The mother of autistic 11-year-old Julias Jackson got no sympathy from Microsoft after she expressed outrage overher son being labeled a "cheater" on his Xbox Live account, insisting that he simply played too well. Now she's admitting her son was in the wrong.
After her son's storywent viral, Jennifer Zdenek said Microsoft's Xbox Live enforcement chief Stephen Toulouse wrote her an e-mail with specific details about why Julias's account was wiped clean of its gamerscore and achievements, and brandished with a "cheater" label.
She shared the e-mail with her local Fox station, which posted the contents:
"The account Zombie Kill67 transferred from the Xbox it is normally seen on, to an Xbox in another city. The account earned several achievements for Halo 3 that can only be done online and in succession. It was clear they were unlocked out of order and offline. Earning successive online achievements out of order and offline is an impossible feat, not due to skill, but due to the technology of the system. It can only be done by modifying the account and faking the achievements."
In other words, young Julias must have found some sort of offer online for a quick Gamerscore boost. He provided his XBL log-in credentials to that individual, who unlocked a whole bunch of achievements for him - and now it's obvious that unauthorized methods were done to achieve them.
Zdenek now admits she was aware of that activity. "I did warn him about this but seeing it wasn't a bank password or anything big, it's just a game we didn't worry about it too much," she said.
However, due to the media backlash Microsoft received from this story, the company has offered to give Julias a free month of Xbox Live Gold and a brand new Gamertag, without the "Cheater" label.
[Source:Q13 Fox]
Jan 31, 2011
