Microsoft, via Major Nelson's (a.k.a. Larry Hyrb) blog has warned Xbox Live users not to ever share their accounts with anyone, including their friends. The consequences could be severe.

"If you run into that person in Halo 3 who claims if they could have your Live ID name and password to recover your Xbox Live account to their Xbox and they'll rank you up or find you all the hidden skulls in Halo 3, I urge you not to fall to temptation. While it may be appealing, in addition to violating the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use it can also result in you permanently losing your account," Hyrb stated. "If that 'friend' of yours decides not return your account and buys a bunch of Arcade titles and movies on your account, there is nothing we can do except cancel the account since you willingly shared your information... In addition to losing your Gamertag, you'll also lose your Gamerscore, saved games and any points you have on the account."

Hyrb also pointed out that a certain segment of Xbox Live gamers employs dishonest methods to boost their Gamerscores. Once again, he warned that the penalties could be big for this type of cheating.

"... I strongly urge you not to tamper with your Gamerscore and Achievements. If you decide to employ some nefarious techniques to artificially increase your Gamerscore or obtain achievements by manipulating the Xbox software without playing the game, bad things will happen. What type of bad things? For one thing we may remove the entire Gamerscore for an account that contains manipulated gamerscore. Let me be more clear: If you use tampered gamesaves to boost your Achievements and Gamerscore, you may sign in to Xbox Live one day and discover that we have removed your Gamerscore," he said.

"Once we do that, you will never be able to re-earn those achievements on that account. Even worse, you might have your account and/or console banned from Xbox Live. As you can imagine, we know how to find out if you do this and we do take action. And we'll continue to do so."

Of course, the best way to boost that Gamerscore is to simply play your games. "I imagine that the majority of you earn your Gamerscore honorably, but I know there are some people out there are may not be as honest. In short: Don't do it. It's not worth it," Hyrb concluded.