Going through the Bungie mailbox can be wonderful - we get tons of great feedback, opinion and suggestions from a loyal audience who we love and appreciate. They ask good questions, make valid points and submit thoughtful and reasoned criticism.
But we also get mails from folks who've been banned for cheating, modding, standby-ing boosting, bridging, and other forms of network interference, all bannable under the terms of use of Xbox Live which you can read about here. Now, the thing is, everyone who ever cheated, probably knew they were cheating. Some of the tortured language we get explaining that they didn't realize they were cheating is hilarious.
Other types of bans - like those for threatening behavior, harassment and hard-modded consoles, are not Bungie's domain. We only ban people from Halo 2 matchmaking - not from Live, and we ban them for all sorts of reasons.
We always have a significant body of evidence before we ban folks, and we double check before we do it. Our tools are better than ever before, and we're making great strides in dealing with the problem. It's not perfect, and we're working on improvements. But we will say this: Stop cheating. And don't be shocked when you get banned for it. Play the game the way you know it's intended to be played.
But grim pronouncements aside, we thought that the vast majority of you, the legitimate, non-cheating, non-boosting players, would get a kick out of reading a sample of our post-banning plea mails. Gamertags have been removed to protect privacy.And believe us, all of these guys were cheating. The spelling errors are theirs.
"THE SORRY SNICH"
Please! I'll destroy my mods. i'll snich on some people that r getting away with mods on matchmaking! Just PLEASE appeal my ban. i want to play matchmaking again. i want to be clean for the arrival of Halo 3! c'mon! i didn't know what i was getting into when i got mods from my friend and from [website censored]! you have to believe me!!! (which i believe got resently shut down.) I'm really not the dirty, xbox live cheater that you probably think i am! im just a weeeee little 13 year old. (and very hansom at that might i add. any waay, it really sucks with no matchmaking and no stats or clan listings. I have learned the errors of my ways and wish to repent. please help me!!!
P.S. I haven't even turned on my xbox with the mods on it since i sent my first message a few days ago. infact, i unplugged it!
The modding community is such a tight-knit group that surely they don’t need mods, the cohesive nature of their community would lead them to victory after victory due to their deep understanding of the teamwork concept.
"THE THIEF OF BAG-SAD"
To whom it may concern, My Xobx live Account was recently Stolen by, -blam!- The gamer-tag at the time was –blam!- I have changed it to –blam!- He has all my account info casue he called 18004myxbox and they gave him all my info cause he knew my name and where i live and my zip code and a few other things. And he modded on my account to. Is there anyway to get it unsuspended from matchmaking.
Just so you know, typically people allege that it was their “little brother.” Little brothers are more believable than “some random dude on the lollernets.”
"ALL I WANTITIS"
PLEASE tell me why I was banned, and WHY was it a Permanent Ban on my First Offense?! All I really want is at most a 7 day Suspension from Xbox live / Halo 2 Matchmaking.
Contrary to popular belief, you are not permitted to set the terms of your ban.
"IF I WERE THE KING OF THE INTERNETS…"
what you should do with circle boosters is reset their stats or something.. because you dont see anyone complaining about me circle boosting.. like since when are you perm banning boosters when there are bridgers and modders out there... i just think that say for instance a clan is boosting... if you reset their stats back to 1 think of how pissed off they'll be.. they'll definatly stop boosting then its just that simple if you ask me.. i only boosted up to a level i actually thought i deserved and was going to go in legit after that.. its really depressing when you put time and effort into a legit 45 then get cheated down just like that to a 41… i've worked hard for my level and i hope to hear back from you soon..
Boggles the mind… Once again, the judge does the sentencing, not the defendant. Also, you call your level legit but you admit to boosting to get it, smooth. Being able to boost up to level 45 doesn’t make it legit.
"THE SAGA OF SADNESS - or, four emails in the key of Lame."
You know, all of you -blam!-s just love to ban my accounts... First –blam!-, then –blam!-, and now –blam!-. You guys really enjoy to piss me off. the only reason that I am sending this is because for some reason you only want to ban my 12 month accounts. I was legit on those. I think you and the xbox live -blam!-s just want me to waste my money on 12 months so you can profit and steal others money. I really fail to see how being legit is good reasons for being banned. -blam!-s.
After we checked his stats, verified that he had been cheating and called him out for it, he changed his tune:
i won't lie, i was bridging but someone esle host, all i want is a second chance, and the only one i was bridging on was –blam!-. the other ones were legit, i am sorry for the vulger message but i was really p/oed. –blam!- was my best account and i had stopped bridging once i read your post on monday or whatever day it was.
The second and third accounts – that you cheated on – are certainly second and third chances. After we told him he’d cheated on multiple accounts and that that’s the price you pay:
Can you guys at least just make the suspension for –blam!- for like a month or two. I only want it to be a couple months because this is the third twelve month account that i have bought. It is killing me to keep using money for something that i can't trust. I.E. –blam!- was banned for no aparant reason. The thing i got in the email was for "Threats or Harrassment" even though on that account I did very little talking and all of my friends on that account said that i never talked after the game was over. –blam!- was banned for aparant modding even though there was no proof. I didn't even know how to mod. and now i am losing –blam!- for bridging when i didn't even have a chance to stop after the announcement came out. that is what i call jive. I don't care if –blam!- is suspended for a month or two just not until next year. I just had it renewed in like march or april so i have to wait literally around 11 or 10 more months for this account to be a legit cancel.
That thing you got in the email (yeehaw!) was indeed a warning for threats and harassment from Xbox Live, which is quite the accomplishment, given the threshold you need to cross to trigger that. Even given your stellar behavioral record and your convincing display of remorse – you didn’t even blame your brother once! – I don’t think we’ll let you set the conditions of your ban either. The saga continues:
well even if i did bridge on –blam!- that didn't give you guys the right to ban –blam!- or –blam!-. Whether you guys think i did or didn't, i know that –blam!- was legit and i had never had mods on my xbox, regardless of what your f'ed up programs say. And as for –blam!-, if you want to ask my friends if I yelled and screamed after every single game then you ask them because i figure it is bull-blam!- that you and xbox live can ban me for something without warning. I was never warned for either account. And plus even if i did do threats or harassment you said it yourself that only one or two things won't get you banned, well then what if the same person complained to you or xbox live more than once for the same threat. What if I had gotten banned for that, do you call that unfair? I am pretty sure that after I had just beaten some kids real bad in a game they just decided to leave some bull-blam!- message and try to get me banned. You can ask my friends, i don't threaten.
I’m sure your friends are an honest and unbiased source of information. Complaining that you were never warned is bunk; everyone was warned that any modified content detected would lead to a banning. A system of second warnings would just be an invitation to cheat as much as you can before you get the warning.
"MORE THIEVERY" well im emailing Bungie in concerning with my account. My account has been stolen from some people and the stoler has use my account to cheat or team standby with it and i juss got the account back today. –blam!- and when i go into macthmaking in halo 2 it would kick me back out to the menu and said I was banned for some reason. so can you please help me get back my account because i didnt do anything wrong thank you very much.
Damn stolers, goin’ around stoleing stuff.
"8th TIME'S THE CHARM"
I just had a friend call Xbox live for me and talk to some people about what happend, and they said that the only way they think I could have been banned permanently on my first ban is because I commited a Major Offense. I dont understand, I admit that I have had cheaters on my team, but Ive never cheated more then 8 times that I can remember, Not even close. Is that a Major Offense? I would like to know Why I have been permanently from Halo 2 Matchmaking when I have Never Manipulated files on my Xbox ( Modding ) Never MYSELF Bridged people out ( 2 times I can remember my Teammate did when I didnt want to ) and have never Standbyed MYSELF ( 1 time Recently when I ALSO said not too. ) I would Like to have my account Unbanned or put onto a Suspension at the most, but Please, I was banned on a "Major Offense" that I did not commit.
Self-incriminating appeals are the best. If you play with a cheater and reap the benefits, we will see it and ban you.
"BANTHA"
Hello,
My account –blam!- has been band [strike one], but I have not done anything wrong on my account. I was wondering why I have been bant [strike two] and if you can unbaned [yerrrrrr out!] me please. Please e-mail me back at –blam!-
"LAWYERBALL"
The gamer tag –blam!- is wrongfully accused for cheating. He should not be suspended on a wrong default. To most casualties, this game is taken very seriously. Most just leave feedback over jealously of rank, sense a overwhelming percentage of X-Box Live players cheat for their levels. This person has not done "Modding", "Standbying", or "Bridging" of that kind. If Bungie seriously wanted to suspend someone of doing something along the line of cheating, then look over some stats. If none of these accusation are settle, you may be hearing from a lot of complaints. Some may be said by lawyers.
Inconclusive, I hope you consider to un suspend –blam!- Thank you for your time.
Some may indeed be lawyers. However, I can conclusively say, this is not such a case.
"FREEDOM FRIES"
why is bungie banning people from matchmaking for cheating i dont y. -blam!- bungie i just make a 12-blam!-ING MONTH and now it is -blam!- banned. everyone that i no is going to stop playing halo2 and maybe even xbox lie if they keep on doin this.
Yes, boycotting, a surefire cure to what ails the internet. Wait, no… get a petition going!
"SKILL > CHEATING"
Dude guys I was killing those guys to dust, how I get banned!??! I grabbed a BR and killed 7 people in 4:00 minutes around there. I WAS NOT CHEATING!!!!!!!!!!! Even ask this kid who I played with who is on my friends list: –blam!- O.k., we were down by like 23 points in ascension and caught up and won!! I never give up on team slayer. Oh yeah on that level One guy on the red team tried to secondary standby us but I sniped him before he could do it!! Everybodys connection was red and except for the secondary standbyer. So he’s the cheater, NOT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If only everyone were as skilled as you, we wouldn’t need to dedicate so many resources as we do to stopping cheaters. Players that can sense when their opponent is reaching for the standby button and can then kill them to dust are the wave of the future.