Archive notice: This article was originally published on March 26, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
As part of a programme called “Gamerscore Correction”, players who have demonstrably been caught cheating will therefore in future be officially labelled as cheaters. This is intended to warn other players in the Xbox Live community about the supposedly fraudulent member. As a further measure, the manufacturer will also reset all points earned on the caught user’s gaming account to zero. “There is no way to appeal a Gamerscore Correction,” Microsoft states on an official page. The investigation methods used are said to be technically flawless and to leave no doubt about players’ guilt or innocence. “We only correct Gamerscores that meet all the criteria 100 percent,” the company says.
“We have a number of ways to find out whether points found in players’ accounts were obtained in accordance with the rules or not,” explains Xbox manager Thomas Kritsch in an interview with the online news service pressetext.de. Cheating – the illegitimate acquisition of points using external tools – is not a new phenomenon. “Only a small percentage of Xbox Live community members are cheaters. But they are a problem because they mislead other players with their artificially inflated Gamerscores,” Kritsch makes clear. The measures currently announced would only be applied in cases where cheating on a larger scale had been proven. “We consider our approach appropriate; banning the cheater accounts would have been a much harsher step,” Kritsch says.
“Gamerscore Correction is intended to have a deterrent effect on users and make it clear to the community that the use of cheating techniques is no joke to us,” Kritsch emphasises. Public branding as a cheater in particular is intended to have an effect within the gaming community. “We are also counting on players’ pride, which would be dented by such a label,” Kritsch adds. At the same time, however, the Xbox manager concedes that cheaters who are caught and subsequently behave properly for a longer period would probably be offered the opportunity for rehabilitation. “The exact duration of the label has not yet been determined at this point,” Kritsch explains.
The Gamerscore is an elementary element of Xbox 360 games. Users are awarded points for certain gaming achievements. “In cases of proven cheating, we will in future not only reset the affected players’ Gamerscore to zero, but also remove their ability to earn points legitimately in the corresponding game,” says Kritsch. According to the Xbox manager, this would then only be possible in other games.
