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

[zelda2fanboy]

there's no autism loophole.

Quote of the DAY! You know, xbox live costs money, quite a bit of money actually. I mean, I would never pay someone to call me a cheater, so why pay to give someone that opportunity? At a certain point, it's time for mommy to turn off the magic box that makes her child cry. Every online game has bugs, loopholes, and tricks and as soon as you allow real people into your game, strangers no less, whatever happens is fair game. If you don't like it (and I don't), turn that shit off. And certainly don't pay for it, for crying out loud.

 

[CJ1145]

Achievements are NOT worth traumatizing a kid like this. If he cheated that's bad and he should probably be punished, but this is a step too far. Microsoft should figure out that their Achievement points are not valuable currency that Somalian pirates would kill to obtain. They're just a tool to help people measure their e-penises. They should lighten up.

 

[squid5580]

Don't know what I'd do if all my achievements disappeared. You know how long it took to get 87,000 without resorting to shitty movie games for easy gamerscore?!

But if he was actually a cheater...then that's totally fine with me. And I think that he actually was a cheater, myself.

I highly doubt the mother would actually know whether or not her kid was cheating, though.

MS will likely give him the stuff back to save face, as autism is a hot-button issue right now.

I just recently lost my entire account with over 80 000 achievies (not to mention all my arcade and DLC) thanks to a vindictive ex gf. Believe me it sucks. I don't even care about the DLC and virtual crap but I worked 3 years on that.

I am sorry and this is going to sound really cruel and heartless and quite possibly inhumane but why is this news? Go to the xbox forums (if you dare) you will find thread after thread of people saying the same thing. But because this kid has autism he gets on Fox news?? And I betcha dollars to donuts M$ is going to send him a ton of swag since according to the forum mods you can't be unreset.

I really hope it is a very slow news day and that is why this article is here.

 

[Joepow]

Microsoft says it's confident that someone (probably named Jackson) tampered with Jackson's account to boost his score in an illegitimate manner, and doesn't currently plan to give him his achievements back.

"Fuck you, kid. We know you didn't do wrong, but we're not gonna do anything about it."

Many years ago, this would have shocked and angered me. These days, par for the Microshaft course.

When they say someone they don't mean someone other than him.

The word "tampered" implies it though. But sure, if you honestly believe that he cheated on his score, then he should have all of his trophies taken away, his score reset and be labelled a cheater across the whole of XBox Live.

Perhaps a bell around his neck as well? Or would that be going too far? I mean, as it's obviously so important, how would people measure their worth without it?

Unless they're autistic, of course, where someone incapable of understanding emotion is suddenly the focus of a a large amount of emotional recoil from having a label splashed onto the screen. Yeah, that actually could severely hurt someone whose self-worth is linked to arbitrary numbers. It's a good thing that never happens, isn't it?

I don't see any implication of Jackson's innocence here. Microsoft is just being polite by not outright saying "he cheated".

Also, he's autistic so he is incapable of understanding emotions and he measures his worth by his gamescore?... That's not what autism really is.

 

[The Atheist]

With a case like this, you bet your ass that Microsoft would make damn sure it was tampered with before they decided to not give him his achievements back. I'll have to side with MS on this one.

I agree. The system MS use to detected gamerscore cheats is automated, therefore, they are highly unlikely to use an automated system that throws up a lot of false positives. It's based on things such as unlocking online-only achievements while not being connected to Live, or, for example, unlocking the achievement for beating the last level in the game, before you've unlocked the achievements for beating earlier levels, which again is not possible via legitimate play. Everyone who creates a Live enabled gamertag agrees not to do this by agreeing to the terms of service that they must agree to in order to use Live.

The child being autistic is irrelevant. That's just the emotional appeal part of the story so you feel sympathetic. Remove that aspect and it wouldn't be a story at all. The kid being autistic doesn't automatically mean he couldn't have cheated either. Of course he could. Someone else using his gamertag may have cheated with or without his knowledge, but you are responsible for your own gamertag and what's done with it.

 

[Pumpkinmancer]

And yet another reason I don?t like game scores and achievements. The hassle they create in order to foster a ridiculous sense of competition, for having nothing better to do with ones time I suppose, doesn?t seem to be worth the 'feeling' of achievement. If I was his parent I'd have told him to create a new gamer tag or just deal with the situation and move on. Going on a news channel about something so petty is just legitimizing both of these parties in something that is completely arbitrary and in no way relevant to life. I don?t want people whining about their game scores on my news, I want more stories about kittens playing instruments, that?s what important!

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I don't see any implication of Jackson's innocence here. Microsoft is just being polite by not outright saying "he cheated".

Microsof are also not saying "he cheated" because they're unwilling to give away any details of how. 3 company reps and 3 e-mails to the company (I checked) don't even tell them how or where he cheated. Perhaps a chance of their mistake? Which they won't undo.

Also, he's autistic so he is incapable of understanding emotions and he measures his worth by his gamescore?... That's not what autism really is.

Autistics have a great deal of difficulty dealing with change and emotions. When they're in their own special "zone", they can cope with quite astounding mental feats because they don't have to deal with the usual mental garbage that we take for granted. (There's also Savantism, but that doesn't seem to be the case here).

The three basics of autism are difficulties with social interaction, social communication, and social imagination. (http://tinyurl.com/6dxepe8)

That means that a simple score will be as great as importance to an austic as your first kiss or your mum's cookie recipie. It's what makes them feel whole. Slap a label for being a lesser person (Cheater) on top of that, and you may as well slap an "N word" on all your non-white players - it's that offensive.

Note: I'm not saying he didn't cheat - I'm not saying this wouldn't be as bad applied to anyone else and I'm not saying that it's healthy for him to be using this as his only interaction.

But yeah, Microsoft, get off your collective ass and at least let this guy remove the cheater tag, that's just fucking childish.

 

[Dfskelleton]

That sucks, but if he was cheating... I don't know. Microsoft is pretty firm about slamming down the banhammer, but hardly ever do it without good reason.

 

[WrongSprite]

It seems a bit too much to put "Cheater" by his name.

You don't tattoo "Murderer" in murderer's foreheads.

....that's a fantastic idea.

 

[BanthaFodder]

if he cheated, then fine, he doesn't deserve em.
however, Microsoft have a tendency to be over-protecive dicks who wield the ban hammer a little too loosely (I forget what it was... I think it was people who hacked CoD or something... they deleted their ENTIRE XBL account for it... or something like that...)
more info is needed

 

[Arec Balrin]

I suspect PC gamers will be more sympathetic as Games for Windows LIVE is atrocious; we're more likely to believe Microsoft's system is a bugged mess that false flags accounts.

My suspicion is that the little inquisitor found bugs in something that by his perception were no different from normal game mechanics, presenting a grey area between following the rules and outright exploitation. His condition means he's less likely to be able to judge which way along that grey area the bugs lean; if it isn't outright wrong, then it is outright fine.

 

[The Atheist]

And yet another reason I don?t like game scores and achievements. The hassle they create in order to foster a ridiculous sense of competition, for having nothing better to do with ones time I suppose, doesn?t seem to be worth the 'feeling' of achievement.

The achievements system is fine. It's those that either abuse it or become obsessed with unlocking achievements that are/have the problem, but they are in a small minority. I can take or leave them most of the time, but sometimes they extend my fun with a game when it would have otherwise ended, for example, one of the only games I have unlocked the full 1,000 gamerscore for is Assassin's Creed 2, and if it wasn't for achievements, I would have had nothing to do once the main campaign was over. In that instance, I really enjoyed chasing down the last few achievements. It's a system that's easy to ignore, but adds extra fun/challenge for those that are interested.

however, Microsoft have a tendency to be over-protecive dicks who wield the ban hammer a little too loosely

Do you have any evidence for that? Regardless, the kid wasn't banned from Live. He can even carry on earning gamerscore and unlocking achievements. Also, the system is automated in this case. If it was flagging tons of innocent people, it would have been a huge story by now.

 

[Denamic]

Fine, so someone's upset that he got labelled a cheater, which he denies.
I can't possibly tell if he's lying or not without any evidence.

Why is the part about autism even relevant?
I mean, sure, he might be able to have obsessive focus or something, but that's not even mentioned in the article.
As far as I care, it might have said 'child with glasses accused of cheating'.
Because everyone knows people with glasses never cheat.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

It's a national news story quite simply because more and more people are realising there's far more entertainment in video gaming and the internet than in watching 24 hour news channels.

So it's unsurprising (tho disappointing) that TV channels will use every means necessary inspire fear of video games in their viewers to keep them away from consoles.

Every person they can push the idea of 'Oh Microsoft, they're not nearly as nice as that lovely man on Fox' they've kept another viewer and can sell more ads.

Sure it's a non story in terms of a 'fair and balanced international news source' *cough*, but it suits their anti gaming agenda, so it's going to be pushed up the schedule.

It's a tricky one, but what do MS do? Roll over and ignore cheating from everyone who claims some form of disability? Pay people to investigate each case personally? I'd say if the mother is willing to send in medical evidence, then MS should relent, this time, even if cheating was found, but if there's repeats then autism can't really let him continue to just have the entire gaming network his way.

I only say that for the bad press they're already getting, not because he's autistic, else where do you draw the line at who can cheat?? I'm also not saying he did, we don't know how badly off he is, whether he understands the concept of fair play.

Do we want to have to supply medical records and a police report when we sign up to the next generation of console online services? Just to protect the corporation's backs?

Like I say, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt this time, on the knowledge that if cheating is detected in the future they'll have to rule for the few million other players over one.

 

[KLJT]

If Sony took all my trophies i'd go and cry my eyes out then spend the rest of my life trying to get it back and if he did cheat, who cares if he feels he needs to cheat fine but before Mircosoft feels the need to name and shame then maybe they should look at how every xbox owner i know is on their 3rd or 4th xbox

 

[Phoenix09215]

The kid must've cheated. That means no more Gamerscore! Unless, its an error bbut I highly doubt that...

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

I don't really have enough information to judge the situation. Since we don't actually know what he's being accused of, much less whether he did it or not, it's impossible to say who's in the right.


By the way, that's quite an unbiased headline you've got there. What, are you cribbing notes from Fox News, now?

 

[CrystalShadow]

"lol, gamerscore"

While it's a bit sad that an autistic child is made to feel so devastated, I have to say that it's ridiculous how much people care about achievements and a glorified score counter.

I agree in general, but highly obsessive behaviour over trivial things is a common theme for those with Autism.

That, and difficulty relating to other people.

 

[Quaidis]

Also, is there much point in throwing in the fact that he's autistic? I'm autistic, but I wouldn't want to throw that around or something. Is it meant to make me sympathise with him?

Unfortunately, I think the fact he is autistic is the only thing giving this story any worthiness of attention in the media world. People get their gamerscores wiped for cheating all the time and I'm sure more than one claims they weren't doing anything wrong. His autism is being used as a sympathy chip--"Why is the big bad corporation picking on this one poor child?"

Agreed.

If this was made into such a big deal, I could see that as a further reason for Microsoft to refuse giving the gamer score back. If they did, you could see half the banners and cheaters with an xbox 360 e-mling and complaining to Microsoft that they, too, are 11 and autistic. All of them. Then what will Microsoft do?

 

[Rafael Dera]

That they take away his achievements if he was cheating: okay. MS probably wouldn't do it unless they were sure.
But i don't think they should put cheater next to his name; that kind of social stigmatisation doesn't really fit in this day and age, imho.