The YouTuber Spieletrend has been banned in Pokémon GO for 30 days. If he receives another ban, his account will be permanently gone. The YouTuber maintains his innocence but foresaw the current punishment.
Who is it about? Daniel “Spieletrend” Schilling is the largest German-speaking YouTuber on Pokémon GO. Currently, more than 368,000 subscribers follow him on the video platform YouTube.
What happened? On July 24, the Austrian announced that his Pokémon GO account was suspended for 30 days. In a video, he explains that he anticipated the suspension. And this, even though he insists he did not break any rules.
“A bit embarrassing already”
The reason for the suspension: In the message from Niantic, it states:
“Your account has been temporarily suspended because you violated the terms of service. The suspension will be lifted in about 30 days. Another violation will result in the permanent suspension of your account.”
This is what Spieletrend says about the ban: In a new YouTube video, the YouTuber speaks about the suspension. About a month ago, he had already received his first warning from Niantic in Pokémon GO.
The reason for the first warning was that Niantic allegedly found “activities on Spieletrend’s account indicating that he was using modified client software or unauthorized third-party software.” However, the YouTuber denies having used anything like that.
This “strike” remained on his account. If you collect three strikes, your account will be banned. Spieletrend appealed the ban in Pokémon GO with a “ban appeal,” “but whenever you do that, you only receive the automated response and nothing else,” he explains.
He compares his ban to that of Brandon Tan, the player who was the first to achieve a billion XP in Pokémon GO. “He was banned for 30 days a few days ago because he publicly, for months, without in any way hiding or concealing it, offered a paid catching service. […] For that, he received a 30-day ban.” Spieletrend himself says that he did “nothing” and still receives a 30-day ban.
He saw it coming: “I’m not really sad about it. I really saw it coming. It’s no surprise.” Since his first strike was not removed, he knew that with the next “mistake from Niantic,” he would be banned for 30 days. “That was predictable. But it is a bit embarrassing, somehow,” the YouTuber adds.
Update from July 27: Spieletrend has terminated the partnership with Niantic and issued an important statement.
Many other “unjustified” bans happening
This is currently happening: On Twitter, many trainers report about the support from Niantic regarding their accounts being warned or banned over the past weekend. The support usually replies with instructions on where to submit a ban appeal.
Comments and threads about players being unfairly banned are also increasing on reddit. For instance, a user named GloomySelf writes (via reddit.com) that he received a 30-day suspension about a month ago because he played with iOS 12. Many players were affected by these false suspensions (false flagging).
Now, a week after his 30-day suspension expired, his account has been permanently banned. He writes that he only receives the same copy-paste response from support when he tries to appeal his ban.
Do you also know players who are affected by the last wave of bans and warnings, but actually did not violate the game’s rules? What do you think of the ban system of Pokémon GO with its 3 strikes?
Share your opinion on the topic here on MeinMMO in the comments and discuss with other trainers from the community.
