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

[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.

 

[Formica Archonis]

No, he should get away with it because achievements and gamerscores are not important. Protecting and shielding the weakest in our societies is important.

"Protecting the weak" and letting someone violate social norms are NOT the same thing. If the kid's broken enough to not understand cheating is wrong AT ALL, then why is he playing games against people? Good lord, I've helped the mentally disabled in the past but I wouldn't want one of them following me home so I could feed him supper too (and some of them tried). Sometimes I just don't wanna deal with people I can't deal with on an even level.

Hasn't the universe already punished him enough by making him autistic?

Name any chronic disease. Slot it into that sentence. It still means as much. I have a friend who will die young because of his chronic problems. Is it fair? No. But he's still gotta work 40 hours a week even though each hour is relatively more precious to him than his coworkers. What about him? Is THAT fair? No. But that's the way it is. We can't make everyone equal.

It's sad, but life just sucks sometimes. While we should do things to accommodate, we can't completely yield. The other side has to hold up their end of being a regular person as much as they can because some people won't improve unless there's pressure on them to improve. They will use disability as an excuse when they're tired, or angry, or any of the other reasons that WE can't get away with. In other words: Some people cheat!

Besides, why do you care if some moron on the internet lies about being autistic to get his achievements back?

Microsoft does because it's a selling point of their service. As annoying and pathetic and Pavlovian as cheevo-hunters are, it's important to them, and that's why some cheat to get more. Some sort of social standing that's trivial to anyone outside the group, like post count or specific badges are in some others (ahem).

They can't bow to everyone. They can't take right-clicking out of Windows because a guy with mobility problems can't do it.

 

[jmarquiso]

I would also add that this might be a call for Microsoft to look at their cheating policy and find a less severe way to handle it based on a gamers' age.

 

[Therumancer]

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.

Not really bullying, Microsoft is neutral in that it enforces the policies on everyone. It needs to be strict enough where the penelty is a deterrant, which this is for someone to whom gamerscore and their online reputation matters. What's more the cheater label servers as a warning to other people who run into the player, given that people view their gamerscores and such competitively, not to take him seriously.

 

[Pearwood]

I'm really glad Microsoft aren't backing down here, the last thing the world needs is people playing the autistic card. People who have both autism and self-respect never do that unless they really have to. Better he learns from an early age that special treatment should only be given to him in the areas of life autism affects.

In case it's not obvious I really doubt the kid is being honest, if Microsoft didn't have solid proof they'd have restored his account just because they wouldn't want the bad publicity.

 

[KaiusCormere]

I applaud Microsoft. Don't let a cheater off the hook just because they have a disability.

 

[murphy7801]

I'm really glad Microsoft aren't backing down here, the last thing the world needs is people playing the autistic card. People who have both autism and self-respect never do that unless they really have to. Better he learns from an early age that special treatment should only be given to him in the areas of life autism affects.

In case it's not obvious I really doubt the kid is being honest, if Microsoft didn't have solid proof they'd have restored his account just because they wouldn't want the bad publicity.

You do realize that Autism pretty much effect all social interaction which is large portion of human life so wouldn't really bring the condition into this. In this case Microsoft shouldn't perhaps call people cheaters on there profiles since bit juvenile of a mega corp. And the real issue fox making claims for news with no hard evidence again is the bigger issue.

 

[theonlyblaze2]

So he did cheat! Now I am glad they took his gamerscore away! I don't care if you are autistic, it doesn't give you a right to cheat at something a huge number of people work really hard at!

 

[CosmicCommander]

Why has this article appeared on The Escapist? I thought the Escapist reported genuine gaming news, not worthless plush articles.

This sort of thing happens all the time- XBL players are branded Cheaters because they cheat, and they face the consequences. What gives this one the importance to appear on this site? That he's autistic?

What difference does it make that he's autistic? It has no effect on the story or the events that occurred; it's patronising to aspies, more than anything.

This is not news.

 

[theultimateend]

I would also add that this might be a call for Microsoft to look at their cheating policy and find a less severe way to handle it based on a gamers' age.

It's not kids that are getting softer it's parents.

None of us were as paper thing emotionally as we now expect our kids to be.

 

[WhatIsThisIDontEven]

On one hand, this could be Microsoft being dickheads again.

On the other, this could be the situation where the kid knows he's autistic and thinks he can get away with anything because of it and accuses everyone of prejudice when he doesn't.

 

[cynicalsaint1]

Also once again, self as a barometer

The problem is, and I mean this not as a personal attack, you're pretty useless as a barometer. For one we don't have any indication of what kind of autism the kid has. Secondly even if he does also have Asperger syndrome, the only thing comparable between the two of you are the known symptoms. You may hate lying and cheating, but you are not him - hell this may even be a good lesson as to why lying and cheating is bad for the kid.

Just because your symptoms may have affected your world view in a certain way (which is what I assume you're implying since you're linking the fact you hate lying to the fact that you have Asperger syndrome), doesn't mean its affected his in a similar way - in fact considering that this an 11 year-old chances are he's still in the midst of figuring out that whole 'morality' issue.

Next, I very seriously doubt that Microsoft is going around just randomly picking accounts with really high Gamerscores and saying "This guy must be cheating" - there has to be some kind of evidence for them to take this approach.

And really what do you people expect Microsoft to do? Show the evidence to everyone on the internet? Assuming that they do have damning evidence - do you really think that would be in the kid's best interest?

Really the situation is a Catch-22 for Microsoft. If they let it slide through the cracks then they have to deal with everyone else who should be let off "Because they're young" or "Because they have such-and-such a disability", if they let the ruling stand they look like a bunch of bastards.

I'm going to have to side with Microsoft on this one, if they have the evidence they say they do, then really letting their judgment stand is the best choice. Though permanently being labeled 'Cheater' does seem a little harsh, I'd argue that maybe the label should only hang around for a few months or something for first time offenders.

The issue here has nothing to do with whether or not the kid has autism. Throwing that fact around in some attempt to raise sympathy is missing the point. Someone with Asperger syndrome should understand more than anyone - I mean just read your post - it pretty much screams "I just want to be treated like everyone else", well that means no special exceptions when you break the rules.

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?

The article says that he's being labeled for illegitimately boosting his Gamerscore, that doesn't sound like a bunch of people reporting him for hacking an online match. Even if it were the case, I seriously doubt Microsoft would do this to someone without investigating the incident. I doubt anyone would be left playing on Xbox live if MS just started banning everyone that got reported.

 

[MatsVS]

snip

The thing is, on a technical level, I completely understand and agree. All the rationalizations and arguments, I understand. But, while we're here, complaining about people playing the "autism card" (seriously, fuck off(EDIT: just to clarify, not you, Mr. Archonis)), there's a young boy sitting at home, staring forlornly at his x-box, the object around which his entire life has probably been revolving, devastated. And anyone who has any experience with autistic kids know how attached they get. And I think to myself, how does loosely held principles stack against that? It's not like I am condoning murder, rape or anything even remotely as serious.

So yeah... Maybe I'm just a fucking softy, but hey, someone's gotta be, right?

I am sorry about your friend. You're right, of course, the universe isn't fair. It's meaningless and full of pain, at the risk of sounding somewhat Hobbesesque. Sometimes we can make it suck a little less, though.

 

[walsfeo]

So something happened through the account that raise "cheat" flags to the 360 enforcement department. I don't know any of those guys personally, but I've listened to the Major Nelson podcast quite a bit and the enforcement guidelines and policies discussed on that show have lead me to trust them until they do something to betray that trust.

That being said it'd be a shame if they have to walk away from this without explaining what happened. Was the kid warned about cheating? Was it in-game behavior or did they do something to the console?

In any case, if they want to continue to pretend achievements have any value they can't just return points to a known cheater.

 

[mjc0961]

See, the kid did cheat. In which case the gamerscore wipe and cheater label should stand. The kid can either learn from this, or if he doesn't want to do that, he can do what I said before and get a PS3 where trophy cheaters are allowed to run free.