If it was a joke - it was pretty funny. If he was serious it is pretty sad. Poor bugger - probably had a bad day, ran out of meds, or some such.

We should cut a bit of slack for the nation's finest. Not an easy job being in a group with such a high incidence of mental illness.

I think DeLuca is 100% right. Cheating is bad, it ruins the game for everyone, and when it's done by hacking the game code and breaking the EULA it's also illegal. Now I have to respond to some of the comments here: Cheating through hacking the game's code is illegal and it breaks the EULA. It is, as far as I know, an INTERNATIONAL law, so it's not the US trying to take over the world, it applies where you live (probably) anyway. Also whether or not the game is a US army recruitment tool or not, err, doesn't really matter. It's a game, so I for one play in order to enjoy it and couldn't care less for recruitment. And the japanese didn't "cheat" in attacking pearl harbor; last I heard they didn't have any invincible super-soldiers or an all-seeing eye, they just acted nasty and then later paid for it. In other words, if you have a problem with the fact that the army can sue you for hacking it's game, DON'T HACK IT. If you can't play well by yourself that's noone's problem.

Thank you. :)

Nasty? What is truly nasty is what the US is doing now in Iraq and planning on doing next in Iran. That is worse than what the Japanese did at Peral Harbor. BTW, the US knew about the attack fleet days before it arrived so it wasn't really a surprised attack.

And please, don't give me that nonsense of Bush wanting to bring democracy to them. That was a lie from the start. Should we nuke the US as well? The US military has time and again proven that it is without honor so why should we show them any respect at all? They are at empire building. Maybe you should read the book "A People's***ory of the United States" by Howard Zinn. It shows you the real histry which doesn't make it into the "official" history books.

This game is no different than when the tobacco companies used cartoon characters, and other images, to entice children to smoke. It is just as immoral as that is and deserves to be hacked and exposed for the evil that it is as well. You expect honor from a the military when it never had any. The military will be shooting itself in the foot if it actually goes after anyone who has "cheated" in this game.

Besides war is nothing but cheating. The main reason why the Nazis lost was because they had what was called "Good" soldiers who obeyed all of the rules and regulations without question. The current US top brass want "good" soldiers as well and that is why the US has been doing so poorly in their recent conflicts.

Oh--PLEASE don't tell me you've turned this into a political debate--this has little if not nothing to do with GWB and Iraq/Iran or whatever. Cmon, just because this guy is under the Commander-in-Cheif doesn't mean GWB brainwashed him against or something.

They have to recruit more and more young people to go over there and die for nothing. Oh, I forgot, you Americans like to be lied to as long as your leaders tell you that you can do no wrong. Anyone who thinks that war is a good thing, or the solution to every problem is a fool. This war is not about bringing "democracy" to the Middle-East.

If you agreed to the EULA then essentially you gave your word to abide by all the rules, not just the ones you happen to agree with. The question should not be whether he was overreacting, but was he within his rights as granted by the EULA that people agreed to. It is their game, they made the rules, if you don't like it then choose another game.

Bill

agreed

Well, it is not as if you paid directly out of pocket for it. If their security is so lame they should beef it up.

I find that when it comes to rules some people go overboard and don't realize that not all rules are good.

hasn't Mr. DeLuca ever heard of the Kobiyashi Maru? Instead of standing up like a bullied kid in a playground and yelling "STOP IT!", he should get to work to create solutions against the alleged cheaters, within the game's context, not in the "real" world-- it's just a game, for crying out loud! (By the way, Mr. Deluca-- the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, WAS successful because they ignored the "rules" also-- )

Come on now with all the money problems in the US with it's "over spending" why are they even maintaining a GAME? I mean I play it, it's fun, but come on it's a game that the US GOV has no business paying for when we need to pay for a hell of a lot better things! Get a grip it's a stupid game that uses the OLD OLD UT engine.

The game is a recruiting tool. The U.S. Army itself, through internet and radio ads and local America’s Army events, has to my knowledge never even hinted otherwise.

With the military encountering more difficulties recruiting than ever, the game was a strategically and economically sound move. Video games are an increasingly popular media, with gamers constituting a rapidly increasing percentage of entertainment consumers each year. These consumers consist primarily of teenagers and young adults, the demographic most likely to join the armed services. Not only does this form of advertisement attract more attention than previously used methods, such as television advertisement, but game development and server maintenance are far less costly.

Yes, it is a game, and it is not surprising that the Army takes cheating very seriously. Game statistics have the potential to provide valuable information about possible recruits’ strengths and weaknesses, both personally and in team-play situations. Cheaters ruin the fun and gaming experience for everyone, but they can also compromise America’s Army’s usefulness as a diagnostic tool by creating inaccurate statistics, skewing match results, and even turning away valuable players.

One would think that that is the sort of recruit the US army would actually want concidering what has been going on lately with certain situations over seas. It seems that the US military doesn't think that the rules apply to them, but only to everyone else instead. I.E. The Geneva Convention, the World Court ban on torture, etc, etc....

Dear Mr. I.M. World Police:

There are people who are not under your jurisdiction and are protected by other sovereign states. Your attempt to take over the world is more than likely to be illegal one way or the other.

Didn't you know? Those rules don't apply to the US. They can do as they please. Though, they fully expect everyone else to follow those rules, or else they will bring "justice" and "democracy" to them weither they want it or not.

If you agree to the EULA then why is it the Army who is not following the rules? Using your logic the victims of a crime should be on trial and not the perpetrator. It is their software so their rules apply. They are within their rights to persue the matter if they so choose.

Bill

Have you ever heard of the term anal retentive personality? The most they can do is delete your account and block your access to their servers, not come after you and everyone you know. One can take them to court as well and have the EULA declared invalid. Its been done before.

"We have incontrovertible proof you did something illegal. The Army is angry, and we're coming for you," he (DeLuca) said. But I guess you and the army are all about HONOR aren’t you?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4173051.stm

come and get us. LOL do they really think that cheaters are scared because if they are they are kidding them self. I can just see there pr nightmare when they arrest first person for cheating on AA. This will never happen they are bs hopping that cheaters will stop cheating. Plus EULA don't apply to anyone under 18 as they can't legally enter in to any legal contract so army better find another way of dealing with cheaters as this one not goingto get them fare.

an atom bomb?

Since the FBI and ustice Dept are so far ahead of the terroritsts who threaten this country they have time to waste chasing pre and post adolescent online game cheaters. Yeah, that's a good use of tax payer dollars.

DeLuca get over yourself. You know my parents lost several freinds at Pearl, using it in any kind of comparison to this issue is an insult to their memories. You, sir either need a heavy dose of real life, or a rude introduction to what things really matter in this world. Your game is NOT one of them in the grand scheme of things.

Some how "america's army" is not as important as those dying in Iraq, Indonesia, or any of the limitless true tragedies in this world. Geez, dude, grow up.

Welkome to the Soviet Socialist Republik of Amerika where we fear the KGB..errr Army is going to come break down our doors and get us and our friend's friends. Please don't throw me in the Gulag.....
Maybe if I turn in cheaters to The New Director of Fatherland Security my family won't ber interrogated....
Seriously, this makes you wonder just how much power the government has that they choose not to exercise. It scares me to think that when push comes to shove, we could all be "enemy combatants" if we disagree with the government.

There are no rules in war. The US has more than proven this in Iraq and at Guontomino Bay as well.

You know... this REALLY makes me want to play this game now. You're going to track down my friend, and my friends friends? This sounds like something I should definately install on my personal computer. You know, why don't I just bend over right now and hand you the rubber glove.

Akin to those who bombed Pearl Harbor. Obviously if you're taking advantage of a loophole in a game that is clearly the same as dive bombing a ship full of hundreds of men and KILLING them scarring their friends, family, and shipmates for life. Clearly this individual was at Pearl Harbor and that's how he gained this cunning incite.

[/sarcasm]

God bless america

I'm confused. Didn't Captain Kirk receive a commendation for changing the rules of the Kobayashi Maru test?

Be all that EULA can be.

the chinese cheat all the time, is US Army prepared to challenge china?

No, since China can actually fight back and there is the small thing that most of the American manufactorering is done now in China as well. :)

China cheats? People who live in glass houses shouldn't invade weaker nations on false pretenses...

---

Sir Francis Drake helped defeat the Spanish Armada by directing fire ships (e.g. ships on fire) in Calais in 1588. The armada was dispersed and picked off one by one the following day in the Battle of Gravelines.

The battle of Leyte Island in 1944 saw the first reported use of Kamikaze pilots. The practice was successful and terrifying, notwithstanding that the fact the Japanese ultimately lost the war. Terrorists in 2001 learned from history, and used commercial jet liners to bomb the World Trade Center.

Campaigns are won not by following the rules, but by ingenuity. Ingenuity is not necessarily congruent with "playing by the rules."

I hope to God that our military and intelligence isn't staffed with blockheads like DeLuca. His company should be focusing on how to improve their mediocre product and recognize that it's coding is flimsy, and being exploited.

All in all, why don't America's Army make somethng more constructive of their free online game.
How about actually construct Humanoid androids to fight our wars in Iraq, intergrading each android as a 1st-person shooter. So, when we play the games on our PCs, it actually does happen in person in Iraq. That will the Iraq(s) to mess with the USA. That way we can let America's children kill the bad guys in Iraq. So, that way we don't lose any more troops over there.

I left aa:o at honor 43 (100+ hours of play time) because of the cheating, as a former forum member i can recall asking them to do this several times. However the game is still a mess of poorly written code :(

I miss abraxas the first project manager.

http://aaotracker.4playe...racker.php?userid=33365

And all you had to do to earn the Army’s respect was to simulate killing 1850 people. The Hitler youth would have been proud

Hummm.... I would think the military would WANT people who could find a
way to win... do they really think the enemy is going to "play fair?"

What a joke.

They give out a game for free and then people cheat and they say it's misusing Army property. What fools.

DeLuca needs to get his head examined. Get a grip dude.

No he just needs to get his head out of his ass...
Oh thats politically in correct is it not. Oh well where's the firing squad!

While this sounds overly harsh, there is much truth in this. One 'cyber-crime' that any company CAN win in a fight is that of cheating online. Many choose to take no legal action because it is just not worth the legal hassle, the money, and the effort to track them down, but ANY online game that the EULA warns about not cheating online the company can sue you (even if not in the EULA, usually cheats are acquired by 'dissassembling or decompiling' the game, which is always in the EULA), or take other legal action and very likely win. As harsh as DeLuca sounds, he is 100% correct, don't think he can't do it. Vendors always could do it they just chose not to.

Wow look at those tax dollars at work!!! Using our hardearned tax money to monitor cheaters on a free online game.

No kidding.

I'm so tired of our government doing stupid stuff like that. It's not so bad that they do it, it's the fact that they announce it and look like total morons.

I mean.....come on, IT'S A GAME!!!

Good Grief, relax already Army dudes.

But what else are they going to do with the 8 hours they have to work in a day? Do you think they will actually do some work?!?! Come on that is the *right* thing to do. Don't get me wrong not all goverment employees are this dense, just a large majority of them. Then it gives the good ones bad reps.

They spent all of that tax payer money designing the game to train the soldiers with so the least that they could have done was to release it for free to everyone because after all we did pay for it.

I agree. Every government employee I know (state, federal, etc.) consistently says how he/she does no work and basically sits on his/her butt doing mostly nothing constructive.

I think this adequately displays this point. I think Mr. DeLuca has forgotten that the world has bigger problems than a couple crackers exploiting game bugs.

And seeing as how the Army has as of yet to find Osama bin Laden, something tells me that these crackers have plenty of time to evade capture.

Oh for the love of God. He didn't equate the cheaters with the Pearl Harbor attackers. Stop posting such sensationalist nonsense, BetaNews! And for you idiots that believed this BS, and were somehow enraged while sitting in your parent's basement, here's the quotes for you

DeLuca: "In the early 1940's, Japan learned an important lesson - "let the sleeping giant lie. We may not react swiftly, but when we do it's with unstoppable force."

BetaNews: OMG!!! DeLuca said the cheaters are akin to the Pearl Harbor bombers!!! OMG WTF OS LOL ROTF!!!1111 US Army is teh sux0rz!11

For all I care, let them boot the cheaters. Multiplayer cheating ruins the game for EVERYBODY. Fact of life. Get over it, let the Army boot those bas****s, and quit your melodramatic whining.

I thought it was meant to recruit children.

That's sort of my impression, too (refering to JudahGabriel's comments), though I wish they could spend their resources helping with the war on terrorism rather than this...it would bug the %$#@! out of me too though, I guess.

well see they arent just booting the cheaters.. if thats all they were doing more power to them but they are threatening to track people down ? i mean come on they really should have more important stuff to do... and so far you sound the geekyest with you whole

OMG WTF LOLZERS thing... nobody responded like that and what makes u think we live in our mothers basements?
i have my own room in her house... =P (only 17 though)

Every government official you know arent fighting the war. Unless you want EVERY government official to leave the United States to go fight the war in another country while the United States gets taken over, go ahead. Lets see Bush go over and pick up a gun. This will never happen, and you will always see government officials here in the states, cities, counties, and so on. Because their job is to govern whatever they are assigned, appointed, or elected to. So they have a few minutes to sit around and do nothing, the some of them. Maybe a lot of them don't do anything at all. Afterall, is there THAT much that a recruiter who must sit in his office waiting for apointments and walk-ins can do? NO! He's assigned to sit and wait for people, and thats what he does. Maybe he picks up the game and plays a few rounds because he is caught up on everything he needs done.

The point is that this guy, the executive producer of an online game created from american tax spending, is complaining that the americans are dissasembling their hard work paid for by you. There are some poople, however, who really use this as a tool for recruitment. Some people actually use this for real-life simulation. It's no where near correct, but they use it. Those who cheat them from virtual training is cheating THIS individule from his or her learning experience that HE paid taxes to have, too.

And thats "just my thoughts." ;]

Phil DeLuca and what ever US Army Officer is in charge of this game are fu@$Tards. It figures they would think the Secret Service and FBI which can’t even keep up with amount of documents that need to be translated into English to keep up with what real terrorist are planning to do against our country, would love to squander limited resources of these agencies to prosecute a bunch of zit faced school kids for cheating at tax payer bought and paid for computer game used to attempt to recruit into the Army those who play it. Where will the stupidity end?

Further confirmation that the whole concept of the army making video games is government _way out of control_

Now we have the producers wanting to send you to guantanamo bay if you cheat with it?? WTF

Yeah, the tobacco companies have been doing the same sort of things for decades as well.

What do you expect when the commander in chief is the biggest moron of all.

The US has been taken over and it was sold for wholesale...

I Hate the cheaters too, but face it, it's a waist of the money that was taken from us that DO pay taxes and again IT'S JUST A DAMNED GAME!