[UPDATE] Microsoft Devastates Autistic Child By Labeling Him a Cheater
- Thread starter Tom Goldman
- Start date
My question is, and I'm sure it's been asked already but with 13 pages of responses I'm sorry if I don't feel like reading every single response, but why exactly is this important to Microsoft?
Unless I missed the press release where Achievement Points were actually deemed worthy in some way, I'm not really sure why this is a big deal for Microsoft. It'd be like if I could generate all the monopoly money in the world, but the Republic Of Monopoly (yes I know what monopoly means, I'm trying to make a point) no longer existed.
Or if someone cheated and acquired all the Unicorn food and Fairy Dust in the world. Yeah he has a lot but who cares?
I'm not an achievement whore, but I've never bowed down to someone with a superior gamerscore. I just think "oh he has more free time than I do" and move on.
OT: Microsoft does need to be careful here. I did see someone mention autism as a "hot button issue right now" and that's absolutely true. I'm not saying completely restore his stuff no questions asked, but maybe lighten up on the whole "this kid is a cheater" stuff. I promise you there will be people who say that even if he did cheat that because he's autistic he's being treated unfairly.
And has anyone ever been around an autistic child or family with an autistic child for any length of time? When they find something that appeases their child it's like discovering oil in your back yard. It can be very difficult to handle when something an autistic child loves or cherishes is taken away from them.
Unless I missed the press release where Achievement Points were actually deemed worthy in some way, I'm not really sure why this is a big deal for Microsoft. It'd be like if I could generate all the monopoly money in the world, but the Republic Of Monopoly (yes I know what monopoly means, I'm trying to make a point) no longer existed.
Or if someone cheated and acquired all the Unicorn food and Fairy Dust in the world. Yeah he has a lot but who cares?
I'm not an achievement whore, but I've never bowed down to someone with a superior gamerscore. I just think "oh he has more free time than I do" and move on.
OT: Microsoft does need to be careful here. I did see someone mention autism as a "hot button issue right now" and that's absolutely true. I'm not saying completely restore his stuff no questions asked, but maybe lighten up on the whole "this kid is a cheater" stuff. I promise you there will be people who say that even if he did cheat that because he's autistic he's being treated unfairly.
And has anyone ever been around an autistic child or family with an autistic child for any length of time? When they find something that appeases their child it's like discovering oil in your back yard. It can be very difficult to handle when something an autistic child loves or cherishes is taken away from them.
*Reads thread and a few pages of comments*
*Leaves room, comes back with controllers and cleaning wipes*
Honestly, that's all I get from the comments in this thread. If you have dirt on your controllers, you're a terrible person that just plays games, even though some people just have sweaty hands *gasp*.
However, on the subject, why can't the mother just make her son a new gamertag? Is there some console rule that makes cheater spread to any gamertag on the box?
*Leaves room, comes back with controllers and cleaning wipes*
Honestly, that's all I get from the comments in this thread. If you have dirt on your controllers, you're a terrible person that just plays games, even though some people just have sweaty hands *gasp*.
However, on the subject, why can't the mother just make her son a new gamertag? Is there some console rule that makes cheater spread to any gamertag on the box?
Ahem... Sorry to burst the bubble of his name being cheater mccheaterpants, but what microsoft does is add a line to the profile, invalidate all your gamerpoints, and lock the acheivements you have gotten.
"This person is a known cheater." Is what microsoft officially adds to your profile. They don't change Cheater McCheaterpants to your GT. Where is the appeal on Xbox.com? These people are guilty.
"This person is a known cheater." Is what microsoft officially adds to your profile. They don't change Cheater McCheaterpants to your GT. Where is the appeal on Xbox.com? These people are guilty.
They do that to everyone who hacks their achievements. Being autistic has nothing to do with it, if he's found to have done that (there are very very easy ways to find out, such as online only achieves being unlocked while offline - or achieves in the wrong order, then good, he shouldn't have tampered.
He also might be lying, which I think alot of the sympathisers need to consider. How many kids lie when something goes wrong for them?
He also might be lying, which I think alot of the sympathisers need to consider. How many kids lie when something goes wrong for them?
According to the update, it say microsoft has proof (that it has chosen not to make public) saying that they have proof that this kid was cheating. And I highly doubt they would go to all this trouble for one kid without good reason.GamerMage said:
They probably found him getting achievements within seconds of one another, or multiple achievements for different games within a very short period.
and for the record, yes, becoming obsessed with getting something like achievements IS (or can be) a symptom of autism, but many people (especially children) with ASD would care more about the achievement itself than the skills required to earn them, i.e. this child probably didn't care about being skilled and earning virtual trophies, and just had an overpowering urge to have the full set, regardless of the methods of obtainment
If you have to ask the question, then you don't understand the concept of a slow news day for a 24 hour news cycle. If you want more information, you can find it at Fark.comTim Latshaw said:
MS has a very draconian mindset for achievements and quassi multilayer balance, one of the reasons you don't see alot of rapid fire controllers these days or even a code breaker or game shark is due to an absolute iron grip on trying to make things balanced even if something is done offline in single player mode.Bomberman4000 said:
I miss the code breaker/game shark stuff badly as it added fun to bland poorly balanced modern games..... a shame its been partly labeled the same as modchips...
Erm... i know people who also do nothing but play the Xbox yet they still have friends. This is a kid with autusm, if u don't have it then i can tell you right now, making friends is really, REALLY hard for us. Most autistic kids get severly bullied at school and find refuge in computer games. Now that his computer games are also "bullying" him in the way of calling him a cheater, this would be a MAJOR thing to him.Cliff_m85 said:
These kind of stories seem to appear very often from XboX Live.
I wonder if the Xbox Live stories are more commonly reported, or if there is some inherent problem in Microsoft's online system that simply doesn't exist with Nintendo or Sony.
I wonder if the Xbox Live stories are more commonly reported, or if there is some inherent problem in Microsoft's online system that simply doesn't exist with Nintendo or Sony.
OMG YES! Microsoft should have known with their super cosmic space brains that this one kid out of their millions of customers had autism, and that he wasn't cheating. Shame on you Microsoft for trying to regulate your online community in any way(Ha Haah! sarcasm)
Why are so many people acting as if Microsoft sees a massive "AUTISTIC" label stamped on his account? I understand this is a major thing with him, I've volunteered with autistic children before. But it's not like we can also expect MS to know the kid is autistic. This is what happens when people instead of thinking with their heads, jump to zealous conclusions.
They had to do a more thorough investigation on this or else every person on X-Box Live labeled as a cheater would make some sort of excuse like that.
Mind you even MS's excuse of "someone using his account" is bull. But people really need to start seeing both sides of the story instead of just quickly jumping to conclusions saying
"OMG Microsoft HATES KIDS WITH AUTISM", bullshit, give me a fucking break. Live accounts don't have faces or labels on them. They did what they did with every other person, and now that it happens to a kid with Autism there's got to be some kind of massive uproar about it? Restore his account and let the kid be, its the only thing that makes him happy. It's not like they looked at his account and went "OH HE'S AUTISTIC LABEL HIM A CHEATER JUST FOR FUN". No. They did what they did to everyone else. This wasn't a bias thing here. It happened to a tonne of other people.
Either way I hope he got his account back to normal, and his gamer points back.
They had to do a more thorough investigation on this or else every person on X-Box Live labeled as a cheater would make some sort of excuse like that.
Mind you even MS's excuse of "someone using his account" is bull. But people really need to start seeing both sides of the story instead of just quickly jumping to conclusions saying
"OMG Microsoft HATES KIDS WITH AUTISM", bullshit, give me a fucking break. Live accounts don't have faces or labels on them. They did what they did with every other person, and now that it happens to a kid with Autism there's got to be some kind of massive uproar about it? Restore his account and let the kid be, its the only thing that makes him happy. It's not like they looked at his account and went "OH HE'S AUTISTIC LABEL HIM A CHEATER JUST FOR FUN". No. They did what they did to everyone else. This wasn't a bias thing here. It happened to a tonne of other people.
Either way I hope he got his account back to normal, and his gamer points back.
Actually, yes, shame on them for trying to regulate their "online" community in this way. Achievements, as cool as they are, are essentially pointless. That hasn't stopped Microsoft from using them as an excuse to crack down on singleplayer cheating, something that was a right of passage for most of us growing up. I have fond memories both of the Game Shark and the Game Genie, which allowed you to do all sorts of cool things back in the day. Cheating to get achievements hurts noone, and regardless of who did it, Microsoft is the one in the wrong here. If he was cheating in an online match, that would have been a bannable offense, but I don't see the point in punishing people for screwing around offline.Ashoten said:
As for the current situation: I hope, for Microsoft's sake, that this kid really did cheat. Because they're being assholes either way, but at least it would be somewhat justified under their current rules if he really did cheat. I honestly wonder how whoever made this decision is even capable of sleeping at night.
My main issues aren't that the kid is autistic really, but that Microsoft wouldn't explain to the mother what "evidence" they had against the boy. Maybe it was something she could handle at home. If someone else was accessing his account, wouldn't they need to know so they could, oh I don't know, set up some security on the account? Maybe even change the account?
I'd also like to know just how extensive this permanency of the label "cheater" really is. Is it tied to just the gamertag? Or is it the IP address through which live is accessed or the contact information (email account, credit card) used to create the account? Or is it somehow tied to the console itself?
I think that Microsoft being silent about this story is a bad idea, they need to address exactly what's going on or the company could about to be in the midst of a PR nightmare.
I'd also like to know just how extensive this permanency of the label "cheater" really is. Is it tied to just the gamertag? Or is it the IP address through which live is accessed or the contact information (email account, credit card) used to create the account? Or is it somehow tied to the console itself?
I think that Microsoft being silent about this story is a bad idea, they need to address exactly what's going on or the company could about to be in the midst of a PR nightmare.
