Dep McKeenan

I have a friend who is caught up in a sim that uses what seems to me cult-like methods of keeping people under the control of the sim owners. This goes beyond roleplaying and involves OOC threats of banning after people have spent months doing tasks to increase rank in the sim hierarchy, though there isn't any money or RL meeting involved. Does this violate the TOS? Even if people don't buy the idea that this is a cult, at what point does bullying by sim owners vioate the TOS? The general view seems to be that sim owners can ban anyone for no reason, so the threat of this is a powerful tool once players are deeply invested in a sim. Is that OK within the TOS?