Daybreak Games, formerly Sony Online Entertainment, let swing with the ban hammer recently and banned 30,000 accounts for cheating in their zombie survival game, H1z1.
@H1Z1Insider you don't think we know these cockroaches? We do. We are going to be relentless and public. Screw not provoking them.
— John Smedley (@j_smedley) May 19, 2015
However, some gamers have pleaded for their accounts to be reinstated so John Smedley, President, of Daybreak, has come up with a novel, if rather humiliating approach.
“Dear Cheaters who got banned,” he tweeted. “Many of you are emailing me, apologizing and admitting it. Thank you. However, you’re doing it wrong. If you want us to even consider your apology, a public YouTube apology is necessary. No personal information please. Email me the link and I will tweet it.”
“So is this the right move? I don’t know. But doing the same thing we have been doing is a tough fight and I’d like to at least try something different,” he added on Reddit.
The offer was only open for a limited time and only five people would have their accounts unlocked, including the chap below.
ron_mcphatty
A long time ago Counterstrike Source was broken for the same reason, I sought out an aimbot but couldn’t install it, VAC quickly came in and the frustration from always being cheater fodder went away almost entirely, great result! I sympathise with this guy and with Daybreak too, cheaters can ruin a game in the same way as big glitches and overwhelmed servers. Asking for apology videos is a clever idea, I like it.
bunimomike
Just leave them banned. They’re all part of a huge problem that helped drive me and other friends away.