Activision has laid down the law, releasing the official Online Code of Conduct for Call of Duty Ghosts. Penalties have been set for activities such as hacking, piracy, using exploits, collusion, and offensive behavior.
You can read the language used from the source, but let’s run this down for you:
Activision isn’t allowing anyone to pirate the game, play a modded/hacked version of the game code, or use a modded/hacked game profile. These are getting the stiffest penalties of all:
· They will be permabanned from playing the game online.
· Their stats will be reset.
· They will be blocked from the leaderboards permanently.
· They will be reported to the console manufacturers, or in the case of Steam users, the Steam enforcement team, for them to deal out their own punishments.
Here’s the possible source of contention. Activision is considering using any 3rd party software, say, an FOV changer, as a form of modding or hacking, and that will be subject to the same penalties every other modder/hacker is getting. Of course, Valve, among others, recognize the value of mods in an FPS community, but for Call of Duty at least, Activision seems adamant about controlling the game experience.
The remaining penalties, perhaps ironically, are for indisputably bad actions. They are defining boosting as the act of colluding with other players, to gain XP, prestige, in-game unlocks, etc. Glitching, on the other hand, is deliberately taking advantage of found exploits or play rules. An example of this is using a hole in the map to leave the boundaries of the game. Lastly, offensive behavior should be self explanatory.
Boosting, glitching and offensive behavior will get players a temporary ban for the first time. When they repeat, this happens to them
· They are temporarily banned from online play.
· Their stats will be reset.
· They will be blocked from the leaderboards permanently.
· They lose online split-screen privileges.
· Lastly, boosters also lose the ability to use squad points and unlocks.