NBA Star Caught Cheating at Halo 3

Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas gets caught cheating at Halo 3 double teams.

A reader email to Washington Post sports writer Dan Steinberg led the reporter to the Bungie.net forums where he discovered that Washington Wizards basketball player Gilbert Arenas was caught cheating at Social Double Teams online in Halo 3. Steinberg called Arenas and questioned him on his gaming habits.

Dan Steinberg: Gilbert, people say you're cheating at Halo 3.

Gilbert Arenas: I'm cheating? How am I cheating?

DS: Gilbert, are you creating dummy games with two fake friends and using the wins to rack up experience points?

GA: Yeah. *laughing* Yeah.

When asked about his views on cheating and its effect on the game, Arenas discussed the problems with Halo 3's ranking system.

It's a glitch. It's a glitch in the game. I seen some kids that were like 600s, they won 600 Halo games and we only had that game for two weeks. And all the kids go to school. So I'm like, "What the hell you all doing?" And they said that's what they doing, two-on-two.

That has nothing to do with me playing against other people, because when I play against other people I'm a 47 out of 50. It has nothing to do with your [skill]. That's just like me playing basketball and I say, "The first one to 100,000 shots...' and I go in there and say "Yeah, I made 100,000, I won." But when you go out there you can't shoot the ball.

Why not? I mean, who is it hurting? It's two dummy players playing against each other. It's not messing with anybody. I have my friend, it'll be him and his fake friend, me and my fake friend, we'll take turns losing back and forth. There's nobody involved. I can see if we were playing against other people, [but] it's not ranked games, it's social games. So that's the messed-up part. You can win things off of social, when you shouldn't [be allowed] to. All you have to do is do what we're doing. I guarantee everybody's doing it. I mean, how would they know anyway?

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I'm pretty sure this attitude explains the steroid problem in professional sports.

Except that steroids actually provide a competitive edge, whereas my understanding of this Halo 3 XP boosting is that it makes no difference whatsoever.

Geoffrey42:
Except that steroids actually provide a competitive edge, whereas my understanding of this Halo 3 XP boosting is that it makes no difference whatsoever.

"You can win things off of social"

That's the difference it makes and why even he admits it shouldn't be allowed. But he has an attitude common to cheaters, at least in my experience...that other people will be doing it/what harm ultimately/the game should prevent it therefore it's their fault.

I'm not saying all his reasoning is wrong mind you, or that his "cheating" is horrific...I don't play Halo3 and don't know the impact of what he's doing so I'm not qualified to have an opinion on it. It *is* cheating though, as that's certainly not the intent of the game mechanics. Is it destructive to the integrity of the game and other player's experience? That I don't know.

I guess that's my question: Is anyone gaining something from this, except for an artificially elevated number? Does that number translate into anything?

Redfeather, I see you using the verb "cheat", and its various noun formations, etc, in a seemingly derogatory manner. Personally, I feel you there, I'm against abuse of systems in ways I see as unintended by their creators. But then again, I understand the viewpoint of those who say a system is there to be messed with. If the designers set up a certain universe in which certain things are possible, and certain things are impossible (as opposed to setting up rules for what is allowed versus not allowed), then why not play in that universe? What one person calls an "exploit" in a videogame someone else calls a pro-tip. Often, where we get offended, is when the "exploit" involves other players not engaged in the exploit.

Again, the point for me is whether advantage is gained. If there's no advantage, then who cares whether the designers intended it or not? I'm sure the inventors of playing cards didn't design them for whatever game people felt like playing, nor did the automobile inventor envision destruction derbies. Some of these are extensions. When does it become an "exploit"?

I guess that's my question: Is anyone gaining something from this, except for an artificially elevated number? Does that number translate into anything?

If I'm familiar, it basically says "you've done this much in gaming". The idea is the people that are truly good rack up experience really fast and will be much further than those that aren't that good. Even if you play for an extended period of time, the best people will always surpass you...unless you cheat with it.

At least, that's how I think it works. I believe it's separate from the actual ranking system, as you never lose experience. Thing is, if you jump into a ranked match with artificially inflated rank, chances are, you're going to get your ass handed to you by people that earned the rank and get dropped right back down awfully quick.

As stated, though, I don't think experience has anything to do with rank, which is why it still goes up in these non-ranked matches....now, the real question is, if experience effects nothing, then why inflate it anyway?

There are two types of ranks online in Halo 3. There is your numerical rank (skill) and military rank (experience points).

You increase your numerical rank by doing well in games. Your rank is calculated by a modified trueskill system that most xbox 360 games use for rankings. Online you are matched up with other players by your numerical rank. You can only gain numerical ranks in rated games. In rated games the opposing people or team are chosen by the server so you can not stack the teams and have your friends lose on purpose so you can get a higher rank. Numerical ranks is the representation of your skill at playing Halo 3.

Your military rank is based off experience points. You get 1EXP for every win or tie you or your team gets. The more EXP you have the higher your military rank and the cooler the little medal icon next to your name looks online. Some military ranks require you to be in a certain numerical rank range. Military ranks are just for bragging rights. They are for people who want to show off and say "OMG LOOK AT ME I'VE PLAYED AND WON MORE GAMES THEN YOU!" You gain experience points in ranked, social and custom games. Therefor you are able to stack the teams to boost your military rank. You can lose EXP and de-rank if you quit a game before it has finished or disconnected.

Gilbert Arenas cheated, exploited, boosted, whatever you want to call it, his military rank which only matters for the "OMG I PLAY HALO MORE THEN YOU!" rank. It has no bearing on your skill level. People are only mad because he is getting fans to give him EXP in return for Gilbert Arenas jerseys (he admitted to offering people memorabilia in his nba.com blog, found here: http://www.nba.com/blog/gilbert_arenas.html about a quarter of the way down, for in game "services") where most people have to actually work for it. It always gets on my nerves when I work my ass off to get something, be it a job promotion, new car, a cool looking icon next to my name in Halo or an epic mount in World of Warcraft only to see that someone with more luck, money or popularity got what I worked for without lifting a finger.

Do the ranks that Gilbert Arenas boosted matter in game play? No. He still has a highest skill level of 42 which means he is good at the game. But it is making people mad that we are working for our legit EXP where he is getting it for free. As for me I think it sucks that he's doing it but it's really no skin off my back. It's just a game.

I hope my description of the Halo 3 rank systems help some of the non Halo players understand exactly what he's doing.

Don't you just love how people are being role models today

Thank you very much phulcrum, for an excellent explanation.

I understand very well your annoyance with people who bypass the rules you have been playing by. But, it's not like Gilbert Arenas achieved what he did with no effort at all. He worked pretty hard to be a basketball player, which society values, and whose social capital he turned around and partly invested in a Halo rank. Those people with the money to buy an epic mount, instead of grinding for it? That money didn't come for free. Somebody worked to create that societal value (whether it be their parent, their spouse, their sugar-daddy, or eh, somebody did some work, just not in WoW). I think there are some pretty good articles scattered around the Escapist talking about real-world markets associated to virtual worlds, and this is just another form of them.

To rephrase a previous point, one man's exploit is another man's innovation. If the "rules" don't allow for innovation, should people just stop innovating?

Geoffrey42:
To rephrase a previous point, one man's exploit is another man's innovation. If the "rules" don't allow for innovation, should people just stop innovating?

If this involved any innovation at all, I might empathise more with your point; but this is simply joining a game with a stacked party, and then having all but one player quit. Average game time, 4s. What a tedious grind, and for nothing except false bragging rights. It's like being your own gold farmer... except you don't even get to enjoy tangible benefits like getting paid.

It may not be cheating, but it is pathetic.

(And it seems that it does have its price; folks are saying Arenas missed 7 of 8 throws in his last game. Head back in the game, ballplayer... there's no one out there grinding for your freethrow skillz.)

-- Steve

I'll give credit where credit is due. Pro athletes sacrifice a lot and work hard to do what they do. He defiantly earned the money that he's getting and he is free to use that money to give people things to boost his rank.

There will always be players exploiting games in ways that the developers didn't intend. That is what annoys me. Does Bungie want people to boost their ranks this way? No. Does Blizzard want people to pay a gold farming website to get gold for their epic mount? No. Neither do I, on both counts.

It is annoying that people do things like this but in most cases it is unavoidable. What do these people that are complaining about Gilbert Arenas expect Bungie to do? Hire a full time staff that does nothing but look at million and millions of players stats to see if they are boosting their rank? The cost to maintain that size of staff is much too high to crack down on people boosting a rank that has no effect on game play at all.

Yes, it sucks that he's paying off people to get a rank that I'm trying to get legit but I'm not losing any sleep over it. Neither should all these kids that are complaining about it. Hell, if it wasn't an NBA player doing this, this wouldn't be news worthy at all and would be relegated to a few posts from kids who take games way too seriously on Bungie's forums which would promptly get buried.