In the weeks and months following the release of Halo 2, cheating has become a growing epidemic in the Xbox Live community. As the Bungie team continues to work on solutions to the most obvious cheats and exploits, we've been working with the Xbox Live team to clean up the rif raf and help improve the Halo 2 online experience for everyone. Over the past several months, thousands of players have been banned from Xbox Live, some temporary, some permanent. With the release of the most recent Halo 2 Auto Update, the Bungie team has implemented additional anti-cheating measures by creating a new banning system which prevents players from entering matchmaking. In addition, many of the original exploits and issues first noticed in Halo 2 have been fixed completely and/or the impact of such cheats have been reduced.
Since cheating has impacted so many of our players, both victims and offenders, we've created this handy FAQ to try and clear up some of the mysteries surrounding the problems and what you can do to help us out.
What to do if you suspect you've been the victim of a cheater:
Our team is constantly monitoring the data we receive from every game played on Xbox Live but due to the sheer volume of games (nearly 500,000 people per day are playing Halo 2 on Live) it takes time to track down people and investigate offenses. We've created a cheater "hotline" email alias to give our community a chance to help us identify alleged cheaters. If you encounter someone online whom you firmly believe is cheating in some way (network manipulation, hacked maps or game files, boosting, etc..) we ask that you please send a mail to
h2cheats@microsoft.com
. Please be sure your mail includes the following information:
- Your Gamertag
- The Gamertag(s) of the alleged cheaters
- A summary of what you witnessed or observed
- A link to the game(s) on Bungie.net
Our team will monitor these emails and investigate claims of cheating and follow-up as appropriate. Please note that due to the volume of mails we receive, you will not get a response.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is considered cheating? What do I do if I've been a victim of cheating? My brother ruined my account!? Read on for answers to your most pressing questions...
Thank you to Major Nelson of the Xbox Live team for his help in this matter.
Q
What is considered cheating or against the rules in Halo 2?
A
In a nutshell, Bungie considers cheating to be the act of manipulating or interfering with aspects of the game or networking to give yourself or your team an unfair advantage. The exact methods and cases will vary as people invent new ways to do bad things. Our team is constantly monitoring the latest exploits and issues and will be reacting as necessary. Common examples of things that will get someone banned from Live play include "standby cheats" (i.e. interfering with the network connection to disrupt gameplay), using hacked maps or game files or manipulating matchmaking to "boost" your way up the leaderboards.
There are also other issues beyond actual cheating that could result in punishment by either the Live Team or Bungie. Profanity, threats, racism and inappropriate player/clan names are all examples of Conduct violations that will result in some sort of punishment from the Xbox Live Team.
Q
What is NOT considered a bannable offense by Bungie?
A
Quitting a game is not a bannable offense. Having a team-killer on your team sucks, but that's not a bannable offense either. Many people are also aware of the "super jumping" phenomenon that allows players on some maps to jump to extreme heights. We are monitoring this situation for long term impacts to game balance but we are not banning people who do this simply because it's too widespread and is something that's basically built into the map. Anyone can do this if they want to though it is difficult to pull off in many cases. We will continue to monitor the impacts this bug has on our game.
Q
Why do people even bother with all of this cheating? What's the point?
A
Good question. Honestly, who knows. Since there is no actual tangible reward or any real benefit to falsely elevating one's rank, we're not really sure why someone would insist on doing that other than some desperate cry for attention and bragging rights. In fact, people who cheat are really just setting themselves up for a serious ass whipping. Eventually, their falsely inflated rank will catch up to them and they'll be matching against legitimate players who are actually much more skilled than they are. That just doesn't sound like fun, does it?
Q
Who is responsible for tracking and punishing cheaters? Bungie or Xbox Live?
A
Bungie and the Xbox Live Team are BOTH working to track and punish cheaters.
The Bungie and Live teams work very closely together to maintain and fun and enjoyable online experience for everyone. Currently, the Bungie team uses the game stat data we have behind the scenes to flag cheaters based on actual data we have obtained from their play history. Once we have indisputable evidence, we are banning players from entering Halo 2 Matchmaking, from appearing on Leaderboards and from accessing Bungie.net.
The Xbox Live team works within their own system of user-feedback and Terms of Use enforcement to promote a healthy online environment. Player feedback is tracked and evaluated and appropriate actions are taken. The Bungie team also shares our list of known offenders for potential integration into their process. Issues dealing with in-game conduct and behavior should all be addressed using the in-game feedback system so the Live team can act accordingly.
Q
How will I know if I've been banned by Bungie or by Xbox Live?
A
The Bungie team is banning people from Halo 2 matchmaking and Bungie.net once we have solid evidence that someone has cheated or engaged in conduct we consider to be grounds for banning. If you are banned by Bungie, it means that we have actual game data that shows you have used a standby exploit, played with hacked or modified content or you collaborated to boost up the leaderboard. If you are found to be guilty of this you will be flagged in our system and a ban will be applied that prevents you from entering into matchmaking on Xbox Live. You will still be able to play custom games but you will not be able to play in any of the matchmaking playlists. You will also be removed from any existing leaderboards and your account will be blacklisted from our website.
If you're banned by the Xbox Live team, it will likely be due to amassing enough negative feedback to warrant some degree of punishment. The Live team has the ability to ban your entire gamertag from ALL of Xbox Live. This means you won't be able to play ANY game on Live, not just Halo 2. The Live team can issue bans that range from 24 hours (first time, minor offenses) to permanent. In addition, they have secondary punishments such as blocking a players ability to use voice chat.
Q
How does the Bungie "Banhammer" actually work?
A
Our banning tools are complex and secret but initially we spend time scouring gameplay data for indications that someone has cheated. Once we have adequate proof, our team reviews these players and then enters them into our "Banhammer" tool. Once a player is listed in our ban list, he or she will be unable to play Halo 2 matchmaking on Xbox Live.
In general, a first-time offense will result in a 7 day ban from matchmaking. If it's a secondary offense or a serious issue, a PERMANENT ban will be issued. This means players will not be able to play any online matchmade games ever again.
Q
How do players actually get banned from Xbox Live by the Live Team?
A
Players who find their gamertags banned from Xbox Live have wound up in that situation due to violations of the Xbox Live Terms of Use. The Live team monitors players for not just cheating, but for things like threats, racism, profanity and just being an all around poor sports and ruining the game for others. When a gamertag comes up as violating their policies for online behavior, they are punished by being banned from the service. Keep in mind, this isn't just a ban on Halo 2, this is a ban on Xbox Live as a whole, so you won't be able to go online AT ALL during your ban. Initially a ban may be a day, it may be a week or, depending on severity, it may be permanent. Kiss that $50 goodbye.
Q
What kinds of things is the Xbox Live Team suspending people's accounts for?
A
A good rule of thumb is to follow the Xbox Live Code of Conduct . The code of conduct is a list of do's and dont's for the Xbox Live community and gives you a good idea of what is acceptable on the service. Please keep in mind that it's not just cheaters getting banned from Xbox Live - people who spew racial slurs, shout profanity, threaten other players and generally create an unpleasant environment on Live are all subject to potential bans.
Q
How much evidence and data does Xbox Live have to support a ban or suspension?
A
It's important to point out that just one piece of negative feedback from that ticked off person you just pwned on Lockout won't get you banned from Live. While I won't say how much feedback it takes to get banned, remember that the Xbox Live in-game feedback system has been successfully used for over 2 years across hundreds of titles. Using a variety of tools and reports we are able to confidently stand behind the actions we take to create a stronger Live community.
Q
What if my friend or relative was cheating using my account?
A
How many times have we heard that? Maybe people should not let their 'little brother' or 'friend' on their Xbox Live account. You should protect your Xbox Live account with the same level of security that you protect your email account with. You would be pretty ticked off if someone sent email from your account, wouldn't you? A lot of people don't know this, but they can protect their Xbox Live account so that you need a passcode to sign into Xbox Live. All you need to do if turn on your Xbox without a game, go to account management and choose "Pass Code."
Q
How can I avoid being suspended or banned?
A
Just follow the rules. Some people throw all social graces out the window when playing, but they need to realize that there are consequences for bad actions. If you and your team play fair, then you'll have uninterrupted gaming pleasure on Xbox Live.
Q
What if I get banned for negative feedback I didn't deserve?
A
If members have done nothing wrong they have nothing to worry about. From what we have seen in the community the system does indeed work.
Q
Bungie says quitting or "super jumping" isn't cheating but can't the guy I just beat leave me negative feedback and get me in trouble anyways?
A
Yes, they can. However, as stated above, simply having someone give you negative feedback isn't going to result in a ban. To be extra safe, avoid doing those things you think may be misconstrued as cheating. And, keep in mind, the Bungie team is working on ways to address some of these in-game glitches and exploits.
Q
The website says I've been blacklisted and/or I don't see myself in the Halo 2 leaderboards anymore. What gives?
A
As the Bungie team evaluates our game data and investigates cheating allegations in our forums, we will be taking our own measures to punish Halo 2 cheaters. People found to be cheating will be blacklisted from the website - which means no stats, no game viewer and no forum interaction. You will also be removed from the Leaderboards. We have some other measures up our sleeves as well.
Please note: We still have quite a few hiccups in our system and fairly often, everyone experiences problems with some or all of their stats being displayed. Rest assured, it's a technical issue that we continue to hammer out, you haven't been wrongly banned.
Q
What if my Clan cheats but I don't?
A
Clans that cheat are subject to the same punishments as individual players. However, we won't necessarily be banning every player in a Clan. First piece of advice - if your in a Clan that cheats, get out of it. No sense being dragged down and potentially banned because you're in a game where they start cheating. Players who repeatedly cheat while playing for a Clan are subject to all the various penalties listed above. The Clan itself can also be removed from the Leaderboards. And, don't think you can just create a new Clan - we look at the gamertags within the Clan itself and will act accordingly.
Q
What should I do if I've been the victim of a cheater?
A
First off, please make sure your opponent actually cheated. As much as it may suck being beat, just because you lost doesn't mean the person cheated.
The more important thing you should do is leave in-game feedback for the player(s) you caught cheating. To do this, simply go to your "Recent Players" tab, select the player, click on them and choose "Leave Feedback." This also applies to anyone who has threatened you, been a racist, etc.. The Live team monitors this feedback and it will lead to offenders being banned.
The second thing you should do is file a report with our new cheater hotline by sending an email to h2cheats@microsoft.com . See the top of this page for more details about how you can help expedite our investigation into alleged cheaters.
Q
Why doesn't Bungie just "fix" the game and stop this cheating from happening?
A
Hey, great idea! Unfortunately the very nature of the internet makes it impossible to ever completely stop someone who knows what they're doing from creating a poor game experience for others. However, with the latest Auto Update, many of the most common issues were addressed. We continue to monitor the community for new issues and our team has implemented a variety of new tools to detect when someone is doing something bad.
Q
I just played a game with a guy who didn't cheat, but he was shouting profanities and racial slurs the entire game. What should I do?
A
Use the Xbox Live in-game feedback to report them! This behavior is not tolerated on Live and is a violation of the Terms of Use.
Q
I was in a game with someone who had a very offensive gamertag or clan name. What should I do?
A
The first step, as always, is to use the in-game feedback system to report them. Secondly, you can send a mail to the h2cheats@microsoft.com alias and the Bungie Team will make sure it gets forwarded to the appropriate people on the Xbox Live Team. The Live Team will force people who have inappropriate gamertags to switch to a new one the next time they login to Live.
Q
I was just in a game with someone who was shooting rockets out of their sniper rifle and flying around the map in a Warthog. WTF!?
A
You've just been the victim of someone using hacked or modified game files on Live. This is a severe offense and one that we take very seriously. "Hacking" Halo 2 to change the game in any way is forbidden and will get you banned. Luckily we have ways of detecting people who use these files and we are banning them as fast as we can. If you encounter something like this, please report them to h2cheats@microsoft.com.
Q
My friends and I want to try out some new modified content we got from a friend. It's ok to do this as long as we only play custom games, right?
A
No. Using hacked or modified content of any sort, whether it's a custom or matchmade game, will result in you getting banned. We do not condone anyone tampering with the actual game that we shipped and doing so is a sure fire way to get banned. Attemping to use hacked Xboxes on Live is also grounds for having your entire gamertag permanently canceled. Also please note, that due to the "Live Aware" nature of Halo 2, you could get banned even for using these files over system link, if one of your boxes is still attached to the internet. The best thing to do is just steer clear of any of these hacked files and stick to the game that we intended for you to play.