Xbox Live Ban Hammered-ed: Major Nelson's Word On Bans
I don't think I personally have ever been forcibly removed from any online community. I'm not going to pretend and say I never deserved it... I guess people find me charming or something. That said, it takes a lot to get yourself actually banned from most places, especially paid services like Xbox Live.
Apparently, there has been a sudden burst of banned users on the Xbox Live service. Forum posts complaining to the effect that they don't know what happened, etc etc etc. So, what did happen? According to Major Nelson, piracy happened:
In our our continued effort to keep gameplay safe and secure for our community of more than 14 million members, Microsoft has taken action against a small percentage of Xbox 360 consoles that have been illegally modified in order to play pirated games. You should know that modifying your Xbox 360 console is also a violation of the Xbox LIVE terms of use, will void your warranty and result in a ban from Xbox LIVE. The health of the video game business depends on customers paying for the genuine products and services they receive, both from manufacturers and the local companies that support them.
Avast! Okay people, seriously, if you're going to run modified firmware on a console with online capabilities, expect the service to be able to TELL that you've modified your console. It's just common sense that will get your account disabled.
Xbox 360 Console banning [Major Nelson]
Asterick
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 12 November 2008
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: ban hammer, microsoft, piracy, should have seen it coming, xbox live
As a "hardcore" gamer, I know that I represent a minority of the world's population, but Asterick, anytime you post I am reminded that there is a whole 'nother level of geekdom where I don't hold membership.
I'll be sorry when Nintendo does this.
Er, rather, I would be if they had any online experiences worth experiencing. What are they going to do, keep me from setting my difficulty to "random" or voting on Mii Hitlers?
Haven't Nintendo already taken measures to prevent piracy through the firmware updates?
@TheBizcuit : lol, what do you mean? I'm not THAT big of a power geek. :)
Yeah, Occono, but not by banning modders from online gaming, if you can call Nintendo's WFC "online gaming".