Account restrictions

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A restriction is a timeout from the community forced upon accounts that exhibit abnormal, suspicious, or rule-breaking behaviour.

When an account is restricted, it is unable to interact with the community until the restriction is lifted. Restricted players can still continue playing the game, downloading beatmaps and submitting scores, but their profile will be invisible to others.

The following features are disabled for restricted accounts:

• ability to enter official contests
• ability to participate in and staff for officially supported tournaments and contests
• ability to participate in multiplayer rooms
• in-game chat
• private messaging
• posting in forum threads or comment sections
• uploading or updating beatmaps
• updating profile details
• store purchases

My account has been restricted! What do I do?

If your account has been restricted, do not panic. Please follow these steps:

• Wait 24 hours. Some restrictions are the results of automated processes. As we check every new restriction daily, please wait 24 hours — if your restriction was erroneous, it will hopefully be lifted within that time.
• Contact our account support team. If your account remains restricted after that time, please send an email to accounts@ppy.sh from the email address attached to your account to ask for details on your restriction. Make sure you include your username, along with any details you can provide as to why you think you may have been restricted. The more you tell us, the easier it is for us to resolve the issue.
• If you strongly believe that your restriction is erroneous, please contact us immediately so that we can discuss your case.

If your account has become restricted for breaking the rules, you must wait a minimum of three months before you can send an appeal. This time period is referred to as a cooldown by us, and if you have cheated, it is six months instead.

If your original account is not restricted, you may log into it and continue playing normally, but make sure not to log into your multi-accounts from then on, as doing so may lead to further punishment.

If you have recently been granted an appeal and your account becomes restricted again after playing, do not panic! Automated systems may have falsely flagged your account, but you will be unrestricted again within 24 hours if this is found to be the case. Feel free to send us an email or a tweet to catch our attention and be unrestricted faster!

Why am I restricted?

There are several reasons why an account might be restricted.

• It is not your first account. Multi-accounting is against the rules. Any accounts other than a player's first will become permanently restricted, but their original one will in most cases be left open and the user is encouraged to continue playing on it. If the multi-accounting is severe or abusive, a silence may be applied to their original account as a warning to cease creating new ones, and a restriction will be placed on the main account if the multi-accounting behaviour continues. If your account is restricted and you know you own other ones, please do not continue accessing the restricted accounts you have and stick to playing on your original one. If you have trouble accessing or verifying it, please send us an email at accounts@ppy.sh so that we can help you recover access to it.
• You have allowed someone to play on your account. Account sharing is also against the rules. If you allow someone to use your account, it will be restricted, and the player who used it will likely receive a silence on their account or be restricted themselves. If this happened accidentally, please let us know as soon as possible by sending an email to accounts@ppy.sh.
• You cheated. Using a third-party program, macros, or any form of unfair advantage will result in an immediate restriction.
• Other cases. The accounts team reserves the right to restrict an account for cases that are not covered by the three above.

If an account has been found to be rightfully restricted, we will ask that the user waits for some time before sending their appeal. This is referred to as a cooldown, and its duration varies depending on the offences that have taken place.

What do I do while on cooldown before appealing?

• Keep enjoying the game! While your account is restricted and you are on cooldown, you are more than welcome to continue playing the game (as long as you play on your original account!). The scores you achieve while restricted will be submitted, and unless your account is rolled back, they will remain after you become unrestricted.
• Maintain good behaviour. We understand that being restricted can be frustrating, but think of it as a chance to take some time off, away from the community. Try to avoid interacting with the community for at least a few days (whether it be via Discord, social media, or other forms of contact) to cool down and reflect on the actions that may have contributed to your account being restricted.
• Make sure you respect the rules. Long-term restrictions are punishments for breaking the rules. If you continue to do so while restricted, the cooldown before you can appeal will be reset to at least three months from your last offence. This includes, for example, continuing to cheat (six months in this case), accessing others' accounts, or creating new accounts to evade a restriction.
• Follow the support team's instructions. The cooldown period is a chance to take time off and reflect on your actions. If you attempt submitting an appeal before the cooldown period is over, your emails will be ignored. If you are unsure when your cooldown expires, when you will be allowed to appeal, or which of your accounts you should be playing on (and appealing from), you are welcome to send us an email to ask.
• Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. As long as you are not trying to circumvent punishment, we will happily answer any questions you have about your account's restriction!

My cooldown has passed. How do I appeal?

You can appeal by sending an email to accounts@ppy.sh including the username of your account. Make sure you are sending the appeal from the email address associated with your account. After you send your appeal, expect a reply within one week. If you have not received one by then, please contact us on twitter or by email — there is a chance we may not have received it.

When appealing, we expect the following points to be covered:

• Account history. It does not need to be too detailed. This should include all your breaches of the major rules (multi-accounting, account sharing, cheating, or major silences). You do not need to remember every date, every silence, or every account you created, as long as you are honest with what you did. This includes any rules you have broken while restricted, if applicable.
• Why you broke the rules. An explanation as to what led you to decide to create new accounts, give your account away, cheat, etc. will help us (and you) determine whether or not you are at risk of offending again. If you continued offending while restricted, we are also interested in knowing why.
• How you obtained the means to do so. This applies mostly to cheating — we want to know where you obtained the tool you used, how you came across it, and whether or not it is still present on your computer.
• Why we should allow you back. Most of the time, this ties into the second point. We just want to ensure that you will not be breaking the rules again! Please understand that the more rule violations in your account's history, the more we will expect in this section of the appeal.

What if my appeal is granted?

If we decide to let you return, we will require that you agree to some terms before unrestricting your account.

• You will not offend again. This includes cheating and account sharing.
• You will not create another account, be it for yourself or someone else.
• You should not associate with other accounts including playing on shared computers.
• Any major misbehaviour will result in immediate restriction. This includes major silences.

Appeal returnees under the standard terms above are also banned from official and badged tournaments, both as a competitor and member of the tournament's team. The duration of this ban is 1 year per offence (if a user is on their second appeal, the ban lasts 2 years). The unrestriction email will clarify the duration of this ban.

Cheating or account sharing during an official or badged tournament will lead to the user's indefinite ban from any future ones. This ban can be appealed after two years, but will be granted only if the user has put significant effort into improving community tournaments.

Some players may become restricted again once they start playing after having their appeal granted. This is an automated process and will generally be removed within 24 hours. Don't hesitate to ask questions on Twitter at @osusupport or by sending an email to accounts@ppy.sh if this happens to you!

Some offences will lead to your account being rolled back upon unrestriction. They are meant to delete illegitimate scores that were submitted on your account across all modes, as well as unlocked medals and profile badges. Playcount and playtime will not be modified.

My appeal has been denied!

There are several reasons why an appeal might be denied.

• It was sent too early. If the cooldown for your account has not yet passed, your appeal will be denied. If you are unsure when you can actually appeal, please reply to our answer — we will give you the correct date.
• Your appeal was insufficient or incomplete. If your appeal does not sufficiently cover the four points listed above, we will request that you write a more complete one. This does not necessarily reset the cooldown for your account and you are free to send your new appeal at any point in time! However, if you attempted to lie or hide major rule violations you committed (mainly multi-accounting or cheating), your appeal will be denied for being non-truthful, and your cooldown will be reset to at least three months. This is another chance for you to reflect on your actions and make sure you did not forget anything.
• You have been evading or playing on other accounts. Creating another account to be able to play online while your account is restricted is considered an attempt at evading the restriction and will reset your cooldown to at least three months from the date you created the account. If you attempt evading too many times, your appeal might be permanently denied. If you are still accessing or playing on your multi-accounts while restricted, your cooldown will also be reset. Remember that multi-accounting is against the rules and you are expected to only play on your original account. If you are unsure which account counts as your original account, send us an email and we will let you know!
• You continued offending while restricted. There is no reason to unrestrict someone who continues to break the rules even after having been restricted. If you do continue offending, the cooldown for your account will be reset to your last offence. In the case of extreme or continuous offences, your appeal might be permanently denied.
• Your history is too severe. In cases of extreme offenders, or players who get restricted again after they have already been unrestricted on a successful appeal, we might simply state that your history is too severe to rejoin the game at the current time. Should this apply to you, we recommend waiting a long time before appealing again, and making sure you do not break any further rules in that time.

What happens if this isn't my first time appealing?

In most cases, each restriction on your account doubles the length of the next restriction and the cooldown associated with it.

For example, if you are restricted for cheating, return on appeal, then cheat again, you will be restricted for a minimum of 12 months (double the six months base) before we will review any kind of appeal from you. If you return after this and cheat once again, you will be restricted for a minimum of 24 months.

As an additional note, it becomes progressively harder to return on any kind of appeal after your first offense, as we must consider your past actions and whether unrestricting you is worth the time and risk involved at all. Very few (if any) players successfully return to the community after their third restriction.

My emails are being ignored / I don't think my appeal was handled fairly

In the event that you feel your emails are not being read or addressed properly by our support team, please send us a full email at appeal-review@ppy.sh containing the following information:

• How long you have been restricted for
• The main reason why you think you've been restricted
• Any previous appeals you've sent in that have been ignored/refused
• A short summary of why you're unhappy with your appeal outcome (if applicable)

All emails sent to the appeal review address will be investigated by a third party that isn't involved in the day-to-day operations of the support team and flagged for revision or further review.

Please understand that sending an email to this address only guarantees a second look/initial answer to your appeal, it does not guarantee a change in any outcome if you have been found to be violating the expectations involved in the appealing process.

We will only respond to requests for appeal review/investigation via emails sent to appeal-review@ppy.sh. Please don't try to contact the support team members (or members of the volunteer teams) via Twitter, Discord, or any other platform in order to circumvent this policy — they cannot help you.

Common restriction reasons and cooldowns