Video games like Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Fall Guys have held our teenagers and game enthusiasts captive with exciting features, skins, game modes, and seasons. However, among enthusiastic players who are set to work their way up in the system by playing legitimately, we find cheaters who use third party assistance to get an advantage while playing these games.
Anti-Cheat software is a security mechanism most video games have implemented to detect the use of third-party software that interferes with game files during gameplay of these video games.
Not all Anti-Cheat systems are bullet-proof. Unjustified game bans and suspensions are quite common in the online gaming world. And as the companies behind these games constantly work to improve processes, most of these unjustified game bans are lifted when they are discovered.
However, we’re about to meet a video game giant that has a very different view on the concept of reversing game bans.
Meet Activision – the video game publisher behind the Call of Duty games, owned by Activision Blizzard.
Activision has a very different view of reversing game bans. According to their terms, once a ban is given out, you may not appeal it, or have it reversed. Unless – of course, you’re someone with a decently sized fan base and connections in big places. Unfair? Yes, we thought so too.
It is unclear how Activision’s anti-cheat software works, or how they class a player as a cheater. However, we’ve also met with a professional video game player from Norway who had their account falsely permanently banned – although they claim to have never cheated in the game.
– I was in the middle of a game of Search and Destroy on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare when my game suddenly crashed with a DirectX error, which is quite common. As I would, I exited the game to restart it, only to be met with a message stating that my account has been permanently banned with no reason provided.
Our research shows that our source is not alone. Members of the Call of Duty community on Reddit have reported since the beginning of time that they’ve fallen victim to inaccurate and false game bans with no reason provided to them. Contacting support? Impossible.
“Temporary and permanent suspensions from all game modes are final and are not subject to review. Activision Support cannot assist with or answer questions about enforcements.”
To all our gamers who stumble upon this article in the hope to retrieve their accounts from an unjustified game ban – it could appear that all hope is out. And playing the game on a different account?
– Obviously, after my account was unfairly banned and I realized that I can’t appeal it, I started a new account. We’re in quarantine, so there’s really not much to do other than play video games. But to my shock, it appears that Activision doesn’t just ban your account. They also ban your machine ID, as my new account was instantly permanently banned upon registration as well.
