Update: According to the official Apex Legends Twitter account, the player in question had committed multiple infractions in the past.
Regarding today's Reddit thread from a banned Bloodhound player:
* BH appeared to have multiple other banned accounts
* BH has a history of attempting to evade bans
* BH was partied with the cheating GibraltarWe stand by the ban.
— Apex Legends (@PlayApex) October 22, 2020
However, despite the legitimacy of the ban the drama surrounding it reinforces the dire need for better anti-cheat detection and reporting tools, not just in Apex Legends, but throughout the industry.
Original Story: Twitch streamer NRG Lulu has apologized on Twitter to an Apex Legends player who claims that he was wrongly banned. The player in question was on the same team as an apparent hacker who had killed Lululuvely and her team during a match, prompting her to report the issue to Respawn Entertainment.
Many major games have issues with hackers. Developers sometimes created automated tools to detect cheaters, but these systems aren’t always foolproof and developers often rely on user reports and manual bans. One such report by NRG Lulu has led to a ban of an apparently innocent player who is now threatening to take the issue to court.
‘This entire thing is being blown out of proportion,’ NRG Lulu says
As detailed on Reddit, an Apex Legends player named Kongoboom explains that he was playing the game in solo queue. He says that one of his teammates was “apparently” cheating as they had “wiped out a full squad” of Twitch streamers, NRG Lulu included. This incident can be seen at 5:06:376 in this VOD from LuluLuvely’s Twitch channel. NRG Lulu appears to send a message to someone on her phone after the incident and she later says that the hacking player was banned.
Hackers ruining games for players is a frustrating experience shared by most popular titles on the market. The situation in Fall Guys, for example, got so bad that the developers requested players stop reporting cheaters so as not to encourage copycats. Even a relatively simple social game like Among Us has issues with hackers.
Unfortunately, the hacking player wasn’t the only person who was banned. Kongoboom claims that he was also banned by Apex Legends developer Conor “Hideouts” Ford. Several people in the Reddit thread and on Twitter have claimed favoritism, but NRG Lulu has contested those accusations.
Hideouts has made it known on his twitter that his DMs are open to EVERYONE so I used a channel of communication that is open to anyone wanting to report a cheater.
— NRG Lulu (@LuluLuvely) October 22, 2020
I did not "take away" his account. I do not have the ban button sitting right next to me. If people actually did their research they would see that I submitted a clip of the GIBBY hacking.
— NRG Lulu (@LuluLuvely) October 22, 2020
Apex Legends has had issues with cheaters ever since its launch, so it shouldn’t be surprising to see an incident pop up every now and again. In the case of this game, Respawn Entertainment’s Conor “Hideouts” Ford often tweets about manually banning cheaters in the game, recently boasting that he hit a “personal record” of 403 manual bans earlier this week.
Kongoboom’s Reddit submission has been subsequently locked by the moderators of the Apex Legends subreddit, one of whom explains that “the community cannot help you with this issue.” Kongoboom has stated that he will be escalating this case to a a local court, accusing Twitch streamers of having a “golden ban button” that led to his erroneous ban. As for NRG Lulu, she has apologized to the player in question and is doing what she can to get his account restored.
For those attacking me, here is what I had submitted to Hideout as evidence because like all the other streamers (and community), we submit clips with our claims: https://t.co/T9j1r9YHLW
— NRG Lulu (@LuluLuvely) October 22, 2020
