Ban

Bans are a form of punishment given out to players who violate certain regulations.

Communications ban
This form of ban restricts both text and voice communications. It does not affect matchmaking, and will not put players into low priority.

Criteria
Communication bans take the following factors into consideration:


 * Reports from other players
 * Unspecified internal analyses

Ban time escalates according to the following scale:

Resetting
There is a forgiveness threshold of 3 weeks, after which the escalation resets. This means that when a player has not received any further bans for 3 weeks since his/her last ban expired, the counter resets and his/her next ban will be considered a "1st Ban" (1 day), followed by "2nd Ban" (2 days), etc.

VAC ban


This form of ban is performed under the Valve Anti-Cheat system (VAC). It suspends the user from the game entirely. During this time, Dota 2 will be inaccessible.

VAC bans are recorded on the user's Steam profile, and will be permanently visible to all other users.

Criteria
There is one offense for Dota 2 that warrants a VAC ban:

Exceptions
The following will not result in a VAC ban:


 * Using commands in the console.
 * Using commands in the Launch Options.
 * Using cheats in private lobbies.
 * Using multiple accounts.
 * Using a legitimate third party chat program like Xfire.
 * Cosmetic modding (models, textures, icons, sounds, text, etc). However, some mods, particularly those that involve a 3rd party program or changes to the game engine, may be considered too intrusive by the VAC system. Cheats can also be maliciously embedded within cosmetic mods, causing unsuspecting users to get banned. Modding users should exercise careful judgment.