When SlapStic.com reader Jack Barbosa discovered that his impressive gamerscore of over 121k had been simply erased from his profile, he went to Microsoft to find out what the deal was. What was their excuse? SlapStic reports.

So last night, while playing Mirror's Edge, Jack received an achievement that he had already gotten earlier in the day. Confused, Jack went and checked out his Gamercard, where he discovered with considerable horror that he now had a Gamerscore of 25, and that his Gamer Zone had been changed to "Cheater." He was also unable to change his Gamer Zone to anything else. This all went down with no warning from Microsoft, and not so much as a letter explaining things once they had done it. JackTheWhack had just gotten over three years of his gaming record wiped clean. There was no trial, and there was no jury. Microsoft simply assumed that he was a cheater, and took all of his Gamerpoints away from him.
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Most recently commented on by on Nov 27, 2008
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  • 1
    Final Blade Nov 25, 08
    OH SHI.. MS just PWNED his ass.

    Seriously though that sucks. Must have taken him a long time to get that gamerpoints.
    • 1
      Capn Droid Nov 25, 08
      Five thumbs down. Your discourtesy is the cancer of the Internet.
      • 0
        Final Blade Nov 25, 08
        Hilarious. Seriously, great joke.

        • 1
          Ameer Nov 25, 08
          He's not joking. That was a particularly dickheaded comment, even from you.
        • 0
          Final Blade Nov 25, 08
          Really couldn't care if he was or wasn't joking. I decided to laugh it out, cause he was trying to get an argument from me. I'll break down my post for both:

          *First statement, joking.
          *Second statement, Serious(hence "seriously though...").

          Take it as you want.
    • 2
      RKRigney Nov 26, 08
      Final Blade... you are consistently one of the most ridiculous people I've ever seen on the internet. I'd LOVE to see what you look like IRL. I can only imagine *shivers*
      • 1
        Big A2 Nov 26, 08
        I totally agree with you. I'm sure you could write a long article about how ridiculous he is, if fact, why don't you?
      • 0
        Final Blade Nov 26, 08
        Check Neoseeker, maybe you can find my 13 pictures I've posted.

        Why? Cause I made a joke first then made a serious comment? Get over your selves. People do it all the time and they get praised or people get it, but when I suddenly do it its the apocalypse and I'm being ridiculous. Irony at its finest. God I love Neo and gamegrep users sometimes.
        • 3
          Capn Droid Nov 26, 08
          OH SHI.. MS just PWNED his ass.

          LOLOLOL, ah man, sorry I ever doubted you. I will admit, making a joke about three wasted years is pretty clever, and funny! Nice one!
  • 1
    Bale Fire Nov 25, 08
    It looks like he had a huge number of points and someone thought it suspicious. They probably deleted it without a second thought.
    • 0
      Big A2 Nov 25, 08
      Yes, the probably find it unbelievable that someone will actually pay their games for more than 2 years.

      So kids remember, if you want to be good at video games, just your best try to be mediocre!
  • 1
    Miss Razz Nov 25, 08
    Ouch. Just .... ouch.

    25 characters
  • 0
    Koloth Nov 25, 08
    That's it Microsoft just keep driving your customers away. Few more RRODs, deleting accounts, and generally breaking things.

    Yea I only have about 1000 points and I would still be pissed if they arbitrarily labeled me a cheater.
  • 0
    kik36 Nov 25, 08
    That frickin' SUCKS!!!!! I feel for that guy, I would be totally and utterly pissed off!!
  • 0
    Storm* Nov 25, 08
    Did he get 1000/1000 in Gears 2? That's being glitched a lot lately I hear.

    Still, M$ shouldn't leave the guy in the dark about why they did that.
  • 5
    Darknet* Nov 25, 08
    I just love how everyone assumes this guy is innocent. No one ever thinks that he may of actually cheated?
    • 0
      Slumpy monkey Nov 25, 08
      True, Simply "not getting all of the achievements in his games" Isn't enough info imo, There must have been something up, I doubt MS would just delete the GS for Shits and giggles, they obv investigate before hand.

      But if it turns out true, then that sucks for him.
    • 0
      Koloth Nov 25, 08
      He says he didn't and he sold his 360 because of it. So at the least he thinks he's innocent.
      • 0
        Slumpy monkey Nov 25, 08
        Well he could have just thought "The game is up" and just sold it. Even if he did cheat I'm sure he saw it as some sort of an achievement and was gutted to have it taken.

        But I thought that when they remove your score you cant gain the achievement's again? That's what I remember somewhere.
        • 0
          Krunal Nov 25, 08
          They must have changed it so that you can, it's just that your zone changes to "Cheater". Either way you don't know if he was a cheater or not. If he was, then it's well deserved, if not, then Microsoft just lost another customer. Though I guess in their eyes "whats one customer when they've got millions already".
    • 1
      kik36 Nov 25, 08
      Yeah true, but no one deserves to be taken down without an explanation. That's just poor customer service, no matter who is doing it.
      • 0
        RabidChinaGirl Nov 25, 08
        Unfortunately, that's "typical" customer service now. Usually they don't tell you (ToS often says they don't have to tell you jack shit), or they try to feed you a load of bull, then just shrug when you throw evidence in their faces showing them they're wrong. I really hate dealing with customer service...

        That being said, I'd like to think Microsoft actually did some digging before deleting his points. I mean, that is one HELL of a Gamerscore.
        • 0
          Daigoji_Gai Nov 25, 08
          Heck, you'll be lucky if you get someone on customer service from the same country as you. So much for localized support.
  • 1
    FinalFantasyFanaticc Nov 25, 08
    Wow, if hes innocent then that really sucks for the guy >_< If hes guilty then he deserves all he gets =P

    I don't think MS would just go around deleting accounts randomly i know a few people who have like, 80-90k+ gamerscores and they ain't been branded cheaters so hes obviously done something wrong
  • 3
    Cruxis Mana Nov 25, 08
    Maybe that's Microsoft's way of saying "GET OUT MORE" ?
    • 0
      Storm* Nov 25, 08
      Haha perhaps. It sure is a very large amount of GS for one person.
    • 5
      RabidChinaGirl Nov 25, 08
      Barbosa: Why did you delete my score?
      Microsoft: Because we care.
    • 0
      Final Blade Nov 25, 08
      That's ridiculous, as if MS really cares what you do outside of gaming. All they care about is you buying their games, feeding more money in their wallets and further more beating Sony. Trust me, MS doesn't care about you. Doubt Sony does either.
      • 1
        Ameer Nov 27, 08
        l2detect humour. It was obviously tongue-in-cheek.
    • 0
      Capn Droid Nov 25, 08
      Hah, that's funny. Microsoft. Saying you should get out more. Hah, hahah. That gave me a good chuckle.
  • 0
    Roy Nov 25, 08
    That is pretty high for a Gamerscore. He must have had over 20 titles.
    • 0
      Daigoji_Gai Nov 25, 08
      If you check out my profile (Daigoji Gai), I have over 50 titles... so it takes more than that - it requires a serious dedication to unlock every single achievement in every single title he had, and if he pulled that off and got spanked, shame... SHAME on Microsoft.
      • 1
        Onvacation Nov 25, 08
        He only had the full 1000g in barely any of his games
        • 0
          Capn Droid Nov 25, 08
          The article said that in a lot of his games he was ever so close to getting 1,000... 800 or 900, perhaps? In other games, he was commonly getting 500. I don't see how this is "barely".
        • 1
          Onvacation Nov 25, 08
          You just proved my point, In saying that he only had a few games where he was close to getting 1000, and most of them were around 500 That's barely having 1000.
        • 0
          Capn Droid Nov 25, 08
          "In other games, he was commonly getting 500. I don't see how this is "barely"."

          Again, half of the way is barely? Say you went on a thousand mile drive from Chicago to L.A.... considering that's a thousand miles; I don't know the exact number, w/e. Anyways, it's a thousand miles. You drive 500 miles in 10 hours. Is 10 hours of driving "barely close" to 20 hours of driving? No, because they're both really *bleep*ing long amounts of time. Meanwhile, another car decides to stalk you from your house for whatever reason. They drive a couple hundred yards before they grow bored, and stop after a few seconds of driving. Was this barely close to 20 hours? Well, I don't even have to say for that one.
        • 1
          Onvacation Nov 26, 08
          I'm talking about how many games he got close to 1000 in out of his whole collection which is barely any, Stop being a douche and taking about the amount of G per game because thats not what i'm talking about.
        • 0
          Capn Droid Nov 26, 08
          Oh, whoops. Misinterpreted your post(s).
  • 0
    streetcarp81 Nov 25, 08
    M$ does a check on your profile and if they find something odd they do escalate the investigation. Look im glad they bust people with cheated gamerscores but i could care less if im on live with someone who has a "cheater" gamerzone. If they glitch or cheat in the match, that person gets reported after the match and i never have to play with them again. But im sure this person did something. Still M$ needs to allow you to at least dispute it. And any who boosts their gamerscore is a loser anyway. Another thing, if u have a gamerscore over 100K, u must not have a job, do not go to school and do not leave the house. that is just ridiculous.
  • 0
    Newcloud Nov 25, 08
    i would hate to be labelled a cheater more the losing all my GS
    being labelled a cheater on XBL is like being labelled a witch back in the day

    read the article and my god an interview about hes 360 in a week if that was me id be having panic attacks... and i would probably switch systems to
  • 0
    Woudo Nov 25, 08
    Microsoft busts yo ass cheating.
    You have a cry to someone who will listen.
    They write an article about it.
    Microsoft apologizes and restores your account instead of facing the "media".
  • 0
    Zero and X Nov 25, 08
    *bleep* you microsoft. How can you just brand someone a cheater without substantial evidence? Does not a gamer have his rights?
    • 1
      Woudo Nov 26, 08
      Is that a legitimate question?
      • 0
        Zero and X Nov 26, 08
        No that isn't a legit question.
    • 1
      Capn Droid Nov 26, 08
      Not when the XBOX 360 is sold worldwide, where American rights don't apply.

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