[UPDATE] Microsoft Devastates Autistic Child By Labeling Him a Cheater

[The Long Road]

Microsoft. Now attacking Handicapped people for profit.

I highly doubt he was cheating. It seems unlikely that he would cheat to get a high achievement score then when he gets banned he gets upset. It's not a logical move even for an autistic.

You're basing this on your considerable experience in the field of autism research, correct? You're not just assuming that someone with a mental handicap would react in a way you deem logical in any given situation?

Tossing wild guesses about this child's behavior is a mark of considerable arrogance and ignorance on your part. Even the top minds in autism research can't venture guesses about behavior with any kind of respectable accuracy. What seems logical to you might be fallacious to someone with autism and vice versa.

As for Microsoft's course of action... They could have asked the opinions of autism specialists for how to react to a clear breach of policy by an autistic child, but that would take a lot of time, money and effort. It's far simpler for all involved to enforce the policy as usual.

 

[FoolKiller]

What I still don't get is how can you cheat to boost your gamerscore. You would think that by this point Microsoft would have figured out a way to stop it altogether instead of spanking people.

 

[Shycte]

Last time I checked, men were equal. Soooo.. Wherev does the autism matters?

Anyway, he probably got what he deserved.

 

[Phoenixlight]

He was probably playing games that weren't suitable for him anyway so /careface.

 

[Ignatz_Zwakh]

I have to say, the title to this article caused me to chuckle evilly.

 

[Feylynn]

I don't care if he's a heaven sent avatar of charisma or a winged violet garbage truck that knows how to tap dance.
If he cheated, he loses his points.

Pretty simple concept.

I imagine Microsoft has it laid out pretty simple to see when the numbers are modified as well, not some sketchy suspicion or whatnot.

 

[HentMas]

I personlay hate achievements/trophies as they give nothing rewarding really

ok, wait,

first you state that the kid should have never bein taken from his "single player" achievements no matter what

and then you state that you hate achievements/trophies and they do more harm than good

then what do you think the people that DO care about such things would think?? that its "OK" to cheat for something they worked hard to get?

its an awfull double standard you are putting up there pal, does him being autistic puts him in a higher place where he doesnt have to follow the rules everyone else does?? i dont think so

MS wants his customers happy, if you dont care about achievements then good for you!!, but there are people who actually DO care about gamerscore, and they work really hard, for days on end to get them, then why does some kid, regardless of "illness" or whatever should be allowed to cheat his way up in the score the others worked so hard to get??

what would you think if you were playing... i dont know, BASEBALL for all your life, and a guy comes and beats you in every single way, and then you discover he was using steroids???

my guess?? you would be pissed, you would yell UNFAIR! and go to the autorities to sort things out

same concept

Didnt read past what you wanted to see ehh,singleplayer achievements/trophies effect nowone but the person who unlocked them,if he cheated online then i see wrong,if he didnt then who did he harm?
Im sorry i dont play rounders.lol or care about lossing any game on any console as its A GAME!
& iv had this view longer than M$ showed they cared about peoples achievements,as long as you aint cheating online you harm nowone,& if you need to cheat to earn an achievements/trophy then go right ahead because the only real loser is the person who cares about a another persons score!
P.S. why take things out of context,bad habit people with no views take

SO, you disregard everything i said because you feel its too much to read?

fine

let me simplify it for YOU!

HE IS CHEATIN ONLINE BECAUSE GAMESCORE IS POSTED IN THE LEADERBOARDS THAT SOME PEOPLE CARE ABOUT

and caring about that "number" is not wrong, or makes someone a loser!!, he is just playing the game in a different way that you do, and if you dont care about it, again GOOD FOR YOU, but there are people who do, and just because you think they are "losers" it doesnt mean its "right" to cheat them out of their enjoyment

P.S. when did i took things out of context?? i was just trying to make you understand that its not wrong to care about an arbitrary number, and how exactly do you know if i got out of context when you didnt even read everything i wrote???? that baffles me!

 

[D_987]

As said. What if he did really good on an online game and a bunch of butt hurt morons( think a 100) or so reported him of cheating when he was simply better than them?

If you're not prepared to look up the system used to catch people found guilty of this kind of modding, don't post. This has nothing to do with other player input. Microsoft have a secretive system in place that tracks players achievements, earn to many achievements to quickly and your account gets flagged. From there they look at the achievements and attempt to see why it was flagged - if something doesn't add up [i.e there're 50 achievements unlocked at the same time - or impossible to earn achievements [such as online achievements earnt offline] the account receives this punishment, as it's very clear they have cheated. Apparently the kid earnt 1000 gamerscore in CoD: Black Op's within 3 seconds, clearly modding their score [though I have no source on that, just a rumor posted on another site - but that's an example of the kind of bullshit the kid pulled].

This incident has absolutely nothing to do with the child's skill level - and everything to do with the fact their gamerscore was illegally modded. Microasoft makes every user sign an agreement stated they agree to have Cheater placed by their name should they be found guilty of modding their gamerscore when they create an account; the user agrees - so I fail to see where the "sadistic" part comes in; the only reason people cheat to gain gamerscore is for pride, why not take that aspect away from them so they'll think twice before doing it again?

That's why I'm jumping. We've yet to see if there was a gun there.

Of course Microsoft are being vague about the circumstances, they don't want the general public knowing how they catch achievement cheats, nor is it within their interests to push the issue further [they aren't going to give the public evidence when they've already shown the women in question, who hasn't made a comment since]

 

[CrazyDave DC]

How does one artificially boost gamerscore? It by some sort of hack or something?

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

Can someone clarify something for me:

When they say "illegitimately" boosting, is this refereeing to modding and hacking or the party of friends methods... because the latter isn't illegal and common practice from what I gather.

The reason I ask is the reason some people might be questioning it is does this kid even have the know-how to hack online?

I think that's basically what's going on. People are going "He's autistic! how could he be cheating? He doesn't know how/know the difference/doesn't know tat cheaing is bad"

They can't release the info to the kid because he's under aged, autistic, and since he's the one who plays XBox, even if they told him "We found this, this, and this" he could lie to the public.

 

[MatsVS]

Some people here actually advocate crushing the heart of an autistic child to upheld the rules and regulations of X-box Live? Even if he did cheat, so what? Seriously, people, your priorities are fucked up.

 

[D_987]

Some people here actually advocate crushing the heart of an autistic child to upheld the rules and regulations of X-box Live? Even if he did cheat, so what? Seriously, people, your priorities are fucked up.

"Yeah let cheats get away with their crimes unpunished!

Ugh, you do realize that if they give this kid his score back every cheat who posts on the Xbox.com forums [there's a section for account suspensions] that claims they're innocent [they always do] will cry they have some form of mental disability - you can't let a few slip by without opening up the floodgates"

I think your priorities are "fucked up", why exactly should we let this kid break the rules? Because he cares? I'm pretty sure everyone that has ever cheated to earn a greater amount of gamerscore has cared...that's why they did it in the first place...

 

[Kroxile]

Seeing how you can't redeem gamerscore points or achievements for anything I say wth is the big deal?

Being that the kid is autistic I can see why they would matter to him, but its not like Microsoft is losing out on anything by just letting the kid keep his points, FFS

 

[MatsVS]

"Yeah let cheats get away with their crimes unpunished!

Ugh, you do realize that if they give this kid his score back every cheat who posts on the Xbox.com forums [there's a section for account suspensions] that claims they're innocent [they always do] will cry they have some form of mental disability - you can't let a few slip by without opening up the floodgates"

I think your priorities are "fucked up", why exactly should we let this kid break the rules? Because he cares? I'm pretty sure everyone that has ever cheated to earn a greater amount of gamerscore has cared...that's why they did it in the first place...

No, he should get away with it because achievements and gamerscores are not important. Protecting and shielding the weakest in our societies is important. Hasn't the universe already punished him enough by making him autistic? Besides, why do you care if some moron on the internet lies about being autistic to get his achievements back? He is who he is in a world that is very dark and will probably die alone, so no hair off your back. If these people somehow, by their mere existence, impedes your enjoyment in games, I suggest finding a more solitary hobby.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

All the "evidence" we have at the moment is one group of people saying it's an automated unblockable, infallible system, one group saying it's all moderators, and a Microsoft rep on damage control.

The "Microsoft rep" was Stepto, who is in charge of Policy and Enforcement. He's not a PR flack puking back talking points, he's the guy who pulls the trigger on this stuff.

Also, MS (including Stepto) has repeatedly described the ban system; targets get flagged (automagically, or by user reports) for human review, admins do some research into the target, and if the research shows solid evidence of misbehaviour then an admin places the ban.

The process isn't arbitrary and it isn't one that can be "gamed" simply. It's also pretty robust, even if that does make it slow to act sometimes.

Oh, and a group of people who want to kick the living hell out of this kid because his mum tried to get him sympathy.

That too. Back when I was in public school the most supportive parents in the school were the parents of the worst bully. Little [name redacted] just couldn't have done these terrible things, because he's such a wonderful boy... so when a parent vigorously asserts the innocence of his/her child despite the evidence-based claims of others, I'm naturally suspicious. (That's one of many reasons I didn't buck for a job in Xbox Live's enforcement division when I had the chance.)

-- Steve

 

[Sinspiration]

So one Autistic kid is suddenly a cheater and boosts his score, supposedly. Even if he did, what about all those other people that seem to have impossibly gained full score on almost all the games on their lists? Are they cheaters too? Are Microsoft going to cut down everyone's achievements who happen to max them out?

Achievements may be a superficial construct. But some people actually CAN get them all.

 

[8-Bit Grin]

Honestly, I laughed when I saw that he'd been renamed to CheaterMcCheat.

I think that the child is whining because he made a whoopsie, and...
...maybe I'm wrong, but he seems to be using his autism as a sympathy card.

Most honest folk wouldn't just throw that out there. It has nothing to do with the subject.

"I'm sad because Microsoft labeled me a cheater". So?
"I'm sad because Microsoft labeled me a cheater. Oh, and I have autism." Oh, well that's just terrible of them!

 

[Rainforce]

So....isn't writing "cheater!!!!" all over a persons face kinda...bullying?
Isn't that a bit much from a company that should stay neutral?
screw the autistic child, but that seems to be a good reason why I don't want to get assiciated with Microsoft.

 

[jmarquiso]

Sometimes you have to take a step back and ask: Why is this a story worthy of coverage from a news station? A game site, sure; but a broadcast affiliate in a major city? Really?

Three reasons. One, local affiliates really have nothing to do except for local human interest stories. All the big news is probably coming down the pipe from the same major newswires. If there were no major crimes or car accidents in town that day, might as well roll with this.

Second, old media always jump at the chance to cast new media (including video games) in a bad light.

Third, this is a Seattle affiliate and they can spin anything Microsoft-related as local news.

That, and david vs. goliath stories (autistic child and parent vs. big, bad corporation) is common. I mean, they may have attempted to get a response by Microsoft, but in the time to do this story, they sent an ENG crew out to the house, interviewed the mother and the kid, filmed them looking solemn and made it sound like a witch-hunt. Saying they didn't yet hear back from microsoft seems a bit disingenuous. Of course the mother is going to say her child did nothing to deserve it.

But yes, it's a non story otherwise, and gamerscore isn't really something of real value. That would have been interesting to cover.

It IS of value to this 11 year old, and I feel for him. Still, it's more likely he did cheat.

I would have loved to have at least heard an expert on autism chime in on video games and autism.

 

[Gralian]

So one Autistic kid is suddenly a cheater and boosts his score, supposedly. Even if he did, what about all those other people that seem to have impossibly gained full score on almost all the games on their lists? Are they cheaters too? Are Microsoft going to cut down everyone's achievements who happen to max them out?

Achievements may be a superficial construct. But some people actually CAN get them all.

I believe the way they check for illegitimate boosting is similar to the way Bungie do it to check for credit exploits in Reach; they simply look at the date / time that various challenges, credits, achievements and what have you were earned. If you managed to get 1000 points in several games in the space of 10 minutes, then... well, the warning siren is going to go off.

Seeing how you can't redeem gamerscore points or achievements for anything I say wth is the big deal?

Being that the kid is autistic I can see why they would matter to him, but its not like Microsoft is losing out on anything by just letting the kid keep his points, FFS

Well i can't speak for the entire xbox live community, but achievements matter to me. Don't ask me why, they just do. They give me something to strive for and feel proud of when i spend a while going after something particularly tricky. So if i see someone who's boosted their points through means of cheating or modding, that ticks me right off. I honestly can't say why. I know the whole "i have more points than you!" thing is incredibly childish and juvenille, but that's just me. I know there are an awful lot of xboxers out there who are the same. Not obsessive-wise, but they still think "yeah you know what, i'm proud of my score / particular achievements" and feel similar if they see someone who's cheated. Nintendo may think achievements are "mythical rewards", but i think they're a major business model behind the xbox. Some people prefer getting xbox games over ps3 ones if they own both consoles simply because the xbox one will add points to their gamerscore. If it wasn't profitable, microsoft wouldn't enforce the rule of all games having a minimum of 1000 achievement points in every single retail game and 200 in XBLA games. So you have to expect them to crack down on people who do cheat.