The Official Halo MCC "Why was I banned?" thread

Hello.

I attempted to go online with a friend of mine not too long ago to play Matchmaking on the PC version of the MCC. I have a message that says I am banned for literally one whole month. I have no idea why. I wasn't betraying anybody, I wasn't AFKing last night, I wasn't doing anything to manipulate the game, and yet all of a sudden, I am banned for a whole month with no explanation. At the very least, you should inform people of WHY they're being temporarily banned in the ban window that pops up.

You guys seriously should consider eliminating the ban function outside of competitive matchmaking for quitting, poor connection quality, and getting booted due to connectivity issues. I have a feeling this is related to getting disconnected from matches too often. Penalizing players for something out of their control is a serious problem that you need to address. I'm not going to bother playing this game anymore if these kinds of issues keep popping up. I am absolutely furious right now. Please resolve this. At least let me know WHY I was banned.

Chimera30 wrote:

a dyin hobo wrote:

Hello.

I attempted to go online with a friend of mine not too long ago to play Matchmaking on the PC version of the MCC. I have a message that says I am banned for literally one whole month. I have no idea why. I wasn't betraying anybody, I wasn't AFKing last night, I wasn't doing anything to manipulate the game, and yet all of a sudden, I am banned for a whole month with no explanation. At the very least, you should inform people of WHY they're being temporarily banned in the ban window that pops up.

You guys seriously should consider eliminating the ban function outside of competitive matchmaking for quitting, poor connection quality, and getting booted due to connectivity issues. I have a feeling this is related to getting disconnected from matches too often. Penalizing players for something out of their control is a serious problem that you need to address. I'm not going to bother playing this game anymore if these kinds of issues keep popping up. I am absolutely furious right now. Please resolve this. At least let me know WHY I was banned.

https://support.halowaypoint.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037287112-Why-Did-I-Get-Banned-
Aside from quitting, there are other behaviors that can lead to matchmaking bans. Certain types of unsporting behavior can lead to rather lengthy bans in MCC, particularly behaviors revolving around XP farming by exploiting mechanics of certain gametypes. While quit bans are issued automatically, a month-long ban would have to be manually implemented by 343, likely as a result of an investigation into your account. If you believe you've been falsely banned, you can submit a ticket on the support site to have that investigated.

Thank you for replying.

I'm not sure why it would be XP related. I have never exploited the online gameplay mechanics on MCC to XPboost. I play a lot of Big Team Battle with my friends, and when we play Heavies we run the Gauss hog frequently. I'm a really good warthog driver and he's an excellent gunner (it helps immensely that the Gauss is OP as ****), so we both tend to rack up a crap load of kills and assists together. But that still doesn't make sense to me because why would someone get a one month ban for using an object put into the game by 343 for use by the players. On maps like Devastation (I think that's the name of the map in the heavies rotation for Reach), spawn killing players with the Gauss hog is incredibly easy because the Gauss turret is OP as all Hell and strafing runs around the base can be completed like clockwork. But wouldn't he have been banned too?

The only other thing I can think of that would constitute a one month ban would be some really inappropriate language I was using in one of the game chats a few weeks ago. But I think I would have been banned long before yesterday for something like that, and I was also not the only one going off in the chat during that game, so others most likely would have gotten banned as well.

If it isn't for that, I'm thinking this has to be some sort of mistake. I'll submit a ticket, and hopefully I'll get a response back soon. I'm really just so confused. I might goof off in a game or two here or there but it's not a regular thing, and it's usually in a party of friends, not randomized teammates.

On a side note, please seriously consider eliminating the ban mechanic for connectivity issues and quitting in Social. It's freaking ridiculous. I think one of the biggest mistakes that Bungie and 343 made in the past decade was trying to cater to the try hards. These guys b**** and moan about "casuals," people who might not play the game night and day, and have tilted the online player experience so in favor of this obnoxiously vocal minority that is never satisfied, that others who like to play the game casually have to suffer for it even in social gametypes.

I have received numerous temporary bans for connectivity issues that resulted in me getting dropped from online matchmaking games, and those being in the place of Social (non competitive) matchmaking contradicts the idea of a casual space for people to play for fun.

I used to go hard back in the day on Halo 3 and Reach. I was max rank in both games (50 Five Star in Halo 3 and Inheritor on Reach). But I never complained like the anti-casual types did, and I think we're in the present situation in part because these jerks are never happy. As a grown adult now with a steady job and bills to pay, not everyone has the time or the desire to devote endless hours to constantly playing by every unspoken rule of competitive gaming. Please get rid of the matchmaking penalties in social aside from betraying and manipulating game mechanics either in game or via outside resources. Not everything has to be so strict and it really dissuades me from playing this game online.

Anyways, thanks again for replying. I'll look into it further on my end by submitting a ticket. Take care.

Hello, I keep getting banned, and I have no idea why. It gives no reason, it gives no notification, I'll finish a match, and then it'll say I'm banned, but I'm not running any programs, playing as normally as possible. It happened twice in a span of 20 minutes, with me playing one round in between. What is the point of the ban system if it's banning randomly?

Hello. Today (6/17/20) I just logged in on PC to play some multiplayer after unsuccessfully trying to play some online co-op campaign with a friend. Unfortunately, I was met with a ban lasting until 6/22/20, 9:22 PM.

Now mind you, I don't rage quit, lag out, or speak with toxicity. The series of games I played was infection on 6/2, all of which I completed. Yet somehow I managed to get banned for 20 days. So my question is, why? At the very least, this system needs to provide some clarification, even if this was a mistake.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate that this thread is 89 pages strong, and they still don't get that a ban for disconnecting is wrong?

I don't mean to sound toxic, but holy frijoles is it annoying. Not only does your internet crap out on ya in that moment, but the game comes around to take a dump on you as well.

Yes the ban is short, but it's ANNOYING. Habitual quitters, also annoying, but the banning of people just trying to play the damn game, is that fun? No. And what's the point of games? To have fun.

Unfortunately, I'll say it again, I see many players turned away from the MCC because of the heavy handed bans, including friends. We straight up don't play on matchmaking anymore together because it's annoying if we lag out or if much of our team quit because the team balancing is kinda screwed up and the match is moving at a snail's pace and we quit, we're stuck at the matchmaking menu twiddling our thumbs. If we quit, fine, give me a ban, but the fact that a DC can count a quit resulting in a longer ban if you ever have to quit is just mind blowing.

Please 343, please, fix the DC bans. It's throttling the population of your game.

And if I hear one more time "but players can unplug their routers to get around the ban" I'll jump out a window of a multi story building. The miniscule amount of players that'd actually get off their seat and take the time to do that would be worth putting up with if it meant we at least got a chance to get back into the action when the internet commits suicide for a second.

Im finished :)

a dyin hobo wrote:

Chimera30 wrote:

a dyin hobo wrote:

I'm not sure why it would be XP related. I have never exploited the online gameplay mechanics on MCC to XPboost.

"Swordlining" is an example of a bannable XP farming behavior (you can look up what that is if you don't know). If you are playing a match normally then that's probably not the issue.

a dyin hobo wrote:

The only other thing I can think of that would constitute a one month ban would be some really inappropriate language I was using in one of the game chats a few weeks ago. But I think I would have been banned long before yesterday for something like that, and I was also not the only one going off in the chat during that game, so others most likely would have gotten banned as well.

343 recently made a statement about being better about punishing usage of bigoted and discriminatory language. Depending on what kind of "inappropriate" language you used, this could be the consequence. There is no statute of limitations when it comes to punishment for misuse of chat.

a dyin hobo wrote:

I have received numerous temporary bans for connectivity issues that resulted in me getting dropped from online matchmaking games, and those being in the place of Social (non competitive) matchmaking contradicts the idea of a casual space for people to play for fun.

People who go into the social playlists deserve the right to a normal game, free from disruptions like quitters, idlers, and griefers. Just because it's a social playlist doesn't mean there isn't etiquette or that you shouldn't be considerate of the time of the other players in the match. Social playlists are not "anything goes" or "no rules" playlists. They're just playlists where players can go to have a normal matchmaking experience without the stress of worrying about rank. And since turning off a router or unplugging an ethernet cable looks the same to the system as an accidental disconnect, all DNFs have to be treated the same.

Thanks for your help the other day regarding this issue. I received an answer from support, and it was from the game I suspected. It was due to some inappropriate language in game chat, so the ban was definitely my fault.

With that being said, I stand by the others in this thread. Banning people for connection issues in social games is absolutely ridiculous and annoying. It needs to go. People cannot control what their ISP network does and does not do to a large extent, under normal use when using their services to play online. The mechanic is inherently unfair because of the fact that the ban system cannot detect when the connection issues were a matter malicious intent, or simply (and often in most cases) a matter of shoddy internet connection, which is outside the control of the user.

While I completely agree with you that other gamers and users of matchmaking, even in the social games playlists have every right to be able to play the game as intended, punishing people for an issue outside of their control when that doesn't have to be the case is a combination of laziness and indifference surrounding the matter.

Please reconsider the matchmaking bans for connection quality issues in social games. I play social games to have fun. Not to show off. I think many others would agree. At the very least, please consider looking into a way for the system to detect the difference between an intentional quit/disconnect, and an ISP connection error. I don't think that creating something like that would be all too difficult given the right equipment and the right people. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know.

Good day.

100% agree

zeArmyofHalen wrote:

I did fall into the bad habit of some toxic language

Likely that.

Well its been months so i came back and what do you know I am still getting banned from quitting 1 game even if its just my first time back. Seriously 343 fix your match making!

Willko wrote:

MrDylan1997 wrote:

Well its been months so i came back and what do you know I am still getting banned from quitting 1 game even if its just my first time back. Seriously 343 fix your match making!

It sounds like it's working as intended. You SHOULD get banned for quitting 1 game. There's nothing 343 can do to fix your sense of sportsmanship.

I quit the freaking game because my teammates werent even playing!. They were all afking the whole game. So whats the point in playing if no one is helping me period!? God I hate people like you who support a broken system.

Willko wrote:

MrDylan1997 wrote:

Willko wrote:

MrDylan1997 wrote:

Well its been months so i came back and what do you know I am still getting banned from quitting 1 game even if its just my first time back. Seriously 343 fix your match making!

It sounds like it's working as intended. You SHOULD get banned for quitting 1 game. There's nothing 343 can do to fix your sense of sportsmanship.

I quit the freaking game because my teammates werent even playing!. They were all afking the whole game. So whats the point in playing if no one is helping me period!? God I hate people like you who support a broken system.

It sounds like it would make more sense to be in favor of stricter AFK penalties than to be in favor of lesser quit penalties.

you know what? I am done........I am done with this stupid game! I am tired of the ban system being changed every time and I am tired playing with morons all the freaking time!. This game has pissed me off so many times that I don't understand why I keep giving it many chances.