Microsoft To Clamp Down On Xbox Live Cheats

Xbox Live director of programming Larry Hryb, better known via his popular weblog as Major Nelson, has indicated that Microsoft will be making new moves to stop Xbox 360 users from sharing account information, with the threat of permanent bans. Hryb made reference to the increasingly common practice of users offering to increase Gamerscores if given Xbox Live ID and password information from others. As pointed out, such actions violate the Xbox Live terms of use agreement and could result in a user permanently losing access to their account. If a user is found to have willingly given out account details, then Hryb states that standard procedure will be to cancel the account, deleting the Gamertag, the associated Gamerscore, saved games and any Microsoft Points on the account. On the wider issue of artificially tampering with Gamerscores and Achievements, Hryb states the entire Gamerscore will be removed for an account where tampering is found to have occurred. Users will then not be allowed to re-earn those Achievements and the account and/or console could be banned from Xbox Live. “As you can imagine, we know how to find out if you do this and we do take action. And we'll continue to do so,” said Hryb.