MS labels Autistic child "Cheater" erases his gamerscore

[Spongedaddy]

Story here: http://kotaku.com/5743970/autistic-b...r-by-xbox-live

Here's my take: There is no hard evidence being provided either way. MS isn't being specific. I do not take them at their word that they have verified this 100%. Secondly, I don't think taking a hard stance with an Autistic child is the correct move here. Let's say the child figured out a system where he boosted his score and it gave hims some means of joy in his rigid world. He may also have been obsessing on gamerscore. I have a son with Autism and he is considered high functioning autistic and he gets obsessed with things. MS doesn't need to punish the child, they need to help him understand why he can't do that...if he did indeed do it.

Full disclaimer: Since I have a child with Autism and have a slight eff MS mentallity after going through several broken 360s over the years, my instant reaction is to say eff MS. However, I tried to look at it as objectively as possible and that's what I came up with.

[Bruins]

"Microsoft's team did indeed investigate this matter thoroughly, according to tweets from Xbox Live Director of Policy and Enforcement Stephen Toulouse. "I confirmed that achievements were illegitimately modified on the account and contacted the customer directly w/ specifics," Toulouse said. Unfortunately, he also said that "the only person who gets the proof is the mom," so we won't be able to figure out exactly why the kid was banned unless the mother shares the information with us."

[SqueakyD]

Word on the Xbox.com forums is that the kid got online achievements while playing offline. Don't know if that's true...

The interesting thing is that their forums also have a seperate suspensions/bans page in which you can ask what the offense was for and the moderator would publicly respond with the reason of the ban... Kinda wish they had that here at OS: it would be fun to browse.

[jmood88]

If this didn't have autism in the title it would be a non-story.

Also, this reminded me of the candyman cheating saga, which was hilarious.

[dejkha]

Oh no, he apparently cheated to get achievements... Big deal, they're just achievements. He's not hurting anyone or ruining their experience, so what's the problem?

[jmood88]

If they aren't that big of a deal then it shouldn't be that big of a deal that his gamerscore got reset.

[Spongedaddy]

Quote: Originally Posted by jmood88

If they aren't that big of a deal then it shouldn't be that big of a deal that his gamerscore got reset.

Most children with autism will fixate on a few subjects. It is possible for this child his gamerscore is a big deal in his world. My whole point for MS isn't that they should go to hell (although it is tempting) but there is probably a better way to deal with this. Instead of the PR guy saying he's a dirty cheater and we don't deal with dirty cheaters he could have said we understand this is a sensitive situation and we will try our best to find a helpful solution.

If this was my kid, no matter what, I would be finding my way into a conversation with Mr. or Mrs. Gates who still have a lot of pull there.

[ExtremeGamer]

Quote: Originally Posted by jmood88

If they aren't that big of a deal then it shouldn't be that big of a deal that his gamerscore got reset.

This.

Feel bad the kid has autism, but to me, that's the non-issue here. It's just being used as the issue when it shouldn't. As said above, if he didn't have autism, it wouldn't make the news.

The kid cheated IMO, MS has always been able to prove everyone of these cheating cases with information.

To me it sounds like he cheated, Mom is now unfortuantely using his illness to get on the news, which is disgusting.

Obviously I don't know and neither does anyone else, but there's been many games I've blown through in a day and was never labled a cheater. So for that to be the only story that the Mom is giving sounds fishy.