Rockstar Games has implemented stringent rules against cheating and unfair play in the new GTA and RDR Online community guidelines update.
The studio has published a new set of community guidelines to help ensure a positive gaming experience for its player base. Together, with its Terms of Service, the updated guidelines outline the guiding principles for the types of behaviors and actions Rockstar Games encourages as well as those it doesn’t allow in its games.
Chief among the updated guidelines for GTA and RDR Online are the rules pertaining to fair play and cheating. According to Rockstar Games, maintaining fair play is crucial for a positive gaming experience. Cheating and griefing are found to be detrimental, as they disrupt the friendly competitive atmosphere of online gaming, leading to potential loss of player privileges. Cheating involves gaining an unfair advantage through cheats, exploits, hacks, or third-party software. Griefing entails intentionally annoying or interfering with other players’ experiences and progress using unintended methods such as spawn killing or stream sniping.
Should a player breach its Community Guidelines, Rockstar Games reserves the authority to act against the GTA or RDR account in question. The action taken will be contingent upon factors such as the nature, severity, and recurrence of the violations. In certain cases, the company may even report these violations to law enforcement! Players discovered to have violated the developer’s community guidelines may face further enforcement measures, including suspension of features, as well as temporary or permanent account bans. The company encourages players to report any prohibited/inappropriate behavior seen in either game.
These updated guidelines are welcome, though one has to wonder why it took Rockstar Games over a decade after the release of GTA Online to implement them. Additionally, we feel that in-game exploits are a bit of a grey area, as the game itself enables players to use them. The development team should be focused on patching out any known exploits as soon as they are discovered. As for cheating, it is predominantly an issue on PC, and, given the open nature of the platform, it is next to impossible to fully prevent it. Therefore, timely reporting of those involved with cheating will prove useful to tackle them on the platform.