Most online game developers deal with the persistent problem of in-game cheating by simply issuing blanket bans, hoping to eliminate the problem players from their universe entirely. Rockstar is taking a slightly different tack for online play in Max Payne 3, however, letting cheaters continue to play in a quarantined, cheaters-only area where they can't infect the healthy mass of law-abiding players.

As discussed in a recent Rockstar blog post, anyone confirmed to be using hacks to gain powers like invincibility, infinite adrenaline, or modified scores in Max Payne 3 will be placed into a "Cheaters Pool" for online matches, where they'll get a taste of their own medicine by playing only with other cheaters. Rockstar says it might eventually decide to absolve some of these players, allowing them back into the general gameplay population, but that any further cheating after that point "will result in their indefinite banishment."

While this at first seems like poetic punishment for those that would try to skirt the game's rules, we're a bit intrigued by the potential for the "Cheaters Pool" to evolve into a new mode of play that some players might actually prefer. The challenge for players banished to this rule-free land comes not just from the normal battle for headshots, but in the shadowy meta-game where hackers battle to see who can massage the code to give them the ultimate advantage.

The end effect of this hacking arms race would likely be a hellish in-game landscape, where players equipped with ultimate power unleash death with chilling efficiency and no one has much fun. But just getting to that point would be the fun part. It's as if Major League Baseball suddenly opened up a second, parallel league that allows players to use performance-enhancing drugs and teams to use an ultra-precise pitching machine that throws nothing but 120mph fastballs to the corners of the plate. The games might end up as an unwatchable mess, but they'd likely attract plenty of fans and players who want to see just how far the "baseball" experience can go.