Rockstar Grand Theft Auto Online Money Cheat Ban

Gamers can steal cars, plan heists, and rob shops all they want, but when it comes to cheating to gain money in Grand Theft Auto Online Rockstar Games is drawing a firm line in the sand.

Although the developer addressed money cheats and exploits in a previous Grand Theft Auto Online update, Rockstar is taking additional steps to clean up the multiplayer experience's economy. Earlier today, they took GTA Online down for maintenance and in the mean time removed any GTA$ or RP that had been obtained through exploits.

Unfortunately, this means that gamers who were gifted money by cheaters, or who came by the money through some other avenue, lost their cash as well. Rockstar promised they wouldn't take things a step further and repossess any of items purchased with the tainted money, provided those players weren't guilty of exploiting GTA Online.

Those who Rockstar finds have been exploiting the multiplayer experience, however, will not get off so easily. Rockstar will evaluate each situation on a case-by-case basis, but there will apparently be in-game penalties given out, at Rockstar's discretion. Penalties can include anything from being placed in an "isolated cheater pool" or even a lifetime ban from Grand Theft Auto Online.

Beyond Rockstar's own hunt for cheaters, they encourage any players who notice others taking advantage of exploits to use the in-game reporting function to point those players out. All one needs to do is select a player from the list, select report, and choose "Exploits" under the violation options.

While there will be those innocent players who are inconvenienced by Rockstar's crackdown on GTA Online cheaters, the end-goal of re-balancing the Grand Theft Auto Online is a noble one. That isn't to say this one act will drastically improve the Grand Theft Auto Online experience — in fact, many gamers turned to cheating because it's hard to earn money quickly in the game — but it will reinforce Rockstar's zero tolerance policy when it comes to cheating.

At the same time, the idea of cracking down on cheaters is an affront to the entire Grand Theft Auto philosophy. This is, after all, a game that encourages unlawful acts of all kinds, so why should exploiting the game's systems be seen as anything more than another form of in-game "crime." Yes, it's well within Rockstar's purview to preserve their online experience, but this could be a decision that comes back to bite them.

Have you noticed any of your money disappeared after today's maintenance? Are you happy to hear Rockstar is improving to improve the GTA Online economy?

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Source: Rockstar Newswire

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