Rockstar has been in a constant battle against cheaters in Grand Theft Auto Online ever since the game was initially released. While the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are relatively clean now thanks to the suspension of character transfers, hackers and cheaters still appear on PC. Rockstar hasn't ever been lenient with hackers, and that hasn't changed.
This new clarification of GTA Online cheating policies was likely triggered by the upcoming release of Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC, which includes the game's multiplayer mode Red Dead Online. RDR2 has already been available on the Xbox One and PS4 for a year, and cheating on these platforms is next to non-existent, however the PC is a much more vulnerable platform.
A number of new support articles published by Rockstar give players an overview of what actions warrant either suspension or a complete ban. These are the same criteria used by Rockstar itself when dishing out these punishments, so it doesn't hurt to be familiar with them. The offending actions are as follows:
- modding in online games
- exploiting or abusing game mechanics in online games
- participating in "money lobbies
- account boosting
- account "recovery"
- promoting methods of abuse/glitching
- promoting modding of online games
- manipulating protected game data and code,
- interfering with other players' gameplay experience.
Corrections are the least severe punishment a player can receive. If you had money dropped on you by a modder, or used an exploit to get large amounts of money, your account will be rolled back to the state it was in prior to the benefits being incurred.
