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Videogame PUBG Bans 30,000 Cheaters, Discovers Professional Players Cheated (newsweek.com)
An anonymous reader quotes Newsweek:
The makers of PUBG sent down the banhammer Thursday afternoon in a ban wave believed to iimpact more than 30,000 fraudulent player accounts. What PUBG Corp likely didn't expect, however, was that its new security measures would also implicate several of the game's pro players.
Like ban waves in most popular online games, technology is at the center of it all. In this particular case, Radar Hacking was the main target. For those unaware of how the method works, Radar Hacks reveal detailed server information and send the collected data to an external device via a third-party VPN. In layman's terms, Radar Hacks allowed PUBG cheaters to see all player positions via a second monitor or smartphone application.... Given what we know now, it appears use of this unsanctioned assistive software was somewhat popular in PUBG's European and North American esports scenes. Over the last handful of hours, multiple apologies, suspensions and explanations have been posted on behalf of players and organizations alike.
Newsweek reports that on at least one team, "Suspicions rose when teammates were admonished for not following in-game calls that didn't align with the information available."
Like ban waves in most popular online games, technology is at the center of it all. In this particular case, Radar Hacking was the main target. For those unaware of how the method works, Radar Hacks reveal detailed server information and send the collected data to an external device via a third-party VPN. In layman's terms, Radar Hacks allowed PUBG cheaters to see all player positions via a second monitor or smartphone application.... Given what we know now, it appears use of this unsanctioned assistive software was somewhat popular in PUBG's European and North American esports scenes. Over the last handful of hours, multiple apologies, suspensions and explanations have been posted on behalf of players and organizations alike.
Newsweek reports that on at least one team, "Suspicions rose when teammates were admonished for not following in-game calls that didn't align with the information available."
Why is this data being broadcast to the client? It's basic game security 101 that you only send the data to the client on a need-to-know basis to prevent this kind of exploit.
Need-to-know includes units, structures, resources, etc currently not visible. Things that a clean player would not know about yet. Due to network lag and local storage delays a server needs to inform the client of things just beyond legitimate detection so that the client can prepare to render those things smoothly should they become visible, without pause or stutter.
So there will always be the potential for a cheater to acquire an illicit early warning regarding things that a player should not yet know about. Yes, a game should not send everything on the map. But some things local to the player should be sent. The big question/problem in design and polish is how local.
Not really. Professional athletes are the ones that do sports for a living.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap