'Fallout 76' Cheaters Can Reportedly Be Unbanned if They Write an Essay

Fallout 76 players who've been banned from the game for cheating or using third-party applications can reportedly have their bans reversed, but only if they're willing to write Bethesda an essay on why cheating hurts the gaming community.

Players are banned all the time from games for using third-party programs to alter their experience, Reshade being one of the resources specifically sited in the latest wave of Fallout 76 bans. One player shared a post that alleged they'd received an email from Bethesda which told them they'd been banned and could appeal the ban by writing an essay on "why the use of third-party cheat software is detrimental to an online game community."

No image of the actual email was provided, so many readers were suspicious, but YouTuber and Fallout 76 community member JuiceHead shared the video above that provided more evidence of the supposed essay emails. Covering the topic in the video, the YouTuber acknowledged that emails can be easy to fake, but shared screenshots of three different instances of the email that came from different sources with each one of the messages reading the same as the next.

"This account has violated the Code of Conduct and Terms of Service by cheating," the emails begin. "The account was detected to be running a third-party application, which provides an unfair in-game advantage, while logged into Fallout 76.

Further along in the email, Bethesda apparently gives banned cheaters a way to reverse the punishment. At the cost of one 500-word essay about the harmfulness of cheating, Fallout 76 players can have their situation reviewed.

"If you would like to appeal this account closure, we would be willing to accept an essay on 'why the use of third-party cheat software is detrimental to an online game community', for our management team to review," the email concludes.

While most people who are banned say they don't deserve the punishment, JuiceHead's video points out that all three of the sources the YouTuber spoke to said they shouldn't have been banned. JuiceHead also highlighted the vagueness of the email which said a third-party program was simply running at the same time as Fallout 76 with the email also not specifying what, exactly, it was that got each one of the players banned.

Bethesda has not publicly commented on the essay situation to validate the emails and the reports from players.