Does Microsoft ban accounts for games going online early?

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I was talking with a GS employee who tried to tell me if you get a new game early and go online, Microsoft may decide to ban your XBL account. I think he was full of crap and wanted to see if any CAG's could collaborate his story.
 
No. Don't worry about it. As long as you aren't a pirate, they don't care. They aren't going to punish people that have legit copies early.
 
[quote name='seen']I was talking with a GS employee [/QUOTE]

[quote name='dragonjud']That was your first mistake. Enough said.[/QUOTE]

I kinda of figured that because how should it be my fault if they're willing to sell it to me early. As the consumer it made zero sense to me why I would get banned for spending money towards the console.
 
If you BUY it early, even if by a month, as long as you didn't do anything wrong, their problems will be with the store not you. If you pirated it and play it early, ban time.
 
check out major nelsons tweeter. Last week they announced those playing halo ODST early (it was leaked awhile ago) would get the ban hammer.
 
[quote name='homeland']check out major nelsons tweeter. Last week they announced those playing halo ODST early (it was leaked awhile ago) would get the ban hammer.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, but major said only to does who pirate it, if you buy it, no problem.
 
[quote name='nightmare452']Yeah, but major said only to does who pirate it, if you buy it, no problem.[/QUOTE]

exactly he said retailers would get in trouble not individuals for breaking street dates.
 
people are saying you can get banned for playing a pirated copy early, but I don't think that's true. I've never played a pirated 360 game, but my friend has many and has never had any trouble.
 
Nope. I've played a couple early including Halo 2 couple weeks before release and never had a problem. Legit copies won't get you in any trouble. Hell I saw some people on my friends list playing ODST last week. The stats usually get reset on release day.
 
[quote name='TC']Nope. I've played a couple early including Halo 2 couple weeks before release and never had a problem. Legit copies won't get you in any trouble. Hell I saw some people on my friends list playing ODST last week. The stats usually get reset on release day.[/QUOTE]

This.

I actually got Madden 09 a week early last year because this small retailer near me apparently doesn't believe in ANY street dates and just sells when they get in the shipment. My record did reset upon the real date though.
 
[quote name='Matt Young']people are saying you can get banned for playing a pirated copy early, but I don't think that's true. I've never played a pirated 360 game, but my friend has many and has never had any trouble.[/QUOTE]

It depends. If the game has already left the warehouse and just awaiting street date any store could sell it early so there is no way to tell. With ODST they are aware that a chain in France broke street but shipments haven't gone out elsewhere so they know people in that region are legit. So if there are 1-2 people playing in Fresno when the only people that have access are in France they can be fairly certain they are pirates.

'Stepto' even said (on the PAX panel?) that someone PM'd him about someone live streaming ODST in a chat room. He hopped on and told the guy who he was and to kill the feed since he knew it was a pirated copy, needless to say the guy didn't care and/or believe him, so Stepto flipped a switch to ban his console in mid feed. Awesome and hilarious. That's power. :lol:

He always says he has a team that play games constantly to monitor random games. I wonder if they pop in pre-release games like Halo just to chat people up on where they got their copy early. I'm sure some are dumb enough to say newsgroups.
 
If you get a retail legit copy of a game, playing it online early you are going to be fine. People got copies of Rock Band early and going online they saw a message congradulating them for getting the game early.

If you have a bogus copy and go on line you are asking for trouble. You might get away with it but they could ban you from playing online.
 
[quote name='Monsta Mack']Ask the few CAGers who already have Halo ODST on their recent games played.[/QUOTE]

didnt say this but was thinking this.
 
Also it should be pointed out that people who review games have xbox live accounts and end up getting achievements early.
 
isnt there built in software that can tell if your copy is pirated or if the xbox is modded? I remember when Halo 2 came out it suppossedly (sp?) had built in software which checked for modded consoles and TONS of people got banned from XBL
 
Only if it was a illegal copy. MS has stated on something else I read ( not sure where, I forgot ) That they can know if it's illegal or not.
 
I was browsing the Xbox forums last weekend and alot of people were crying about being banned andthey all had played Halo already. One guy had 3 of his recent games as unreleased games as the mod pointed that out as why he was banned. I'd say it's safe to assume 90% of the new Halo people are bootleggers.

When they ban you for pirated games they ban the whole console from Live i've read several times. I don't keep up with the whole pirate scene much but I hope they smash people hard with the ban hammer.
 
[quote name='$hady']I was browsing the Xbox forums last weekend and alot of people were crying about being banned andthey all had played Halo already. One guy had 3 of his recent games as unreleased games as the mod pointed that out as why he was banned. I'd say it's safe to assume 90% of the new Halo people are bootleggers.

When they ban you for pirated games they ban the whole console from Live i've read several times. I don't keep up with the whole pirate scene much but I hope they smash people hard with the ban hammer.[/QUOTE]

I have a feeling that its more than 90%. Just look at all the people playing it in the US alone. http://www.mygamercard.net/leaderboard.php?gt=&g=830&z=&c=27&x=88&y=11
 
[quote name='Bioshocked360']Ask the moderator, LinkinPrime, he pirated Halo: ODST.[/QUOTE]

LinkinPrime is a pirate.

Go ask the OTT how many times they've been banned collectively. It's the most poorly disguised discussion of piracy I've ever seen. On a site that is so concerned about staving off piracy discussion, it's not a shock to see that some conversation happens, but in threads constantly viewed by two or more moderators, it's pretty sad.

It's fucking flagrant, man. It's like walking down the street and having some dude yell at you "yo man i got corn." you may not know the exact meaning of what they just said, but you're 100% sure they just tried to sell you drugs. In the OTT, it's a clumsy use of question marks and dollar signs to throw off searches, and ":cool:" instead of saying "modded" or "pirated." And yet Trakan and LinkinPrime, at the least, whistle and look the other way, *every day*.

As for being banned early, there's something going on here that I don't think people realize: many of you are trying to act as if "playing early" (i.e. prior to street date) and "playing a legit copy early" are two different things. I'm not sure of this (since I'm not a pirate), but I'm pretty confident that there's not really any way that MS can tell if you're playing a genuine or pirated copy of a game - and they thus err on the side of not banning people, assuming a small % are sold early. There are a few cases where games have not shipped and still show up on gamer's recently played list, and that's about as solid a proxy for piracy they can use.

The most common banned consoles on XBL are, I believe, banned because MS can detect the actual modified console via XBL, instead of detecting that they player is using a pirated game. Modding a console violates ToS, blah blah blah, goodbye XBL.

Any fears of being banned for playing early are exaggerated. Mod your console to play pirated games at your own risk, however.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']LinkinPrime is a pirate.

Go ask the OTT how many times they've been banned collectively. It's the most poorly disguised discussion of piracy I've ever seen. On a site that is so concerned about staving off piracy discussion, it's not a shock to see that some conversation happens, but in threads constantly viewed by two or more moderators, it's pretty sad.

It's fucking flagrant, man. It's like walking down the street and having some dude yell at you "yo man i got corn." you may not know the exact meaning of what they just said, but you're 100% sure they just tried to sell you drugs. In the OTT, it's a clumsy use of question marks and dollar signs to throw off searches, and ":cool:" instead of saying "modded" or "pirated." And yet Trakan and LinkinPrime, at the least, whistle and look the other way, *every day*.[/QUOTE]


Wow..i just looked in there for a few minutes and it is obvious what they are talking about. How come no one drops a hammer on their asses? Someone mentioned watching Wolverine early and it led to a sticky warning not to discuss leaked content but the whole fucking OTT can discuss pirating games!?
 
no one drops a hammer because they are protected by mods like Linkin Prime. Some of the guys in there are good guys but 90% of the regular posters in there are morons.

Every OTT is the same: Make fun of Stinkin Linkin, talk about their uneventful day, talk about the latest pirated game that they have, make the same corny joke again and again, rinse and repeat.

They also try to camouflage the pirating talk with exclamation points and underscores. It works all so well!

[quote name='Bioshocked360']Ask the moderator, LinkinPrime, he pirated Halo: ODST.[/QUOTE]

and Transformers!
 
[quote name='Galego23']no one drops a hammer because they are protected by mods like Linkin Prime. Some of the guys in there are good guys but 90% of the regular posters in there are morons. [/QUOTE]


yeah, but there is this guy on here named CheapyD that could end it quickly....
 
[quote name='mykevermin']I'm pretty confident that there's not really any way that MS can tell if you're playing a genuine or pirated copy of a game - and they thus err on the side of not banning people, assuming a small % are sold early.[/QUOTE]
I tend to agree with this, I find it hard to believe MS can tell which copies are legit and which aren't. That seems to just be tough talk to try to scare people.

Obviously what they can do is look at a person's history - it's going to be pretty fucking obvious if some guy tips off the XBox Po-po to a dude playing new releases 3-4 weeks early ALL THE TIME. If they investigate the account and find out it's not an employee of (insert game company) or a journalist or whatever, it should only be a matter of time.
 
FYI, Stephen "stepto" Toulouse of MS gave a talk on Xbox Live rules enforcement at PAX. He said there is no automated banning system and that all banning requires a manual intervention. He told the story of the idiot who was streaming himself playing ODST on justin.tv and long-story short he banned him live during the stream. He said they were taking special precautions with ODST and were able to get a hold of each of the individuals who bought early copies at that French store and allowed them to play it early and not get banned. All others that they see they said they will ban first and ask questions later. Granted he said they do not really actively go hunting for these people but if they are made aware of them then they get banned. He said they DO NOT ban people for playing games that got release early but if they catch you that you are required to provide a receipt proof (or valid eBay auction listing) or you will get banned. Also, he said they are in contact with publishers to know if real retail copies of certain games (i.e. ODST) have even had the possibility of being sold early.
 
Look. Here's simple way to solve the matter. Sure, Madden 09 and Halo 2 did not get you caught. But if you are playing the French version of Halo: ODST that was released on the internet last week, they will ban you. That is the only known case for such a ban.
 
[quote name='Malik112099']yeah, but there is this guy on here named CheapyD that could end it quickly....[/QUOTE]

I doubt it... try e-mailing him and see if anything is done. Unlikely.

Check the last 5 or 6 posts in the OTT about :cool:.
 
[quote name='Galego23']I doubt it... try e-mailing him and see if anything is done. Unlikely.

Check the last 5 or 6 posts in the OTT about :cool:.[/QUOTE]

I think Cheapy turns a blind eye (he's not exactly whiter than white himself, if the CAGcast is to be believed) and TBH most forums have an OTT.

Do you really think banning the OTT is going to stop piracy? Or even stop the people who post in there who pirate games from pirating games? Or even stop them from talking about it somewhere else?

I would suggest not, lets not start a witch hunt or tar everyone in the OTT with the same brush.

EDIT - And back on topic its interesting to see MS suddenly jumping to grab the ban hammer when it's a Halo game being pirated, what about all the other games people pirate.

I guess they don't really cost MS any lost revenue directly. :whistle2:k
 
[quote name='javeryh']Can people really not wait until the release date to play their pirated copies?[/QUOTE]

This right here. You're already getting the damn game for free, now you're just being dumb by taking it online early for everyone to see.
 
[quote name='benjamouth']EDIT - And back on topic its interesting to see MS suddenly jumping to grab the ban hammer when it's a Halo game being pirated, what about all the other games people pirate.

I guess they don't really cost MS any lost revenue directly. :whistle2:k[/QUOTE]

There's the possibility of that. I'd defer to thinking they're more aware of issues relating to whether or not its shipped from distributors or not. MS probably has better/more immediate access to records for their stuff as opposed to, say, a THQ title.
 
[quote name='benjamouth']I think Cheapy turns a blind eye (he's not exactly whiter than white himself, if the CAGcast is to be believed) and TBH most forums have an OTT.

Do you really think banning the OTT is going to stop piracy? Or even stop the people who post in there who pirate games from pirating games? Or even stop them from talking about it somewhere else?

I would suggest not, lets not start a witch hunt or tar everyone in the OTT with the same brush.[/QUOTE]


It is pretty much bullshit that a leaked movie cant be discussed and the thread gets locked/deleted but the OTT can discuss leaked/pirated games because a mod or 2 is involved. That is shit.

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219957
 
[quote name='Malik112099']It is pretty much bullshit that a leaked movie cant be discussed and the thread gets locked/deleted but the OTT can discuss leaked/pirated games because a mod or 2 is involved. That is shit.

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219957[/QUOTE]

Yeah well, if that's true then Mods privilege I guess. I can't say it really bothers me as I don't post in there.

I argued against that whole thing about not being allowed to discuss leaked content, I thought it was pretty stupid TBH.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']LinkinPrime is a pirate.

Go ask the OTT how many times they've been banned collectively. It's the most poorly disguised discussion of piracy I've ever seen. On a site that is so concerned about staving off piracy discussion, it's not a shock to see that some conversation happens, but in threads constantly viewed by two or more moderators, it's pretty sad.

It's fucking flagrant, man. It's like walking down the street and having some dude yell at you "yo man i got corn." you may not know the exact meaning of what they just said, but you're 100% sure they just tried to sell you drugs. In the OTT, it's a clumsy use of question marks and dollar signs to throw off searches, and ":cool:" instead of saying "modded" or "pirated." And yet Trakan and LinkinPrime, at the least, whistle and look the other way, *every day*.

As for being banned early, there's something going on here that I don't think people realize: many of you are trying to act as if "playing early" (i.e. prior to street date) and "playing a legit copy early" are two different things. I'm not sure of this (since I'm not a pirate), but I'm pretty confident that there's not really any way that MS can tell if you're playing a genuine or pirated copy of a game - and they thus err on the side of not banning people, assuming a small % are sold early. There are a few cases where games have not shipped and still show up on gamer's recently played list, and that's about as solid a proxy for piracy they can use.

The most common banned consoles on XBL are, I believe, banned because MS can detect the actual modified console via XBL, instead of detecting that they player is using a pirated game. Modding a console violates ToS, blah blah blah, goodbye XBL.

Any fears of being banned for playing early are exaggerated. Mod your console to play pirated games at your own risk, however.[/QUOTE]

That's hilarious, no wonder I never found the ott interesting.
 
Truthfully, I dont think they can know if its been pirated or just an early copy but because they hide how they ban people, i think they just make assumptions from account use. I know a friend that was worried they would spot his account but he didnt play any of his pirated games early, but others that he knew got banned cause they didnt care. Truthfully its not really worth the trouble IMO but to each his own.
 
[quote name='Malik112099']yeah, but there is this guy on here named CheapyD that could end it quickly....[/QUOTE]

Unless something is going to threaten Cheapy's revenue stream, I doubt anything will be done. In the early days of CAG it was a different story because there seemed to be genuine concern about the userbase, but now its about being a podcast internet celeb and catering to the clique. The different treatment Jimmiemac received from every other person on the site made it obvious.

In regards to the people involved in pirating, Microsoft will eventually get to them, so I wouldn't worry about it and if they don't we know who they are.
 
microsoft isn't going to touch the guys pirating games. They can try all they want but once the game is retail those copies they get off the internet look as legit as the one you purchase.
Maybe the xbox720 will do something different but at the moment nothing is being done for the 360. For those who get hit with a ban wave... they are mostly banned for playing those developer copies of games or nonretail version of the game which are released before street date and don't carry the same disk information as a retail disk.
 
[quote name='naiku']microsoft isn't going to touch the guys pirating games. They can try all they want but once the game is retail those copies they get off the internet look as legit as the one you purchase. [/QUOTE]

The emphasis is "once the game is retail." That's another week and a half away. Until then, they can do what they said in the PAX panel - go after anyone playing early, and ban the console if they can't provide proof that it's a legitimate copy. I don't think they will, but this wouldn't be the first piracy crackdown in the gaming industry, either.

[quote name='benjamouth']Yeah well, if that's true then Mods privilege I guess. I can't say it really bothers me as I don't post in there.

I argued against that whole thing about not being allowed to discuss leaked content, I thought it was pretty stupid TBH.[/QUOTE]

Whether or not you agree with it, it happens all the time in the video game community. When you've got "news" sites like Kotaku telling you how to mod your Wii (and helpfully pointing out that you can emulate and "play backup copies of your own games"), something is definitely off. CAG's solution has been to try and not call attention to it, which I suppose is better than doing nothing.

Personally, my stance on piracy is that as long as I can find games for cheap, I don't need to do it. Sure, I might not be playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 right now (like at least one person on my friends list was last night), but I'm fine with my cheap-ass copies of Puzzle Quest and the original Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

As for discussing it on the site, that's a harder call. With a message board like this you're never going to be able to eliminate it entirely, so the blanket ban wouldn't be all that effective. On the other hand, it's not something that the site should encourage either, given that the main purpose of the site is to get games legally, for as little as possible.

No matter what justifications you use, piracy does hurt the industry, and can affect what games see sequels, what genres get new titles, or what developers survive or go under. I don't think it's worth it, but I can only speak for myself.
 
This was covered by Stepto on the XBox Live Enforcement panel at PAX (which is also broadcast in its entirety on Major Nelson's most recent podcast):

If you have a copy of a game early and are playing online and it's brought to Microsoft's attention (someone played a pirated copy of ODST on justin.tv a couple of weeks ago) Microsoft only asks for a legitamate retail receipt. If you have that, you're fine and MS goes after the retailer/seller. (Edit: I see Fleshribbon and others repeated this, my bad.)

So if you're all about the high seas, take your console offline until the 22nd, or at least don't boast about it on a live stream/make a YouTube clip/brag about it in print.
 
[quote name='Matt Young']people are saying you can get banned for playing a pirated copy early, but I don't think that's true. I've never played a pirated 360 game, but my friend has many and has never had any trouble.[/QUOTE]

Listen to Major Nelson's podcast Matt and you'll hear Stepto's story about the pirate on justin.tv from PAX. Also has your friend pirated lesser third-party games, like Transformers, or have they done high profile Microsoft games like ODST? I would imagine pirating a big first/third party title will have a higher likelyhood of banning than a lower-tier title.

Remember all the consoles banned from Live when Gears 1/Halo 3 had launch day patches and consoles were banned for pirating?
 
Cheapy's favorite son and websites latest claim to fame JimmieMac was last seen playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 just 53 minutes ago. Funny as it comes out next week. MAYBE he scored it AND Halo ODST from his Hell's Kitchen conections? LOL nope he openly says he pirates games. Cheapy had him as a guest on a live show and he said it and continued to co-host until people in the live chat bitched. I looked through the OTT and several people have games they shouldn't. Cheapy might even be a pirate since it's easier than waiting for games to release in the states and then ship to him. He's got enough pirate friends and mods on his site to get him set up.

Zew0ne's account has "code of conduct" all over it so hopefully it was banned for ODST.
 
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[quote name='$hady'] Cheapy might even be a pirate since it's easier than waiting for games to release in the states and then ship to him.
[/QUOTE]

CheapyD has openly admitted to being a pirate on the CAGcast.

Granted it was for BSG, not games, but is TV piracy 'better' than game piracy?
 
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