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PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Blocks 322,000 Cheaters (pcgamer.com)

The new anti-cheating system installed in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has been banning more than 6,000 suspected cheaters every day. An anonymous reader quotes PC Gamer: That's according to BattlEye, which polices the game's servers. Its official account tweeted yesterday that between 6,000 and 13,000 players are getting their marching orders daily. On Saturday morning, it had cracked down on nearly 20,000 players within the previous 24-hour period... In total, the service has blocked 322,000 people, double the number that was reported by the game's creator Brendan Greene, aka PlayerUnknown, last month.
Yesterday the game had more than 2.2 million concurrent players.

184 comments

  1. Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Losers by default.

    1. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Indeed. Blocking is too nice. The better way is to detect cheaters and subtly modify their game so they go on a downhill course. Loss at every turn, and a hilarious sight for real players. After a while they notice, and consider the cheat sw 'broken'.

    2. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would violate the EULA and ToS.

    3. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The writer of the EULA is never bound by the EULA. They're not even an EU, so the LA isn't for them. The same goes for the ToS.

      If the PUBG developers modify the PUBG client and issue a patch to everyone, and that patch detects and annoys cheaters in non-obvious ways until they ragequit, then more power to them.

    4. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I think DotA 2 cages cheater and bot accounts into their own world. So it turns into cheaters vs. cheaters and bots vs. bots. There is no way to find out that you are locked out of the normal game until you notice a complete lack of collectible items and those don't drop very often.

    5. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      >The writer of the EULA is never bound by the EULA.

      False. In a contract, both parties are bound by the terms of the agreement. If one of the parties is not bound by the terms of the agreement, the "contract" fails to meet the basic standards of contract law and is unenforceable both ways.

    6. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      The terms that the two sides in a contract have agreed to do not have to be the same for both sides. In fact, they seldom are.

    7. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would violate the EULA and ToS.

      Are you talking about the cheaters who violate ToS and EULA or the game creator?

    8. Re:Get rekt cheaters by someone1234 · · Score: 1

      At the moment you break these, you forfeit all rights.

      --
      Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
    9. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And in fact it's often written explicitly in the EULA that, paraphrasing, "We have every right, you have none."

    10. Re:Get rekt cheaters by AmazingRuss · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Why not just cohort all the cheaters together, and let them play by their rules?

    11. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Calydor · · Score: 1

      So PUBG adds clause 13.37: If the SOFTWARE detects the USER to be using unauthorized third-party software unaffiliated with (skipping to the good part) ... we reserve the right to dynamically influence the variables affecting the USER's game experience to counteract the effects of the unauthorized third-party software.

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    12. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      EULAs are not contracts, no signatures or discussable agreement, no witnesses, and often lopsided.

      If you want to talk basic contract law, start there and please include right of first sale doctrine in discussion about eulas that pop up afterwards.

    13. Re:Get rekt cheaters by gweihir · · Score: 1

      These people are those for which image and appearance is everything and actual skill does not count. Unfortunately, they probably get the idea from how the rest of modern society works. One of the indicators of a society in decline.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    14. Re:Get rekt cheaters by gweihir · · Score: 1

      There was some game that put all the cheaters into their own server-pool, so they could cheat the hell out of each other. I like the idea.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    15. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Rhacman · · Score: 1

      And even *if* (which I doubt) the EULA as written forbid them from doing this, it's easily solve-able by pushing an updated EULA with the updated software that contains the cheater annoyance code. "Want to play? Accept the EULA that lets us do this."

      --
      Account -> Discussions -> Disable Sigs
    16. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dark Souls 2.
      Pretty good solution.

    17. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too right. Stick them all in the same pissing pot

    18. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wasn't that Titanfall?

    19. Re: Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The EULA literally says they can modify the game in any way they want, or cease to provide it to you at all.

      You are a fucking moron spewing bullshit.

    20. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      The end result, no matter what party violates the contract, is that the player no longer gets to play the game.

      And the EULA is not a real contract anyway. If you read them there are no clauses that say what the game provider is obligated to provide, but often there are clauses that do explicitly say the game providers is not under any obligation.

      Compare to a rental agreement, a real contract. I pay rent each month, but I don't get rent in return from the building owner. If I break the rules, I can get evicted. If the building owner breaks their part of the agreement then I have very little recourse except to hire an expensive lawyer and hope for the best.

      If the banned players want to start a lawsuit, then good luck to them.

    21. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why not just cohort all the cheaters together, and let them play by their rules?

      I actually used to run a non-VAC secured Counter Strike server where hacking was encouraged, we had speedhacks / wallhacks / aimbots / etc. available for download on the server website with tutorials about how to set them up and everything.

      The dance of "who has line of sight to the enemies head first" when everyone could see everyone else through walls was actually really entertaining.

    22. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Games are a type of fun. Cheating is a type of fun.
      So, why the fuck does it matter how people get fun.

      I predict this stupid "battlegrounds" a nice demise.

    23. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually you need to cohort all those stupid whining gamers who suck and blame "cheaters".
      I would cheat just for the fun of it. Fun is what makes games possible. No fun - fuck your stupid game.

    24. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I like the idea of making you suck cocks, you stupid whiny piece of shit.

    25. Re: Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If I define murder as fun, does murder become legal?

    26. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Maritz · · Score: 1

      Games are a type of fun. Cheating is a type of fun. So, why the fuck does it matter how people get fun.

      Cheating is only fun for the cheater you dumb fuck. That's why they're banning twats like you.

      I predict this stupid "battlegrounds" a nice demise.

      What does this mean? Are you capable of coherent fucking thought?

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    27. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually you need to cohort all those stupid whining gamers who suck and blame "cheaters". I would cheat just for the fun of it. Fun is what makes games possible. No fun - fuck your stupid game.

      lol. Shut the fuck up you stupid cunt. The rest of us enjoy a fucking challenge with a level playing field. Little faggots like you have to go and download skill. Pathetic.

    28. Re:Get rekt cheaters by ctilsie242 · · Score: 1

      Everquest 2 has/had a special server called Drunder, just for cheaters. That way, the cheaters and botters all wind up in one place. Interesting idea, but not sure how practical it is over the long run.

    29. Re:Get rekt cheaters by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      Fun is what makes games possible. No fun - fuck your stupid game

      Then don't play it. If you can only get your kicks by ruining the experience of others, then just stay away.

  2. That is a LOT of cheaters by Bruinwar · · Score: 1

    Are this this anti-cheat system reliable or are there false positives? That is a lot of cheaters. Is the patch for the cheater's mod out yet to get around it? Ruins the game for everyone including the cheaters IMO.

    --
    SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT
    1. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Smidge204 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm sure that if you survey the people who've been banned, there is a near 100% false-positive rate.

      I have it on good authority that nobody has ever been banned from any game for actually cheating; it's always a mod they forgot to uninstall (cosmetic only, of course!), or some innocuous program they have running in the background, or someone hacked their account...
      =Smidge=

    2. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most of them are coming from Asia, more specifically China.

    3. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by alvinrod · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I remember once when someone was complaining on developer forums with much the same line of crap until one of the developers or community managers there posted and went into details about the programs the cheater was running and even pointed out another forum where the cheater (using the same username no less) had been posting asking after cheat programs.

      I think companies do it this way because they know these little shits will just buy another copy of the game, so more money for them, but I think it would be better to just quarantine all of the cheaters together so they can only play with each other. The only way out of that is to play for as many hours as you were cheating without using any at all to learn why it isn't appropriate to cheat.

    4. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      thats probably a true number (i dont play that game), multiplayer games on pc are unplayable unless policed by the company

      been playing shooters since original doom, millenials are REALLY into cheating (its the only way they can win considering their smaller brains and shitty tactics), its really easy to spot the cheaters, serious companies like blizzard do ban waves and clean their servers, overwatch is a paradise compared to incompetent companies like dice, their battlefield series is infested, the game is way too cheap and its mostly unpolished, thats the reason i did not buy battlefield 1, police your turd or you will only get cheaters money, the moment they lower the price of the game to something like 5 bucks, its OVER, 30% cheaters on average

      on a cheating software forum, 3 years ago, there was one thread about one game in particular, it had half a MILLION views

    5. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you can get banned in pubg for honking vehicle horns.

    6. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes a mod, or they happened to kill someone who was streaming on twitch (or claimed to have been streaming on twitch) and got banned for "stream sniping" because, you know, streamers are better than the other plebs.

    7. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least in PUGB, I've not heard of anybody being banned for stream snipping. I don't believe it's actually against the rules, it's a risk you take on as a streamer. I have seen people get banned though for hitting a streamer 5 times in the head within 1 second with a crossbow. For those not familiar, that's not possible. You can hold at most 2 crossbows, and it takes nearly 5 seconds to load one bolt.

    8. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Tukz · · Score: 0

      I don't believe it's actually against the rules,

      It is. https://www.playbattlegrounds....

      #12:

      Do not stream snipe: this is a form of cheating and you will be banned if you do it.

      They added it after several streamers, including C9's Shroud, were complaining and moaning like little babies.

      There is a clip from Shroud's stream where he directly says stream sniping is the same as cheating.

      It's completely insane, no other game bans for stream sniping.

      --
      - Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
    9. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least in PUGB, I've not heard of anybody being banned for stream snipping. I don't believe it's actually against the rules, it's a risk you take on as a streamer.

      Lol, wut?

    10. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WTF is stream sniping?

    11. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by qbast · · Score: 0

      Killing whining bitches called 'streamers'. Twitch drives a lot of sales, so PUBG treats them like royalty.

    12. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Xyrus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why bother cheating? It's a game. It's like saying, "Woohoo, I won the marathon!" while driving a hemi.

      Seriously, if you have to cheat in a video game to make yourself feel 733t, you need to re-examine your priorities.

      --
      ~X~
    13. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      It does happen sometimes. There was a case where some kid with developmental problems was banned because he used a memory card (remember those) to copy a save game from his friend in order to unlock stuff in his copy of the game, and then went online. I guess it was back in the XBOX 360 days or even the original.

      The worst part is that Microsoft doesn't just ban you temporarily or just your account, they ban your XBOX. They basically remote brick it as a usable games machine and it's impossible to appeal. A few people have had luck taking them to Small Claims Court but even if they get the money for the console and all the stuff they purchased on XBL back they still lost a lot of time invested in that account.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    14. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Their lead community manager is called “poopieQueen”?

    15. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      whereas in the past 6 months--- in league of legends, the developer posted a similar comment to the player how over the previous 18 months this person boosted / cheated, botted and after 18 months of griefing thousands of hours of players time -- did this person get banned.

      fuck riot.

    16. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 5, Funny

      Why bother cheating? It's a game. It's like saying, "Woohoo, I won the marathon!" while driving a hemi.

      Not that I condone cheating (I don't, there are better ways,) but you seem to misunderstand gaming culture. It's not about winning or losing, it's about making your opponent (and sometimes you teammates) rage and reevaluate their life choices/use of time.

      If you can use nothing more than a glowing box with some hardened oil clicky things attached to it with metal and slightly less hardened oil strings and cause someone you've never met, who has no idea who you are, to smash their computer and develop an existential crisis - well that's just magickal - it's better than sex.

    17. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Kierthos · · Score: 1

      Back when the original DOOM and it's sequel were popular, I played that a decent amount. (Yes, I know, I'm old.) But sometimes when playing single-player, I would cheat to go into "god mode" because I wanted to blow off some steam, and mow through all the enemies without having to worry about taking damage.

      Now, that probably doesn't apply to these cheaters. I mean, maybe they want to blow off some steam after a hard day at work, but most of the heavy PvP games these days have rewards for being really good at it. And until you're caught cheating, a lot of people are not going to realize the difference between "that guy is good" and "that guy is cheating".

      I'm certainly not excusing their behavior. But I think I understand it a bit in our current "I want my reward and I want it now, even if I haven't earned it" culture.

      --
      Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
    18. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Kierthos · · Score: 1

      Their game, their rules.

      Look, the only way that, realistically, they are going to catch someone stream sniping is if the sniper is dumb enough to be streaming at the same time or bragging about it.

      --
      Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
    19. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Bruinwar · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I couldn't agree more. But I don't think it's about feeling errrrr 733t?... it's about being an little punk asshole. Like in the MMOs where they grief players for fun. Like completely taking over a town in WoW killing everyone over & over, including the NPCs, so no quests can be ran. Some people really seem to enjoy it.

      I shouldn't be surprised how many people cheat. Back in Quake 2 my friends & I ran a server. At one point we finally had to add anti-cheat & dang we caught a lot. Many people I knew for a long time & thought they were damn good. ICQ was burning up that night. These guys got shamed bad, how embarrassing.

      --
      SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT
    20. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I get a funny feeling that there's a lot of stream snipers here calling them "whining bitches".

      In fact, a stream sniper is somebody who gets in a game with a streamer and watches their stream to see where they are, and uses this knowledge to their advantage to kill the streamer. It's probably the least heinous of cheating, but it's still cheating. I disagree with making it against the rules as it should be a risk streamers accept by streaming (after all, most of them are making money off of the streaming), but it definitely does happen. Some of the really big ones (DrDisRespect comes to mind) have some truly bizarre things happen to them quite frequently. Very early in game they get ambushed, and these sorts of things almost never happen to lesser known streamers, yet the big names it's almost every game. A lot of the streamers don't just suck, these are guys ranked often in the top 10 of the entire game, you can watch them play and see they don't cheat, yet will get taken out by a guy who's never scored a kill before.

    21. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It's the same reason bullies bully. They only feel good when on top, and they lack the empathy that makes you feel on top when helping others. So the only way to feel on top is to dominate others, and the surest way to dominate others is in an unfair fight.

      If you're interested in the science behind this, find the lecture "What makes a bully" on youtube.

    22. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by RavenLrD20k · · Score: 4, Informative

      Stream Sniping is where players watch the Twitch stream of another player that they're in the game with to get a fix on the location of the Streamer and using it to get an advantage on the Streamer. It's similar to the old days where you could do 4 player Deathmatch in Goldeneye on a shared screen, and get accused of screen sniping each other in a similar way.

    23. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I've never been banned for cheating, but I've had a program flagged by a cheat detector before.

      I used to play Planetside 2. They added Battleye cheat detection at some point. Shortly after that, Battleye flagged the Palemoon browser executable as "unknown and therefore suspicious" and made me close it before it would let me play.

      I don't doubt people that complain about false-positives. Most cheat-detection software is pants-on-head retarded.

    24. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why bother cheating? It's a game.

      I agree with you, but some people don't grow up. I remember discussing some game a friend had on his phone and he mentioned he had a bot to play for him. I asked "why?!" and he replied "I barely have time to play and I don't want to lose any fights." We're over 30 now, one would assume people would just accept that their hobbies should be for fun. But this guy, at least when it comes to games, never left teenager-land...

    25. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I ran into a problem like this once. For me it wasn't a mod to the game rather I was running AHKey keyboard macro controller. I ran this because I had macro hotkeys for volume up / down / mute. The game banned me for running a macro recorder... what was odd for me was I played the game for months with this running until one day I could no longer login. Cheat detection and prevention software for video games is an absolute joke.

    26. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      you need to re-examine your priorities.

      Wanna buy some death sticks?

    27. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are some streamers caught in the action, and one girl was like "WTH Stephany? OMG my friend Stephany came over to play and she installed something and now I have these weird tags and I can see other players through walls ... ? What is going on? *eyeroll*". uh huh, sure...

    28. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is an interesting idea. You could set up some kind of unrestricted class of user that would only be allowed to play against other unrestricted users. Bring whatever cheats you want. It could be interesting to see what people come up with.

      Honest users wouldn't be banned, they'd be exiled to the unrestricted class.

    29. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have a problem where I can't figure out how to write a post without copying my username into the body of the post. Everyone else seems to have this figured out but me. Surely there is someone who could help me solve this problem because I am incapable of solving it myself...
      =Smidge=

    30. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Solandri · · Score: 2

      That only covers the killer-type cheaters (which, granted, is most of them). Explorer and achiever types cheat to gain undeserved praise from other players for their discoveries or gear they've amassed. There's not much cheating among socializers, though they have a disproportionate share of drama and backstabbing. Basically cheating in the social realm, rather than in the game realm.

    31. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Luthair · · Score: 1

      I have a better analogy - its like competing in athletics while taking performance enhancing drugs.... oh wait.

    32. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Powercntrl · · Score: 2

      ... but I think it would be better to just quarantine all of the cheaters together so they can only play with each other.

      This.

      The negative stigma against cheating at video games really didn't start until most games went in the direction of online PvP. Pepperidge Farm remembers official strategy guides (printed on actual dead trees), Game Genie, and when developers actually included cheat codes in their games. Video games are just supposed to be entertainment - not a personal quest towards enlightenment. IMHO, all this taking games too seriously has sucked the fun out of gaming.

      Being banned for cheating is like Hasbro confiscating your game of Monopoly because you didn't want to follow the official rules. Rather than ban 300k players, simply separate them from the non-cheaters, and let them have their free-for-all with each other. Problem solved, everybody is happy.

      --

      ---
      DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
    33. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are several such videos on youtube. Which one do you mean?

    34. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Amouth · · Score: 2

      While i understand and to a point agree, there is a big difference between cheating in single player to bow off steam, and then cheating in PvP.

      Cheat all you want single player, but if you come to an online platform where it is PvP or any way multi player leave the cheats at the door..

      --
      '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
    35. Re: That is a LOT of cheaters by mSparks43 · · Score: 1

      half life/cs speed hack was the most fun i have had in any computer game ever.....

    36. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Powercntrl · · Score: 1

      Why bother cheating?

      Try playing Pokemon Go in a rural area and you'll quickly understand why people cheat (GPS spoofing) at that game. Unlike deathmatch/PvP battle games where you're being a dick to legitimate players by cheating, PoGo's cheat simply enables you to play the game without having to walk/drive all over creation.

      Naturally, Niantic regularly flips their shit over people cheating. It seems they don't want people who aren't willing to waste a ton of gasoline to enjoy playing their virtual cockfighting game.

      --

      ---
      DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
    37. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it's better than sex.

      hahahaaha!

      no, it's really not.

    38. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Moof123 · · Score: 1

      100 cheaters getting various false log-ins banned thousands of times.

    39. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why play the game?

    40. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Megol · · Score: 1

      Depends on how common it is. Statistics to detect potential cheaters and then "simply" (with even more statistics) see if that potential cheater have to have external information or just being ridiculously lucky.

      Wouldn't want to design the system but it's clearly possible.

    41. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by i286NiNJA · · Score: 1

      I know that some people get a great sense of satisfaction from beating them but for me it's little consolation for wasting several hours of free time. If I get stuck I cheat and move on, I am just not that into games.
      Picking them apart with cheat engine is actually more fun than winning the right way.

    42. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Talderas · · Score: 1

      WoW had an achievement, I think, at one point in time where you would kill the leader NPC in each of the opposing faction's main cities. Whether this still exists, I do not know. You were accosted by a relatively constant stream of high level NPC guards along with players of the opposing faction coming in and smacking you around.

      Factions taking over towns was very much the outcome of one or two players going on a gank-fest around the vicinity of a low level quest hub town. The ganked players would complain, a bunch of higher level players on their faction would respond and try to deal with the gankers, and failing that would then go after the nearby low-level quest hub town of the opposing faction and gank those players as retribution for the act of the original gankers.

      --
      "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
    43. Re: That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Funny thing, that is almost identical in spirit tona statement once made to me by a confirmed sociopath, who made his millions by gaming investors. He said, âoeItâ(TM)s not the money, thatâ(TM)s just a way of keeping score. Itâ(TM)s when you go head to head with someone, and they end up losing their money, their house their family, everything they own, and are naked on the street. Now _Thatâ(TM)s fun!!!_â

      AC for good reason. This guyâ(TM)s hobby is suing people.

    44. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It would seem you've never had any decent sexual exchanges. Pity.
      I'm an older gamer, even my younger wife games and it's not about winning or losing (although winning IS pleasant)
      it's about the game. Winning against a few Cheaters in a game makes it that much sweeter sometimes but really makes you wonder
      how empty their lives are to thrive on Griefing or winning by default.
      We love playing after supper or when we have the time, just for shits and giggles.

    45. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can kind of get it though. I havent resorted to bots, but a lot of games feel like a grind or waste of time at the start, but the potential is there.You start offas the level 1 wizard who can only cast a shitty fireball that can barely kill a rat, but end up as a level 50 death wizard raining hell on earth while barely breaking a sweat. When you dont have much times for games, I want to skip the first 20 or 30 levels of the mundane bullshit, and take it from when my character starts feeling like a badass.

      I dont cheat in multiplayer games, (although something like Battlefield joining an EXP grinding server to quickly level your character I wouldnt consider "cheating"), but I wouldnt have a problem botting in a diablo 3 single player for a bit to level up and get some okay gear.
       

    46. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Isn't this why Twitch has the option to add a delay to your stream? In EVE, we used to frequently hunt streamers who were dumb enough to not use a delay.

    47. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Dread_ed · · Score: 1

      Maybe a 30 second time delay would help?

      --
      When the only tool you have is a claw hammer every problem starts to look like the back of someone's skull.
    48. Re: That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fucking Rito. Free tyler1

    49. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If someone finds cheating in a video game fun, who cares? It's not like they are cheating on their wives.

    50. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No one has to stream, by streaming you are giving this info away freely. In the real world, not using the info would be considered negligent.

    51. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      30s might be a little short when movement through a given area is slow, but it's trivial to adjust your stream delay on Twitch, up to as much as several minutes.

      It's purely a self-inflicted problem on the part of the streamers who don't want to give up the interactivity of a low-delay stream.

    52. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but when all is said and done, you're cheating at a stupid game. If you're going to cheat, do it right: cheat at poker, cheat on your partner, cheat your boss.

      Lightweight.

    53. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      theres a emacs key for that.

    54. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      same reason people cheat in real sports, especially cycling. they justify their cheating because it's only a "slight edge" over the other players. for pubg, its running slightly faster and parachute dropping like a rock with a final open height of 10'.
      i've personally been told by an older gamer he felt he needed it because of his hand arthritis.

    55. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Talderas · · Score: 1

      It's pretty much the same thing as playing a console FPS with 3 buddies and watching everyone else's screen to know where they are. The only different between that and stream sniping is that streaming usually incorporates a delay so you would only know where someone was and not where they are but that usually is enough to let you catch up to them.

      --
      "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
    56. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Outta_the_way_peck! · · Score: 1

      See marathoninvestigation.com. It is unreal the number of people who cheat in marathons.

    57. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      seems to be a generational thing i refuse to use cheats in a game until i have finished it and in an online game how can you ever feel any satisfaction if you cheat the game and yourself.
      I would love to play PUBG but i am to old and slow.

    58. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by cfalcon · · Score: 1

      > Naturally, Niantic regularly flips their shit over people cheating. It seems they don't want people who aren't willing to waste a ton of gasoline to enjoy playing their virtual cockfighting game.

      Of course they don't want cheaters to cheat at their game. A game that doesn't action cheaters trivializes the actions that others who play the game legitimately go through. Most especially in pokemon go, a game about going places physically, not GPS spoofing in bluestacks or whatever.

    59. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by SCVonSteroids · · Score: 1

      I have it on good authority that nobody has ever been banned from any game for actually cheating;

      Just look up Diablo 2.

      --
      I tend to rant.
    60. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      First rule of PvP is that if you lose, the other guy was cheating.
      Second rule of PvP is that if you win, it was all due to superior skill.
      Third rule of PvP is that the game creators have a grudge against you (or your role, your class, etc).
      Fourth rule of PvP is that mom has to knock before entering the basement.

    61. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's better to execute a million innocent men, than to let one guilty man walk free.

    62. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There have been false positives before, like anti cheat software getting triggered when Xfire and other apps injected themselves in the game's process, or trojans, or other crap. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valve_Anti-Cheat#False-positive_detections

    63. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      There have been single player games that have done similar things to prevent piracy. Instead of failing the game immediately when they detect a pirated copy, they wait until near the end of the game to show a notice or give a lower score or prevent completion.

    64. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Delays make it a bad experience for the streamer's audience to interact with the streamer. Plus on PUBG the action moves slower for the rest of the map usually, with a lot of camping/defensive positions. Knowing they're hiding in house X is determinantal enough.

    65. Re: That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Being banned for cheating is like Hasbro confiscating your game of Monopoly because you didn't want to follow the official rules.

      It's actually like getting banned from official Monopoly competitions, after Hasbro found out you were breaking the rules of the game and competition. The analogy breaks down because PUBG has no single player/offline/non-competitive option.

      I agree putting cheaters together in their own realm is better for the cheaters, but where unbanned cheaters would never buy a second copy of the game, some % of banned cheaters will probably rebuy the game to get more lulz.

      Add lost potential sales to the extra work for making the segmentation system, and I can see why they just ban them outright.

    66. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Being a cycling fan you know that cheaters are prevalent and they always deny it. Lying and cheating go hand in hand.

    67. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hell, if I were a game developer I would anonymously be selling the cheat tools too. Why let others cash in on that.

    68. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by dave420 · · Score: 1

      Or Clara. Never forget Clara.

    69. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Streamers don't like doing that because they want to interact with the people in chat. It's a bit of a tradeoff.

    70. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are seriously having some terrible sex

    71. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      Not that I condone cheating (I don't, there are better ways,) but you seem to misunderstand gaming culture. It's not about winning or losing, it's about making your opponent (and sometimes you teammates) rage and reevaluate their life choices/use of time.

      That says a lot (not much good) about "gaming culture."
      But knowing a lot of gamers, I think it only applies to a subset of gaming culture. Plenty of gamers like actual challenge, the testing of real skills, and collaboration in a common goal. It really depends on the sorts of servers you like to hang out and the people drawn to that server type.

    72. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      WoW had an achievement, I think, at one point in time where you would kill the leader NPC in each of the opposing faction's main cities. Whether this still exists, I do not know.

      Sure it does, but they respawn pretty quickly, and it's not long before the attacking force gets swamped by defenders hearth back for a nice bruising. So even though the faction leader is killed, it doesn't really set people back for that long. This isn't considered griefing, like clearing out a low-level town and keeping it clear for a period of time, faction-leader-killing is built-in as a part of the game.

    73. Re:That is a LOT of cheaters by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      No one has to stream, by streaming you are giving this info away freely. In the real world, not using the info would be considered negligent.

      Yeah, yeah, whatever. It's not illegal, it's not something that gets you banned, but it's clearly against some "code of honor," that breaks the system. Just don't do it, just like folks who AREN'T assholes don't jiggle the locks on front doors to see if someone negligently left one unlocked.

  3. 1st amendment by Tranzistors · · Score: 0, Troll

    This is a free speech issue. I mean if players can get banned for this “cheating” where does it stop? First they came for aimbots, but I didn't speak up, because I didn't use aimbot. You know where this poem is going. Besides, if a service can use it's arbitrary power, they can go after you for whatever reason!

    I'm sorry for trolling.

    1. Re:1st amendment by gweihir · · Score: 1

      You do not have free speech on their servers. You have free speech only on your own servers. Nobody is obliged to give you a forum.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    2. Re: 1st amendment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whoooooooosh.

      Come on, you know better.

    3. Re: 1st amendment by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      Nah, he just has a memebot running.

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
  4. Xbox Cross Network Play by HalAtWork · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Doesn't sound like such a good idea anymore if it will bring cheating to the console experience...

    Hopefully in cross-network games you can choose to play with console players only.

    1. Re:Xbox Cross Network Play by Kiuas · · Score: 1

      Cross-network play in shooters has never seemed like a good idea to begin with IMO. The difference in precision and speed afforded by a mouse+keyboard setup as compared to a controller is such that I think console players are at an inherent disadvantage.

      --
      "It is the business of the future to be dangerous" -Alfred North Whitehead
    2. Re:Xbox Cross Network Play by HalAtWork · · Score: 1

      That part isn't so bad. People already play gamepad vs keyboard/mouse on PC. Xbox is also getting official USB mouse/keyboard support for games and apps anyway.

    3. Re:Xbox Cross Network Play by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you think cross-network play is what will bring cheaters to consoles, then you either don't own a console or you have never played any multiplayer first person shooters on a console. Console games are LOADED with cheaters, and neither Microsoft nor the game devs have any incentive whatsoever to stop it (to the contrary, they have every incentive to permit it to continue - money).

    4. Re:Xbox Cross Network Play by Jeslijar · · Score: 1

      Back in the 360 days the Shadowrun multiplayer shooter made it glaringly obvious that this sort of thing doesn't work well. A mouse is just far more accurate than a joystick.

    5. Re:Xbox Cross Network Play by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doesn't sound like such a good idea anymore if it will bring cheating to the console experience...

      Hopefully in cross-network games you can choose to play with console players only.

      You do realize how many hacks are floating around console games like COD and similar...right? Please tell me you know about this - I can't handle slashdot users talking about shit they don't really know about ;)

    6. Re: Xbox Cross Network Play by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Console players are at an "inherent" disadvantage due to being a retard and buying a console.

    7. Re:Xbox Cross Network Play by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the best example of this is actually the Quake 3 dreamcast port, where some dude realized you could connect to the dreamcast servers with the legit PC version of quake 3. The scores were insane. 30-0. I can move faster with my mouse than your joystick can even move, physically.. There is no chance. None.

    8. Re:Xbox Cross Network Play by HalAtWork · · Score: 1

      That was the idea, they released an official Dreamcast map pack to allow PC gamers to connect, since the maps were slightly altered geometrically.

      Dreamcast has Mouse and Keyboard, these were official accessories available from launch. I still have mine, and played that way with that system. There were also PS/2 adapters for the Dreamcast Maple Bus which people used if they didn't want to buy new devices.

    9. Re:Xbox Cross Network Play by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not sure if you mean that PC = cheating, Console = fair game, but here's another data point if you do: Diablo3 on PC is fairly cheat-free, while the console version (PS4 I think) is a notorious clown fiesta where cheating seems to be so widespread it's the norm.

    10. Re:Xbox Cross Network Play by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It won't be cross-platform no one does that with shooters the console players would be dead on start. It's going to be very different code and servers.

    11. Re:Xbox Cross Network Play by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Every rule has an exception

    12. Re:Xbox Cross Network Play by HalAtWork · · Score: 1

      Microsoft did with Gears of War 4, they're now pushing cross platform multiplayer in PR, they're publishing PUBG on Xbox and have their hand in the port, they're currently experimenting with multiplayer across both prior to release, Xbox One is getting official mouse/keyboard support for games and apps...

      Unless anything disastrous happens I'd say it's coming, it seems like MS would have some egg-on-face PR-wise if not.

    13. Re:Xbox Cross Network Play by Megol · · Score: 1

      Yes but every rule has an exception.

    14. Re:Xbox Cross Network Play by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm I guess parent poster forgot to put @ in front of echo

  5. Great Start by rmdingler · · Score: 1

    Now what about PED users?

    We have it on good authority that ChrisRedfield88 and Doomslaya were wreaking havoc while under the influence of Redbull & Mountain Dew.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:Great Start by skovnymfe · · Score: 1

      If you want to perform, you have to enhance your drug use.

  6. How do they do it by ronaldo1 · · Score: 1

    I have never understood how these players cheat. Is it special software or hardware? How do game developers prevent it?

    1. Re:How do they do it by rmdingler · · Score: 3, Informative

      There are a few who are skilled enough to write their own code, but it's mostly just copy/paste from the plethora of online cheat sites.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    2. Re:How do they do it by Wrath0fb0b · · Score: 4, Informative

      There are a few basic categories of cheating by modifying your client software. In order of simplest-to-most-complicated.

      (1) Rendering. For obvious reasons rendering the 3D scene is done on the client side. A malicious client can replace opaque textures with transparent ones so as to see through walls. This is more advantageous in games where bullets go through walls.

      More advanced rendering hacks involve replacing enemies/targets/powerups such that they appear in garish colors, emit light or even messing with their poly configuration so they appear huge.

      (2) Data reveal. Since much of the data has to be transmitted from the server to local, much of it not "visible" to the player, another class of hacks intercepts this data (either in-memory from the victim process or from the network stack) and displays it out-of-band, e.g. on a minimap running on a second screen. I can imagine in a game like PUBG (or Starcraft) this would be a huge advantage.

      (3) Input cheating. Most likely to get you banned -- this is basically an aim-bot that synthesizes the right input based on either reading the screen or, more likely, hovering data as in (2). Fairly easy to spot from looking at the server replay, as it will basically be a few milliseconds from when an enemy comes into view and when a perfectly-placed shot is fired. Also, in my experience looking at replays, humans almost always overshoot when aiming and then correct back. Aimbots somehow manage to decelerate right on target . . .

    3. Re:How do they do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      most are script kiddies who download them online. Script kiddies are annoying, but be thankful for them - they are the reason these types of mass bannings are even possible.

      There is a much smaller group of people that actually write their own. The ones that provide them to script kiddies eventually get caught, like these mass bannings, but the ones that are never released to the public are rarely ever spotted and banned.

    4. Re:How do they do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Wow. Lets hope nobody is smart enough to write an aimbot that adds a random normal-distribution based Sleep() before moving, or uses basic damped simple harmonic motion to aim. Such a thing is unthinkable.

    5. Re:How do they do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are a few who are skilled enough to write their own code, but it's mostly just copy/paste from the plethora of online cheat sites.

      Allowing cheat codes for single-player mode is fine, I like it.

      If managers are allowing cheat codes for on-line play, then these fine employees are worth everything you're paying them.

    6. Re:How do they do it by Kjella · · Score: 2

      (3) Input cheating. Most likely to get you banned -- this is basically an aim-bot that synthesizes the right input based on either reading the screen or, more likely, hovering data as in (2). Fairly easy to spot from looking at the server replay, as it will basically be a few milliseconds from when an enemy comes into view and when a perfectly-placed shot is fired. Also, in my experience looking at replays, humans almost always overshoot when aiming and then correct back. Aimbots somehow manage to decelerate right on target...

      I remember aimbots that worked like that in Unreal Tournament last century. They were quickly banned, they were quickly modified to "merely" be superhuman-ish. I have a friend who could get himself banned on any public server with the sniper rifle, he wasn't cheating as I saw him play in real life just very quick, very skilled. Hit a few too many headshots and he'd be banned as a cheater. I'm sure the anti-hack system was also pretty crude just like the aimbots themselves, but it's not trivial to accurately recognize what's human and not. Like whether you're playing a chess computer or if it's Magnus Carlsen pranking you, it's probably the former but unless they 100% match the best line and just pick a "humanly" good move it's hard to tell.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    7. Re:How do they do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People who use "hoovering" as a verb make me laugh. People who end their posts with an ellipsis make me cringe. People who can't even write an ellipsis correctly make me say wtf.

    8. Re:How do they do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Er, I don't think the GP was asking about cheat codes (the devs put those in themselves!) but actual game 'hacking'. Things like aimbots, wallhacks, and stuff.

      The only thing in your link that is relevant to actual hacking is trainers.

    9. Re:How do they do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow. Lets hope nobody is smart enough to write an aimbot that adds a random normal-distribution based Sleep() before moving, or uses basic damped simple harmonic motion to aim. Such a thing is unthinkable.

      Or simply one that triggers an attack when natural mouse movements are over the hitbox, like nearly all mainstream game aimbots are these days.

    10. Re:How do they do it by lexman098 · · Score: 1

      Snipers are pussies anyway. I don't know why the developers always have to add a gun that kills in one shot from across the map. It just ruins the game for other players so the sniper can have "fun" taking pot-shots by himself.

    11. Re:How do they do it by Dread_ed · · Score: 1

      I used to play Quake 2 on a few servers with the game speed cranked way up, rail gun only (like a sniper rifle, point and shoot weapon,) and a laser hook thingy that you could aim at a wall waaaaay over there and it would pull you towards it at amazing speed. With that and some other adjustments it became a fast twitch freakout session every time I logged in.

      I died what seemed like a thousand times the first day. Then I started to get the hang of moving fast in 3 dimensions, aiming and shooting while flying through the air, pinpointing enemies and blowing their heads up. I played on that server for a few weeks, going from continual fountain of gibbs to a pretty damned good player. The most fun I have ever had playing online, without a doubt.

      Then the server went down for some reason, so back to the regular servers I went. Everything was in slow motion. It felt like I had an eternity to aim and shoot. My accuracy was insane and I was VERY hard to hit. I had constant accusations of cheating after that. Lots of ragequits and reports to server admins, a few kicks but luckily no bans. Then the fast server came back up! So I invited all of the jackasses who I could find that had accused me of cheating to come play on that server with me to see what was what. Some liked it, most left and all of them that tried it shut the eff up once they saw all of the players who had adapted to the faster game speed.

      Man I miss that game.

      --
      When the only tool you have is a claw hammer every problem starts to look like the back of someone's skull.
    12. Re:How do they do it by cfalcon · · Score: 1

      > Snipers are pussies anyway.

      Just because you are walking food in an open field doesn't mean everyone sucks as much at keeping cover as you.

    13. Re:How do they do it by cfalcon · · Score: 1

      That's actually really interesting. It sounds like this would be interesting as a training trick. Food for thought, thanks.

    14. Re:How do they do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually there is another class of aimbot called a "trigger bot." Basically the cheater has to place the crosshair on target themselves and the trigger bot will sometimes fire. While your classic aimbotter would rape a trigger bot user, the trigger bot user is much harder to catch (few exceptions). The trigger bot is not for dominating opponents, its for increasing your kdr by a few percent and/or during critical times (e.g. only on pistol rounds or left in 1v3 in CSGO). The way to tell a trigger bot in games like CSGO is to watch the users crosshair placement. If its always on the ground but they have 30%+ HS ratio they are probably cheating. Obviously this does not work if the user is experienced and is self-aware of crosshair placement.

    15. Re:How do they do it by lexman098 · · Score: 1

      Even if I was complaining about getting shot while wandering around in the open without a care in the world, it wouldn't change the fact that the sniper is playing like a pussy taking pot shots from back at home base.

    16. Re:How do they do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can see the pro players training on this

  7. Better solution by qbast · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Just put cheaters in a game with other cheaters. No banning necessary and everybody is happy.

    1. Re: Better solution by gedeco · · Score: 1

      Hmmm.....
      The nest answer would be not to cheat, but make the game believe your opponent is cheating...

    2. Re:Better solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In an ideal case, the matchup would even synchronize cheat software. It would be like playing N64 FPS deathmatch with all the weird settings on.

    3. Re:Better solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just put cheaters in a game with other cheaters. No banning necessary and everybody is happy.

      Ya gotta hit-em where it hurts the most, the wallet.

      Want to keep playing? Buy a new copy and start over again.

      They don't want to play? Good riddance, they've paid their money.

      Even if it's a free to play game, they get hurt in the time wallet by having to start all over again.

    4. Re:Better solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      300,000 copies deleted at $20 each. Supposed 1/2 of them re-buy the game. That's $3 million. I would fire a manager who threw away that much money just to let cheaters play on cheater servers.

    5. Re:Better solution by qbast · · Score: 1

      Why do you want to hurt them at all? It is a bloody game, let them play it however they want. As long as they are segregated into separate server/arena, they can aimbot each other to their cheating hearts' content without inconveniencing anybody else.

    6. Re:Better solution by Alok · · Score: 1

      That's fine if the segregation is a choice at game start: 'For people who prefer to use third party software, use this server'. But considering that cheaters do spoil the game experience for those who aren't using aimbots or wallhacks or w/e, just putting them in a fence with no other penalties seems like a far too light penalty if they get caught.

    7. Re:Better solution by Sumus+Semper+Una · · Score: 1

      I tend to like this solution the best, but my problem lies with games that allow players to report cheaters. I don't cheat in games, but have been reported for cheating in a few games (old Counterstrike servers, Smite, HotS) because I would occasionally do something that someone decided was suspicious (or they were just plain angry at losing and wanted someone else to blame). In games like that, I don't want to be lumped in with actual botters and cheaters just because some jackass decided there is no way I could possibly hit him the very instant that he appeared in a certain spot unless I was cheating. Never mind that his teammate had been going straight to that spot 20 times in a row each time after dying and that was who I was actually waiting for...

    8. Re:Better solution by RyoShin · · Score: 1

      I think the ideal cheater-punishment system would do that, but on a cool-down timer related to how often someone is "caught". This makes false-positives less bothersome, and gives cheaters the chance of redemption (though unlikely) without having to purchase another copy of the game (but if that is the cheater-punishment method, well...)

      This cool-down would work much like the one used on Robot 9000, where the first few bans are short (hours or days at most) but each successive ban is an exponential increase in time over the last. One could also implement a drop-off, where going so long without a ban decreases the ban level so the next ban won't be as long. (This should be based on play-hours, not clock-hours; bans should be on clock-hours.)

      There are ways to game this, probably, but as far as automatic banning goes it seems like the least-worst option.

  8. The advantage of consoles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Of 2.2m players they found 322k cheaters, that's 15% of the players, and that's only counting the ones they found. So in any game that have 7 or more players, you can expect at least one is cheating.

    THIS is why I gave up multiplayer on PC and moved to console. For all its inferiority, at least I am reasonably confident I will be playing against players with practically the same hardware and NO CHEATS.

    1. Re:The advantage of consoles by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

      Of 2.2m players they found 322k cheaters, that's 15% of the players, and that's only counting the ones they found.

      Not necessarily. They probably banned the same cheaters multiple times.

      --
      http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    2. Re: The advantage of consoles by SmaryJerry · · Score: 1

      2.2 m is the concurrent players. There is way more than that overall playing.

  9. I wish they banned ESO users for cheating by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Zenimax are You reading this!?

    1. Re:I wish they banned ESO users for cheating by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 2

      "What's that? Did we read you say you wanted to buy more loot chests??"

  10. Easy solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Put all the cheaters onto the same but separate map.

  11. Performance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Anti-Cheating add ons tend to degrade performance , the games are already well SECURITY balanced and there are other mechanisms to detect cheating, so I suppose if people want to find out about cheating in the immediate then Anti-Cheating add ons are worth it, but it is done at the expense of game performance.

  12. Go pracitice on yourself right now by TiggertheMad · · Score: 3, Informative

    well that's just magickal - it's better than sex.

    If it is better than sex, you are doing sex wrong.

    --

    HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
  13. cheating is rife in F2P by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Every F2P game I've ever bothered to try I ended up convinced is overrun by cheaters. Either that or there are way more people than I can imagine that are willing to spend 20 hours a day and $5,000 a week to play a "free" game.

    1. Re:cheating is rife in F2P by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Both. The answer, sadly, is both.

  14. Admitting it's designed wrong? by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

    If you have to block that many cheaters, isn't that a tacit admission that your system and/or your communications are designed so poorly that it's ridiculously easy to "cheat"? Granted, some compromises are probably made in the interest of optimizing perceived response times, but still... can't you design a game that is more difficult to hack? (Of course, the "analog hole" always exists; one can always automate the mouse and keyboard input... but where's the fun in that?)

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    1. Re:Admitting it's designed wrong? by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      Correcting myself: Aimbots sound like a permanent arms race, hard to design software to make them impossible, just increasingly complex measures/countermeasures. Encrypting game data would make the other cheats much more difficult.

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  15. Ban them from all PVP on Steam by LeftCoastThinker · · Score: 1

    IMO there is no punishment too severe for people who cheat in PVP. It ruins the experience for thousands of others just so they can get their jollies. I would love to see Steam update their TOS to include across the board PVP timed bans escalating to PVP permaban for repeat/multiple cheaters, tied to the name on the credit card, which would not only deprive the cheater of whatever game they were cheating in, but block them from all online play permanently on Steam in perpetuity.

    The trick to preventing criminal behavior (or in this case cheating) is make the punishment so serious that people won't do it. After a first offense, in addition to a month ban from all PVP on Seam, force them to watch a video interview with some hackers/cheaters who lost big money in a civil suit over their damage to an online game and a round table discussion on how cheating damages the online community and gaming companies business models. Force the cheaters to sign a legally binding contract to never cheat on a Steam game again or face civil liability as well as acknowledging that they will lose their ability to play online permanently. The reality is that only about 10% of gamers cheat, and 90% of them are script kiddies in the 10-16yo range who would stop if mommy or daddy gave them the proper discipline, a legal notice in the mail to the CC holder typically gets parental attention.

    --
    If you disagree, please post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like
    1. Re: Ban them from all PVP on Steam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, you are a real piece of shit.

    2. Re: Ban them from all PVP on Steam by cfalcon · · Score: 1

      He's not though. Cheating is a real issue, and it destroys a lot of games. If a company were to take a seriously hard line against cheaters, then the cheaters would move on to another game. Or not- I don't care where they go, as long as they go.

    3. Re:Ban them from all PVP on Steam by nasch · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Draconian penalties are not particularly effective in preventing bad behavior, whether it's crime or cheating. What works is increasing the likelihood of getting caught.

    4. Re:Ban them from all PVP on Steam by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      More cops vs. more jails.

      --
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    5. Re:Ban them from all PVP on Steam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What works is the product of penalty times likelihood of getting caught. Both need to be reasonably high in order to ensure deterrence. When penalties are low nobody will care about getting caught, however probable it may be, and vice versa.
      Back in the old days there was no CSI and no video or audio recordings, and the probability of getting caught was far lower. The penalties used to be insanely high to compensate for that, like cutting the hands off of a thief.

    6. Re:Ban them from all PVP on Steam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ban them from all PVP on Steam

      For chating in one game? That's not only absurd, but potentially risky. Claiming someone cheated in games (A - Z, minus X) when they only cheated in X - especially given the public nature of these bans, and actually banning them in those games - some might view it as a bit defamatory... not to mention getting screwed out of games you paid for, with no refund (when you didn't cheat in those games).

    7. Re:Ban them from all PVP on Steam by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      Banning from all PVP on Steam? Talk about an overreaction.
      Here's the ugly truth about cheating bans: often you can objectively tell if a user cheated -- they modified the client exe, or the program detected a specific code bot running. But many bans are subjective: there was no proof, but there was a high suspicion that the user cheated to do something in a game. Maybe the user managed to get somewhere the developers thought was impossible. Maybe the user had excellent coordination and managed a lot of headshots (I've been in games where a guy was pretty good, and invariably someone starts accusing him of being a cheater).

      So if an overzealous server admin throws down a cheating ban.. should that person be exiled from ALL his games? I know, people are going to "blah blah, EULA, steam can ban anyone at anytime, etcetc" but that won't fly once we talk about someone losing a library of games that represents a real financial investment. Expect lawsuits to start at that point, small claims cases for defamation against server admins for a false report of cheating that caused the client to lose a game library worth $400, etc. No one is going to want to put up with that.

      Then there are other 'cheating/not cheating' situations. What about folks who used character model replacers? Technically, there are edge cases where they could give an edge in PvP in certain types of games, but the vast majority of model replacers are there to provide higher-texture versions of in-game characters so they look better, or provide different body types or races that the game makers never programmed in. Since it's all client side, it doesn't affect anyone else's game experience, but it may still be technically against the EULA. It would count as cheating. Would THAT justify the game library death penalty? Where does the line get drawn, who gets to draw that line, and what standard of proof will be required?

    8. Re:Ban them from all PVP on Steam by LeftCoastThinker · · Score: 1

      If you read my prior post carefully, you will see that I suggested a progressive ban, i.e. first offense, 1 day, second offense, 1 week, third offense 1 month, fourth offense, permaban or some such progression. You could even put in a period after which you decent one ban rank, as long as you are not perma banned. First ban goes down one ban rank in 1 month, second ban goes down in 6 months, third ban goes down one rank in 1 year and further bans go down one rank per year.

      It is not a one strike and permaban, but repeat cheaters should be blocked from all PVP. This does not brick their Steam account, it just prevents them from playing online. They can still play offline with themselves or in LAN games, etc. Once a few people get permabanned tied to their real identity and credit card, and the word gets out, most people will take it seriously and stop, or get banned. Either way, the community online will get a lot better.

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    9. Re:Ban them from all PVP on Steam by LeftCoastThinker · · Score: 1

      Effective cheat detection is key, I agree, and assumed in my earlier post, but your statement is patently false. If you have perfect capture rates (everyone who cheats is caught) but the only penalty is a warning email, no one who is cheating will stop. The penalty is a key part of discouraging cheating.

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    10. Re:Ban them from all PVP on Steam by LeftCoastThinker · · Score: 1

      To your point, 150 years ago, the penalty for stealing a horse or cattle was hanging, which is equivalent to stealing a car these days. I do think they had it right back then about the death penalty for rape and murder though. There are some lines which if you cross make you irredeemable and not worth keeping around for a chance at a repeat performance.

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    11. Re:Ban them from all PVP on Steam by nasch · · Score: 1

      Sure, there must be meaningful penalties. I'm just saying that the proposal to drastically ratchet up the punishment for cheating is not likely to be effective.

  16. Interesting..... by King_TJ · · Score: 1

    I kept thinking about buying this game, but held off due to so many bad reviews about the issues with cheaters.

    Maybe I'll break down and give it a try, if they're really doing anything effective to get that under control.

    I'm not some "punk kid" gamer. I'm in my 40's and I only play a few games at a time. Kind of picky these days about what's a worthwhile use of my free time. (Still kind of addicted to Starcraft II because I find in a lot of ways, it's like playing a game of chess against an opponent, at least in 1v1 battles, which I prefer.)

    I do have a soft spot in my heart for a good 3D multiplayer shooter -- but too many cheaters and/or bots just ruins the whole experience. Disappointingly, we have a pre-teen daughter who seems to be fascinated by the idea of using hacks and cheats on the online games she plays, and her accounts get banned on a regular basis. I wouldn't say she wants to bully other players so much as just gets a kick out of "beating the system". It's the "game within the game" for her to find ways to get an advantage. I'm not sure I'm getting through to her when I try to lecture her on why that's a bad way to go about things.

  17. Single Player Mode gets rid of all but 1 cheater by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Nothing curbed my adult computer gaming like requiring I play online.

  18. I'ts a losing battle. by Puls4r · · Score: 1

    No pun intended. I'll give you another example of an online game with a major cheating problem - Clash of Clans. Back a year or two ago, SuperCell implemented anti-cheat protocols that looks for modified game files, or memory locations modified by non-supercell software.

    It got rid of the lazy cheaters - but the hard core competitive cheaters quickly circumvented the cheating protocols. How? Well the language barrier played a big part in it. The Chinese have several active bots and cheat programs but SuperCell has been unable to address it because they simply don't speak the language.

    There's also a thriving market for money laundering in Clash of Clans. The original user sends money through one of any number of online cash payment systems. Account logins are given to 'trusted' individuals who have stolen credit card credentials, stolen gift card codes or forged gift card codes. These individuals then buy in-game currency with the stolen information, and then the original user logs back on.

    Finally, there is a ton of upper-end cheating. Many of the top notch players use private servers online that they pay to use. So when they are put against a new apponent's base layout, they go to the private server, make the base, then practice against it.

    I don't have the answer for how you fix these things. Suffice it to say that if you want to be in the 'upper echelon' of most online games, you're probably going up against 20-30% cheaters.

    1. Re:I'ts a losing battle. by dj245 · · Score: 1

      Finally, there is a ton of upper-end cheating. Many of the top notch players use private servers online that they pay to use. So when they are put against a new apponent's base layout, they go to the private server, make the base, then practice against it.

      I would consider that to be "practicing", not cheating. You even used the word "practice" yourself.

      Having a neural network do the "practicing" to find the best strategy might be cheating, but probably indistinguishable from a skilled player who did the practicing themselves.

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  19. Banned for toying with the ini file by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 1

    Friend of mine was banned for toying with the ini file in an attempt to try and get the game to actually run at decent frame rates on his hardware.
    Anyone who has PUBG knows that it is quite resource intensive.

    Given that it's an early access title, he figured that the ini modifications were fair game... but Battleye thought otherwise and called him out for doing a rendering hack and banned him.

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  20. I am willing to bet that there is a theme here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am willing to bet that there is a theme here common with all games that around 10% of the players are using some sort of cheat.