Microsoft Brings the Shame to Xbox Live Cheaters

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Microsoft Brings the Shame to Xbox Live Cheaters


Xbox Live [http://www.microsoft.com] will have their Gamercards permanently tagged so the whole world will know what a dirty rotten filthy cheating dog they really are.

Currently, gamers caught cheating on Xbox Live via glitches, exploits and external software face having their Gamerscore reset to zero and the loss of any Achievements they may have racked up; furthermore, any Achievements lost this way cannot be regained, even through legitimate means. But Stephen Toulouse of Xbox Live said in the most recent Major Nelson podcast [http://majornelson.com/archive/2009/05/17/show-319-gel-gamerscore-reset-and-fight-night-round-4.aspx] that the punishment for cheating will go beyond even that. "The bar is a little bit higher than that," he said. "The other thing it does is, it puts a tag that you've been cheating on your Gamercard. That's a pretty big Scarlet Letter."

Toulouse added that Microsoft would take steps to be "absolutely sure" a gamer was cheating before adding the tag to his Gamercard. Despite that, it's almost certain that at least a few gamers will be falsely accused of cheating, so hopefully some form of appeals process will also be put into place.

Losing Achievements is bad enough but public humiliation is a whole different ballgame. On the other hand, cheating in videogames is lame and you shouldn't be doing it, so on the whole this sounds like a pretty good idea to me.

Source: VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2009/05/18/cheaters-gamercards-will-be-tagged/]


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Delicious

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Jan 22, 2009
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Damn right they'd better be "absolutely sure". Getting labeled as a cheater for something as trivial as having a poor connection or unconsciously using an exploit would be infuriating. They also would need to specify exactly what kind of cheating the player did for this system to have any sort of fairness.
 

Lord_Panzer

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Feb 6, 2009
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Malygris said:
On the other hand, cheating in videogames is lame and you shouldn't be doing it, so on the whole this sounds like a pretty good idea to me.
Woah there, Mr. Opinion Pants, hold the phone. You telling me you've never opened the console in a game before? You've never no-cliped to see an area you otherwise couldn't? Never God-Moded just for the sheer fun of mowing down baddies knowing they're powerless to stop you? Never turned fog-of-war off to see if that cheating know-it-all computer player had a forward base somewhere?

If so, I've gotta say I'm impressed. I think you're silly for not using something they've actually put in the game at some point (often times for comedic effect), but I'm still impressed.
 

Schneebly

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Feb 11, 2009
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To be honest, if I was caught in this way I would just change accounts- its not too difficult and you won't be publicly ostracised on XBL.
 

The Shade

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Mar 20, 2008
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oh teh noes! not my ahcevments! i <3 dem!


But seriously, that'd be a real kick in the teeth if you logged in one day to find all your achievements taken (permanently), your gamerscore 0, and your username 'CheaterMcCheat'.

Unless you actually deserved it. But for the time being, I think I'll steer clear of those shifty TF2 servers. No guilt by association!
 

fix-the-spade

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Feb 25, 2008
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Why doesn't Microsoft do something that would, y'know, work?

If they just, say, charged a cheater 10times the normal subscription rate. I bet little Timmy's account would be cancelled double quick if the bill suddenly went from £45 a year to £450. Similarly I don't know many hackers that would do it if the attached risk was losing a weeks wages.

I suppose the argument is that nobody cheats if they think they'll be caught, but that would prove them wrong in the most memorable way possible.

The solution they've actually come up with just seems a bit wimpy.
 

Singing Gremlin

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fix-the-spade said:
Why doesn't Microsoft do something that would, y'know, work?

If they just, say, charged a cheater 10times the normal subscription rate. I bet little Timmy's account would be cancelled double quick if the bill suddenly went from £45 a year to £450. Similarly I don't know many hackers that would do it if the attached risk was losing a weeks wages.

I suppose the argument is that nobody cheats if they think they'll be caught, but that would prove them wrong in the most memorable way possible.

The solution they've actually come up with just seems a bit wimpy.
Well, overcharging them is kinda illegal, I think. Plus, this way the cheaters do still pay (admittedly probably on a new account), as opposed to driving off paying customers, which might not be a great sales tactic even if they are dirty cheaters.
 

fearofthemind

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As long as they don't to this to people who use cheat codes on singleplayer games, then I'm with this.
 

fix-the-spade

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Singing Gremlin said:
Well, overcharging them is kinda illegal, I think. Plus, this way the cheaters do still pay (admittedly probably on a new account), as opposed to driving off paying customers, which might not be a great sales tactic even if they are dirty cheaters.
Not illegal at all, you just put in the terms of use that all XBL players are aware what will happen and that by signing up they agree to it. Given how many people (just don't bother to) read the terms of service I'd bet the only people who notice would be the ones caught out by it.
 

Skizle

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fearofthemind said:
As long as they don't to this to people who use cheat codes on singleplayer games, then I'm with this.
most cheats nowadays are unlocked through single player. the only achievements that really need to be closely monitored are the multiplayer. also they should change the color of the lettering of the cheaters because im sure there will be someone changing their name to "Cheater McCheat" somewhere int the near future
 

scotth266

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Jan 10, 2009
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If they're cheating in multiplayer: go right ahead. Anyone who does that deserves it.

Edit:

As someone below has pointed out to me: this is likely more Achievement cracks than actual cheating. In which case, heck yeah they deserve it. Pumping up your gamerscore is a jerk thing to do.
 

Johnn Johnston

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Lord_Panzer said:
Malygris said:
On the other hand, cheating in videogames is lame and you shouldn't be doing it, so on the whole this sounds like a pretty good idea to me.
Woah there, Mr. Opinion Pants, hold the phone. You telling me you've never opened the console in a game before? You've never no-cliped to see an area you otherwise couldn't? Never God-Moded just for the sheer fun of mowing down baddies knowing they're powerless to stop you? Never turned fog-of-war off to see if that cheating know-it-all computer player had a forward base somewhere?

If so, I've gotta say I'm impressed. I think you're silly for not using something they've actually put in the game at some point (often times for comedic effect), but I'm still impressed.
I think he does mean for Live games; in single-player, nobody is affected, but in multiplayer, it's just a dick move and spoils the fun.
 

ffxfriek

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Apr 3, 2008
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Delicious said:
Damn right they'd better be "absolutely sure". Getting labeled as a cheater for something as trivial as having a poor connection or unconsciously using an exploit would be infuriating. They also would need to specify exactly what kind of cheating the player did for this system to have any sort of fairness.
true that i seconded
 

SharPhoe

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Feb 28, 2009
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James Raynor said:
Why don't they like, work on prevention of cheats a little more?
Because that's a lot harder than it sounds, most likely.
 

Lord_Panzer

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Feb 6, 2009
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Johnn Johnston said:
Lord_Panzer said:
Malygris said:
On the other hand, cheating in videogames is lame and you shouldn't be doing it, so on the whole this sounds like a pretty good idea to me.
Woah there, Mr. Opinion Pants, hold the phone. You telling me you've never opened the console in a game before? You've never no-cliped to see an area you otherwise couldn't? Never God-Moded just for the sheer fun of mowing down baddies knowing they're powerless to stop you? Never turned fog-of-war off to see if that cheating know-it-all computer player had a forward base somewhere?

If so, I've gotta say I'm impressed. I think you're silly for not using something they've actually put in the game at some point (often times for comedic effect), but I'm still impressed.
I think he does mean for Live games; in single-player, nobody is affected, but in multiplayer, it's just a dick move and spoils the fun.
So then he's referring to exploits. A cheat is something that has been added, an exploit is something that has been found.
 

SonicSoulstrike96

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Lord_Panzer said:
Malygris said:
On the other hand, cheating in videogames is lame and you shouldn't be doing it, so on the whole this sounds like a pretty good idea to me.
Woah there, Mr. Opinion Pants, hold the phone. You telling me you've never opened the console in a game before? You've never no-cliped to see an area you otherwise couldn't? Never God-Moded just for the sheer fun of mowing down baddies knowing they're powerless to stop you? Never turned fog-of-war off to see if that cheating know-it-all computer player had a forward base somewhere?

If so, I've gotta say I'm impressed. I think you're silly for not using something they've actually put in the game at some point (often times for comedic effect), but I'm still impressed.
Nope, Nope, nope, and nope.

I like how people like to rationalize why they like to cheat when there's no reason to. "godmode" to mow down enemies? why not just set the game to easiest difficulty? Same thing. Unless you're THAT BAD.

No-cliped? Wtf is that? no reason to see it if it doesn't change anything. it's like going out of the way to see a picture of coffee when you really need a cup of joe.

using cheats that they put in game for you to use isn't really cheating. It's using the options within the game to change the experience. Modding/hacking your xbox to give you an advantage over other people is cheating, and that's what they're talking about.