Deathmatch for Dollars?

quixado writes "You Play Games is an online wager service where you can bet and earn money for each kill or injury to opponents. You can even cap how much money you can lose in a 24 hour period. Return to Castle Wolfenstein is the first title. The press release can be found here. More info here too. And they said that spending days on end playing first person shooters wouldn't pay off..."

Comments

Cheaters?

[quantaman]

How will they deal with aimbots and other cheats?

Re:Cheaters?

[geesus]

Same way most game servers do I suppose, by employing anti-cheat technology into the game. Such things include checking for files that cheats might use, detecting how quickly it takes the clients to get a direct lock on another player, ect

Re:Cheaters?

[Jack William Bell]

Very good point. Cheaters are a major issue for this kind of thing as aimbots / healthbots / radar / invis and other cheats can't be stopped anyway I know of other than physically controlling the computer the player is using. Every attempt at cutting out the cheaters only falls victim to better cheat code. Like trying to create an unpickable lock; you just can't do it.

Re:Cheaters?

[mosch]

My worry has nothing to do with aimbots or cheats. It has to do with all those dirty motherfuckers who haven't showered yet today, because they were too busy playing games online.

Seriously... it wouldn't even be a game if a normal person tried to play online, especially if it becomes possible to earn a subsistance wage via deathmatch. We'll just end up with a whole bunch of dirty-ass mofos sitting at home, making cash by killing normal people who made the mistake of thinking it might be fun.

Re:Cheaters?

[antdude]

This is why I don't like playing online. I like playing at LAN fests, especially with friends, where everyone can watch you. Also, you can't use your old machines for these tournaments, but you can use your own mouse, headphones, etc.

custom client

[ArchieBunker]

A custom binary like seti@home perhaps?

Re:custom client

[elmegil]

And how exactly does that contradict the point that at some point, maybe even now, there are or will be ways to cheat PunkBuster?

My biggest problem with online games

[Dark Paladin]

I used to play online games when they first came out (Quake, Unreal, etc).

But then I discovered that what Dave Barry once said was true:

On the Internet, everybody is only twelve years old.

For a time, I played some good old Capture The Flag Quake - loved that game. But too many "Hey, motherfucker DarkPaladin! You're gay!" when you start doing well, or "Fucking cheat!" when you kill somebody, etc, etc, etc.

I mean - that's just no fun. Most people online are assholes - they live in the games like Everquest, Ultima Online, Unreal Tournament - all of them. If I play games these days, its only with either myself or people that I know.

Sadly, the "average person" is the biggest ruining factor for online gaming. Then again, after watching my teenage nephews play games, it's almost made me want to ban anybody under the "mental" age of 18 from playing games. At least until they learn to RTFM. (That's another subject for another day.)

And you thought the Everquest suicide was bad

[Anonymous Coward]

1. This is bad news for those with violent tendacies.

2. This is great news for those on Capitol Hill, who seek to peg the "declining culture" on video games. Now it's a vice. This example will be used in churches all across America.

3. Next: Live Action GTA.

4. I feel that little good will come from this.

streaky

[phriedom]

I wanna second this sentiment. I used to play counter-strike, and luck, circumstances, and exceptional performance occasionally conspired to give me marvelous streaks where I would go from slightly above average (a few more kills than deaths) to having kills>(deaths*4) It was like they just walked right into my crosshairs.

I remember one incident in particular. I was using the P90, which has the highest rate of fire and therefore sprays pretty wildly. It isn't used much because its hard to hit anything out past 15 feet. But the wild spray pattern is predictable; the muzzle rises up and then waves side to side in a T pattern. If you encounter someone 5 to 12 feet away from you and aim around their bellybutton, you can be off right or left but one of the 3rd-6th bullets will hit them in the head. It is a legal "trick" of limited use. So, back to the incident, I was using the P90 and kept encountering the same 1-3 guys in the same hallway at the same "sweet-spot" range, with the same results. After the 3rd time I head-shot the same guy, he just came unglued. He was absolutely furious and swore on his life that I was using an aim-bot, and kept asking everyone to kick me saying he had "proof" I was cheating. They stopping trying to come through that hallway, which meant I would run into people who were not in the "sweet spot" so I stopped getting head-shots, which our man said further proved I had been using an aim-bot and had now turned it off.

To any sort of statistical analysis, it would look like cheating whenever an "average" player goes off on a tear.

I think the only real way to stop cheating is to control the computers, physically. Punkbuster like systems do help, but they don't stop it completely. There is no way I would ever wager money against strangers over the internet on video games.

Re:Deathmatch, the profession

[CommieLib]

Hey! You and I can throw a ball around a few hours a week and make major cash!

What? You mean I have to practice 20-30 hours a week for 15 years? You mean I press my body towards extremes of physical conditioning? You mean I have to not sit on my ass drinking Mountain Dew and Doritos?

Suddenly I don't feel so smug and superior.

Re:Deathmatch, the profession

[m00nun1t]

There is a big difference between pro sports and this. Pro sports have sponsors, ticket sales, TV deals, etc., which is where they get the big $ from.

This is gambling - a zero sum game where only the best of the best make any real money.

It's more comparable to playing pool for money. You might win a few and loose a few, but only the best will make serious $. Maybe we will see frag sharking? "I lost last game, one more game... triple the stakes"

Re:Deathmatch, the profession

[Shimbo]

Hey! You and I can throw a ball around a few hours a week and make major cash!

What? You mean I have to practice 20-30 hours a week for 15 years? You mean I press my body towards extremes of physical conditioning? You mean I have to not sit on my ass drinking Mountain Dew and Doritos?

True. However, you can make a living playing poker or bridge for money, if you're good enough. And a fair amount hustling pool or backgammon.

I don't see much of a difference there.