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Sledgehammer Games, the developer behind Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, has announced it is cracking down on a practice known as “reverse boosting” in multiplayer matches.

Reverse boosting is when an experienced player repeatedly blows themselves up on purpose, getting such a bad score that the matchmaking places them in an easier lobby for the next game. The player then puts their skills to use, and mops up the less experienced players they've been paired with in order to dominate the match. It's obviously unfair to other players in both matches.

“Playing at home, I’ve been randomly matched with players doing this and it’s incredibly frustrating to lose based largely on my team being down a contributing teammate,” Sledgehammer boss Michael Condrey posted on the game's official blog. “No one wants to lose an objective based match by effectively being outnumbered while their teammate shoots grenades into their own forehead 100 times in the corner.”

If you're thinking of trying reverse boosting for yourself, think again: it's now likely to get you banned from playing online.

“No one is trying to restrict the fun factor of playing Advanced Warfare with this policy, nor are we actively banning against particular styles of play, like trick shots,” explains Condrey. “However, we have a low tolerance approach to people who ruin the experience for others through cheating, boosting, reverse boosting or being caught with toxic emblems in game. We don’t like seeing any of these happen, and we’re pushing to eliminate these behaviours from the game.”

Consider yourselves warned!