Cheating

A common complaint regarding Halo 2's online play has been the widespread cheating which occurred almost immediately upon the game's release. Users exploited bugs within the game and vulnerabilities of the network to win ranked games and thus increase their matchmaking rank. Though many forms of cheating do exist, the main forms are StandBying, Dummying, Modding, Bridging, Super Bouncing and Button Combos. One or any of these types of cheating will earn players a temporary or permanent ban from Bungie games, or Xbox Live entirely.

StandBying
One of the first forms of cheating that took place in Halo 2 was the Standby Cheat. This cheat involved players intentionally pressing the standby button on their modem, freezing the game for other players, giving the cheater time to accomplish their objective. This cheat was heavily exploited by many players, and was quickly realized by Bungie. Players that would standby would often be detected and banned from any and all matchmaking, and in the majority of cases from Xbox Live. Players would often use this cheat to change the outcome of a game that was previously not in their favor, in order to pad their ranked matchmaking stats.

Soft Mod
A Soft mod refers to when players use external programs in the game console or their computer to give themselves the unfair advantage in the game. Such programs include Action Replay where players can edit gaming code to enhance their weapons, or give them unlimited health, grenades, etc... By default, Action Replay is a fun tool where players can manipulate game data and access options that are normally reserved for developers. However, with the addition of online multiplayer in Halo 2, these features of Action Replay have had devastating effects on ranked or unranked play. Therefore, Bungie and Microsoft have banned users who use Action Replay, or other external programs to modify game data. This type of modding is very popular with the gaming community as it is a cheap, and often easier way to modify game data without opening the system.

Hard Mod
A Hard Mod is the exact opposite of a Soft Mod. Rather that use software to modify the effects and/or outcome of a game, players exploit the hardware of the console through the BIOS allowing the console to play copied or downloaded games, or run unsigned code. This type of mod is more commonly referred to as hacking, as it requires the player to open the system and modify the internal components. The most common use of a hard mod or hardware hack is to play illegal copies of games that players can download from special sites on the internet. Mod Chips fall under the category of a Hard Mod, as players must open the case, and solder the chip to the console's motherboard. However, in Halo 2, this type of mod allows players to hack into the downloadable maps and modify their properties providing them with new abilities and powers to give them an advantage over normal game players. Bungie has resolved the Hard Mod issue by removing certain maps from matchmaking, and banning any players detected.

Bridging
Bridging is a network related term that is commonly used in packet-switched networks. Bridging allows players to connect two different network types on a single data link layer, in turn granting that player host status and the ability to disconnect other players from the game session. Players make use of their Internet router and their PC to monitor network connections, detect IP addresses, and in turn gain the advantage. When a player performs this cheat, they have the ability to also boot themselves by loosing network connectivity, and in some cases destroying the connections of all players. Players found to use this exploit and cheat will be banned from matchmaking by Bungie and/or Xbox Live by Microsoft.

Super Bouncing
A game exploitation known to players as Super Bouncing or Super Jumping has been labeled as cheating by many of the Xbox Live community. This exploit has also been described as cheating by Bungie employees when it is used in Matchmaking, although not everyone is banned for this act. Also, Bungie has not made a patch to fix the cheat, and many players claim that a patch would not be able to fix this exploitation because the game engine would require a re-design. The glitch involves a player traveling a certain path, and then jumping onto a specific area of the map, causing the player to bounce to areas of the map that are usually unreachable. This exploit can give players the unfair advantage of sniping points, and could also be used to escape combat forcing a loss for the other team.

In a forum response on Super Jumps, Jeremiah (or more commonly known as Ninja 0n Fire) stated to Bungie.net members that, "Whether it's superbouncing or interrupting weapon animations, just because we don't personally ban you for it doesn't mean it isn't cheating and extremely poor sportsmanship." Source

Button Combos
Another group of glitches, which involve the use of certain button combinations to get the upper hand have similarly been described as cheating by both fans and Bungie employees. Terms such as "BxR," "RRx," and "LLx" have been applied to specific exploits relative to the button sequence a player must press. The "BxR" glitch is perhaps the easiest and most common glitch to perform. It is done with the Battle Rifle, and allows players to have an "instant kill" on an opponent by executing a sequence of events; melee an opponent (B), cancel the melee (X), fire a shot (R).

In a Bungie.net forum post, Tom Gioconda (also known as Achronos) replied to users that, "By the letter of the law, button glitching is cheating, and we suggest people to report it via feedback." Source