Skip to main content

Update: Rockstar says banned players involved in creation of mod that facilitates piracy

rockstar backs up its threat to ban players over multi player mods gta v
Update 8/11/2015 9:00AM: Rockstar reached out to Digital Trends with the following statement regarding the bannings. “The FiveM project is an unauthorized alternate multiplayer service that contains code designed to facilitate piracy. Our policy on such violations of our terms of service are clear, and the individuals involved in its creation have had their Social Club accounts suspended.” Qaijsp noted in their Reddit post that they aren’t involved in development, they’re just a moderator of the associated subreddit, but that appears to be involved enough in the development of the mod to warrant a ban.

Rockstar warned users that while modding in GTA V for PC is encouraged, it will only tolerate single-player changes, and multi-player mods would be met with a swift ban on the Rockstar Social Club. It appears that Rockstar’s mighty banhammer has swung already, but it’s not cheating users who are threatened — it’s mod developers.

Related Videos

In a thread posted on the GTA V for PC subreddit, a poster named qaisjp described trying out the FiveM mod, which uses non-Rockstar servers to allow users to play together in highly-customizable game modes. The mod, the poster believed, followed Rockstar’s rules because, despite offering online play with other users of the mod, it didn’t use any of Rockstar’s online components or data.

Still, just a couple days after installing FiveM, qaijsp received an email informing them that they had been banned from Rockstar Social Club. That means they are not only banned from playing GTA V online, but also from playing the single-player Story Mode, and from Max Payne 3. Forever. They also will be banned from any future games that use Rockstar Social Club.

Rockstar banning one user in the middle of the night does not a conspiracy make, but as the poster reveals, the plot thickened when they reached out to the developers. It turns out that within two minutes of qaijsp receiving his ban notification, so did another Reddit user, The DeadlyDutchi, who was involved in the FiveM community. NTAuthority, another well known modder, also suffered the wrath of the ban-hammer.

It’s all speculation at the moment, but it’s hard to believe these three users were all banned at the same time for anything but their connection to the multiplayer mod. NTAuthority shared that FiveM only connects to Rockstar Social Club as it’s launching, and only to verify that the user actually owns the game, and to give their online account a name without having to log in again.

The users have all reached out to Rockstar looking for an explanation, or an opportunity to plead their case, but have yet to hear back. If that’s the reason they were banned, Rockstar is within its EULA rights to do so, but it’s a poor way to manage gamer satisfaction.

Editors' Recommendations

The best Breath of the Wild mods for PC
Link standing in a field in Breath of the Wild.

Breath of the Wild is a near-perfect game, but super fans might be looking to change up the experience after four years on the market. The best Breath of the Wild mods for PC help you do that, changing up everything from character and weapon models to the core mechanics of Breath of the Wild. 

You'll need a copy of Breath of the Wild to run through an emulator to get these mods to work -- they won't work on the Wii U or Switch. Like most modding endeavors, you also need a decent knowledge of installing and configuring mods to get Breath of the Wild running properly. On PC, you need the Cemu emulator and a dump of your Breath of the Wild game file.

Read more
The best Fallout 4 mods
Everyone's Best Friend

The Fallout games, at least since Fallout 3, have been absolutely massive games in both scale and popularity. The post-nuclear war setting is rife with interesting stories to experience and monsters to kill. Fallout 4 was the last single-player entry in the series before Fallout 76 took the game into a persistent multiplayer experience. A large appeal of these games is how you are able to actually role-play and immerse yourself in the game world, which isn't so easy with other players jumping around in their underwear. Thanks to mods, it has never been a better time to revisit the last "pure" Fallout game.

Just like Skyrim, Fallout 4 mods are incredibly popular. Some are inspired to fix the numerous bugs and glitches Bethesda games have become famous for, while others look to add new features. As open and dynamic as the base game is, mods just open the door to an almost endless supply of tools you can use to extend the life of your game. With so many mods available, it can be a little overwhelming to know where to start. We've sorted through all the best Fallout 4 mods out there and came up with the best ones you should install before stepping out of the vault once again.

Read more
The best Cyberpunk 2077 mods

Cyberpunk 2077 has had what some are calling the rockiest launch in video game history. Developer CD Projekt Red continues to come under fire for Cyberpunk's lackluster performance, especially on last-generation consoles. Those playing on optimized PCs, however, are having a great time. The game runs smoothly, the graphics are as promised, and the frames per second rate doesn't falter.

However, no game is perfect, especially not Cyberpunk 2077. Community modders have done their best to write their own code to improve the game's overall functionality. Here's a list of the best mods currently available in Cyberpunk 2077.  Remember, these mods are only available to PC players. All of these are brought to us via creators on Nexus Mods.

Read more