Ask Slashdot: How Serious Is Hacking In Mobile Games?

Origen writes: As a developer contemplating trying out the mobile game scene, a GDC session about hacking/tampering looked interesting — but I wasn't able to attend. The presentation isn't available online, but it was paired with a whitepaper [contact details required], which can be downloaded. I'm surprised by some of the information presented and the potential for damage/mischief. Not so much that these issues are unheard of — they've existed for years on other platforms. What I find surprising is the lack of support at the OS level on mobile devices to defend from many of these types of hacks. Have we learned nothing from the pains of the past? How significant are the points about hacking/piracy in the mobile space that are discussed by this whitepaper?

Comments

Re:If you don't control it it's compromised.

[rioki]

I would simply take the same approach you should take with PC games. If it's single player, don't bother. You are wasting resources, resources you can use to make your game just a little more awesome. (more awesome == more sales) Wit multiplayer games, the key point is the server. The server should not trust clients and use heuristics to detect suspicious behavior. Then give administrators the means to moderate their users. (Or a vote system.) Bad behavior is a real issue with multiplayer games, but that is not limited to cheating.

But since we are talking about mobile games; are users cheating you on the premium currency? Treat is like any other piracy, ignore it and try to win users by making the cooler more awesome game. Maybe communicate that you are an independent developer and need the money to make games.

OS Level protections = DRM

[cfalcon]

We don't need "OS level protections". It's your phone, you control all the code on it. Same as on your PC. Are you really fucking bitching that phones don't have enough fucking DRM? I'm sure glad to give up all my freedoms so some teenager can't cheat in clash of fucking clans.

Re:If you don't control it it's compromised.

[wonkey_monkey]

the key is to not trust the client. for highscores/top-times, run a simulation of the game run on the server from the inputs.

How do you know you can trust the reported inputs? And you can't run a simulation if your game has (truly) random elements, nor can you allow for all device idiosyncracies.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to continue work on my Arduino-controlled Wiimote holder so I can finally get a perfect game on Bit.trip Beat.