Microsoft Denies Banning a Million Users

[Andy Chalk]

Microsoft Denies Banning a Million Users

Microsoft says that reports it banned up to a million Xbox Live [http://www.xbox.com/en-US/LIVE/] users for having modified consoles last week are vastly overblown.

The tubes were alive with the sound of pissed-off Xbox Live users last week as Microsoft Modern Warfare 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/96037-Microsoft-Bans-up-to-One-Million-Xbox-Live-Accounts], and it reportedly caught an awful lot of people, although just how many now appears to be a matter of debate.

Early reports claimed that anywhere from 600,000 to a million users had been affected by the ban, but in an interview with VentureBeat [http://venturebeat.com/2009/11/19/microsofts-xbox-live-chief-on-banning-modders-and-browsing-facebook-photos-on-tv/], Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten said that just ain't so. "We didn't release the number. I cannot explain to you why people would think it was a million people. It wasn't a million people."

"Check the veracity of that claim," he added. "It was one news source."

That one news source was apparently BBC report [http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/peripherals/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=221601267] published in the immediate wake of the bans.



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[Therumancer]

Well region locking is ridiculous to begin with, especially when it's done for reasons of encouraging censorship. The bottom line here is that it appears this was being done to nail cheaters and perhaps people who purchused pirated copies of MW2, however they pretty much ham fistedly attacked everyone that they could detect as running a modded console as I understand things. Paticularly annoying when you consider your paying $10 a month for this service and you'd expect them to have more people involved to you know... actually police the networks and single out cheaters. 20 Million users apparently on their gold service at roughly $10 a month means they are making roughly $200 million dollars a month. In defense for their "Greed" they (and other services) talk about the expense of paying all these people to maintain and police the network but in the end, where the heck are they all? The point here being that they aren't supposed to simply identify certain signs and hit a massive impersonal "ban switch".


At any rate from what I'm hearing a million bans is actually conservative, and the number might be as large as two million (10% of their user base). Microsoft refutes it, but apparently does not know how many people they banned due to the method they used. Some of the reports coming in are guesstimates based on the number of complaints.

( When I read this on The Escapist I did some checking and there is a lot of mixed information on the subject at this point, along with a lot of upset people. I don't claims have hard numbers, I'm just saying that it appears nobody does, including Microsoft ).

 

[Jdopus]

I find it hard to respect any efforts to ban cheaters when the blatant and transparent reason for it is to boost Xbox sales over Christmas.

 

[GonzoGamer]

But didn't they also say that the instances of rrod were overblown too?
They say a lot of things over there.

The fact of the matter is that both instances let to another boom of hardware purchases so the more people affected, the better it is for them. But like with the rrod, they're going to have an even harder time getting new adaptors.

 

[TheTygerfire]

I find it hard to respect any efforts to ban cheaters when the blatant and transparent reason for it is to boost Xbox sales over Christmas.

Or...they waited until the most people would be playing Xbox Live (aka the day after CoD6) to find the most cheaters they could in one shot. And the thing is, these people that modded their console are just going to do it again, and get banned again. And if they don't, then mission fuckin' accomplished by Microsoft.

The fact of the matter is that both instances let to another boom of hardware purchases so the more people affected, the better it is for them. But like with the rrod, they're going to have an even harder time getting new adaptors.

How is RRoD and this at all related? RRoD was Microsoft's fault and was a wide spread technical design flaw, but banning people that have consoles designed for pirating and cheating shouldn't affect anyone that doesn't use them.

 

[Fat Hippo]

If you're dumb enough to mod your console to run pirated software and still expect to be able to play online, it's your own goddamn fault. These folks are just plain dumb.

 

[Something Amyss]

Well region locking is ridiculous to begin with, especially when it's done for reasons of encouraging censorship. The bottom line here is that it appears this was being done to nail cheaters and perhaps people who purchused pirated copies of MW2, however they pretty much ham fistedly attacked everyone that they could detect as running a modded console as I understand things. Paticularly annoying when you consider your paying $10 a month for this service and you'd expect them to have more people involved to you know... actually police the networks and single out cheaters. 20 Million users apparently on their gold service at roughly $10 a month means they are making roughly $200 million dollars a month. In defense for their "Greed" they (and other services) talk about the expense of paying all these people to maintain and police the network but in the end, where the heck are they all? The point here being that they aren't supposed to simply identify certain signs and hit a massive impersonal "ban switch".


At any rate from what I'm hearing a million bans is actually conservative, and the number might be as large as two million (10% of their user base). Microsoft refutes it, but apparently does not know how many people they banned due to the method they used. Some of the reports coming in are guesstimates based on the number of complaints.

( When I read this on The Escapist I did some checking and there is a lot of mixed information on the subject at this point, along with a lot of upset people. I don't claims have hard numbers, I'm just saying that it appears nobody does, including Microsoft ).

Of course, in more than one thread now, you've operated under a lot of assumptions which don't necessarily ring true. And now we're talking about rumour and hearsay as well, which doesn't help things. 1 Million seems unlikely, especially from an already unfounded source. 2 million becomes even more preposterous, without only the intertube chatter to back it. Now, I dislike region locking, and question the ethics (and more) about it, but I'm curious as to what in it would legitimately fall under a right one cannot sign away. Arguments of censorship are a different animal, so I'm having trouble seeing what right is the issue here.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

I thought it was a little odd that, according to the report, 5% of all Microsoft Live accounts were registered with modded consoles.

 

[T5seconds]

You know... You would think you would be able to find out if 1 million fucking people got the ban hammer... I think that would be kind of a big story...

 

[brabz]

Million Man Ban has a nice ring to it. The story isn't nearly as juicy or interesting unless the number really pops. A lack of sources for the original writer of the story and no number released by Microsoft makes it all hearsay.

 

[Kuchinawa212]

Well, ok not a million but still a fair share of people felt that ban hammer.

 

[ryai458]

Well region locking is ridiculous to begin with, especially when it's done for reasons of encouraging censorship. The bottom line here is that it appears this was being done to nail cheaters and perhaps people who purchused pirated copies of MW2, however they pretty much ham fistedly attacked everyone that they could detect as running a modded console as I understand things. Paticularly annoying when you consider your paying $10 a month for this service and you'd expect them to have more people involved to you know... actually police the networks and single out cheaters. 20 Million users apparently on their gold service at roughly $10 a month means they are making roughly $200 million dollars a month. In defense for their "Greed" they (and other services) talk about the expense of paying all these people to maintain and police the network but in the end, where the heck are they all? The point here being that they aren't supposed to simply identify certain signs and hit a massive impersonal "ban switch".


At any rate from what I'm hearing a million bans is actually conservative, and the number might be as large as two million (10% of their user base). Microsoft refutes it, but apparently does not know how many people they banned due to the method they used. Some of the reports coming in are guesstimates based on the number of complaints.

( When I read this on The Escapist I did some checking and there is a lot of mixed information on the subject at this point, along with a lot of upset people. I don't claims have hard numbers, I'm just saying that it appears nobody does, including Microsoft ).

Yes preach it brother/sister bring down those money grubbing greedy companies! what type of world are we living in where WE allow bussinesses to make money!!
/extreme sarcasm

 

[GonzoGamer]

The fact of the matter is that both instances let to another boom of hardware purchases so the more people affected, the better it is for them. But like with the rrod, they're going to have an even harder time getting new adaptors.

How is RRoD and this at all related? RRoD was Microsoft's fault and was a wide spread technical design flaw, but banning people that have consoles designed for pirating and cheating shouldn't affect anyone that doesn't use them.

What I'm saying is that both instances (regardless of blame) forced a lot of 360 owners to go out and buy another console. Even after ms started expanding the warranty , there were still plenty of suckers who even bought a spare 360 to play while the other was in for repairs.

While the rrod ended up being a bigger cost in the long run, it did help them move a lot of units.

 

[PhoR11]

What doesn't make any sense to me is:

If he's telling the truth about the "1 million" number being way too high, why would he not just tell us the actual number?

Griping about speculation when you refuse to give out the real info is pretty asinine in my book.

 

[SantoUno]

Doesn't matter, as long as they got banned they got what they deserve. Though I still feel sorry for any of those people who were wrongfully banned even when they were innocent, that will shun them all away from the 360 and XBL.

 

[Swaki]

i love it when people who broke the rule starts complaining, its like whit arkham asylum and the jumping issues.

its like wanting a return because you stole a defect oven.

 

[shadowbird]

I can tell you exactly where InformationWeek got their info: http://pinoycosplay.blogspot.com/2009/11/microsoft-bans-600k-xbox-live-accounts.html

For your convenience, here's the "article" (posted November 9) in full, just so you can compare the original with what InformationWeek made out of it:

A conversation with a friend who works for a call center that handles an Xbox 360 account has yielded a disturbing truth: Microsoft has started its annual Xbox Live banning spree and it has disabled 600,000 accounts so far in the US and Canada.

The target of the banning spree are mainly people who have modified their consoles to play pirated games. My trusty source says that they have been given instructions to push for a million banned accounts by the time the holidays are over.

"Our office has gone to hell," says the source. "People have been calling in around the clock and most of them are screaming teen-agers who don't understand the terms of use that comes with the console they bought."

There you have it. If you're a big Mininova fan like GamerTotoy, stay away from Xbox Live until after Christmas to continue playing online.

I already mentioned as much (without the link though) in the original article on Escapist, but I guess nobody of importance reads the comments, do they?

 

[whaleswiththumbs]

The tubes were alive with the sound of pissed-off Xbox Live user.

So that is the sound of millions of beer bottles breaking as the user gets up from his "gaming chair" and high-pitched 12 year old boys yelling at once? This must be chaos...
/horrible stereotype