Elden Ring Players Warned of Hackers Ruining People's Saves

Elden Ring has another Dark Souls problem on its hands as players attempt to ruin the save files and progress of others who unknowingly participate in bannable offences. The offence in question is being in possession of an item that players aren't supposed to own, items that are given to unwitting players by hackers who obtained the loot through questionable. This can inadvertently lead to players getting banned in Elden Ring, so players are being warned not to accept any unknown gear from multiplayer participants.

This problem isn't one that's unique to Elden Ring by any means. It's been around in the Dark Souls games for a while now with PvP partners or opponents pretending to grant players gifts by dropping them gear on the ground. While that's not a bad thing if it's something that's actually meant to be usable in the game, if it's something that's not supposed to be obtainable, FromSoftware has, in the past, viewed it as if the new owner of the item is the one breaking the rules.

A case of this exact situation happening in Elden Ring was discussed within the game's subreddit recently when a player showed off a picture of their character sporting some new headgear given to them by someone met online. Elden Ring player PeatzzzZ said someone gave them the "Brave's Cord Circlet" which does look nice but is not among the items players are able to obtain naturally. The "ERROR" message in the second image is a pretty clear giveaway of the illicit nature of the item.

While some joked in the comments that the item was cool enough to keep regardless of the danger, others cautioned the player and others to not accept "gifts" like these if they don't know the player giving them away. It's been a thing in other FromSoftware games, players said, where PvPers tricked people into picking up restricted loot.

Some proposed that deleting problematic items like this from a player's inventory would be enough to avoid any bans, but to make sure you don't end up in this situation in the first place, it's best to adhere to the first advice of not picking up any loot from other unknown players unless you know for sure what it is that they're giving you.

A similar situation happened earlier in the year when players found ways to equip the "Deathbed Smalls" gear that wasn't supposed to be obtainable either.