Ban

A ban is a punishment that may be given for repeated or serious violation of the Rules of RuneScape. Bans are issued only by Jagex Moderators, a division of Jagex known as Customer Support handles all bans and blocks.

The status of an account can be checked via the Account Status system. An account is in the green zone if it has no offences, though this changes through orange and red as offences accumulate. Bans may be temporary (for example for 24 hours) or permanent. Banned players are unable to log into the game at all. Players who are banned are also not allowed to vote in website polls or access the official RuneScape Forums.

Game bans
Game bans restrict players from access to their accounts, usually for violating one of the Rules of RuneScape. If the player appeals their ban, it may be accepted, either restoring the account completely or with a permanent mute. A ban can also get quashed by a Jagex Moderator.

Permanently banned or muted players may be offered a "last chance appeal". The Game Guide stated: "If you are permanently banned or permanently muted and have appealed all open offences, you may be given the option to make one final appeal in order to regain your account. Please be aware that if your appeal is accepted or you or permanently muted and have no further chances to appeal your offences."

Forum bans
Players can also be permanently banned from the RuneScape Forums; this can happen for flaming, spamming, advertising websites, or breaking any other rules in the Forums. Permanent forum bans may affect the in-game status of the account.

If a player is muted or banned from the game, they are also automatically banned from the Forums. If a player is muted or banned from the Forums, they are not necessarily banned from the game.

Instant permanent bans

 * Some forms of Rule #4 - Cheating/Bug Abuse will cause a player to be permanently banned.
 * Macroing will cause an instant permanent ban if it is a repeated offense. The first ban is 48 hours.
 * Real world trading can result in a permanent ban.
 * Account hijacking may cause an instant ban (lock) on the account in order to protect it.
 * Some forms of website advertising, related to real-world trading, can result in a permanent ban well.

Historical
In RuneScape Classic, there was an area called The Black Hole (in the Dwarven Mine) where banned players were sent for an indefinite amount of time. However, this was later removed. Players could exit The Black Hole by using a Disk of returning.