I’ve been bad…and I need to appeal a RUST ban.
We all make mistakes; some of us gamble away the rent money, lie, cheat and steal. Worst, still, are those that use hacks and third-party programs while playing video games online. For shame! Sometimes, we’re even accused of hacking erroneously.
Okay, without passing too much judgment or parading people through crowded streets, nude, followed by a hooded priestess with a bell drawing attention to your misdeeds, there has to be something that can be done, right?
Simply put, this is not always the case. Depending on the circumstances surrounding your misdeeds, the governing body that took action, or the facts of the matter, there may be a chance at redemption. Let’s start with a few definitions to determine better what needs to be done in your specific case. Appealing bans in RUST requires a little bit of maneuvering.
The different types of RUST bans
Not all bans are created equal — in RUST especially, a ban handed out by a community or modded server admin team isn’t the end of the world. It isn’t even that big of a deal; you can’t play that server (group) anymore. But what other kinds of bans are there?
1. Community / Modded Private bans
Bans are handed out by privately owned, individual servers or server groups. These bans have little to no impact on a player’s ability to play other servers.
2. Game Developer Bans
Game Developer Bans are those handed out by Facepunch Studios directly when they have evidence of cheating or other malicious activity on an account. This is used with VAC and EAC bans and does not limit an account from playing games created by other Developers.
3. Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) Bans
Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) is an internal system used by game developers to detect cheats within their games and issue bans accordingly. A Game Ban status is also added to the applicable Steam Profile when banned via EAC detection.
4. Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) Bans
Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) Bans are issued when playing on VAC-secured servers (any RUST server in the default UI) with cheats installed on the connecting computer.
How to appeal RUST community and modded server bans
Being banned from an independently owned private server can happen to anyone who ruffles the wrong feathers, violates a server-specific rule, or even connects with a VPN enabled. The only method of appealing these bans is through (when applicable) those servers’ specified communication channels, such as Discord.
Reaching out to the game developer will do no good, as they do not directly hold influence over privately owned server groups or their administrative teams. As mentioned, being banned from an independent server does not prohibit access to most other community servers.
How to appeal RUST game developer bans
The developers of RUST have a zero-tolerance policy concerning cheating, playing with cheaters, and racism. There is a very good chance that any appeal submitted will fall on deaf ears and not change the status of the account in question.
However, for those who may have been banned in error (it can happen), there is the ever-present Submit a Request feature on the Facepunch Studios website. While there is no guarantee that Facepunch will take action on your behalf, it never hurts to try.
How to appeal RUST Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) bans
Just like the game developer ban, EAC is quite resolute in its banning decisions. For those wishing to proceed with the process anyway, EAC has its own Appeal EAC Decision page, complete with authentication steps and forms to enter all applicable information.
It is highly recommended to be glib, articulate, and not overly demanding when filling out these forms. The current turnaround time for appeals is 3 to 14 days and may ultimately result in no response at all.
How to appeal Valve Anti-Cheat bans for RUST
Officially, VAC bans CANNOT be appealed. The Valve team thoroughly reviews them with a system of checks and balances to account for accidental ban waves (which can happen). In the latter instance, Valve will notify account owners of the error, and they will remove the ban.
If you find yourself in a position where you believe you may have received an unjust VAC ban, you can always reach out directly to the Steam Support website and go through an infinite loop of options until you realize there isn’t an appeal process. Save yourself the time and wait it out; if you’re innocent, it should be lifted. If you aren’t, whoops.
What is ban evasion?
An unfortunate question in itself, ban evasion is the process by which past cheaters purchase another game key on a different steam account in the hopes that they can continue to play a game from which they were banned prior. It should be noted that every ban-enforcement authority and Facepunch themselves explicitly prohibits this.
Furthermore, non-cheating players that knowingly play with cheaters, either on their primary account or alternative accounts, are subject to being banned by the game developer on the grounds of association. These bans are also not subject to appeal.
Okay, but my investment?
So you got caught using an aim hack on the account with your Big Grin Mask; surely you can trade it to your alt account, right?
Nope.
Something not considered by a great many in the ‘cheat enabled’ community is the time, effort, and money they have already sunk into their accounts. In addition to that weekend cheat pass now being pretty useless, so are all of the skins accumulated on the account in question. They can never again be used or traded.
All bad things…
Some endings are sadder than others. You can’t rectify some mistakes in any other way than eternal penance. But hey, it’s not the end of the world. We take the lumps and soldier forth, possibly to another survival game that is more understanding (I hear The Forest is nice.)
And even if you can’t play RUST, you can still hang out with those that do. Be sure to check out our official Discord and keep us up to date on your latest Gaming adventures, whatever the game might be.
