Microsoft Banning People Exploiting Glitches
By John Kershaw on Thursday, December 3rd 2009
Perhaps that title should read “Microsoft attempt to beat their chest at the populations of morons who they openly invite onto their system, because some found a glitch in a game the entire industry pretends is important.” Though that’s a bit too long.
There’s a glitch in Modern Warfare 2 that lets you explode when you die. Bit annoying yes, but no worse than every other game ever which has been released, or Martyrdom. The makers of the game are taking a break from rolling around in their money piles to say there’s a patch on the way.
In a bid to pretend like they have some level of control over their paid-for online service, Director of Policy and Enforcement for Xbox Live, Stephen Toulouse, has been tweeting tough words.
…people we catch using [the exploit] will recieve suspensions from LIVE. Play fair everyone.
That suspension he later clarified will be 24 hours for a first offence, longer if you’re a repeat offender.
This means they are saying this goes beyond the game. They will ban people from their entire service for exploiting a bug in a single game. I far from think acting like a dick in an online game is a good idea for anyone involved, but when the ban stretches beyond the single game where the bug is, borders need to be re-addressed.
I think it would also be a good idea to put this information (namely that cheaters will be banned from the system) somewhere a bit more public that Twitter. Not least because then it could be accompanied by some better analogies.
Realistically, Microsoft made a system full of idiots and have no real way to enforce any power. A game with more hype than Jesus has got a bug and Microsoft are doing what every company seems to be doing, namely everything in their power to help the monolithic title out. Toulouse and his team are small (far too small for what Microsoft want and need) and, at least in the experience of most of the people I know, ineffective.
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How do you suspend someone from xbox live? That’s breaking down the 3rd wall right there ;P
That is one of the worst analogies I have ever read.
@Grasslunatic
I concur.
@Grasslunatic: That analogy is like if you were writing a book, and I came in and stole some cheese.
haha,
Or if i were doing a crossword and you came in and stole my grandmothers replacement hip.
While normally my response would be “fuck’em”, as we are talking about the denizens of X-Box Live, a certifiable petri dish of jack assery, this is pretty heavy handed. Its entirely possible for this to occur to someone who didn’t intend to, as its not an extremely elaborate set of circumstances that causes this with commonly used items, and then be temporarily banned for a service they paid for.
Isn’t it IW’s responsibility to identify and fix this glitch with Microsoft’s assistance with QA and a fast tracked approval of the patch. If it’s in the game, it’s absurd for Microsoft to ban or even punish players for exploiting the bug. IW could threaten to reset their experience and levels, that might make SOME sense, but this XBL ban is absurd.
That first sentence was meant to end with a “?” btw.
I don’t think I’ve even unlocked the stinger missile yet :(
Like, say, in their Terms of Service for xbox live?
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/legal/LiveTOU.htm
I don’t know how long most of you have been gaming, but I’ve found it to be pretty standard for your account to get suspended temporarily when you repeatedly exploit a bug, whether you knew it was an exploit or not.
Microsoft isn’t exactly breaking new ground here, and their motivation is to improve the experience of the majority, as anyone with sense operating such a service would do…
Of course, if IW has any sense, they’ll patch it soon and you’ll forget about it in a week… well, after your ban expires anyway. hahaha
[i]in a game the entire industry pretends is important[/i]
Wow dude, I thought the point of NG was to be above trolling for hits.
24 hours really doesn’t seem like a big deal to me, just read a book(or a few small ones) or something.
24 days would be more of a deterrent, only 1 day isn’t much of a consequence.