Microsoft is taking action against cheaters

Behind the
Scarlet 'C': Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten Further Explains
His New Approach to Punishing Achievement Point Cheaters


Yesterday, Microsoft announced a new form of rough justice for those who would dare to cheat its system of Achievement Points and Gamerscores. Offenders would have their gamerscore--a mark of their progression through various Xbox 360 games--reset to zero; their specifically forfeited achievement points permanently removed, never to
again be regained; and their gamercard emblazoned a tag indicating that "They've been caught cheating." Intrigued by the frontier mentality behind such public shaming of scofflaws, we reached out to Microsoft
with some questions that hadn't fully been answered by their FAQ. Here's what Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten told us via email.

When did you decide to take the steps that were publicly outlined
today to punish people who are determined to be tampering with their
game saves?


We have always invested in upholding the Live Terms of Use through penalizing violations with user and or console bans. The method of having the individual's gamerscore reset is a more measured approach
that addresses this particular form of behavior.

What percentage of Xbox Live users have you determined to have tampered with their game saves?
More than 1 billion Achievements have been unlocked since Xbox 360 launched in November, 2005 and only a small percentage of Xbox Live members have cheated to gain more gamerscore. While we cannot release
the number of gamers who will be affected by this, we can tell you that the number is very small.

What steps, if any, had you been taking in the past to address
this problem? If so, why did you determine them to be insufficient?
As mentioned, we have always invested in upholding the Live Terms of Use through penalizing violations with user and or console bans. In these instances we felt having the individual's gamerscore reset is a more measured approach that appropriately addresses this form of behavior.

How granular are your tools for determine whether someone, as your FAQ page states, "has earned achievements by using tools that circumvent the game or avoid game play entirely"?
We look for abnormal Achievement and gamerscore activity using criteria that identifies members who have used external means to earn Achievements without really playing the game.

Can you determine which Achievement Points were achieved fairly
and which were not? If so, why not remove those points that were
unfairly accumulated and leave the rest intact?
Players do not “accidentally” fall into this type of behavior, they need to take numerous and specific actions using their console. These actions are in direct violation of the Live Terms of Use and therefore would typically qualify the user for a ban. We are committed to keeping the service free of this type of behavior and feel the gamerscore reset is a fair approach. While players who have been identified by these criteria will start from a zero gamerscore, they will still be able to gain Achievements for future games. In other words, we give them another chance to earn future Achievements by earning them fairly, like the majority of the Xbox Live community does.

Why did you decide to not only reset a player's Gamerscore, but
also publicly label him or her a cheater? Is there any way for someone
who has been so punished to have the scarlet "C" removed in the future?
We want to make sure all Xbox Live members know there are
consequences to violating the use of terms by cheating on the service.
This label is primarily for verification to the user that yes, your
gamerscore was reset due to cheating and can be observed on Xbox.com,
and through the player's view of their gamercard on a console or PC
connected to Xbox Live. Gamers who are labeled as 'cheaters' are still
allowed to legitimately gain future Achievements and the player's
experience doesn't change in any other way. Over time, we intend to
remove the label – although the original achievements will remain
reset. It is up to the individual player to prove that they won't do it
again.

Because college sports games cannot license the names and
likenesses of college athletes, they generally use a position or player
number in its place. Numerous gamers resort to painstakingly creating a
saved game file in which they've entered the real names of all of the
players, which they then share with others. If a gamer has downloaded
and is using a saved game file for a college sports game with the full
names of the players instead of position or player numbers, do you
consider that to be a tampered game save, and will they be punished as
you have outlined today?
Working together with other players and playing inside the actual
game to get achievements does not fall into the category we are taking
action on. The players in this case are using a variety of means
outside the actual playing of the game as well as the use of external
tools to increase their gamerscore, which again, is in violation of the
Terms of Use.

Your adjudication process is secret, and you provide no means whatsoever for appeal, making it something of a star chamber. Aren't you concerned that in your zeal to punish the guilty, you may also ensnare the innocent?
We only correct gamerscores for players who meet the criteria 100
percent. Like the vast majority of Xbox Live members, if you earn
Achievements by playing through games like any other player, then you
have nothing to worry about. Gamerscore correction only applies to
players who use external means or avoid game play to earn Achievements.

That is funny. There are so many not legit peopl...Microsoft doesn't even know...

Ha exactly. 360gamesaves itself has about 65000 members next to everyone boosted at least once in there lifes

i personally think its just a scare tactic...and there is no "system" to catch people. if there was, why would there only have been 1 "wave' of banning?

I wouldn't consider boosting cheating, only hacking, gamesaveing, and tading accounts...

boosting is cheating just the same but what is cheating anyways, merely saving time if you ask me. its not like we always have time to play a game so cheating is understandable. Now you can ask yourself why do people cheat? what is the exact reason?

NTAEndar wrote:I wouldn't consider boosting cheating, only hacking, gamesaveing, and tading accounts...

I would also consider boosting as not cheating. I think of cheating as something that is not allowed to happen in a game like using anything other than you and the game itself to complete the game. Examples: Someone else playing for you, getting saves you didn't make yourself with a transfer kit, using the second profile glitch, and possibly some other things that I can't think of. Boosting is something that I'm sure not many games, if any at all, can detect with the game's coding and reporting boosting could be abused and really good players might get banned for it so boosting is something allowed in games. I still don't like the idea of boosting much unless the game really sucks, like Fuzion Frenzy 2. I wrote a topic in the "Not Hot" section about that game so if you want to know my opinion about that game, just search for that topic...

Why they cheat? Because that is how they enjoy to play games. It doesn't matter, I don't care. Games are for fun/training, so if they only want fun, then let them do it and not care. Boosting is great for games that suck, less time to have to play games that are bad, and I would still be doing teh achievement myself. Boosting for Gears of War is something different...

thats just it. boosting is against the TOS of ms so it is illegal but hell yes of course we want to finish up a game, but I think its probably the same story with all the other cheaters. Most cheaters also play games normally anyways I was afraid this could get out of hand, so I closed the topic. what I am saying is to ms looks at boosters and gamesavers just the same. Boosting is wrong since it is cheating just the same, we all know it we obtain achievement without really earning them same goes for gamesavers. there isn't much differences. the only problem I have is against hackers, since they haven't even played the game. thats a bit extreme for me

topic closed