What we moderate and why
Our community safety team are here to help and keep the community safe. We want every player to enjoy their time playing our games however we know that some users may not always follow our EULA, terms of service, or code of conduct that we have in place for everyone’s safety.
Below we have provided some more information on the main areas that our team focus on to help protect the community.
One way our players can help us in our goal is by reporting any players they feel might be breaching our rules and guidelines. This can be done via in-game reports or on our ticket system, more information can be found here.
Cheating
While we do our best to implement measures to prevent cheating. We know that there will always be users that might be trying to find ways around these measures. However, our team work hard to investigate and remove these users while also working with development to continue to prevent users from disrupting the game in this way.
If your account has been restricted for cheating it will usually have a particular reason. We have listed the most common below:
Client Manipulation or Automation: If you are seeing this in your ticket it means your account has been detected having another program running alongside Elite Dangerous capable of hooking in, or the account was detected doing things that are not possible in-game via normal game actions.
Real World Trading (RWT): any in-game activity in which items or services are exchanged for real-world currency, or the action of sharing or trading account access. For example, this could be purchasing in-game credits, paying to have your account boosted, buying or selling an existing account or sharing an account you own or someone else owns.
As stated in our EULA:
"2. Grant and Scope of Licence
2.1 Subject to your compliance with the terms of this EULA, we grant you a non-transferable, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, revocable, limited licence to use the game.
You are permitted to:
(a) load the game into and use it on a single device which is under your custody and control and which meets the specifications referred to in the manual for your own private and domestic use;
(b) transfer the game from one such device to another; provided the game is used on only one device at any one time and any device on which it is used is under your custody and control at the time of use."
Full EULA can be seen here:
https://www.frontier.co.uk/legal/eula
Our Code of Conduct also states:
"Cheating:
We do not tolerate cheating of any kind in our online multiplayer games. This includes, but is not limited to, the use of automated scripts, programs or services offered outside of the game to generate a player advantage, altering game code or memory, sharing or trading account access with others or using cheat codes."
If we find users who are involved in any of the above
or
anything similar then action may be taken. For examples
of
the type of action taken you can see more in the section
"Information on account actions and appeals".
Full Code of Conduct can be seen here:
https://www.frontier.co.uk/legal/frontier-code-of-conduct
Why do we take action against accounts involved in real world trading (RWT)?
We want the game experience to be fair and equal for
all
players, when another player takes part in RWT they can
gain
a significant advantage over other players who spend
a lot
of time in game working hard towards those same in-game
assets.
By preventing the use of RWT we can provide players with
the same game experience and players who put in the hours
can expect to be rewarded for their hard work and effort!
Exploiting: Considered the use of any
in
game Bugs or unintended interactions, in order to generate
a significant player advantage.
Unsportsmanlike Behaviour
We expect players to act respectably towards each other. Rivalry and competition between groups can be fun but only when all parties are following the rules.
Users who ignore or are unable to follow our rules and guidelines, may be issued with an account notification, warning, or a temporary to complete restrictions from the game itself.
Actions such as trolling, witch-hunting, combat logging, abusive actions or language, or discrimination, are not tolerated.
Examples of this type of behaviour
- Insulting, threatening, harassing, or offensive language.
- Any kind of discrimination or hate speech. This includes targeting a player’s race, ethnicity, religion, ability, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
- Spamming chat or specific groups.
- Provoking conflict, hostility, or arguments in an attempt to troll or instigate unrest among players outside of normal game-play.
- Inappropriate in-game names, including the names of your ships.
- Combat logging – This is when you deliberately terminate the Elite Dangerous client or your connection while in combat with other players.
Ban Evasion
If you receive a temporary ban then you will be able to play on the same account again. However, if your account has been permanently totally restricted then this means you will not be able to play again.
To confirm, any attempts at evading or circumventing a ban, placed on your account will be taken very seriously by our team and will result in any new account being permanently banned.
This includes using or sharing someone else’s account to avoid restrictions whether they be permanent or temporary. As stated already in this FAQ account sharing is a serious offence and breach of our EULA and code of conduct. If you are caught sharing your account or using an account owned by someone else to evade restrictions this can result in that account and all future accounts being totally restricted for all users involved.
Information on account actions and appeals.
Below we have provided some more information on the main areas that our team focus on to help protect the community.
Please note; we do not tolerate abusive language or behaviour towards members of staff. If you open a ticket that contains disrespectful or offensive language, or statements that can be deemed as threatening, your ticket may be closed without response. This may mean that your appeal is not addressed and - as these behaviours would breach our Code of Conduct - could result in further restrictions being placed upon your account.
What to do about account actions
While we would prefer not to restrict or limit anyone's access to our games or any of the services that we provide, there may come a time when our end user licence agreement, terms of service, or code of conduct have been broken and action needs to be taken in order to protect players or our community.
We reserve the right to restrict offending accounts as much as necessary to keep Frontier's games a fun experience for all players. The actions that we can take range from simple warnings and temporary suspensions, up to permanent restrictions from multiplayer, and even account closure in the more serious or extreme cases.
If you receive a warning, or any type restriction an email will be sent to the registered email on the account, this ticket will include the reason for it being put in place. It will also include appropriate sections of the EULA or Code of Conduct.
Warnings
A warning is often the first step taken for minor violations. This action does not place any restrictions on your account, however, if the behaviour continues we may take further action against your account in order to prevent recurrences.
Temporary account restrictions from Open and Private play
A temporary restriction will prevent you from entering Open or Private play modes and prevents interactions with other users.
This type of restriction will typically be between 3 days to 30 days long. The length of the restriction will be confirmed in the email accompanying this restriction.
The length of a temporary restriction will depend on the severity of the offense. Continued violations can result in further or longer temporary restrictions, or lead to permanent restrictions being placed on your account.
Permanent Open and Private play restriction
A permanent Open and private play restriction means you will no longer be able to join the open or private play groups, this will also restrict access to any multiplayer features and prevent communication with other users in-game (this includes access to fleet carriers and community goals).
This restriction can be can be the first step for more serious violations. Continued violations may also eventually lead here in some cases.
Permanent Account Closure
A permanent account restriction removes all access to Elite Dangerous, you can still access your Frontier account via https://user.frontierstore.net/user/infocustomer/account/ to contact us, but you will not be able to play the game.
This type of restriction is placed on an account when a player is found to be repeatedly breaching Frontier's EULA or Code of conduct, and has ignored all previous warnings or restrictions.
A permanent account restriction may also be put in place without prior warning when users are found to be, creating or promoting cheats, sharing their accounts or taking part in Real World Trading, which is not tolerated and is deemed a violation of our EULA and Code of Conduct.
Appealing Forum moderation actions
We do advise that the forums are actually moderated by the volunteers and the Community team. They are not monitored by Frontier's Customer Support team.
If you wish to Appeal a moderation action against your forum account, you can contact us using the 'Submit a request' button at the bottom of this page.
Appealing a game warning, suspension or restriction
If you feel that a warning or account restriction has been unfairly applied to your game account, you can contact our Community Safety team by opening a ticket via the button at the bottom of this article.
To help us address your appeal quickly, please make the title of the ticket as clear as possible and provide detailed information about the appeal, as well as any corroborating evidence.
One of our Community Safety team members will then review the actions taken along with any additional evidence that you provide, and proceed with the appropriate action.
The results of our findings and our review of the appeal will be our final word on the matter and once closed these appeal cannot be reopened without good cause of further evidence.
Please know we do review each ticket we get on a case-by-case basis and, due to this, it may take longer than our normal response time for us to reply.
How do I block or report another player?
If you are having issues with another player in Elite Dangerous and would like to block them, or report them for violating the code of conduct, please find platform specific information below.
PC
The following steps are suited to PC players:
Blocking a Player
Blocking a player listed as a 'Friend' from the main menu:
- Select 'Social' on the main menu.
- Select 'friends' and click on the CMDR you wish to block.
- Select ‘Block player’ from the list of options that appear.
- You can also ‘Unfriend’ players here too.
Blocking a player in-game:
- Target the player.
- Activate the chat comms by holding down B and pressing up on the d-pad for the Xbox controller OR Pressing “2” on the keyboard.
- Open the drop-down for that player by pressing “A” on the Xbox pad or “space” on the keyboard.
- From the drop-down menu select “Block player”.
Reporting a Player
Reporting a player from the main menu:
- Select 'Social' on the main menu.
- Select the “Report” option.
- Write the offending player’s name in the “input name” section.
- Choose their behaviour type on the behaviour drop-down menu.
- Choose the type of reported offence, be it via text chat or via audio.
- Enter a description featuring all relevant information that applies to the report.
- Server time will usually fill itself but if it’s blank or if the offence was at another time, enter the most accurate time related to the offence.
- Click/Select the “Submit a report” option once complete.
- You will receive confirmation that the report has been sent.
Reporting a player in game:
- Target the player if possible, If it's not possible enter the game’s main menu and select report a player and continue and follow the instructions above.
- Activate the chat comms by holding down B and pressing up on the d-pad for the Xbox controller OR Pressing “2” on the keyboard.
- Open the drop-down for that player by pressing “A” on the Xbox pad or “space” on the keyboard.
- From the drop-down menu select “Report Player”.
- Write the offending players name in the “input name” section.
- Choose their behaviour type on the behaviour drop-down menu e.g. spamming, obscene.
- Choose the type off reported offence, be it via text chat or via audio.
- Enter a description featuring all relevant information that applies to the report.
- Server time should automatically be added, but if it’s blank or if the offence was at another time enter the most accurate time related to the offence.
- Click/Select the “OK” option once complete.
- You will receive confirmation that the report has been sent.
PlayStation
The following steps are suited to PlayStation players.
Blocking a Player
Blocking a player listed as a 'Friend' from the main menu:
- Select 'Social' on the main menu. Select 'friends' and click on the CMDR you wish to block.
- Select ‘Block player’ from the list of options that appear.
- You can also ‘Unfriend’ players here too.
Blocking a player in-game:
PS4 users can find a guide on how to block others at this URL: https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/support/account/block-players-psn/
Reporting a Player
Reporting a player from the main menu:
- Select 'Social' on the main menu.
- Select the “Report” option.
- Write the offending player’s name in the “input name” section.
- Choose their behaviour type on the behaviour drop-down menu.
- Choose the type of reported offence, be it via text chat or via audio.
- Enter a description featuring all relevant information that applies to the report.
- Server time will usually fill itself but if it’s blank or if the offence was at another time, enter the most accurate time related to the offence.
- Click/Select the “Submit a report” option once complete.
- You will receive confirmation that the report has been sent.
Reporting a player in-game:
- Target the player if possible.
- If it's not possible, enter the game’s main menu and select 'report a player' as described above.
- Activate the chat comms.
- Open the drop-down for that player by pressing “X”.
- From the drop-down menu select “Report Player”.
- Click/Select the “Report A Player” option.
- Write the offending players name in the “input name” section.
- Choose their behaviour type on the behaviour drop-down menu e.g. spamming, obscene.
- Choose the type off reported offence, be it via text chat or via audio.
- Enter a description featuring all relevant information that applies to the report.
- Server time should automatically be added, but if it’s blank or if the offence was at another time enter the most accurate time related to the offence.
- Select the “Submit a report” option once complete.
- You will receive confirmation that the report has been sent.
Xbox
The following steps are suited to Xbox players.
Blocking a Player
Blocking a player listed as a 'Friend' from the main menu:
- Select 'Social' on the main menu.
- Select 'friends' and click on the CMDR you wish to block.
- Select ‘Block player’ from the list of options that appear.
- You can also ‘Unfriend’ players here too.
Blocking a player in-game:
- Target the player.
- Activate the chat comms by holding down B and pressing up on the d-pad for the Xbox controller.
- Open the drop-down for that player by pressing “A” on the Xbox pad or “space” on the keyboard.
- From the drop-down menu select “Block player”.
Reporting a Player
Reporting a player from the main menu:
- Select 'Social' on the main menu.
- Select the “Report” option.
- Write the offending player’s name in the “input name” section.
- Choose their behaviour type on the behaviour drop-down menu.
- Choose the type of reported offence, be it via text chat or via audio.
- Enter a description featuring all relevant information that applies to the report.
- Server time will usually fill itself but if it’s blank or if the offence was at another time, enter the most accurate time related to the offence.
- Click/Select the “Submit a report” option once complete.
- You will receive confirmation that the report has been sent.
Reporting a player in-game:
- Target the player if possible.
- If it's not possible, enter the game’s main menu and select 'report a player' as described above.
- Activate the chat comms.
- Open the drop-down for that player by pressing “X”. From the drop-down menu select “Report Player”.
- Click/Select the “Report A Player” option.
- Write the offending players name in the “input name” section.
- Choose their behaviour type on the behaviour drop-down menu e.g. spamming, obscene.
- Choose the type off reported offence, be it via text chat or via audio.
- Enter a description featuring all relevant information that applies to the report.
- Server time should automatically be added, but if it’s blank or if the offence was at another time enter the most accurate time related to the offence.
- Select the “Submit a report” option once complete.
- You will receive confirmation that the report has been sent.
Reporting a player on Xbox Live
When playing the Xbox One version of Elite Dangerous if you encounter a player that is breaking either Xbox Live's or Frontier's terms of service or code of conduct you will be able to use the process below to report them to Xbox Live. You can find links to the code of conduct and the terms of service below.
From an Xbox Live players Gamercard you can see the option to Block or Report them as below:
If you do choose to report this player you will then need to choose a reason for this as below:
Xbox LIVE code of conduct and terms of service: http://www.xbox.com/legal/livetou
How to report trust and safety concerns on the Discord platform
Discord is a 3rd party platform that is not owned by Frontier Developments. If you believe someone has breached Discord's Terms of Service, you should look to report the matter to Discord.
You are able to submit some of the following via Discord if it has occurred on their platform:
- Harassment
- Threatening Behaviour
- Doxxing
- NSFW content
- Other Terms of Service violations
In order to report misuse of the Discord platform, you will need to navigate to the two following locations and follow their instructions:
How to report inappropriate YouTube Content
YouTube is a 3rd party platform that is not owned by Frontier Developments. If you believe someone has breached YouTube's Community Guidelines, you should look to report the matter to YouTube.
YouTube provides clear guidance on how you can report content in the Reporting and Enforcement section of their Polices and Safety page.
If you are concerned with the conduct of a player of any Frontier games including Elite Dangerous, direct YouTube URLs and timestamps can be used to provide secondary supporting evidence for your report to Frontier.
How to file a user report on the Twitch platform
Twitch is a 3rd party platform that is not owned by Frontier Developments. If you believe someone has breached Twitch's Terms of Service or Community Guidelines you should look to report the matter to Twitch directly.
You are able to submit some of the following via Twitch if it has occurred on their platform:
- Hateful Conduct and Harassment
- Unauthorised Sharing of Private Information
- Violence and Threats
- Other Terms of Service or Community Guidelines violations
The method to report a Twitch user can vary depending on which violation you are reporting, and where on the site it has taken place.
Please click on this link to find more in-depth instructions on the topic.