Call of Duty Bans
Activision, the publisher of the popular battle royale game Call of Duty: Warzone, recently announced that they will start issuing Call of Duty Bans to players found using third-party boosting services.
Boosting for Advantage
These paid services promise to boost players’ stats and unlock rewards by having skilled players log into customers’ accounts to get wins and high kill games. While this may seem tempting to some players struggling to improve, using these services is against Activision’s terms of service and provides an unfair advantage.
Protecting Game Integrity
Activision aims to crack down on boosting to maintain the integrity of gameplay and leaderboards. If players can simply pay to unlock rewards and raise their stats, it undermines the accomplishments of players who earned them through skill and practice. Banning boosting customers helps ensure that Warzone’s rankings and rewards go to legitimate players.
A Complex Enforcement Issue
However, enforcing anti-boosting policies can be complicated. Activision has to determine which players are boosting customers and which are simply playing with friends of varying skill levels. They also have to find ways to detect when a player other than the account owner is accessing an account. While their goal is admirable, Activision faces challenges in applying anti-boosting rules in a fair and effective manner.
How Boosting Works in Call of Duty Warzone
Call of Duty Warzone players who use unapproved boosting services risk facing permanent Call of Duty Bans from Activision. Boosting refers to using third-party services to artificially inflate player progression and stats.
Paid Boosting Services
Players pay for boosting services, often found through social media or streaming platforms, to help them level up weapons and characters at an accelerated rate. These services use hacks and exploits to quickly gain experience points, and in-game currency, and unlock rewards on the player’s account.
Account Sharing
Some boosting services require players to share their Activision account login details so the booster can access their account directly. This violates Activision’s terms of service and puts players’ accounts at risk of theft.
Win Trading
Another common boosting method is “win trading,” where players take turns letting each other win matches to gain rewards and rank up faster. Groups of players will match at the same time to try and get into the same lobby together. They then take turns achieving objectives and letting each other get easy wins.
Activision closely monitors stats and player reports to detect boosting behavior. Offenders face penalties ranging from stat resets to permanent account bans. The company takes boosting very seriously, as it undermines the integrity of gameplay and competition. Players should avoid using any unauthorized third-party services and instead progress naturally by improving their skills through practice.
Consequences for Using Boosting Services and Account Sharing
Bans and Suspensions
Using unauthorized boosting services or account sharing in Call of Duty: Warzone is strictly prohibited by Activision and can result in serious consequences. Players found to be violating these policies may face bans of varying severity up to and including permanent suspension of their Activision accounts. Activision monitors gameplay data and player reports to identify accounts engaged in boosting or account sharing, so attempting to circumvent detection is unlikely and risks harsher penalties.
Rank Reset
In addition to account bans, players found boosting or account sharing may have their ranks, unlocks, and other progression resets. This can undo hundreds of hours of effort and leave the account with nothing but the default starting equipment. For players deeply invested in progression and unlocks, this can be a major setback. The threat of rank resets gives players motivation to avoid unauthorized boosting and stick to legitimate means of progression.
Loss of Trust
Perhaps the most damaging consequence is the loss of trust in the competitive integrity of Warzone matches. When players can artificially inflate their ranks and stats through boosting services, it undermines the meaning of ranks and progression for players who earned them legitimately through skill and practice. It also reduces the competitive spirit of matches, as players have to second-guess whether their opponents reached their rank through skill or simply paid for it. This loss of trust can drive players away from the game and damage the community.
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