Correcting the "miscreants" can be an ornery task. Just ask Stephen Toulouse, Xbox Live's virtual bouncer, and the man responsible for resetting your cheatin' heart (er, Gamerscore) back to zero. A recent wave of Gamerscore resets have hit Xbox Live and Toulouse was on Major Nelson's weekly show yesterday to explain what happened. "A couple weeks ago ... we did a Gamerscore reset pass on several Gears of War 2 players who had illegitimately toggled the 'Level 100' Achievement for a map pack that had just come out," Toulouse told the Major.
According to the show, the mathematics behind how quickly people were earning the achievement were, simply put, impossible. "Any time you earn an Achievement you don't actually have to earn, that's against the terms of use," Toulouse said of the official policing policy, something Microsoft has adhered to since the inception of Xbox Live Achievements. And to those of you who have a sibling or friend to blame on your Gamerscore reset, Toulouse feels little sympathy for you. He told the Major that you probably need to address that person and that it's ultimately "your responsibility" to take care of your console and online representation. Tough noogies, indeed!
Reader Comments (113)
Posted: May 18th 2009 3:48PM (Unverified) said
ROFL leave it to the 360 to attract gamers of that social stature.
I'm tellin ya, more often than not 360 owners are shrill, anti-social, kniving, prone to criminal activity, and have fair to poor parent to child homelifes.
I mean, just look at tmac.
Reply
I'm tellin ya, more often than not 360 owners are shrill, anti-social, kniving, prone to criminal activity, and have fair to poor parent to child homelifes.
I mean, just look at tmac.
Posted: May 18th 2009 5:57PM Special Agent Steve said
@ Cody
You realize the same people are on PSN.
The only difference is, you can't hear them because you don't have voice chat.
Now go away, grownups talk.
Reply
You realize the same people are on PSN.
The only difference is, you can't hear them because you don't have voice chat.
Now go away, grownups talk.
Posted: May 19th 2009 1:53AM (Unverified) said
@johnson,
I'm pretty sure he was referring to Cody, specifically, suggesting he didn't have a headset and therefore couldn't hear those folks on the PSN.
Reply
I'm pretty sure he was referring to Cody, specifically, suggesting he didn't have a headset and therefore couldn't hear those folks on the PSN.
Posted: May 18th 2009 2:05PM BananaBoat said
I'm pretty sure I soiled myself a little bit reading the title
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Posted: May 18th 2009 2:08PM baby sea tuna said
Haha, me too. For .00001 seconds, I thought I was gonna have to choke a bitch.
Reply
Posted: May 18th 2009 2:11PM (Unverified) said
I was going to say fuck it and sale my 360 and get a PS3
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Posted: May 18th 2009 3:10PM Vidikron said
"I don't really see a problem if MS did a complete reset. It's not as if you own your game or achievements. Read the TOS."
You don't see the problem, really? Just because they can do something doesn't mean there wouldn't be a problem if they did. I'd say pissing off your entire userbase would qualify as a problem. Don't confuse legality with right and wrong.
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You don't see the problem, really? Just because they can do something doesn't mean there wouldn't be a problem if they did. I'd say pissing off your entire userbase would qualify as a problem. Don't confuse legality with right and wrong.
Posted: May 18th 2009 4:13PM BigD145 said
"You don't see the problem, really?"
I don't see a problem with MS screwing over gamerscores. If you accept the TOS, you accept any and all bullshit that MS incurs on you. I do see a problem with the TOS. Change that and you shouldn't have to worry about resets.
Reply
I don't see a problem with MS screwing over gamerscores. If you accept the TOS, you accept any and all bullshit that MS incurs on you. I do see a problem with the TOS. Change that and you shouldn't have to worry about resets.
Posted: May 18th 2009 4:21PM BigD145 said
"I'd say pissing off your entire userbase would qualify as a problem."
MS is constantly pissing off its consumers, but those consumers keep coming back for more. I constantly hear about multiple RROD issues with single individuals and they just keep going back for more. Some people are on their 4th 360. With all the downtime in shipping you get to actually play 3/4 to 1/2 of the year. Are you a renter or an owner?
Reply
MS is constantly pissing off its consumers, but those consumers keep coming back for more. I constantly hear about multiple RROD issues with single individuals and they just keep going back for more. Some people are on their 4th 360. With all the downtime in shipping you get to actually play 3/4 to 1/2 of the year. Are you a renter or an owner?
Posted: May 18th 2009 4:40PM Bolts said
Why do you care about your gamerscores? All it shows is that you've played a lot of X-Box games
Maybe I should open a supermarket and give people a "Shopperscore" where you earn 100 points every time you spend $5 or more
I'll rake in millions from depraved lunatics like yourselves..
Reply
Maybe I should open a supermarket and give people a "Shopperscore" where you earn 100 points every time you spend $5 or more
I'll rake in millions from depraved lunatics like yourselves..
Posted: May 18th 2009 4:58PM Vidikron said
@BigD145
You're still missing the point. The issue isn't whether they can do that, it's whether they should or if it would be a problem. Again, pissing off your user base isn't a good idea. You bring up the RRoD as if it was something they got away with when, in fact, it has cost them well over a billion dollars. They were forced to extend the warranty in the face of class action lawsuits from an angry user base. Doing something as absurd as wiping everyone's gamerscore for no reason may be well within their rights, but they would certainly pay for it.
Reply
You're still missing the point. The issue isn't whether they can do that, it's whether they should or if it would be a problem. Again, pissing off your user base isn't a good idea. You bring up the RRoD as if it was something they got away with when, in fact, it has cost them well over a billion dollars. They were forced to extend the warranty in the face of class action lawsuits from an angry user base. Doing something as absurd as wiping everyone's gamerscore for no reason may be well within their rights, but they would certainly pay for it.
Posted: May 18th 2009 5:18PM (Unverified) said
oh wow I got down voted first time ever?
Serously if they really did reset everybodys. it took me 6 months to get all achivements on Halo3 and Gears2.
Reply
Serously if they really did reset everybodys. it took me 6 months to get all achivements on Halo3 and Gears2.
Posted: May 18th 2009 5:25PM (Unverified) said
why do I wanna waste 6 months again on repeating the same thing?
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Posted: May 18th 2009 5:34PM (Unverified) said
Well there go my Hannah Montana achievements...
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Posted: May 18th 2009 1:35PM R Planteer said
By this point, anyone whos score gets reset for cheating online shouldnt be surprised. MS has done plenty of warnings by now.
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Posted: May 18th 2009 1:35PM latin trident said
Gamerscore reset? I'm sure it is a harsh punishment for many but I wonder how many were innocent and their game scores got erased. Anybody?
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Posted: May 18th 2009 1:51PM Rhamsey said
yeah, and they look for specific things, not just every achievement. like the people who had the halo 3 achievements months before the maps were even released, or in this case, the lvl 100 achievement in gears of war. they make certain that the only get people who actually cheat.
I know i sound like im blindly following what they say, but i believe it as i know people (well a person) who do cheat (not just boost) for gamer scores, and since they do random games, they havent been caught yet.
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I know i sound like im blindly following what they say, but i believe it as i know people (well a person) who do cheat (not just boost) for gamer scores, and since they do random games, they havent been caught yet.
Posted: May 18th 2009 2:54PM aristokrat said
If you head over to the Shishka's complaint thread on bungie.net, you'll see plenty of people who claim they are innocent only to have incontrovertible proof sent back their way. In the case of these experience achievements, I'm sure MS can just look through your game history and see that it was not possible for you to have accomplished what you were to supposed to have. In other words, anyone who got caught deserves it.
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Posted: May 18th 2009 5:04PM PoisonedAl said
It's usually easy to find cheaters. Like anyone that can get all 1000 points on Gears of War on the day of release are so full of shit, a British politician would have to clame for it!
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Posted: May 18th 2009 3:58PM Burritoclock said
So it is impossible that someone could have fun trying to get gamerpoints and comparing them or whatever people do?
I mean just because you don't see the point or enjoy it doesn't mean no one does...
Reply
I mean just because you don't see the point or enjoy it doesn't mean no one does...
Posted: May 18th 2009 5:33PM Burritoclock said
True, but I am sure resetting gamerscores is a hell of a lot easier to do then creating a patch.
But that's besides the point, they are more than capable of doing both, however microsoft can't really just go in and start fixing epics code for them...
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But that's besides the point, they are more than capable of doing both, however microsoft can't really just go in and start fixing epics code for them...
Posted: May 18th 2009 1:40PM Vegeta has a ps3 said
Jesus fucking christ. You scared the shit out of me Joystiq. Could you please chance the title so that some misfortune soul won't nerdrage all over the place?
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Posted: May 18th 2009 1:42PM xFenixKnightx said
Seriously, I had a quick "WTF? NOOOOOO!!!", moment there. lol
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Posted: May 18th 2009 2:01PM TheDarkWayne said
i had to logon to xbox.com just to make sure lol. I was thinking "Oh shit! Oh shit! I boosted that splatter spree achev in Halo 3! Im so fucked!"
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Posted: May 18th 2009 8:15PM xGeneral DEATHxDEETH82 said
LOL, I almost flipped my fucking wig, too...
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Posted: May 18th 2009 1:40PM (Unverified) said
Seems like you should get a ban and said achievements removed, instead of having all your achievements deleted.
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Posted: May 18th 2009 1:45PM Uphillbothways said
A ban would mean less money for Microsoft though.
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Posted: May 18th 2009 1:41PM xFenixKnightx said
Haha, dumbasses! Thats what they get! I can't stand achievement whores who do shit like this. Earn it the right way, its more satisfying that way anyway.
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Posted: May 18th 2009 1:42PM Cap Morgan said
Umm April fools?
Are they freakin serious? And who cares anyway? I don't cheat but I don't like the fact that there's someone there looking for reasons to bump me back to zero. Sounds like someones on a power trip.
Reply
Are they freakin serious? And who cares anyway? I don't cheat but I don't like the fact that there's someone there looking for reasons to bump me back to zero. Sounds like someones on a power trip.
Posted: May 18th 2009 1:51PM (Unverified) said
Apparently, MS cares. If you don't cheat, you have nothing to worry about.
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Posted: May 18th 2009 2:05PM Professor Chaos said
@ DEEZNUTZ
I second that. I am fairly confident that Microsoft errs on the side of caution before just resetting a gamerscore.
Reply
I second that. I am fairly confident that Microsoft errs on the side of caution before just resetting a gamerscore.
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