Major Nelson: don't share accounts or cheat at Gamerscore
by Richard Mitchell 
{ Oct 30th 2007 at 3:15PM }
Major Nelson has posted a warning on his blog to all the folks out there thinking about sharing their Xbox Live accounts or using altered game saves to cheat at Gamerscore. In short, don't do either one. Major Nelson uses the example of giving someone your account so they can gather all the skulls in Halo 3 for you. If said person were to download XBLA games or movies onto that account, there is basically nothing Microsoft can do for you. The only recourse is for Microsoft to cancel the account altogether, and you'll still be out any MS Points spent by whoever you gave your account to.Major Nelson also lays down a warning to anyone using artificial means to increase their Gamerscore. He notes that such accounts may have their gamerscore removed altogether and any achievements earned on such an account will not be able to be reacquired. And, as you might expect, such an account (and the console on which it resides) could also be banned from Xbox Live entirely.
We're not sure what prompted the warning (an increase in one or both activities perhaps), but we're sure it's good advice. Besides, what's the point of cheating to get Gamerscore? Where's the fun in that? Remember kids, if you cheat to inflate your Gamerscore, you're no better than a pro athlete.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
kineticonline @ Oct 30th 2007 4:16PM
LOL this is only coming about 18 months too late.
Matt @ Oct 30th 2007 3:30PM
Bungie posted the Halo 3 Halloween surprise...
Mitch @ Oct 30th 2007 3:30PM
So essentially, Hard Drive swapping or Memory unit saves are... Steroids. :)
Michael @ Oct 30th 2007 3:33PM
Oh noes...
I used the 'Rock Out' glitch in GHII to get the achievement for Jordan on Expert. My XBL account is so dead.
DjDATZ @ Oct 30th 2007 3:35PM
Matt, they've already been tipped...like 30 mins ago.
As for Major's post...I agree with it. Completely. There is no sense of accomplishment like getting an overkill or a triple sword kill in Halo 3 for the achievement. Don't gamesave...it's gay. Boosting in private matches...sure go ahead. Boosting in a public match? Not so good...but if everyone's down...then to each his own.
When someone asks in the lobby to do achievements in Halo 3...I just ask that they let me win the game. Easy win for me, and they get the achievement; fair tradeoff if i might be as inclined to say. It's worked out perfectly so far. :P
wa27 @ Oct 30th 2007 3:36PM
I got some glitch in skate that gave me 890/1000 unearned achievement points. It caused me to pretty much stop playing because I had nothing to work for after that. :(
It's just a number, guys. You're supposed to work for the feeling of accomplishment, not to increase your xbox live e-penis.
Scott @ Oct 30th 2007 3:42PM
Yea, besides being addicting to get the score up, the points don't really matter.
Exceptttt, when they want to do things like the Old Spice challenge (which I REALLY wish they would do more of). Gives you a reason to crank up your score, and even cause people to buy new games to rack up points.
So I would say that's the reason Major et al would be concerned, since its inflating the scoring teirs that they would want to use.
xenocidic @ Oct 30th 2007 3:55PM
call the cheevo police !
pandlcg @ Oct 30th 2007 4:14PM
I heard an idea on a different website: Instead of wiping out their scores they should permanently set their gamerscore to some low number (3 for example) so that everyone would know they got caught red-handed just by looking at their gamerscore.
Joe @ Oct 30th 2007 4:36PM
I have my profile name on my friends account who is also my cousin. So this way if I play a game over there I get credit for doing it and He has his at mine. So I do not see what is so wrong with this or is it more for people you do not know.
h0mi @ Oct 30th 2007 4:38PM
Clarify please. Is boosting where you go "hey guys, help me get the spartan laser so I can get the too close to the sun achievement"? Or is it something else?
xenocidic @ Oct 30th 2007 5:09PM
@11 yes, boosting is any way of co-ordinating with other players so that you can unlock achievments without actually earning them the way they were be meant to be.
2 players lining up to let you them shoot them with the spartan laser would qualify as boosting.
xenocidic @ Oct 30th 2007 5:13PM
@10 - the situation you described isn't really what Major Nelson is warning about. that first part is about having say, some dude you met on forums.xbox.com or some other site (achieve360 or the like) recover your account and get you some difficult achievment (beating Jordan on Expert, etc).
if that person purchased a lot of Microsoft points with your account , causing charges onto your credit card, and downloaded a whole bunch of arcade games onto his console so he could use them with his main account, microsoft would not help you with this situation. that is why they are warning you.
the 2nd part, about gamesaving etc, is a ToS violation, and they are warning about bans. in the first instance, you wouldn't get banned, but you certainly wouldn't receive any help if the person scammed you for MSP.
Ted Schwerzler @ Oct 31st 2007 12:47AM
What a joke I have 74,000 legit gamerscore. That guy Sufoor is the owner of the gamesaves website and has hacked his xbox. Look at his gamerscore 234,000 on a silver account never playing a game online what a joke Major you wont dont anything cause he has been doing it forever and has never been stopped.
Josh @ Oct 30th 2007 6:13PM
This means nothing. He says they punish these people but any Gamerscore leaderboard site will show dozens of the most notorious boosters happily boosting away.
This is just a bunch of lies to make us think they care.
MDJ2010 @ Oct 30th 2007 6:55PM
Yeah Ive gotta agree with Josh. This article more reads like a personal tirade (which I can totally understand) against all those that don't 'earn' their achievements.
I'm a snob when it comes to my gamerscore though, I dont even like having easy games on their - nothing annoys me more than a gamer with games like cars, fight night and TMNT on their played games list - too desperate for me!
J @ Oct 30th 2007 8:19PM
Yeah fanboy is so against boosters even though a known one Knuckles Dawson writes for you guys, give it up
colin @ Oct 30th 2007 9:16PM
i have said this before, you can't hate on a game because it has easy achievements. Fight Night Round 3 is an EXCELLENT game. on the other hand, i was going to boost with TMNT, but it was so horrible that i couldn't finish it. I am proud of that fact.
MDJ2010 @ Oct 30th 2007 11:12PM
So it's dont hate the game hate the player, i guess?
FR3SH JIV3 @ Oct 31st 2007 3:12AM
There were a bunch of games in the beginning days of the 360 that had a lot of gimme achievements. The only game I am ashamed to say I completed was King Kong but then again it was so bad it was painful to finish. I myself don't care too much for the online achievements and I think Infinity Ward did a smart thing by only having them for single player in CoD4. Shadowrun had a painful first few months because almost every game I played had people asking and inviting you to boosting matches.... no thank you and stop bothering me. I prefer to feel like I've accomplished something when I get achievements.
xenocidic @ Oct 31st 2007 9:20AM
@ted, yea, until i see that guy Sufoor get banned and his cheevos revoked I'm not buying it.
that dude had achievments that were glitched/impossible to obtain (eg. Luck of the Draw in XBLA hold'em before they fixed it)
ccc @ Oct 31st 2007 5:20PM
Heh, maybe then, Mr nelson should see to it that achievments that are glitched get fixed.
Example, I have over 18000 kills in gears of war and still lack the seriously achievment.
It would be very easy to let someone glitch it for me. I've earned it but didn't get it, now Im lucky if I can get 15 kills in 2 hours because the game is so dead.