500 words on ‘Why the use of third-party cheat software is detrimental to an online game community,’ please

Bethesda has banned a swath of Fallout 76 players for using third-party software, including mods and cheating programs. If those players want to get their accounts back, they do have a way to appeal the decision — as long as they’re willing to write an essay in defense of their actions.

JuiceHead, a YouTuber and active member of the Fallout Reddit community, reported that numerous players received emails from Bethesda’s customer support, explaining that they were banned for cheating. As a result, the developer had closed their accounts.

Some players argued that these bans were unprompted — that Bethesda falsely accused them of using third-party software or exploits in Fallout 76. A thread on the main Fallout subreddit, for instance, includes several hypotheses for the bans, including the use of the popular software like Cheat Engine and Reshade, which allows players to edit the visuals, as well as item duplicators.

But the most interesting part of this recent ban wave is the note at the very end of the email, as highlighted in JuiceHead’s video.

“If you would like to appeal this account closure, we would be willing to accept an essay on ‘Why the use of third-party cheat software is detrimental to an online game community,’ for our management team to review,” the support email reads.

That’s a comically strange way to give players a chance to overturn their bans, but Bethesda has been known to be cheeky in the past. As far as receipts go, there are screenshots of identical support emails included in the video, which suggest that these users may not be joking around.

“The fact that we have three instances of this email across three different posts leads me to believe it’s pretty legit,” wrote JuiceHead, who privately spoke to Reddit users and Twitter users.

We’ve reached out Bethesda for further confirmation and will update accordingly. Meanwhile, the affected Fallout 76 players continue to argue that they were unfairly banned, pointing to the vagueness of this email as proof. Guess that means it’s unlikely any of them will be completing this homework assignment.