i’ve had a few… interesting reports that i feel need sending. i also, however, have replays and in one case several screenshots of the games concerned. the report system is fine and all, but seems to require a large number of them before even an investigation is launched.
that said, even with that i want to see if i can’t add visual evidence to the accusation. with this however, a problem has occured: I cannot seem to find an “attach images/replays/whatever”
some of these “dishonest games” that i’ve been running into are nothing more than latency issues.
Lately, however, i’ve run into two noteworthy, clearly deliberate abuses of game services. they are as follows (i refuse to name names for a few reasons, mainly my not wanting to start a lynch mob or getting in trouble)
- possible lag switching. i was playing a game of regicide, everything was fine, when a sudden wave of lag hits. this was not the simple "plasma grenade flies in the air, and then does a 180 and sticks someone. oh no sir. this was “i jump over a structure and suddenly im facing the other way, and somehow in a totally different area” type of lag. it came on bursts, about 15 seconds long each.
this could all be excused by some poor network performance, but a few things made me a wee bit more than regular suspicious. first, when the gameplay wasn’t tele-lag crazy, it was fine. second, there were instances when the guy did not even strafe, he literally stood still, and i barely did any damage to him (battle rifle). third, and more obvious than the latter in my opinion, he was using a plasma pistol. not for some noob-combo glory, but with its regular semiautomatic function. from what i’ve read on the forums plasma pistol commendations are among the HARDEST to earn, simply because of the lack of general power that the other sidearms have, namely the “precision” feature(headshots). that he was using this weapon in a regicide match meant that something was up… at least in my opinion.
maybe im just quick to assume the worst in people with lag. it is understandable, no? in the second example, i see much more deliberate and provable violations.
2)Boosting
for those of you not familiar with this violation, boosting is an act of artificially inflating an in-game statistic of some sort, in the case of halo 4, usually experience or commendations, although CSR ratings can also be influenced by this activity. this is considered a violation of Terms of Service, and no matter what pro-boosters say, the XBL enforcement team and the lawyers who make the EULA have the final say in the issue. point settled.
this happened in a game of Grifball Pro. now before you start throwing shotguns at me, read me out first.
spawncamping, much to my chagrin, is a normal part of grifball. the team has to clear out the spawns so that grif can score (and live, also much to my chagrin)
these people, however, went far above and beyond. they not only spawncamped, they did very little after they got the first point BUT spawncamp., to get the ball. in the very beginning, i even saw them deliberately rush past the ball in question, rather than picking it up for a win, and after killing the initial spawn ins, spawn-assassinating the victims of this organized attempt. yes it was organized. they were in party and two of them had the same service tag. a number of people quit early just to avoid being farmed because of this. it ruined a fair few people’s fun, including my own. i grabbed the ball and tested them further. i delayed the game, much like i would when being betrayed by a teammate multiple, deliberate times. they didn’t stop spawncamping. they didn’t yell at me (they had mics, trust me on that one). they just kept killing, and killing, and boosting for assassinations and k/d spreads. one of them, after all was said and done, had 1380 points. that is not a number i have EVER seen in a match of grifball. i’ve seen 600-700 tops, maybe a bit more. i made several remarks about the immorality of boosting and mooching stats rather than getting them naturally (i also made a few comparisons to Social security leeches, which i regret but am including in this report for the sake of honesty.
At one point i actually went to go help the other team out and passed out a few betrayals to do what little i could/lure them away, but they STILL refused to budge.
after the match i got a fun little comment of “well you were doing it too” from one of the boosters in question.
let me explain how, no, i wasn’t:
1)team lineup.
i was on their side, and could in no fashion give them any kills, points, or statistics. i was not of use to them, and several times i turned my back to the opposing team member who came at me, in the rare instance that one of them broke spawncamp (they rarely made it far, sadly)
2)profit.
with the exception of a couple kills to test lunge range for the “ball” weapon, i added nothing to my statistics. i gained no commendation bonuses, and no alterations were made to my CSR rating. the only arguable thing i gained was xp, but the xp gained from points was nothing more than i naturally would have earned. the rest was granted for completion. therefore i did not “boost” my experience. my k/d actually probably went DOWN from the few deaths at the hands of the occasional breakthrough enemy.
3)Intent.
I refused to spawncamp, plain and simple, and i refused to gain an early lead in the game when the odds were not balanced (the game started 4v2, the other side being the 2). i was initially going to wait until more players JIP’d the game, but then it melted into a boost fest, so i decided instead to requisition evidence of the boosting in question.
bearing these in mind, i hope you can see why i feel i should wish to attach some files to the report i will be sending.
please refrain from going off topic. any “you must be new here” posts are uncalled for. i am aware that boosting is an ongoing issue, and i wish to help in any way i can, however little it may be, to help cut a bit of the rotted meat from the carcass, for lack of a better metaphor.
thank you for reading. if nothing else you’ll be able to laugh at me to yourself 
just as its the fault of a user if their brother/cousin/dog/whatever hits their profile up and gets them banned. what really convinced me was when he was at one point standing still and teabagging in front of me while almost none of my shots seemed to register. furthermore if it really were netflix or some other bandwidth destroying connection, surely it would have lasted the entire game, no? it didn’t. it came in 10-15 second intervals and happened constantly in 10-15 second intervals. even if it wasn’t his fault per se he was STILL deliberately taking advantage of network conditions and made no effort to improve them.