Cheating gamers face online ban

By Dan Whitworth
Newsbeat technology reporter

The people behind one of the biggest video games of the year are taking the unusual step of banning some of its fans from playing the online, multi-player version.

Set in the American Wild West, Red Dead Redemption has sold millions of copies around the world, many of them in the UK.

But developer Rockstar Games say they've had complaints from gamers about cheats hacking their way to high scores.

So from today (Tuesday 24 August) they're being banned indefinitely.

It all started a week ago when Rockstar Games posted a warning on its website.

Anyone who had cheated their way to higher XP, or experience points, had seven days to delete them or would face Rockstar's 'ban hammer'.

Cheating 'unfair'

That would result in them being indefinitely suspended from playing the online, multi player version of the game.

Luke and Billy agree that cheaters should be banned from the game

Luke Pilgrim is 19 and from Dartford. He said: "When I get XP I get a satisfaction from it because I've earned it.

"But if I was cheating I'd think that was unfair so hopefully people that do cheat, if they get banned from it, won't cheat any more."

His mate Billy Judd, who's an 18-year-old lifeguard, agrees.

"I'm going to love it when people get banned," he said.

"It's cheating basically isn't it - just like in a sport, so they should be banned."

Rockstar say this type of cheating is a clear violation of their code of conduct.

They won't get into the details of how long this ban will last but say they have got the technical know-how to do it.

'Impossible scores'

A statement on their website read: "This will not apply to those people who simply took advantage of temporary exploits to rapidly grind up XP a few weeks ago."

"We are able to tell who actually hacked their save to have impossible scores.

Bar manager Charlie says he's not too fussed about people cheating

"Banned hackers will also be removed from the leader boards."

But 22-year-old bar manager Charlie from Surrey isn't so sure it's the right thing to do.

He said: "It's going to really suck for anyone who gets banned and to be honest I'm not really that bothered about people cheating."

Gamers hacking their way to high scores is nothing new.

But while Microsoft has banned people who've illegally pirated games from playing Xbox live it's rare for a developer to take this kind of action.

Depending on how successful or not this turns out to be other companies could follow suit.