User blog comment:Red Dead Cheaters/Red Dead Xbox 360/@comment-89.170.76.174-20110813150959/@comment-3455248-20110814203714

I think when people have these experiences it's mostly due to a sampling error. In other words, we all tend to play at particular times on particular days that are convenient to us. Therefore, we'll tend to encounter mostly people from nearby time zones with a smaller sample of people from elsewhere.

At the times I tend to play there do not appear to be many French PS3 players online, so I have not encountered any (that I know of). Someone else may tend to play at a time when a small group of French cheaters tends to be online, so they get the impression that "most French people cheat." A third person may play at a different time when other legitimate French players are online, so they think French players are all right.

By the same token, if a player tends to play when most of the other players they encounter are of the same nationality, they may find a number of cheaters, but also many legitimate players, so the impression they are left with is not focused on the nationality of the players, but rather that there are just "a few bad apples."

It's the same with meeting people in real life - if you've only met a few people from a particular country, their behavior, good or bad, can have a strong impact on how you feel about that country if you're not careful.