TripWire

This is so beyond ridiculous, I've always been against this game from the start.
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By Nate Mook, BetaNews
January 13, 2005, 12:24 PM
"The Army is angry, and we're coming for you," America's Army executive producer Phil DeLuca warned cheaters in a notice on the computer game's official forums. Seemingly enraged at some players taking advantage of problems in the game, DeLuca said that those not playing by the rules were "misusing Army property" and akin to the Japanese who bombed Pearl Harbor.

The announcement came as a shock to many America's Army players, and further enraged those who feel the free game is used as a recruiting tool for the United States Army. The forums posting has since been removed from the game's Web site, but not before news of its contents began to spread.


DeLuca went so far as to say the Army has been tracking cheaters and "using them to collect more data, track down their friends, and their friends." He said those tampering with the game were not only breaking the EULA, but also committing a cyber crime by "misusing US Army computer programs and equipment."

"In the early 1940's, Japan learned an important lesson - "let the sleeping giant lie." We may not react swiftly, but when we do it's with unstoppable force," wrote DeLuca. "The Army has partners that deal with cyber crime as a matter of course. These include not just various Army IT departments, but also the Department of Justice, the Secret Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations."

DeLuca ended his post with an ominous warning to anyone caught cheating: "Allow me to speak directly to the bad guys for a moment: When you get banned, know that we know and have records showing you were doing something that's a violation of terms of service, breaks your EULA, and also happens to be against the law. We know who you are, and can track down where you play from."

"We have incontrovertible proof you did something illegal. The Army is angry, and we're coming for you," he said.

PixyJunket

Maybe they should fucking play the game fair instead of trying to ruin it for other? Just a thought.

TripWire

Yeah, maybe so, so just ban them, why all the other static and threats.
Cheats are a part of games no matter what, and in the end it is just a game.
But apparently now you are tampering with Army property. I would like cheaters to overrun the servers so they would just have to shut it all down. I hate that the army uses this as a promo tool out of taxpayers money and collects users' info as recruiting info.

cheapskate

Numanoid

Duh. Did they think the Army was just offering free games to make themselves feel better?

jeffdsmith

That army guy is a moron.

Lethal Nemesis

pwn3d!!!11

AGuyNamedMike

I think his only mistake was to send out a warning. I have always said the only way to make cheaters/spammers/crackers/hackers change their ways was to have SWAT teams kick down their doors.

tanman

Couple things.

Anyone that thinks this isn't a promotional tool is a complete idiot.

They should not be cheating and should be banned.

Is that extreme of a response really necessary? Especially when this is supposed to be a promotional tool. Why don't they just quitely post a warning and ban all those who ignore it?

WOWZY

I think he should just keep quiet and let the Cheaters and Spammers unknowingly advance themselves to the front of the future draft list.

What more of a reason to get them first, they discovered and exploited weaknesses in the program

Trigger

oooh... scary.

Feneant

When I see someone cheating, I would love nothing better than to have someone go over and smash up their pc's. If the army takes them down, I will be here cheering.

There are so many cheaters around that I no longer play any game online that I don't pay to play, and even then, there are cheaters who make a living selling game currency/items.

PixyJunket

I'll drink to that.

Third Baseman

I agree with the Army. All cheaters, glitchers, and idiot kids should be shot.

Jtnguyen12

Phil DeLuca

Jam Master Jay

that game sucks anyway

Fok

Great, now we have IT guys wanting to be GI Joe wannabe's yeah I think they're taking this way too far

John Spartan

Bwahahaha!! Yeah, I'm sure the Secret Service is chomping at the bit to take down videogame cheaters. Protecting the president, stopping massive money counterfeiting rings -- These pale in comparison to the threat of kids cheating on an online game. A FREE game, no less.

I imagine if Deluca ever called the Secret Service for help, they'd put him on speakerphone so everyone could gather around and laugh their asses off.

Seriously though, I hope this is just a naive attempt to get the naive cheaters to stop.

bdshort

I was looking at this game awhile back and thought it looked sort of cool, but the specs were too high for my current PC (hopefully not for long), so I never downloaded it. There was a story in our local newspaper several months ago about this game too. One of the animators (the lead animator maybe?) is from the town I live in, which I thought was pretty cool.

Anyone here play this? Suck or fun? Been harrassed by Army recruiters yet?

Brian

asabase

I played it when it first came out a LONG time ago. I was ok, just not my type of game. The rounds are very slow (you have to sneak around a lot more than in say CS or DoD).

Anyway, I tired of it quickly and never played since.