Latest H1Z1 ban wave strikes down nearly 30,000 cheaters [UPDATE]
H1Z1 had quite a lot of cheaters, judging by the number of players who got banned this week; however, Daybreak president John Smedley has offered a way to get back in his and the community's good graces.
Update
Earlier today, Smedley stated that those banned could have their accounts reinstated providing they offered an apology via YouTube.
The caveat? The video apology must be made public and not posted privately and the apology should be addressed to fellow players rather than the development staff.
"Dear Cheaters who got banned," he tweeted. "Many of you are emailing me, apologizing and admitting it. Thank you. However.. You're doing it wrong. If you want us to even consider your apology, a public YouTube apology is necessary. No personal information please. Email me the link and I will tweet it."
Smedley stated that out of 30K banned, three had been reinstated, yet one was "probably about to get re-banned for taking his video private."
"I want to make sure it's clear there are consequences for cheating. You don't just get to make a video and get unbanned. This is a very limited time thing to try and raise awareness of what's actually going on. You may say 'hey there clearly aren't consequences if you are unbanning people'."
"Let's get back to the part where I said we've unbanned three people. If these videos go far and wide and it elevates the importance of getting rid of the cheaters in PC gaming, I feel it's an excellent trade. These guys could easily go right back in, make a new Steam account; use an HWID hack and play anyways. Yes, that's the reality. It's ugly, but there it is. And it's true for every single PC game out there. Even the ones that say it isn't.
"So is this the right move? I don't know. But doing the same thing we have been doing is a tough fight and I'd like to at least try something different."
Video submissions ended at noon PST today and according to an update from Smedley, only five players took him up on the offer.
Original Story
Daybreak president John Smedley and his staff are on a campaign to end cheating in H1Z1, as well as the sites that provide said cheats. Smedley announced yesterday that the developer has banned 24,837 accounts from the game.
Smedley named one site that's known to the H1Z1 community as a cheat provider.
A quick look on the game's sub-Reddit reveals that cheaters have been running rampant in the game for a while. One cheat that's often called out is "ESP," essentially a wallhack, letting players know where others are at all times.