After a recent debate, we decided to take a look at what actually happens if you get banned from PlayStation Network, and well, the details are grimmer than you might think.
When I was younger, I was a jerk. I was one of those who wasn’t shy to throw out names, talk trash and get my fingers dirty in a heated match of Halo 3 or Call of Duty. Truth be told, I was vile when I was younger, and the older me would have likely reported the crap out of my younger self, which would have likely resulted in a ban.
In recent days, however, I’m a lot tamer than I used to be. I don’t throw around insults the way I did, I don’t get near as angry as I once had, and truth-be-told, I don’t trash talk like I did once before. But as part of our debate, my friends and I got a little curious: What happens if I was the way I used to be while playing on PlayStation Network instead of Xbox Live?
Well… Our research wasn’t great and what we learned was a whole lot worse than we actually thought. To get things started, we actually had to go into Sony’s PlayStation Support Page about banned accounts and here’s what we learned.
There’s a broad spectrum of reasons as to why you can get banned from PSN
When it comes to getting banned from PlayStation Network, there’s a lot of reasons as to why you can get banned, which can include things as simple as cheating, sharing your account information with others so they can play your games, or various other reasons including the use of exploits, offensive images or audio, and even things such as exploiting a game glitch or hate speech of any kind.
You can read the full information on an account banning here for the full list of things that might actually get you banned. But the reasons are broad and there are plenty of them. Some include PSN ID’s that violate Sony’s terms of services and even other various reasons, which could be rather simple ones or ones that are rather well deserved. Regardless, it will happen, and it can happen. Just remember, there are some stupid ones such as Team Killing (which can happen on accident) that can get you banned.
But what happens if you actually get a banhammer directly from the folks at PlayStation Network?
Well… You won’t be happy. First up, you lose your entire access to PlayStation Network. You won’t be able to access much of anything. What you can do is far more limited than you’d have hoped for. You can only browse, saved, and delete sent or received messages from your friends, you can’t add your friends, chat, revise your blocked user’s list, or even create a message to your friends.
You lose access to not just those features, but almost the entire PlayStation Network itself. This includes remote play over wireless internet as it does require a PlayStation Network connection to acquire a feed to your PlayStation 4. Along with the loss of these features, you can’t connect to the PlayStation Store, manage your account information including your wallet charges, voucher entries, or even access the ability to activate or deactivate your system.
But it doesn’t stop there. Even your digital content is gone. All that money you spent, wasted.
Along with the loss of your ability to access the PlayStation Store, you also lose your ability to access your download list, the ability to view your trophies, and even Remote play via the internet. The only things that will work are the aforementioned things such as the ability to check your messages that you received before the band, listen or watch the content you purchased before the ban, and play offline games.
Let alone is access to almost all your content removed, Sony has also confirmed in their support guide that videos and games you bought can’t be moved from the banned device to other devices. In short, you’re out of luck, Chuck.
Those digital games, those movies, the music, all of it, gone. It’s a brutal reality to know that you don’t necessarily own your digital games, you’ve essentially rented out a license, which can be revoked if you don’t play by the rules you agreed upon when signing up for an online service.
Just don’t get banned and try to play by the rules
But it does beg the question: What does ownership really mean in the upcoming all-digital age? Do we really own our games or do we just simply own a license in which allows us to play those very titles that we enjoy? If you ask me, it’s a double-edged sword when it comes to the all-digital front, and I for one, prefer to play by the rules.
About the Writer(s):
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the borders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter or Facebook.