That didn’t take long. With the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC and subsequent creation of mods for it, some players have been tempted to use those mods online and Rockstar has begun swinging the ban/suspension hammer. Just like they promised they would.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was released for the PC platform on November 5 earlier this month. Up until then, the game had only been available on the PS4 and Xbox One, which are essentially “locked down” systems that do not allow users to modify game files. The PC though, is a much more open platform and modding enthusiasts were ready and waiting.
In a simplistic sense, there’s two kind of “mods” that can be created. First, there’s single player mods. These mods are designed to only be used in the offline (single player) mode of a game and thus have no effect on other players or any related competitive elements. These kinds of mods are generally accepted by game developers – or rather their acceptance is infered by the dev’s silence.
Multiplayer mods, on the other hand, can be run in the online section of a game and inevitably interfere with the experience of other players. This is of course is a big no-no and something that developers, who worked long and hard to create the multiplayer experiences in their games, don’t want ruined for players (by other players) who wish to simply experience the game as intended.
Grand Theft Auto V has been plagued with modders ever since it was released on PC (and in fact there was a serious problem with modders on the PS3 and Xbox 360 systems – both of which have been cracked) and Rockstar, obviously being keen to avoid a similar issue with Red Dead Redemption 2, recently clarified the rules that you are expected to follow in Red Dead Online. The list of punishable offenses includes:
- modding in online games
- exploiting or abusing game mechanics in online games
- participating in “money lobbies”
- account boosting
- account “recovery”
- promoting methods of abuse/glitching
- promoting modding of online games
- manipulating protected game data and code
- interfering with other players’ gameplay experience
Depending on your level of involvement in the offense (i.e. innocent bystander who happened to receive some free gold versus egregious modder who killed everyone in the lobby) the punishments are either a correction, suspension or outright ban.
The launch of Red Dead Redemption 2 for PC came and went just over a week go, and more or less since day one mod creators have been busy doing their thing. The first mod purported to let you play at the Joker (although it was never clear whether it worked – this animal one does though!) and that has been followed by dozens of other scripts, tools, trainers and the like. While most of them are designed for single player, it appears that other mods have been made with bigger aspirations, and can be used online.
Thanks to one source who wishes to remain anonymous (understandably) we now know that Rockstar is indeed following up on their earlier warnings and handing out retribution to naughty players. As you can see in the image above, the player in question has been suspended from Red Dead Online for 30 days for violating Rockstar Games’ Terms of Service and/or EULA. In addition to being suspended, all their Red Dead Online characters, progress and inventory on PC will be reset. The actions do no affect their single player game status though and the email also states that all Red Dead Online suspension, banning and character reset decisions are final and may not be appealed.
We confirmed that the player in question had indeed ventured online with modified game files, but they wouldn’t say any more than that.
On the one hand it’s disappointing that tools designed to infere with online gameplay are already being worked on, but it’s also very reassuring to see that Rockstar is prepared and able to find these online modders.
How this ongoing battle plays out is yet to be determined, but if the history of GTA 5 is anything to go by it could be protracted. We’re assuming that Rockstar learned a thing or two thanks to running GTA Online over the last six years and have some tricks up their sleeve.
