I Quit - My Story and Message To The Community
Hi, my name is Steve, or as I’m better known, Roxas. I’m 17 years old and have been playing this game for the better part of 7 years, almost half my life. Time flies when I say it like that.
I know many of these “I quit” posts come and go, but I actually have something worthwhile to talk about. For the last few months, I have been playing Battlegrounds religiously, pushing for the top spots in Gladiator Circuit. Along the way, I have encountered several players who have accused me of cheating, using third party software and such. It reached such extremes that even high profile YouTubers started calling me out publicly. I wont lie, it got a bit scary, seeing all the hate thrown my way, when I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong. I can’t play a match of Battlegrounds without seeing a Loki emote thrown my way. I’m no softie, but this was getting to such extremes that I was genuinely scared my account would suffer due to the ever increasing defamation.
I ended up contacting support, asking them a simple question. Will my account be penalized simply because of accusations? Their answer was reassuring and straightforward. They stated that as long as I hadn’t broken any ToS, I would be fine. That obviously makes sense but sometimes you just have to hear it from someone.
This support ticket was sent back in December, 2022. Since then, the belittling has gotten worse, seeing Line screenshots of people saying the most vulgar of things about me from people in the community I held in high regard. Still, it didn’t bother me as much knowing my actual in-game experience wouldn’t be affected by these remarks.
Flash forward to this season and I see the daunting message that my account has been banned for 7 days for breaking the ToS. I know many of you will immediately say that I was cheating all along, but I wasn’t. You’ll have to take my word on that for the remainder of this story. I contacted support, asking them why my account was banned. They claim it’s for cheating, which, I already had a sneaking suspicion would be the supposed reason. I respond back, stating I’ve never used any third party programs to modify the game, asking them when and how I cheated if they were so certain of their cause. I’ve since been ignored completely by support.
Humor the thought for a minute that I’m that one in a million player who claims they’re not cheating and have been wrongfully banned. That would make this situation absolutely horrific, to say the least. It would mean that I’ve been simply banned for being too skilled, too dedicated. The high profile players collectively reporting me led to this ban, because they couldn’t stand losing. Again, humor that thought for a moment.
This post will probably be removed for tinfoil hatting, but I just need to get my story out. I think it’s important to remember that there’s always a face behind a username. This is why I’m taking a step back from the game. I’ve been ridiculed, penalized and ostracized for being dedicated. Even ignoring the ban, seeing the amount of hate I got as a player with no real evidence to back any claims is something I don’t want to be part of.
This leads me to my conclusion. Every penny, second, sliver of energy you, the player, spend on this game. Think about how else you could spend it. I’m not saying to completely stop spending or playing, always do what makes you happy. Just remember that it’s a game. They don’t own you. Sure, they regulate the forums, the game, the offers, etc. We own the game. Not Kabam, not the YouTubers. Without us, there is no Marvel Contest of Champions.