I submit to your approval the PraetoriaGuard – a cadre of honorable gamers prolonging the identity of an elite breed of soldier. In the archives of History, Praetorians defended The Roman Emperor against assassination. In present day, this namesake represents the defense of something far more vital to the fabric of our civilation. Modern Praetorians protect the virtual realms inhabited by the players of Halo2 from Modders. Anyone who has had the pleasure of experiencing matchmade, ranked gameplay in Halo2 on an odd number of occassions has most likely strayed across the path of The Modder. Faster than a speeding train on Terminal. Able to leap Relic Tower in a single bound. Spoilers, cheaters, cowards, [blam]ers. Whichever derogitory exclamation suits you, the end-result is always the same. These gamers carry out the sole objective of taking the low road to victory. Their idea of fun is to infect with chaos an otherwise orderly matrix wrought out of numbers and pixels for the enjoyment of all. The hacked maps and super-jumping antics of The Modder are like the hemlock in our wine. Soon after the eerie silence following an auto-update for Xbox Live software, they erupt out of remission like a giggling cancer attacking another healthy system. Unfortunately, the Hacker Culture and The Gamer culture are all but inseperable. The Modder is our outlaw, our rebel; the flu-bug in our classroom. So long as competition exists in the form of computer code, The Modder will find a foothold from which to stab the rule-abiding gamers in the back. Et tu? So what can be done? Blaming a game developer who is actively fighting this phenomenon is like screaming at the cops when your car gets stolen. And when you put your controller down and go outside [gasp!], you let The Modders win. Thanks to organizations like the PraetoriaGuard, you can take the fight to The Modders. As part of their webring devoted to promoting Clan Identity and Custom Game Types, the Halo2Cheaters forum maintains an open hunting season on all forms of cheating. Halo2Cheaters.com hosts a hitlist of reported Modder sightings and makes the noise that leads to their banishment.

Effective immediately, Tied the Leader is proud to announce its role as an Official Partner of the Praetorian agenda against cheating. As a continuation of past efforts to expose cheaters, this blog will share first hand rantings about brushes with The Modder. Your benevolent Editor wants to hear about your experiences with fighting insurmountabale odds against the cheaters in Halo2 as well… Tell me or tell them. If you tell me, I will tell them. Gamers of the World: Unite!

Police your own streets. Band together with your brother in defense of your sandbox. If boosting your rank in Team Slayer up to the mid-thirties has grown old, you can always join the growing ranks of the Mod Hunters and go after the big game. Ooo-Rah!

Posted by XerxdeeJ