Why is another player's ban different from my ban?”
The punishment type and duration placed on a player account is in line with the degree of the abuse cited. Ban severity for each game is different, and ban durations can vary per game, per offense. Each account ban is different in nature, and Nexon GM's will try and follow certain guidelines for each game per ban. Ultimately the severity and duration of an account ban is at the discretion of the GM. This is why certain bans can feel a bit more severe than other bans. Account bans don’t necessarily occur right away, and it is not uncommon for an account ban to be deferred to a later date, so long as there is evidence that has been placed against the account. This evidence may be gathered over a period of time as we track what appears to be suspicious activity on the account.
“Who can I talk to about my ban? Where can I turn to appeal my ban?”
We encourage players to submit an appeal if they believe their ban is unjust. We stress the importance on how to properly submit an appeal for a game ban. You can do so by accessing the support portal, choosing the game you were banned in, and then clicking on “Submit a request.” Please choose “Account Related”, then “Ban or Suspension Appeals” as categories.
When appealing a ban, please make sure to provide key details such as your email, characters played, time of ban, error messages you encountered, and any previous tickets that may have been submitted about the ban. Leaving out key information, providing information for a separate account, or providing extra or erroneous information can hinder the investigation into the ban. Agents will sometimes ask you to provide information to help us verify the ownership of the account before any actions are done. Please make sure that the information provided in an appeal is as accurate as possible and not false in nature. Appeals found to have inaccurate information will often be denied. We strive to be fair in this process, so there is no preferential treatment for appeals. Indicating that you are a spending player or someone who has played the game for years, though greatly appreciated, cannot have any bearing on the investigation into the account or ban in question. When responding to a player, agents will try and be as transparent as they can, revealing as much information about a ban as they are able to disclose. However, please understand that for the same reasons as detailed above, we cannot provide a player certain details or aspects to their ban. We apologize for this.
We understand that dealing with an account ban can be frustrating in nature. We hope that a player never has to encounter this process while using our services. Nexon will strive to do its best to address the player's concerns and investigate account bans thoroughly to provide a better service to all of our players.