Bungie Clarifies What They Mean by Punishing "Habitual Quitters" in Halo: Reach

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Dan Webb

When we posted up the Halo: Reach news a few weeks back, talking about how the Seattle based developer would be looking to punish "habitual quitters" in Halo: Reach next month, to say that some people took that news badly is quite possibly an understatement.

“People freaked out, yeah,” Bungie's Community Director, Brian Jarrard, told X360A at Gamescom this year, insinuating that it was much ado about nothing.

Looking to clarify just want he meant by that, Jarrard gave us some insight as to what they class as habitual  quitters and how they plan to stop it.

“We know life happens,” said Jarrard, "Sometimes you have to quit, sometimes your power goes out, sometimes your internet is interrupted... it’s going to be distinctly not penalising those people.”

“These are the people who just jump into a game and immediately quit repeatedly,” he continued, “And show a repeat behaviour for a specific amount of time, so we can really accurately can say “All this person’s doing is quitting, giving someone else a bad experience,” or trying to somehow manipulate and boost our ratings system. To me they’re like trying to delevel somebody, or try and help boost somebody else.”

“You know, we’re going to be very careful about that and I have to say initially, we’re probably going to be really loose and lenient until we start to hone in more and more, as we get more and more data and start to build more of a history. We’re always going to err on the side of caution because we don’t want to penalise people unfairly.”

When pushed for more specifics, Jarrard declined to delve any deeper, but commented, “ I mean I did see that, it created quite a ruckus.”

A ruckus? That's quite an understatement as well... maybe I should have underlined habitual and made it size 40 font...

If you want to hear the rest of the pre-Gamescom E3 interview, head on over now or if you want to hear more about the campaign, check out our Gamescom impressions here.

Comments
68
  • lol @ fails.
  • Thumps up for Bungie!
  • It's good to have some clarification on the issue.
  • Cool, good to see they're taking caution and aren't going to swing around the banhammer and punish people unfairly.
  • People were immensely stupid on this matter...
  • I'm stilling laughing at everyone who could not grasp that quitting once/ having your internet die, would not result in being banned.
  • You never know. There could be people who know their internet is bad, yet still insist on playing, so if their internet crapped out on numerous occassions, then they would be considered a "habitual quitter."
  • I have no idea how people didn't understand this the first time. Like, #10 here doesn't seem to get it. They're talking about multiple, consistent disconnects. Having a disconnect three or four times a week isn't consistent. Ten times in 30 minutes is. It seems REEEAAALLY easy to figure out.
  • Reading this only killed a few minutes. I need to kill two weeks, damnit! Can't someone punch me into a two week coma so I wake up with Reach in my hands?
  • lol where's 1, 2, 3?
  • @13 Come over. I do it no problem. (Claps then rubs hands together) Lol anyways, I think this is just a scare tactic and in the end, quitters won't be "as punished" as Bungie is stating. There's just no way to tell between bad internet and someone purposely doing it.
  • haha I know, I'm curious as to what the first 3 people had to say.
  • @11, I don't think you seem to get what 10 means. I've played with a friend who's disconnected 12 times in the space of an hour from Live because of ISP problems or whatever. I can see some minor problems arising with false banning when it comes to countries with very minimum connection speeds but other than that, fair play Bungie.
  • @10 My connection can get pretty bad, but I never try to keep playing if I lag out two or three matches in a row. I would hope people aren't THAT stubborn.
  • 17 days ahhhhhhh................. so bored
  • Although I definitely agree that most people are retarded when it comes to their reactions to news like this, I will say that what did Bungie expect? They know the morons are out there but they post the news without the details and they are surprised that they get bombarded with negative responses? They should know by now that you have to spell out the details when it comes to news like this if you want to avoid the moronic questions. And yeah, I know they will still come but not as much.
  • If it's still like it was in the beta it's only a temporary ban.
  • @17. Based on #4's comment, I'm willing to bet they all said "First!" OT: I'll admit I quit a bunch of times toward the end; but it was because I was going for the Post Mortem achievement, and I needed to get a match on Orbital.
  • To be honest, this really doesn't concern me. If i play a game, I stick to it even if i don't like the map or gametype. Remember you only need one good experience to change your mind on an entire gametype/map. Vice Versa.
  • Honestly the people that got all jumpy on this are (sorry) "retarded". I mean honestly is was obvious they werent gonna ban people for quiting. Its going to be the same as Halo 3 just a lil more looked at. Probably along the lines of you quit so much in a 10 game period. you do not get to unlock any xp and you might get demoted. As for other things they could do I do not know since I am not a bungie or press member.
  • I'm all for banning habitual quiters. I understand that stuff happens, but don't make it a habit.
  • @20 They did post the details... people didn't read the details and instantly assumed that Bungie would ban them every time they quit early. As I stated earlier and up there ^ ^ ... people were immensely stupid.
  • The only people that got upset about this are the habitual quitters and the little kids, (that shouldn't be playing the game anyway), that don't know what "habitual" means. Bungie owes no explanation, if you're upset, you're the people that no one wants playing the game/should not be playing the game.
  • I can't wait for people to get what they deserve, and I really hope that people with bad connections don't play so stubbornly x.x' I mean if they do, in a way since they know they may get banned, it's kinda their fault. Also i'm kinda wondering myself how people got so confused lol :3. Also really curious what the first three people had to say. Finally, i'm glad I have so much stuff to pass the remaining days. Even with other games to play and stuff to get down, it feels like such a long wait. Ah can't wait til the midnight release parties and get to read the follow-up reports the next day. Good times good times...
  • Good to see they are thinking about times when internet disconnects, I would be really pissed off to find out I got banned for just that problem. This be a good thing to keep all the underage kids away that quit out the moment they get killed and the chavs who there just to wreck it for people who wanna play.
  • I thought it was clear the first time I read it. People get really worked up without reading through things.
  • @23 Wrong. There are just some maps I absolutely hate playing. I won't ever quit from them but I will never like them. Like Isolation on Halo 3. One of the gayest maps ever. Never liked it and never will.
  • So habitually quitting in Bungie's eyes is quitting multiply times in a row? That's a bit more clear than it was but how many times in a row before being banned? Is quitting from nine games in a row too many? Six? Three? Still, this at least gives a pretty good idea what they mean by habitual quitter. I'd still prefer a system like COD's were you can join mid-game to replace those who left, or like Gears and have bots replace quitters.
  • I don't see why people would get so upset by this. Making it habitual is in no way punishing those who have a crisis situation irl. And if someone's net is shoddy enough to disconnect them game after game, they probably wouldn't be able to enjoy the game online anyways. I think this is a smart move by Bungie and a huge step in the right direction. Hopefully other companies take note of this for their multiplayer setup.
  • ^ are you retarded? joining mid-game in halo? fail of an idea. it sucked ass in MW2 and it sucked ass everywhere else
  • "...We’re always going to air on the side of caution because we don’t want to penalise people unfairly." Air?! Right........
  • @34, how nice. I simply voiced my opinion in a calm, RESPECTFUL way, and because you disagree with my preference, you call me retarded. Wow. So, you didn't like joining mid-game in COD. That's fine, I disagree but I can respect that you have a different view than me. But it seems you lack the maturity to do the same.
  • My buddy's cable modem resets every single time we play on LIVE together. He's gotten the exp burn on Gears2 quite a frew times. Hopefully this will make it bearable for him.
  • the phrase you're looking for is "err on the side of caution" not "air" lol
  • @15 Yes there is, if your internet goes out, so does your live. If you quit, you live doesn't go off. Simple.
  • @ #10 Maybe people shouldn't play online games at Walmart (my online friends and I always use this to denote someone with bad internet), or maybe they should finally get with the 21st Century and upgrade from dial-up.
  • Glad to see they are trying buy dam, you are gonna have to hire 200 people just to monitor QUITING! how gay
  • @#35/38 - D'oh! Ha ha. That'll teach me to transcribe at 4am =P
  • Good bunch of babies who leave get punished on purpose stay in the game and enjoy it....
  • @ #10 Maybe it's time for those stubborn laggy players to give their ISP a ring and upgrade their 56K Dial-Up connection. It's for the better, and it's a win-win.
  • i really don't get why people freaked out 'bout this because it seemed very understandable the first time; But I guess it was logical somebody had to freak out.
  • i forget how the ranking system works for reach. is itr going to be based on the Trueskill system again? the system that clearly sucks and needs a major overhaul?
  • I think there will be much less quitting anyway, since the exp system is much improved. Even if you lose you get SOMETHING at least for sticking with it. There should be medals or something for staying with a game when outnumbered 8 to 1 or whatever.
  • PPL are fuking stupid if he had t go in depth AGAIN about how this will work! Habitual you brain dead mornons!! damn.
  • wow so bungie is still on their "support the hacker" binge - im sorry but im the kinda person who likes to leave a game when a person is obviously hacking (i dont like to help boost some douchebags stats and hurt mine when they arn't even earning it) - why dont they punish those people instead - oh yeah their to damn lazy to do that - its not that hard but i guess im not in a position to show them that now am i
  • How ironic is it that the first 3 comments quit before they could be posted? It's worse than we thought!
  • #49, you realize there was barely ANY hacking in Halo 3, and since it takes like a million quits an hour to be banned, I don't think you'll run into a hacker EVERY SINGLE GAME. FFS, how is this that hard for you idiots to grasp? And, another thing. Why don't we all just shut up anyway and just wait and see what Bungie does? If it doesn't work right, they'll listen like they always have.
  • I agree with #8 100% This is so needed and people are so dumb.
  • Work that Ban Hammer Bungie!!!
  • Quiet right this is happening its redcioulas when people cheat online and leave matches as people get screwed over.
  • @51 Right, it is their last game after all.
  • They should also loose xp when they quit.
  • I have to agree with #27: The typical situation of everyone making a mountain out of a mole hill.
  • Simple to understand in the first place, if youre the type of sore-loser ass munch who quits a LOT, punishment will ensue. What is so difficult to understand? And if you don't quit yourself then whats the problem? Only quitters will have issues with this system.
  • Thats what Im talking about I hate it when people boost their accounts like that its not fair to the actual players of the Halo franchise
  • I find it funny they had to clarify, seemed pretty straight forward.
  • I was going to say b/c I only quit out of matches if the host or otherwise is taking severe and disgusting advantage somehow or glitching. I always finish a match b/c regardless, i want that experience. @ 60 - You have to remember that on the internet, everything is blown out of proportion. The announcement didn't scare me but I've quit a decent amount of matches for the reason I stated. I took a lot of guff from random a-holes on this site for expressing my opinion about me "not taking Ranked matches seriously" b/c I just play. You want to be the best of the best? Go right ahead but I paid to play and I'm going to do so. Period. I don't have to win but I'm not going to BS my way through a match.
  • Penalising players can't get any worse than in GoW, where they will strip me of my 65 rank just because I was playing the room with cheating host shooting rockets and lagswitching and decided to quit. BAM, comes down EPIC hammer on my head and next time I start it up I'm back to 1... And this happened only twice (because I did not give them a chance to do it third time to me...)
  • all i can say is good
  • dont get me wrong i hate quitters but they should not be allowed to ban you from a game that you purchase for quitting. i know there are other reasons for banning (ie modding etc.) those are exceptable but quitting not so much
  • I dont think this will affect people who have poor connections and get constantly disconnected. Surely if they introduce something like this they have found a way to determine wether a player has pressed the quit option, or wether someones connection has just timed out
  • for all those who say "what if my internet cuts off repeatedly" i notice that there is a delay of about a minute between my computer going off-line and the 360 realising the net has died, indicated by strange behaviour in games (Gears of War 2's infinite ammo, gun-wont-stop-firing glitch) as well as SERIOUS lag issues moments before. this means there is a CLEAR CUT difference between someone "rage quitting" and your internet connection failing. any one who comes up with an answer like "well i STILL think its wrong is either: a) a child and not old enough play most online games, or b) a cheating bastard who deserves to have his nipples blow-torched off.
  • Bungie is going to do something I am going to love.
  • I love this concept but this is why people did "selective" boosting. Boost a match, play a few actual matches or even a good large chunk of actual games (for the reason some of those online achievements were difficult as all hell on halo 3). They'll get the habitual people for sure but they'll still do it anyways.
  • very glad to see this, love you bungie :)
  • I heart Bungie!
  • That's it, I quit.
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