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The streets of Los Santos might seem a little cleaner lately, thanks in large part to a recent disciplinary wave that has hit GTA Online in late August. Rockstar took aim at cheaters who abused a glitch that allowed them to amass huge riches without much effort.
The exploit, which was known by the community as the “apartment garage glitch,” allowed players to purchase properties only to then use a variety of menus to trick the game into gifting you millions of in-game dollars within minutes. The method was effective enough that videos showcasing how to pull it off were met with copyright strikes on YouTube from Take Two Interactive, the game’s publisher. Players who already used the apartment garage glitch, meanwhile, might have logged on recently only to be met with a warning that their accounts were completely reset — meaning that not only did these cheaters lose the money they gamed, they lost everything else in the process, too.
“As part of our ongoing efforts to maintain a healthy game environment for all players, anyone found to be abusing exploits and cheats to illegitimately gain GTA$ and in-game items may be subject to penalties including cash balance adjustments, character resets, suspensions and up to permanent bans as appropriate,” reads a recent Rockstar support page that explains the reset wave.
Polygon reached out to Rockstar for additional information regarding how many folks were affected by this disciplinary action, though already, the effects are noticeable on social media, where fans are talking about all the progress they’ve lost as a a result. Many are vowing to give up the game altogether, cursing Rockstar in the process.
So I have been playing GTA online since 2014. It’s so stupid how they patch these money glitches and then RESET OUR ACCOUNTS INSTEAD OF A MONEY WIPE. Yet, Rockstar keeps the god mode glitches in the game for the griefers. Goodbye GTA. Rockstar, you guys messed up. @RockstarGames pic.twitter.com/JazCi1xcp9
— Adam Patron (@adam22211310) August 28, 2020
Yup, my GTA account has been reset.
— Intenzes (@Intenzes) August 28, 2020
Uninstalling the game.
Bye @RockstarGames. Not gonna play GTA Online ever again.
You left that glitch in there. That wasn't my fault, nor anyone else's.
Bye bye, money-hungry fuckers.
Fuck #Gta #GTAOnline all I ever did was take advantage of a shitty little apartment glitch which everyone did. I get banned with character profile all reset and nothing happens to my mates. Played this shit game for years with no real way to earn quick big money and I suddenly pic.twitter.com/bAPrpNSxyY
— . (@Disloaders) August 27, 2020
#GTAOnline so who else is no longer going to play after the account reset? 7 years old and they’ve only offered heists?
— kym (@repliestodumdum) August 27, 2020
Me after doing the money glitch on gta online just for rockstar to reset my account the next day: pic.twitter.com/gLhIdSJYIu
— Draco (@BrandNewDraco) August 23, 2020
#gta My mate whose been playing gta online for almost five years got his character reset for a stuipd money glitch everyone in the fucking game did, he was almsot lvl 500 and pissed because he had every business every dlc thing before the glitch, he only bought cars FUCKING CARS
— Pinulo (@_Pinulo) August 30, 2020
GTA online lobbies after the great reset of 2020 pic.twitter.com/88PiladaSm
— Bandit (@D4RKLI) August 28, 2020
Some players claim that they were illegitimately caught in the reset wave, while others are straight up taunting Rockstar for not catching them, or saying that their accounts still have millions left in the bank. Some are excusing the use of the glitch by describing GTA Online as a grindy game, or are shocked that Rockstar would go this far, rather than just deleting the money. Others are confused that Rockstar would enact such measures when the MMO has, in their view, much larger cheating problems hailing from malicious players who actively try and ruin other people’s games.
But while some players are angry about losing so much progress, the general consensus among the community at large seems to be that anyone who partook in the exploit should have known there might be consequences. After all, Rockstar has gone after Grand Theft Auto cheaters before, sometimes in hilariously unexpected ways.
“They knew the risks, no sympathy,” one fan said on a thread in the GTAForums discussing the reset wave. “All I can say on the matter is, that people should have known better,” another opined.