Bungie’s banning arsenal has been rearmed with tools of mass eradication for Halo 3 file sharers.
A month ago, Halo developer Bungie issued a fair warning to those individuals who decided to use Halo 3‘s sharing for inappropriate purposes:
Recently, we’ve seen a moderate influx of things appearing in File Shares that don’t belong there. Some of this is just tweaked content from Halo 3 that has been uploaded in sundry and illegal fashions. In fewer cases, there have been a relatively small number of incidents of folks uploading inappropriate non-game content to the File Share….
Users who have modified content on their File Share – regardless of who created said content – will be subjected to the full power of the Banhammer’s thrust. This includes some never-before-unleashed technology that will effectively terminate your Halo multiplayer experience online in every imaginable facet. In fact, the ban is so thorough that simply calling it the Banhammer is a complete understatement. I just couldn’t come up with a more hyper-exaggerated term that had the same feel. Banplatform? Banpocalpyse? Banmageddnon? None of those did the trick.
Last week, the studio announced a tool set that allowed them to tinker and punish the service’s abusers, leading to mass banishments for users who were caught either “authoring modified content in a File Share” or “uploading modified content to your File Share”.
“Modified content” is defined as anything “created or uploaded outside of the parameters of what can be done using the game-provided tools.” Examples are hacked maps or images not included in the game, which Destructoid identified as pornographic screens of topless women. Content offenders were rewarded with a permanent ban from Halo matchmaking, File Share functionality and a month-long ban from the Halo 3 game. Those who only upload content, but don’t create it themselves, face only the loss of their File Share accounts.
Bungie answered additonal questions in a brief FAQ:
Q: WTF I only had a picture of Hitler Pikachu in my File Share that I’d renamed something hilarious to share with my friends and I saw these other guys had pictures of women doing unnamable things to each other. That’s dirty, mine is just a joke, unban me.
A: It’s wholly subjective to dictate what is and isn’t offensive. As a result, there is no subjectivity in assessing how files are treated. If a file qualifies as modded content regardless of whether it’s a walrus or a cartoon drawing – it is removed and the authors are removed from Halo 3 Matchmaking.
Q: OK, I’m really, really, really sorry that I filled my File Share with pictures of naked women. I won’t do it again. Can I have my File Share back please?
A: lololololol
Source: Bungie
Published: Aug 4, 2008 05:30 pm