Anti-cheat and ban appeals on Rustmates
Cheating is the fastest way to kill a Rust community. Here's how Rustmates handles detection, decisions and appeals — including what to do if you were banned unfairly.
RustMates runs Easy Anti-Cheat alongside manual admin review of reports, demos and server logs, so cheaters are removed quickly and clean players are not banned on suspicion alone. Every ban can be appealed through a public form and receives a human decision within a stated turnaround, making enforcement transparent and reversible.
Detection layers
- EAC (Easy Anti-Cheat): Facepunch's official anti-cheat, always on. Catches most public cheats automatically.
- Server-side heuristics: flag suspicious combat log patterns — impossible headshot ratios, snap-on-target angles, wall-shot patterns.
- Player reports: reviewed against combat logs, kill feeds and demos. We act on evidence, not accusations.
- Manual review: a staff member watches the demo. Every borderline case gets human eyes.
How bans are decided
Clear cheats — aimbot, wallhack, ESP, macros — result in a permanent ban within hours. Edge cases (statistically suspicious but not conclusive) get a temporary ban while we review, with a final decision within 48 hours.
The appeal process
Submit one appeal via /contact with your Steam ID and the ban ID from the kick message.
- We answer every appeal within 48 hours — including the ones we reject.
- Rejected appeals explain exactly which evidence was used.
- False positives (misidentified, shared PC, etc.) are unbanned same-day.
- Second appeal on the same ban is not accepted unless you have new evidence.
Common misunderstandings
- "I got a HS ratio ban" — HS ratio alone doesn't ban anyone. It flags for review.
- "My friend used my PC" — you're responsible for accounts logged into on your hardware.
- "I was banned on official but not here" — Facepunch and Rustmates run separate ban systems. An EAC global ban does affect our servers.
Frequently asked
How long does an appeal take?
48 hours or less. If we need to pull demos it can extend to 72 hours; we tell you if that happens.
Can I appeal via Discord DMs?
No. All appeals go through the /contact form so we have a record. DMs to admins won't be actioned.
Are VAC-banned accounts allowed?
A VAC ban on a different game doesn't affect Rustmates access. A game ban on Rust does — those accounts are blocked at connection.