Microsoft Cracks The Whip

Sharing Your Xbox Live account WILL get you banned

Posted by Staff
Microsoft Cracks The Whip
Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb, Microsoft's online mascot, has issued a stern warning to Xbox 360 owners: loan out your Xbox Live account and you will get banned.

SPOnG's not sure if Hryb had a bad weekend (Just got dumped? Discovered forbidden feelings of love for the Wii?), or if he's just had a harsh word in his ear from further up the food chain, but this is what he had to say:

"If you run into that person in Halo 3 who claims if they could have your LIVE ID name and password to recover your Xbox LIVE account to their Xbox and they'll rank you up or find you all the hidden skulls in Halo 3, I urge you not to fall to temptation. While it may be appealing, in addition to violating the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use it can also result in you permanently losing your account... Cancelled. As in you can never get it back. In addition to losing your Gamertag, you'll also lose your Gamerscore, saved games and any points you have on the account."


Ouch! But that's not all...

The "nefarious" practice of tampering with your Gamerscore could garner a similar result. Hryb also tells us, "If you use tampered gamesaves to boost your Achievements and Gamerscore, you may sign in to Xbox LIVE one day and discover that we have removed your Gamerscore. Once we do that, you will never be able to re-earn those achievements on that account. Even worse, you might have your account and/or console banned from Xbox Live."

Naturally, we all conscientiously read the terms and conditions of everything we enter into, so the potential penalties for such activities are not unknown. Do we really need the normally cheery Major Nelson to treat us like a bunch of petulant children to remind us, though?

Source: Major Nelson
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Comments

deleted 31 Oct 2007 14:48
1/10
Yes Sir, Sorry Sir, a bigger boy told me to do it Sir.
daz 31 Oct 2007 15:33
2/10
like I give a s**t I wouldn't pay for online gaming anyway no matter how good they think it is.
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Smelly 31 Oct 2007 17:47
3/10
What i dont get - is what difference does it actually make to msoft if people do this?
headcasephil 31 Oct 2007 18:24
4/10
so hows this going to work then and what i mean by this is are gamer tags now linked to that 360 as iv got a core wich i got a lanch wich i use comes out on lan partys and in my bedroom at the min iv got premium in my front room and only use 1 live accont on the 2 and i plan to get the elite next week and i only want 1 account hope microsoft understand that there are many people like me. allso what about the people who go around to mates homes and have there live accounts on there mates 360? i understand about people that want to get big game scores ( and are to lazy to do it them salves but its unfair on the majority of true gamers that do nothing wrong
deleted 31 Oct 2007 18:55
5/10
phil cort wrote:
so hows this going to work then and what i mean by this is are gamer tags now linked to that 360 as iv got a core wich i got a lanch wich i use comes out on lan partys and in my bedroom at the min iv got premium in my front room and only use 1 live accont on the 2 and i plan to get the elite next week and i only want 1 account hope microsoft understand that there are many people like me. allso what about the people who go around to mates homes and have there live accounts on there mates 360? i understand about people that want to get big game scores ( and are to lazy to do it them salves but its unfair on the majority of true gamers that do nothing wrong


i wuoldnt hold your breath but maybe MS will do it based on IP addresses or something???
PreciousRoi 31 Oct 2007 20:30
6/10
STOP THE PRESSES!!

SPOnG...you have it wrong. This is not the complete story, or even the complete or correct message that MS' Major Nelson was trying to get across to the LIVE! community.

Major Nelson also wrote:
...If that 'friend' of yours decides not return your account and buys a bunch of Arcade titles and movies on your account, there is nothing we can do except cancel the account since you willingly shared your information.


THIS IS NOT ABOUT LENDING YOUR ACCOUNT TO YOUR MATE FOR THE WEEKEND. NOR IS IT ABOUT LETTING SOMEONE LEVEL YOU UP OR FIND THE SKULLS FOR YOU.

Thats just the lure. This is about phishing. This is about MS warning you that not everyone on the internet is your friend. This is about remembering that your gamertag is quite probably linked to a credit card and may have points on it that someone else might decide to spend for you.

The bit about cheating should be quoted as well...

Major Nelson wrote:
While I am on the subject of things you should not do, I strongly urge you not to tamper with your Gamerscore and Achievements. If you decide to employ some nefarious techniques to artificially increase your Gamerscore or obtain achievements by manipulating the Xbox software without playing the game, bad things will happen. What type of bad things? For one thing we may remove the entire Gamerscore for an account that contains manipulated gamerscore. Let me be more clear: If you use tampered gamesaves to boost your Achievements and Gamerscore, you may sign in to Xbox LIVE one day and discover that we have removed your Gamerscore. Once we do that, you will never be able to re-earn those achievements on that account. Even worse, you might have your account and/or console banned from Xbox Live.


Don't cheat kids, or you'l get a spanking.

Afraid I'd have to link this article under "Why do so many people think SPOnG are liars?".

shame on you Tim for letting this one slip by.
chuckyj1 31 Oct 2007 23:33
7/10
ahhhh.... did anyone actually tell this guy achievements and gamer score don't matter? Its not like there worth MS points every 3,000 Achievement points or anything. SO I don't see why they are soooo against it. Honestly if you care that much... you need to find better things to do with your time.
deleted 31 Oct 2007 23:44
8/10
chuckyj1 wrote:
ahhhh.... did anyone actually tell this guy achievements and gamer score don't matter? Its not like there worth MS points every 3,000 Achievement points or anything. SO I don't see why they are soooo against it. Honestly if you care that much... you need to find better things to do with your time.


its a selling point of the system, it adds depth to games and competition amongst gamers, so there is a big reason to defend/protect it.

And no you dont really gain anything other than Kudos for Achievements and Gamerscore, but i personally think its unfair to allow someone to D/L a save and complete Oblivion with all achievements and full 1000 Gamerscore after 3 mins of playing when i spent over 40 hours playing it (and still havent completed it all)

Also why would some one want to do it?, Was Bioshock not more enjoyable becuase you tried to rescue every little girl or upgrade all your weapons or slots?, Does Gears not show how talented you are online and offline with what acheivements you have gained, would Viva Pinata be the same if you had no reason to cross breed or hatch eggs with Cluckles?
PreciousRoi 31 Oct 2007 23:55
9/10
I love how all the cheaters squirm when the hammer looms...if gamerscores don't matter, then you're not losing anything when they erase yours.

You pressed your luck and you got the Whammyâ„¢...as Nelson* once said, "Ha Hah."

Boo-Yaa!

*neither Major nor Admiral, the Simpsons character
PreciousRoi 1 Nov 2007 23:10
10/10
Microsoft Warns of Xbox Live! account phishing
Don't loan out your account to strangers!

Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb, Microsoft's online mascot, has issued a warning to Xbox 360 owners: loaning out your Xbox Live account isn't a good idea.

this is what he had to say:


"If you run into that person in Halo 3 who claims if they could have your LIVE ID name and password to recover your Xbox LIVE account to their Xbox and they'll rank you up or find you all the hidden skulls in Halo 3, I urge you not to fall to temptation. While it may be appealing, in addition to violating the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use it can also result in you permanently losing your account. If that 'friend' of yours decides not return your account and buys a bunch of Arcade titles and movies on your account, there is nothing we can do except cancel the account since you willingly shared your information.

Cancelled.
As in you can never get it back. In addition to losing your Gamertag, you'll also lose your Gamerscore, saved games and any points you have on the account.

While I am on the subject of things you should not do, I strongly urge you not to tamper with your Gamerscore and Achievements. If you decide to employ some nefarious techniques to artificially increase your Gamerscore or obtain achievements by manipulating the Xbox software without playing the game, bad things will happen. What type of bad things? For one thing we may remove the entire Gamerscore for an account that contains manipulated gamerscore. Let me be more clear: If you use tampered gamesaves to boost your Achievements and Gamerscore, you may sign in to Xbox LIVE one day and discover that we have removed your Gamerscore. Once we do that, you will never be able to re-earn those achievements on that account. Even worse, you might have your account and/or console banned from Xbox Live."

Naturally, responsible, aware adults are prepared for the consequences of their actions. However, since many primary Live! users might not meet these criteria this strongly worded reminder might serve to wake them up to the potential repercussions involved.
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