Slashdot Mirror
More On Online Game Cheating
Build6 writes "The UK Guardian newspaper has an article on online cheating in games, with some fairly broad-ranging observations. These include ways to cheat, players who feel cheated by it, and an interview with someone who actually codes game cheats, in this case for Counter-Strike. He secretly gathers information from his users and claims: 'Did you know most cheaters come from France?'" We covered game cheating a few weeks ago, but this article focuses more on why coders would want to create cheating devices.
- Only inform each client of players visible to that client--prevents wall-hacks.
- Track the accuracy of each weapon. Not the shots, but the aiming of the weapon. There should be an expected variance that is a function of the relative velocity of two players. If the relative velocity is high, and the aim remains perfect, it's probably a cheater.
- Create a global anti-cheat list, which will be similar to the open-relay black-lists. If the game is purchased, and each copy comes with a unique ID, then a person who is caught cheating can be added to the blacklist. An admin should record a demo of the cheating, which can be reviewed and appealed.
- For a free game like America's Army, use the MAC address. Can still be spoofed, but not too easy.
There are other things that can be done, but are less desireable:- Prevent perfect accuracy. Make it so that a certian percentage of shots always miss, no matter how good the player is.
- Give each weapon "kick". If aim is perfect even with a kicking weapon, it's definitely a cheater.
- Each weapon reduces damage the more accurate you are with it.
These last three are less desireable. But simply doing a CRC for files on the system that enable cheating is not a good strategy.My little brother's in law always get a new bunch of games, they download the cracks/cheats and win it in 2 days. I play the same game with months of enjoyment and win them on my own.
I wonder who really comes out ahead?
Hell I still haven't won Baldur's Gate! I guess I'll have lots of fun playing 30+ years of video games when I finally retire! Ultima III was the first game I beat as a kid and it took forever. Ultima III-V are probably my favorite games of all time. Crappy graphics, but great story/playability.
Kinda offtopic, but interesting... /. is usually the bastion of privacy paranoia, until it comes to their evening game of CS or Diablo. Then they stop all of the privacy banter and bring up unique ID's, Real Name registration systems, and all incompasing databases.
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey
How likely would people be to cheat when they might get caught and have their reputations ruined? You could then set up servers where only registered players with sterling reputations could play.
This is one of those ideas that sound great but are horrible in theory. Don't forget then length griefers will go to destroy others enjoyment. Those that do everything to disrupt games now will do everything in their power to ruin the reputations of better players in the future. And then you will not only be removed from a single session, but from all future games.
Independent observers -- Some type of referee system would complement the above one and allow greater trust in the reputation system. If a player has a complaint logged against them, a referee could log into games where that player was playing and attempt to determine if the complaints were true.
That one is better, but those referees would either need to be volunteers (and there seem to be some organisations who try to do such a thing right now), or preferably people employed by the game companies (just like gamemasters in MMO games). The companies will only be willing to pay for a staff in subscription based products. But I could imagine that a lot of gamers would be willing to pay a monthly fee if they were guaranteed a fair(er) environement.
Hank! White!
Lets face it.
Most online cheaters are the same people that give hackers the name geeks. The online environment affords them a unique venue where they can hurt or spoil others fun, and generally take out their problems on others.
The online gaming environment preselctcts for these people and once they are part of it in much the same way a prison serves as dissemination point for criminal technique, the games serve to provide an avenue for the exchange of cheating techniques.
I doubt there ever will be a cheat free gaming environmnet. The primary reason is that the game companies don 't want to take the trouble to make it happen and too large a percentage of their gamers don't want it. After all if you provided a fair environment these people would all have to find somewhere else to be asses.
BS. Cheaters and those that make the cheats are nothing more than criminals. Illegally reverse engineering copywrited software. You should be treated the same as others who crack software. It is currently illegal and you should be dealt with accordingly. You have no honor. You do it because you get a kick out of ruin other peoples fun. You are the lowest of the low. People like you are not smart, you are just lonely little morons who will eventually get whats coming to them.
Instead of saying "fix the game" how about you send the game publishers stuff you find instead of abusing what you find. Its like saying I killed that man to prove that the gun worked.
Moron.
It's kind of hard for the publisher to "fix" the game so that end-users can't cheat when the end users can "fix" it with a hex editor.
>> I know DRM is evil and all...
DRM, AS IT SEEMS LIKELY TO BE APPLIED (lol M$ lol), is evil. DRM itself is not. It is a tool, and like any tool, can be used for good or evil. Would you call a screwdriver evil? Would you call a C++ compiler evil?
What you described would be a case where DRM can be used for good. Good for you...if we threw out any technology just because it could possibly be used for evil, we wouldn't even have fire, let alone the Internet.
I mod down anyone who uses M$ in their posts. I like to live on the edge.
In online security communities, it's quite widely accepted that "Full Disclosure" is the only way to go. If you publish a vulnerability in some vendors application, the vendor will be forced to deal with it. Why so? In essence, because their sales and reputation will suffer if they dont deal with problems.
In gaming, when a cheat is made public, why dont the vendors feel the same need to fix it before their reputation and sales suffer? Why dont they value the trust of their customers more? Maybe because gamers are so used to cheats that it don't even occur to them to blame the vendor...
It's not by any means impossible to prevent cheats, but it costs the vendors money and time. Until it's economically more sensible for them to do something about it, there will be no changes in the amount of cheating going on. As the gaming industry expands rapidly, we'll see more competition and choice for users. In a few years it might be possible that you simply skip buying a new hyped game, because you know that coming from this and that vendor it'll be full of holes. You rather go buying some other game. Until this is the situation, live with cheats.
I guess my point is, yell at the game developers. They are the ones who made it possible to cheat, they are the one responsible.
--Erik
www.darkfallonline.com
The next great MMORPG.