Autistic Xbox Player's Mother Admits He Cheated

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
14,499
0
0
Autistic Xbox Player's Mother Admits He Cheated



A woman that criticized Microsoft for labeling her autistic son a cheater on Xbox Live has revealed that he actually did cheat.

Earlier this week, a story [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107304-UPDATE-Microsoft-Devastates-Autistic-Child-By-Labeling-Him-a-Cheater] was brought to the mainstream media by a mother that claimed her son had been given the "Cheater" label on Xbox Live for no reason. As it turns out, there was actually a very good reason, and the mother was aware of it.

Jennifer Zdenek made Microsoft out to be a cruel overlord, telling the media that her autistic son Julius Jackson's only form of entertainment had been ruined. All of his achievements were taken away and it now said "Cheater" next to Jackson's Xbox Live Gamertag. Microsoft's head of Xbox Live enforcement Stephen Toulouse was adamant that the boy cheated to acquire certain achievements, having checked out the situation himself.

Zdenek now tells Q13 Fox News that her son gave his Xbox Live information to a third party, who used illegitimate methods to give Jackson Halo 3 [http://www.amazon.com/Halo-3-Xbox-360/dp/B000FRU0NU/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1296236949&sr=1-1]'s Recon Armor. She shared an email from Toulouse that says:


The account Zombie Kill67 transferred from the Xbox it is normally seen on, to an Xbox in another city. The account earned several achievements for Halo 3 that can only be done online and in succession. It was clear they were unlocked out of order and offline. Earning successive online achievements out of order and offline is an impossible feat, not due to skill, but due to the technology of the system. It can only be done by modifying the account and faking the achievements.


Zdenek was aware that her son gave his information to another player, but still paints her son in an innocent light. "I did warn him about this but seeing it wasn't a bank password or anything big, it's just a game we didn't worry about it too much and the boy just offered to give him Recon Armor, which he did," she said. She's given up on fighting Microsoft, and will likely take the company's offer of a free month of Xbox Live Gold and a new Gamertag for Jackson to start again.

It appears that Zdenek left some very crucial information out of the original tale she told the media, and even worse, used her son's ailment to gain sympathy. I get that Zdenek probably just cares about her son, but she comes off looking pretty bad for her dishonesty.

Thanks for the tip, D_987 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/D_987]!

Source: Q13 Fox News [http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-xbox-labels-autistic-child-01252011,0,5767271.story]

Permalink
 

deth2munkies

New member
Jan 28, 2009
1,066
0
0
Saw this coming a mile away as soon as I saw the title to the first news article.

Honestly, people need to stop milking disabilities.
 
Apr 28, 2008
14,634
0
0
Cheating for Recon armor? Thats so... 2007/2008.

You can unlock it normally now by getting the vidmaster achievements in Halo 3/ODST. And if he cares enough about Halo to cheat to get a piece of armor, then I'm sure he owns the games.

Kid got exactly what he deserved. He cheated, and he got punished. Moral of the story is to not cheat for silly pieces of armor that don't even look that good.
 

vxicepickxv

Slayer of Bothan Spies
Sep 28, 2008
3,126
0
0
So Microsoft followed standard operating procedures, got slammed by the mother of an Autistic child, then proven right? I fail to see a problem with this.
 

bojac6

New member
Oct 15, 2009
489
0
0
Yep, pretty much exactly what I gleamed from the original story. Everything achievements related is easily tracked, why people think they can get away with faking it is beyond me.
 

dibblywibbles

New member
Mar 20, 2009
313
0
0
well I'm glad that's all sorted out. I've never understood why you would lie about something that can be traced with apparent ease. and to go on tv? they're gonna try extra hard to prove you're a liar then. nobody likes making mistakes especially ones they didn't do.
 

LGC Pominator

New member
Feb 11, 2009
420
0
0
Great, cue the questions about whether autistic people are fit to be gaming, or whether we have to be monitored more closely.

I am glad this was resolved, and that the truth came out, but if even I can see it coming a mile off (AsSpDo myself) and I am just reading the story on the internet, how can the mother of someone with the condition not have realised?

Oh well, time to batten down the hatches I suppose
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
Legacy
Jul 18, 2009
19,987
4,734
118
I bet you feel pretty stupid now, don't ya lady?

I'm sure the neighborhood is having a field day with her.
 

Twilight_guy

Sight, Sound, and Mind
Nov 24, 2008
7,131
0
0
Not to be rude by why isn't this an update on your other story?

We can clearly see that the kid is guilty and must accept the consequences. The mother made a dumb decision to try and make a stink and caused a big fuss for nothing. I think letting her kid deal with the consequences and see that breaking the rules have repercussions instead of trying to manipulate people would have been a much better decision.
 

bak00777

New member
Oct 3, 2009
938
0
0
i knew she was leaving out part of the story. It just felt like the whole story wasnt there.

oh and i knew Microsoft had to have been sure about the cheating to do this.
 
Oct 14, 2010
362
0
0
"...it's just a game we didn't worry about it too much..."
That is, until your son got caught on it, then you made it into a media stink, trying to milk your son's condition to get your way and eventually embarrassing both of you in the end.

Grow up, lady.
 

Soviet Heavy

New member
Jan 22, 2010
12,218
0
0
Recon Armor? Really?

I thought they'd all moved onto Reach at this point. Maybe the Mom's just cheap.
 

Armored Prayer

New member
Mar 10, 2009
5,319
0
0
I knew it! And he deserves to be punished for it.

Irridium said:
Cheating for Recon armor? Thats so... 2007/2008.
The kid needs to keep up with the times, blue flames is now where its at.
 

Reed Spacer

That guy with the thing.
Jan 11, 2011
841
0
0
So in essence what you're saying here is this is now even less news than it was already.
 

vrbtny

Elite Member
Sep 16, 2009
1,959
0
41
Irridium said:
Cheating for Recon armor? Thats so... 2007/2008.
This just won the thread for me.

But, Yeah. The Kid's mum must be feeling stupid now.... or maybe she's just plain stupid. It was sort of kneejerk/ My sons got dissabilities OMG!! reaction.
 

Zipa

batlh bIHeghjaj.
Dec 19, 2010
1,489
0
0
Saw it coming, the mother should be ashamed of the example she sets by lieing to try to make Microsoft look like the evil.