I posted this on the wrong forum, and so I am posting it again in this forum.
I would like to forward this feedback directly to Bungie via email or snail mail, but as of this date and time and with a couple of hours plus of searching I STILL cannot find a feedback channel to Bungie regarding these issues. This forum thread is the closest I have come to an actual outlet for feedback on these issues. It's sad that the title suggests that Bungie automatically doesn't believe the customers that they sell their games to. Apparently, there is an opinion that if everyone stops buying Bungie products, they will still have a job. I suppose that voluntary work isn't so bad, though. :)
Dear Bungie:
(The following is a statement to Bungie, and not intended as a statement agreeing or disagreeing with any other user of this forum.)
A friend of mine and I got banned from EXP for two weeks. We were, and I now know the term where before I did not, "achievement boosting." This is in itself not a horrible punishment, and I am not attempting to complain about the severity of the punishment. I am not seeking to be unbanned or have my EXP privileges returned either. If I truly did something that was wrong I will accept my punishment, however unintentional it may have been.
With that being said, I have a couple of things to say. 1) I do not appreciate having something send information into my internet connection at my home and disrupting network traffic inside my residence to the point that I have reset my router, DSL modem, and reboot all systems and computers on the network. This is essentially what happened at the time the ban took effect. If the process of banning someone entails such intrusion, it could be considered an invasion of privacy, and I have forwarded the logs to AT&T as well. 2) I do think that if you are going to interrupt a person's gaming experience that you should provide an "official" means of communication between the punisher and the punishee. A person has a right to face their accuser, no matter the situation. It is slightly overbearing and cowardly to impose a penalty from a disembodied source far over the internet without any means to respond. (It is true that I am responding on the forum, but that is something that took a little research to figure out. The normal person playing this game might not be aware there is such a means of communication.)
Now, I take an issue with the fundamental cause of the said intrusion as well. The ban stated I was banned from EXP, as I said this is not a harsh punishment, but we were not "boosting" EXP or Skill or levels. We were playing a match with the intent to unlock achievements. This I believe is completely legal in the Xbox Live TOS. I can quote if needed.
Also, I paid for Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo: ODST, Halo Wars, and I have paid for multiplayer maps to download on Xbox Live. In all, I paid a said total of approximately $250 for my Halo products. I also paid $400+ for my Xbox 360 Elite, and I paid my $50/yr for Xbox Live membership. I have also bought extra hardware, so that other people can play on my console with me. At $50 a peripheral, I would say I have close to $1000 invested in my total gaming experience surrounding Halo. I do not think it makes good business sense to run around banning people from their full experience with your game, which they paid for.
Now, I know that most people say, "you just had to do that because you're not good enough to get it in just regular matchmaking." Well, to those people I would say, you know you are right. I am not 13yrs old. I work full time and have a family. I play Halo when I get the time to have some fun, and I do not make any statements to the fact that I am a legend on the game. As a matter of fact, I do poorly most every game because I do not spend 30+ hours playing Halo. As a result, some of the achievements I might never get...EVER. This brings the question to the forefront as: "Why am I going to continue to support a company that makes a practice of disenfranchising their player base?" I suppose that Bungie helps to develop my attitude towards their company by pulling shenanigans like they did to me. I might be a small voice, but I am a normal person and if this happened to me and it soured my taste of Bungie, then it probably already has happened to a lot of people.
Now, I am not trying to say that cheating in any means is right. I wouldn't suggest that at all, and I do support bans of legitimate cheaters. But I hardly think that using all my hardware to make it possible to create my own custom playing experience in an "unranked" match so that we can help each other get achievements warrants any action by Bungie. If it is not supposed to be allowed, then you should have found a means to stop it from being possible in the first place is my opinion. Xbox Live states that, "If it is done without breaking the game, interfering with the network, or modifying the game or hardware, then it is legal." That is directly from the Major Nelson podcast with the head of the enforcement committee at Microsoft Xbox Live management.
All I can say is that Bungie has left a bad taste in my mouth over the whole issue. I am a hard working, normal person. I must say, I will have to think differently before I blindly hand over my $60 for my next Halo game or associated accessory.
Thank you all for taking the time to read my response.
Nemisys