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

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Dexiro

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Dec 23, 2009
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What I want to know if whether he cheated or not, and what Microsoft are accusing him off specifically.
 

The Hairminator

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Mar 17, 2009
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I don't think Microsoft would label him a cheater without sufficient proof, but what do I know. Might be a mistake, but then it should be cleared up by now.
 

UnnDunn

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Oirish_Martin said:
What are the criteria Microsoft use to decide if someone's been cheating?
The big red flag is if your profile has achievements that can only be earned while online (Halo games have a lot of these) but do not have an Acquired date on them.

Achievements earned offline will say "Acquired" with no date. Achievements earned while connected to Xbox Live will show the date they were acquired. If you have an achievement such as a Halo Reach Xbox Live achievement, and it has no date next to it, it means you were not online when you earned it. Since it's an achievement that requires you to be online, the only way to have earned it offline is to have cheated.

They will also look at factors such as if you earned every single achievement across several games in one day, but this isn't as conclusive.

They can also track your historical Achievement trends, and spot aberrations that raise flags.
 

Jumplion

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Mar 10, 2008
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I'm probably going to sound a bit cruel here, and other people probably pointed this out already, but the only reason why this is news is because the kid is autistic. If it was a regular kid complaining about his unfair "cheater" status, people would go "suck it up".

I know, I know, some autistic people have those obsessive tics (I guess you'd call them that?), so I guess his was collecting achievements. Still, I can't help but be a little cynical over this. It still sucks and I hope he gets his achievements back, of course.
 

KalosCast

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Dec 11, 2010
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Woodsey said:
Even if he was cheating, I don't think they need to berate an autistic, 11-year-old kid for something that is obviously important to him - and important in a way that most of us wouldn't "get".
He didn't get berated, he got the exact same treatment that everyone else gets in that situation. Being autistic doesn't magically make you immune to the rules that you agreed to when signing up for a service.
 

The Hairminator

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Mar 17, 2009
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HotFezz8 said:
OT: its not relevant why it happened or whether he deserves it. this will hurt microsoft more than it will hurt him.
Of course it's relevant. They have rules they must follow. And it shouldn't hurt Microsoft, they didn't do anything wrong here, I'd say. But I doubt people will realize that.
 

Kuchinawa212

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Apr 23, 2009
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Microsoft has the right to steamroll kids when ever they feel like it. Right? Isn't that in the contract? They can pretty much do what ever to your account if they feel like it?
So really the kid is just whining. Yeah it's terrible to not feel for him, I hope he can get it rightfully turned back, but look at what he's complaining about. Cheating in a video game. And Mircosoft can detect that stuff pretty well. So he very well could be lying.
But the takeaway point is: Tough Toenails if he doesn't get it back. They don't need to do anything.
 

JediMB

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Oct 25, 2008
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CrystalShadow said:
JediMB said:
"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.
Oh, I understand fully what it could mean to an autistic kid.

I was thinking more about the "regular" people out there. The ones in their late teens and the adults... who compulsively borrow and rent as many (oft crappy) games as possible just so they can watch their score rise.
 

nofear220

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Apr 29, 2010
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Onyx Oblivion said:
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?!
A lot of time and money spent in the basement?
 
Feb 13, 2008
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AnubisAuman said:
PS: Do we know the kid is autistic, or do we just have his mother's word for it?
There's a video attached to some other posts that's in their format, so I'm not surprised the Escapist doesn't want to take it. He's quite obviously ...feck, I don't know the PC term anymore...he's autistic.

What does cause problems though is the Miranda-like detail of the EULA. The reason that this story is a story is because of his autism, granted, but the EULA itself cannot - in all good reasoning - be agreed by him. Or any other person with a mental/emotional impairment. He's 11, with a emotional age of about half that (If autism follows true to form), why the hell are you getting him to sign a legal contract saying he'll behave or you'll take his toys away?

Yes this case may be getting more than it's milage because he's autistic, but there's still a case in there even if he wasn't.
 

putowtin

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Jul 7, 2010
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JediMB said:
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 get giddly everytime I can walk across a room with out falling over (I'm disabled) should people start calling me a cheater because I walk with a stick? (not trying to start a debate here just trying to give a real life example)
 

mjc0961

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Nov 30, 2009
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If they reset his score, he probably cheated. They reset the gamerscore of cheaters and label them as such all the time, and I don't think they should make an exception in this case because the account owner is autistic. If he cheated, he cheated; end of story. And the article makes it clear that they found proof of cheating on the account.

If it really bothers him that he got caught cheating, he should switch to a PS3. You can cheat to get all the trophies you want and Sony doesn't do a damn thing about it. I know this because most of the people who brag about their trophy collection are such obvious cheaters that it's not even funny (they will cheat to get 100% of the trophies in a game that had its online servers closed long after the servers were closed, which is a big fat neon sign that says "I CHEATED FOR THESE TROPHIES!"), and yet they still have their collections in tact.

So, yeah. If you want to cheat, get a Playstation 3, not an Xbox 360.
 

PinochetIsMyBro

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Aug 21, 2010
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Microsoft doesn't actually have to do anything. Bad PR? Yeah, because people are really going to stop buying new a new xbox and copies of windows over this.

They probably know it, too. If he cheated, he should be punished. Being autistic doesn't give you a free pass to do whatever you want. Also, it's JUST A VIDEO GAME. His mother should take this as an indication that maybe her kid should be spending some more time outside.
 

archvile93

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Sep 2, 2009
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Tankichi said:
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.
If he did I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be the first, so yes this does happen. Even being in the wrong doesn't mean people just lie back and accept the consequences of their actions like a responsible person. I'm not saying he did cheat, but it is certainly not unreasonable to think he might have. We need more information before coming to any kind of conclusion on this.
 

Roamin11

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Jan 23, 2009
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Tim Latshaw said:
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?
Its cuz the kid is autistic, so the mom is making Microsoft look like a bully, but honestly, just because he is autistic doesn't mean he is incapleable of boosting/cheating, and I've only seen microsoft act on actual cheaters, mod-ers ect. He's 11 and my experince with seeing 9-14 year olds on games is they will usually want to take the easy glitch/cheat.

Oy -.-*
 

Daemascus

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Mar 6, 2010
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Tankichi said:
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.
Since when have humans been logical?
 

antipunt

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Jan 3, 2009
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My hunch is that he was cheating, but Microsoft will still let him have this gear back to save face.

Just a guess though.
 

DudeistBelieve

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Sep 9, 2010
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I gotta side with Microsoft. They've always claimed that you have to do a deliberate set of things to have this happen to you, and seeing as how this kid is the only one that is crying foul... ehhhhhh no.

Sorry, kid, the fact that your (apparently, because you can speak and play games) a high functioning autistic doesn't make you automatically innocent. Especially since, you're the only one.
 

meowchef

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Oct 15, 2009
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What does him being autistic have anything to do with anything? He cheated. He received the same punishment every other cheater receives. The end.