To appeal or question a penalty

Even though the moderators do their best to make balanced assessments when it comes to imposing penalties, there are occasions when mistakes occur. For this reason, a penalized player has the right to appeal or question their penalty once. This can be done if the player believes they have been wrongly convicted or if they feel they have been penalized too harshly.

Appeals are only handled if sent to the support team and are usually handled by the moderator who issued the penalty. When appealing a penalty, it is important to:

• Tell the truth

• Explain what you think is wrong with the penalty

• Present a request for how you think the penalty should be changed

• Argue why you believe the penalty is unjust

Just because you appeal a penalty does not automatically mean there will be any changes. The moderator handling an appeal will review the incident and investigate whether it could have been handled differently. The investigation is based on the arguments and requests presented by the appealing player, so the support case with the appeal must be clear, correct, and comprehensive. A serious and constructive post with a lot of information increases the chance of having the penalty changed.

Things to consider

There are a few things to keep in mind when appealing a penalty:

• The moderator punished you because you committed a rule violation, not for personal reasons. Be constructive and use polite language in your appeal.

• If an appeal is unreadable, incomplete, or without substance, it may be rejected without further action.

• A penalty can only be appealed once. Do not abuse the opportunity if you are penalized and choose to appeal.

• A penalty can become more severe after an appeal if the moderator finds new circumstances that warrant a harsher penalty.