the World of Halo 2 Cheating

taken from: Gamers First.com

A recent post on the Bungie.net official news blog by resident spokesperson, Frankie, made the rounds on the interwebs last week thanks to a posting on game blog Kotaku. Frankie's posting is entitled "The Bungie Waaahmbulance", and in it he posts several letters from users who have been banned from Halo 2. Why would you get permanently banned from Halo 2 Matchmaking? Cheating.

These letters are an absolute hoot to read. Many can be appreciated with little to no knowledge of Halo 2 at all, such as this letter from a turncoat cheater:

Please! I'll destroy my mods. i'll snich on some people that r getting away with mods on matchmaking! Just PLEASE appeal my ban. i want to play matchmaking again. i want to be clean for the arrival of Halo 3! c'mon! i didn't know what i was getting into when i got mods from my friend and from [website censored]! you have to believe me!!! (which i believe got resently shut down.) I'm really not the dirty, xbox live cheater that you probably think i am! im just a weeeee little 13 year old. (and very hansom at that might i add. any waay, it really sucks with no matchmaking and no stats or clan listings. I have learned the errors of my ways and wish to repent. please help me!!!
P.S. I haven't even turned on my xbox with the mods on it since i sent my first message a few days ago. infact, i unplugged it!

It's fitting that Frankie begins his catalog of inanities with this letter, since it sums up the stereotype of the Halo 2 cheater: some snotty kid who doesn't know much about the world. These are the script kiddies of online gaming; the Action Replay is the DDOS Script of the gaming world. Of course, those are the kinds of cheats gamers are used to dealing with, patches and mods often facilitated on home consoles by devices like the Action Replay. The mods and cheats that come from these devices are pretty easy to spot: god-mode, flying vehicles, etc. These and other console modifications are relatively easy to detect, and Bungie does a good job preventing these activities.

But read deeper into Frankie's gallery of stupid excuses and you notice some new terms coming into play: standby-ing, bridging and boosting. These are techniques, often performed in groups, that are used to help cheaters raise their ranking in Halo 2, and at the same time these methods are extremely destructive to the enjoyment of other gamers.

I dont understand, I admit that I have had cheaters on my team, but Ive never cheated more then 8 times that I can remember, Not even close. Is that a Major Offense? I would like to know Why I have been permanently from Halo 2 Matchmaking when I have Never Manipulated files on my Xbox ( Modding ) Never MYSELF Bridged people out ( 2 times I can remember my Teammate did when I didnt want to ) and have never Standbyed MYSELF ( 1 time Recently when I ALSO said not too. ) I would Like to have my account Unbanned or put onto a Suspension at the most, but Please, I was banned on a "Major Offense" that I did not commit.

To an uninitiated gamer, even a casual Halo 2 player, this letter to Bungie may seem almost unintelligible. "Bridged people out?" "Standbyed?" These are terms that hold little meaning for players, other than the fact that the worst matches on Halo 2 are often accompanied by accusations of such cheating, which is often team-based.

Read on @ :Gamers First.com

Andrew