Autistic Xbox Player's Mother Admits He Cheated

[RoboZombie585]

Hmmmm..... I have Autism, and I've always wanted some 10th prestige love in Black Ops but I've always been afraid of MS........... Time to play the disability card

In all honesty, if this kid was able to even play Halo 3, then he probably damn well knew he was cheating and that he could use Autism to justify his actions. I just want to be considered "normal" to the average Joe, Dick, and Sally, and I honestly would never use this as an excuse. I never though that people would really go this low to justify cheating

 

[Fuselage]

So he pulled the "I'm Disabled so I can do whatever the hell I want"?
Stop making other Disabled people look bad.

 

[Jim-a-Lim]

Anyone else think that she and her son got somehow rewarded with a free gamer tag and months subscription for being an ass? Good on you though Microsoft - fair play for standing your ground but being forgiving , I guess big corporations are human at times ^^.

 

[euro2019]

Saw it coming a mile away.. first balloon boy and now this, what is the world coming to

 

[Jamash]

There's a interesting and relevant comment, by someone else in the comments section of the original Q13 Fox News [http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-xbox-labels-autistic-child-01252011,0,5767271.story] page.

I can't really think of a way of rewriting this, so I'll just copy and paste it verbatim:

Too bad "entitlement" behavior isn't more rare.

The kid is playing games he has ZERO business playing online. And were he playing on an account that accurately listed his age he wouldn't be able to even access that content as it's against XBox ToS. Apparently, it's thought that this rule isn't all that important either. What a poor example to set for a kid--that it's okay to disregard rules because they're inconvenient or you don't agree with them.

We could take this a step further even. The kid has a Facebook page. A PUBLIC Facebook page at that. One which lists his location, email addy, and gamertag. Gee, that's safe. Again, WTG keeping your kid safe and teaching them good habits.

Nevermind the fact that Facebook, also, has ToS that prevent those under the age of 13 from creating accounts. Soooo, once again, someone chose to decide the rules shouldn't apply to them and made/allowed the child to both have an account he shouldn't AND allow all his information to be publicly accessible. Say what you will. But that's really horrible parenting.

I agree with most of what's being said here. I also think it's unfortunate that this child has been dragged into the spotlight and his condition has been made the focus or a media circus, just because of his mother's attempt to elicit sympathy and get free stuff by misrepresenting events.

I had the dubious privileged of reading some of her Twitter feed before she took it down, and some of the stuff on there was... well it was very revealing... it's led me to the conclusion that this 11 year old can't be held any more responsible or accountable than "Balloon Boy".

 

[S_K]

Well I apologise for defending this kid before, I could totally get a picture in my mind about this kids train of thought now almost pheonix wright style.

For the most part autistic kids are bad at socialising, so him playing on xbox live he'd get his ass handed to him and have just have an overall very stressed out experience with the trash talking bullshit and mind games that go on in competitive gaming. Being desperate for achievements he wanted those online achievements by any means he could get away with... which is probably EXACTLY how this happened with trying hacks and he's paying the price for now

 

[necronmm]

Still getting a free month of Xbox live gold for lying? Wow

If they were on silver, then a month of gold will statistically lead to it being renewed, thus more money and Microsoft wins.

Good call, didn't know that. So either way Microsoft wins but they at least look charitable this way.

 

[NinjaTigerXIII]

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.

Talk about coming out on the other side unscathed. He cheated, got caught for it, and gets a "get out of jail free card". I guess it just shows that to get what you want in life, all you have to do is complain, even if the complaint is wholly unjustified and only filed in the first place to further ones own personal gain.

 

[duchaked]

not to mention you can unlock Halo 3 Recon armor (just buy [a preordered copy of] Halo Reach that still has the code in it) just by being decent at the game with friends who are pretty good at it...

and yeah, glad I didn't give anyone the benefit of doubt in this story (no jump on the Microsoft bandwagon hate, and the instant sympathy for the disabled child)

 

[Dr. wonderful]

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.

mee too.

This looks like a open close case, right?

 

[Sansha]

Called it.

Seriously, though:

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.

'Given up on fighting' is sort of what you do when you've been beaten.

 

[Hungry Donner]

My question is, did the kid understand he was cheating? I'm not convinced he understood the nuance of the situation. Which doesn't mean he shouldn't be punished for it, just the same, I'm just wondering.

I'm wondering that as well, it's quite possible when someone offered to get him the armor the kid didn't realize it would be through illegitimate means.

It's very unfortunate that his mother covered this fact up when she went public with her complaint. Had she mentioned this, and if she was simply seeking to have the hacked achievements removed (if that's possible), I think she would have gotten just as much sympathy. Still it's nice that she released the details behind this, she could have easily swept the whole thing under the rug and left us wondering how her son had cheated.

 

[SkyeNeko]

moral: dont let your mom cheat for you. shell pick out the worst thing to cheat for.

also, i dont understand why microsoft gave him a new gamertag. the free month, ok sure, but a new gamertag???

 

[Ghengis John]

I'd like to see everyone who railed against "M$!!!" March in here single file and eat some crow, please. To be fair though, the escapist itself whipped them up with a headline like "Microsoft devastates innocent little crippled boy with heinous groundless, slanderous accusations that will ruin him for life!" I'm just gonna quote me from the other thread:

Wow way to slant the story. You guys have re-written that headline twice now and each time it sounds meaner and meaner. You might wanna throw some bleach in there, your journalism is looking a little yellow. It's entirely possible the kid was cheating. Autistic or not. For that matter, autistic does not mean retarded or in any way disabled. You're tying to make it sound like "this poor sick child" but he's 11 and perfectly capable of cheating.

Hey, escapist why's this headline so tame, why isn't it "Deceptive ***** Lies To Millions, Uses Child's Illness To Run Con Operation!" or "Child Mastermind Bilks Microsoft In Media War Of Attrition! Gets Away With MURDER."? You should be ashamed guys. Next time how about feigning a bit more objectivity? Not only does it make you look like a credible, professional news outlet but you can avoid the embarrassing and regrettable situation of backing the wrong horse.

 

[Prince Regent]

Like everyone I expected this from the start. Still feel bad for the kid though...

 

[thiosk]

And so ended this family's 15 minutes of fame...
14 minutes early.

 

[Velocirapture07]

love it! Now all the people who decided to point fingers and label microsoft the bad guy have to eat their words at least on this issue.

Isn't it great how being autistic makes you immune to rules and worthy of tons of news. Also wonderful is how entirely one sided and ridiculous the previous news reports were.

 

[Ghengis John]

I love how now everybody "saw this coming", even though the vast majority of responses in the other thread were along the lines of "how dare Microsoft blah blah blah!" "That poor kid ect!" and "When I buy something that's MAH PROPERTY! The constitution... ramble ramble"

Maybe it's just that the people who were wrong aren't saying anything now.

love it! Now all the people who decided to point fingers and label microsoft the bad guy have to eat their words at least on this issue.

Isn't it great how being autistic makes you immune to rules and worthy of tons of news. Also wonderful is how entirely one sided and ridiculous the previous news reports were.

Thankyou on both counts. *High five!*

 

[BanthaFodder]

wow... that's kinda stupid... I mean, why LIE?