What is your policy on cheats?
No one likes a cheat.
Some Xbox sites are quite happy to have game savers and achievement hackers on their leaderboards.
Game Saving is the practice of using another person's save file to avoid playing some (or all) of a game.
Achievement hacking refers to using external programs or other means of unlocking achievements unfairly.
Here at TrueAchievements, our members have made it clear that they don't want these gamers on the leaderboards.
It distorts the scores by bringing down the TA values for harder achievements, so we want to try to remove these achievement "wins" from our equations.
So our policy is to flag GamerTags that we find guilty of cheating, and remove their achievements from our calculations.
What happens if someone is reported to you?
We have set up a panel (called the Investigations Team, or IT for short) to look at complaints made into GamerTags, and to investigate their achievement wins for anything that looks suspicious.
After a legitimate complaint is received, one of the panel will write a report into the GamerTag, listing any achievements that they feel are dubious, and any evidence for that GamerTag having cheated.
The report is then published to the panel, a copy is sent to the GamerTag complained about and they have the option to respond to any allegations made in the report.
Once all the information has been received or if a week goes by with no response, the panel vote on whether or not they feel the GamerTag has cheated.
What happens then?
If the panel are not convinced that the card has cheated/hacked achievements on it, the complaint is dismissed and everyone lives happilly ever after. They will retain their Full Tracking account.
However, if the panel votes against the card with a large enough majority, the GamerTag will be moved to one of four different account levels on TrueAchievements:
Game Removal: The first time an account is caught cheating (or retroactively for accounts currently on NS/GS), the owner of that account may be given the opportunity to remove the cheated games from their TA account. The opportunity to remove games will be based on an agreement by the account holder that the game is in fact cheated (even if not by them) and they are willing to lose the game to retain leaderboard access. When a game is removed, it's TA score and any record of it's achievements are removed from the TA profile. The stats will also be removed from any leaderboards for that game.
The IT will only remove 1% of the total games played (up to three total games) from any given card. For example a tag with 203 games played, may be eligible for removal of two cheated games. Accounts under 100 games played will be limited to 1 removal. If an account has had any games removed and cheats another game or is found to have cheated additional games in the past, the account will be moved to GamerScore tracking.
- Complete achievement tracking - excluding the removed game(s)
- Achievements Won and Games Started will factor in site ratio calculations - excluding the removed game(s)
- Still retains TA Score / TA Ratio
- Retains TA leaderboard access with the exception of those based on GamerScore.
- Will show in "Gamers who completed this game" lists and feed items - excluding the removed game(s)
Non-Stat: Tags that are found to have a small amount of cheated games on their card may be given the option of a Non-Stat account. Generally speaking they will have no more than 2 games on their card that show signs of cheating. The purpose of this level is to help protect people from problems after being hacked or from glitches that are not well known. However it also may be used to forgive a gamer who has repented for their cheating. Well known problems with achievement unlocks will not have any action taken against them.
- Complete achievement tracking
- Achievements Won and Games Started will not factor in any site ratio calculations
- Still retains TA Score / TA Ratio
- Will not place on any TA Leaderboards
- Will not show in "Gamers who completed this game" lists or feed items
GamerScore Only: Tags that are found to have a moderate number of cheated games on their card but don’t appear to be actively cheating (or egregiously cheating). These accounts will be marked with the 'G' icon on their Gamer Homepage.
- Complete achievement tracking
- Achievements Won and Games Started will not factor in any site ratio calculations
- Will not have TA Score / TA Ratio
- Will not place on any TA Leaderboards
- Will not show in "Gamers who completed this game" lists or feed items
No Tracking: Gamers who egregiously cheat will still be removed from TA scanners. While moving these accounts to GS only would work, the scanner resources are better saved for people who are not cheating. No access changes have been made to this level. These accounts will continue to be marked with the icon on their Gamer Homepage.
- No achievement tracking at all
Any user who is moved to one of these levels that is caught cheating further will be moved to a GamerScore only account, a No Tracking account, or permanently banned from the site depending on the severity of the cheating and their interaction with the Investigations Team.
Please note that we do not have any power to remove achievements from Xbox Live - that is solely the preserve of Microsoft.
How do you define "cheating"?
The Investigations Team uses the following guidelines:
Examples of cheating (but not limited to these):
- Using profile editors or other software to unlock achievements without playing
- Gamesaving, which is the practice of using a save from a different GamerTag
- Knowingly using a hacked lobby to unlock achievements
- Profile swapping, also known as the Second Profile Glitch, which is the practice of transferring a save or game statistics from one profile to another (similar to gave saving, but both profiles have to be on the same Xbox)
- Editing or manipulating game files
- Using any software or patches not released by the game developer and certified by Microsoft
Examples that are not considered cheating (but not limited to these):
- Boosting / Trading kills, wins, etc
- Switching your timezone/language
- Offline gaming in general (provided the achievement doesn't require online access)
- Offline gaming to avoid a title update
- Reverting a game to a specific title update
- Changing your Xbox date/time while offline (You Don't Know Jack / Batman)
- System Link gaming
- Using a turbo controller to automate grinding
- Making a backup of your own save file
- Taking advantage of an in-game console (Fallout 3 PC)
- Taking advantage of an in-game cheat code (most LEGO games)
- Taking advantage of bad stats coding (Quake 4 Ranked points / Far Cry 2 de-rank)
- Taking advantage of bad AI coding (Left 4 Dead / World at War Zombies Map Pack 3)
- Taking advantage of bad coding in general (Left 4 Dead 2 late join)
- Taking advantage of any developer tool - either included or released (Map editors)
- Playing a game prior to its release date
- Using modded weapons (Note: Based on Microsoft's rules this could get you in trouble with them, however we could not know you have used a modded weapon)
- Allowing others to play for you on your tag (Note: Based on Microsoft's rules this could get you in trouble with them, however we are only concerned with the legitimacy of the achievements on the tag)
How do I report someone?
If you want to report someone for game saving, please click the 
icon beneath their GamerPic on their homepage.
I've got some achievements that glitched on my card, but these were entirely random and not done on purpose
First and foremost, the panel is not judging the gamer. They are only judging if there are illegitimate achievements on the card. We go to great lengths to ensure that we don't find against a card that has known glitches (unless Microsoft also considers them actionable). We know the Xbox and those that develop games for it aren't perfect, and sometimes weird things happen that are out of anyone's control, we don't want to penalize people in those cases.
Regarding user submitted achievement solutions
Solutions on TA can be submitted by any site member. The review process for solutions is based on community feedback and is not managed by the Investigations Team. As such, solutions that encourage cheating may sometimes be posted. If you are unsure if any given solution is cheating or not, please post in our forum. You can find the link near the end of this page.
I've been found guilty of cheating, can I appeal?
You can post questions & comments to the Investigation Team here. Remember to keep it civil. Please keep in mind that anything posted in this forum can be read by anyone on the site.
If you need to contact the Investigations Manager privately you can contact them here.