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

[Abedeus]

Hah, pretty much first thing I thought when mother said her kid is innocent:

"How do we know he's innocent?"

Did the news really need to say he was Autistic, I mean lets say my neighbor who is 10. Is accused of cheating on xbox live, and he went to the news. The news wouldnt do anything with the story because so what you were cheating, or accused of it. BUT becuase the kid is autistic, he gets special rights, and some gulit thrown his way. I just never saw things like that.

Same.

"5-year old kid got his account banned on World of Warcraft!!!
...Who cares?
5-year old kid with Down's Syndrome got his account banned AND LIFE RUINED!!
HOLD THE PRESSES!!!

OKAY START THE PRESSES!!!"

 

[Xennon]

Well done Microsoft for not caving just because the kid is autistic. Even better that they went all the way and provided proof.

There are many different types of autism, so people saying 'He's autistic, he's super smart' or 'he's autistic, he can't lie' are all totally wrong. Not all autistic people are Rain Man. Some you wouldn't even know if they were autistic unless they told you (mild autism + behavioural therapy for instance).

 

[Wintermoot]

why do people care so much for achievements?

Why does the developmentally disabled, mentally deficient child have a predilection for irrational thought?

Is that seriously your question here?

Why does the person who doesn't have a normal mind act like you think someone with a normal mind should act?

I AM autistic and I dont get why people have such a fuss over achievements if he is that good he can easily re-achieve them

 

[TilMorrow]

Microsoft have probably near-perfected their system for capturing cheaters who try to make multiplayer unpleasant for others or boosting their achievements.

The most logical reason would be is as an autistic child he could have had no idea what he was doing to get achievements may have been considered as cheating and that is why he is claiming he has not. Although it does sound a little harsh to take away his achievements and call him a cheater, but thats what microsoft does to all the cheaters and he isn't a specific case. Well at least they have contacted the family and can send a representative to show how the kid has been cheating if he has and then teach him how its against the rules.

Though if he was boosting achievements via multi then he is lucky his account wasn't banned from XBL. MS don't take kindly to multiplayer cheats.

 

[gl1koz3]

Sorry, if you don't get how to use it, then there's 99.9% of others who do. And if you cheated, then you cheated. Especially if it's even double-checked. Bad, considering the kid's problems, but what can you do... he shouldn't be using the system if he can't comply to the rules anyway.

 

[Wintermoot]

Conclusion: I'm going to start calling myself autistic. I can then murder people and the jury will let me go because "He's autistic, stop picking on him!"

you stole my idea! except that I have piece of paper that say,s I,m legally autistic except I would steal instead of murder

 

[squid5580]

Yes yes yes. Way to go M$. I thought for sure you were going to cave. Glad to see you still believe in the little things like equality. I can remain a proud achievement whore afterall.

 

[squid5580]

Microsoft have probably near-perfected their system for capturing cheaters who try to make multiplayer unpleasant for others or boosting their achievements.

The most logical reason would be is as an autistic child he could have had no idea what he was doing to get achievements may have been considered as cheating and that is why he is claiming he has not. Although it does sound a little harsh to take away his achievements and call him a cheater, but thats what microsoft does to all the cheaters and he isn't a specific case. Well at least they have contacted the family and can send a representative to show how the kid has been cheating if he has and then teach him how its against the rules.

Though if he was boosting achievements via multi then he is lucky his account wasn't banned from XBL. MS don't take kindly to multiplayer cheats.

Lol what?? Boosting is fine. Major Nelson has come right out and said just as much. Boosting is still playing. Just because you are doing it with friends with a common goal is nowhere near what they consider cheating.

 

[Blazingdragoon04]

Newsflash!!!

Autistic people can still cheat. They are not sub-human in that they lack the motivation to cheat, nor are they members of society that are exempt from its rules and regulations and can, in fact, be fairly normal people with a debilitating condition.

The fact that this threat seems started to lambaste microsoft for banning someone with autism, because clearly people with autism need to be put on a pedestal and need to only be treated only with ind praise and special privileges, is just doing more harm. Autistic people are people, so treat them equally and not as a group of people that need to be coddled and protected from every single thing that someone might do to them.

Sometimes they cheat, and sometimes they deserve punishment. It's part of being human, so please, treat them as such. Give them the dignity to still be accountable for their actions like everyone else in society.

 

[TilMorrow]

Microsoft have probably near-perfected their system for capturing cheaters who try to make multiplayer unpleasant for others or boosting their achievements.

The most logical reason would be is as an autistic child he could have had no idea what he was doing to get achievements may have been considered as cheating and that is why he is claiming he has not. Although it does sound a little harsh to take away his achievements and call him a cheater, but thats what microsoft does to all the cheaters and he isn't a specific case. Well at least they have contacted the family and can send a representative to show how the kid has been cheating if he has and then teach him how its against the rules.

Though if he was boosting achievements via multi then he is lucky his account wasn't banned from XBL. MS don't take kindly to multiplayer cheats.

Lol what?? Boosting is fine. Major Nelson has come right out and said just as much. Boosting is still playing. Just because you are doing it with friends with a common goal is nowhere near what they consider cheating.

I think you have mistaken what I meant. When I was referring to boosting in MP games on XBL I wasn't talking about working together with friends to unlock achievements. I instead meant that if he was using cheats or possible controller/game hacks to help boost achievements online then he was lucky he was not banned. Hope I cleared that up for ya .

 

[Kyogissun]

Yeah, I didn't even need to see the 'updated' part to figure out that there was some bullshit going on.

He cheated, be that boosting (read: arranging acquisition of gamerscore via 'fixing' the game) or genuine modding, doesn't matter. Doesn't matter that he's autistic either. You typically don't see them throwing these things around all willy nilly, sounds like the kid OR mom need to fess up, ONE of them is lying.

 

[silver wolf009]

I support punishment of people who have been cheating or hacking, (I am thinking of all the Brigaders in Halo Reach with 15 hours of play time) if they have reason to believe that someone is a cheat, they should shut down their gamerscore.

 

[matrix3509]

You see this is why I refuse to give a shit about achievements. They are absolutely meaningless and are only there so the e-peeners can have something to feel better than everyone else about. Seriously, fuck achievements.

 

[Aethren]

Did anyone else notice that if you scroll to the very bottom of the page, the Rift banner ad under the Forum Jump thing lines up perfectly with the *cough* sophisticated young lady on the right?

At least, it did before Captcha. Damn you captcha.

Captcha: loi dicti

Loi dicti to you too...Bastard.

 

[Ithera]

An autistic cheater, is still a cheater. An I'll gotten camel gathers no gain.

 

[droppingpenny]

And all this fuzz about numbers that don't do anything.

 

[The Stonker]

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?

Because they see it as a huge multi billion company is against people with autism and are therefore against the enviroment!
That's how news media works these days.

 

[Athinira]

I don't trust for one second when Microsoft says that they've "confirmed" that the achievements were illegally modified.

And i don't trust it for the same reason i don't trust Valve's Anti-Cheat bans and Valve's "our anti-cheat is flawless" attitude either. They are asking players to implicitly trust their anti-cheat software (even Microsoft rely on software readings to "confirm" their stuff), and i honestly don't think they deserve that trust.

Not ruling out that the guy cheated, but i see it as unlikely.

 

[Dastardly]

Permalink

It's possible the kid didn't know he was cheating. Possible, not necessarily likely. But if they've got ways of tracking this (and I'm sure they do), and they've shared that information with the mother, and she's not sharing it with the public, it's looking pretty likely he did, in fact, cheat--whether intentionally or not.

If they didn't give her the information? We'd hear about it. If they gave her information that isn't good enough? We'd hear about it. If the information proves there was cheating? We won't hear a damn thing about it. Happens all the time when a parent takes up for a child without having the facts... and then they're presented the facts, and proven wrong. They shut up and go home angry at the world, rather than at the kid.

Autism is real. But it is also the new hot-button, over-diagnosed disorder. It's hard to prove a kid doesn't have it, so we're stuck assuming every claim is real (lest we shun that one kid that actually does). My guess? We're looking at a kid that supposedly has Asperger's Syndrome--by far the most nebulous, and thus "common," form of autism.

And the public's tragic misunderstandings and misinformation about autism (thanks Rain Man) will lead them to think the kid is a magical game wizard, and that's why MS thinks he was cheating.

 

[LightspeedJack]

This happened to my friend the other day. Over 3 years he had built up his Gamerscore to almost 40,000 and modded it to add about 500G to his account. They reduced his account to 0G labeled him a cheater and he can never earn the achievements he already had! I admit I lol'd.

As for the kid, don't cry about it, it's only gamerscore.