News stories reporting on a player beingpermanently bannedfrom a massively popular multiplayer title often detail how the player attempted to cheat. However, it isn’t very often that a modder receives a permanent ban for creating a photo mode.
Ubisoft has reportedly chosen to permanently ban Matti Hietanen for creating a mod that introduces a photo mode to its 2015 online action role-playing title,The Division. In response to the ban, Hietanen tweeted:
In the past, Hietanen has created photo mode tools for several different titles, includingBattlefield 1,Dark Souls 3andStar Wars Battlefront, all through the use of a program designed by himself, called Cinematic Tools. Although Cinematic Tools was made with the intention of helping players capture amazing gameplay footage, he suggests that the reason he may have been banned fromThe Divisionis that he used Cheat Engine (a program which, unsurprisingly, does allow players to cheat) to build it.
As suggested in his tweet, he felt that being banned from the game was worth the amazing screenshots that some players have since been able to take in-game
Ubisoft Creative Director, Julian Gerighty, has since reached out to Hietanen through Twitter, saying that the matter will be looked into and that he is a fan of Hietanen’s work. So although Hietanen is banned for now it might not be as permanent as the e-mail suggests.
Although Ubisoft is within its rights to ban players for introducing mods that conflict with the “Terms of Service” for one of its games, it is unlikely that the company would want to permanently ban players that create mods for entertainment. If anything, a photo mode may actually drawmore interest to the title, provided the user knows what they are doing.
Whether or not Hietanen’s ban is repealed remains to be seen, but at least some players have so far been able to capture some incredible shots of the game (albeit, at some risk.)
The Divisionis available now for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
