>They referred to the cards as paperweights

DMA cards are not $6k, so it is obvious that riot is not talking about the DMA card specifically. they are ~$300 - ~$700. the image they tweeted alongside was that of broken computers, not of broken DMA cards.

i am not sure why riot would admit to bricking $6k PCs if they werent. that would also be exceptionally stupid.

admittedly, the more i look into it, it appears the reports are soft-bricking (i.e., requiring a complete wipe and reinstallation of the OS, not hard-bricking). which is less awful, but still really awful.

>I also don't see why legitimate users would have a DMA card.

doesn't matter at all. if its not being used to interact with riot games, its none of riot's business and not on riot to determine the legitimacy of owning one.

>I think it's fair for them to assume a connection is there and react.

i think this is a wild take. this is effectively giving ownership of your software and hardware to riot.

if the reaction was simply to ban you from riot servers and games, sure, i could be convinced that's acceptable. but the reaction is beyond that.