Introduction
Anyone who has played a game online has encountered a person who was cheating; whether they were aware of it or not. If the game does not include some form of anti-cheat then the chances of cheaters more than triples.
It is estimated that the majority of the people who cheat in multiplayer games, are fairly new to the game, the genre or just multiplayer itself. Out of frustration from being beaten and wanting to win they resort to methods that will give them a decidedly uneven advantage. Cheating.
Cheating in an online multiplayer game when defined in general terms means: there is some form of modifying of the game experience in a way that gives one player an unfair advantage over the other players. This description covers all online gaming genres. To one extent or another cheating does exists in all online multiplayer games, even those with anti-cheats implemented. The games that do employ anti-cheats attract people who think they can beat the system.
The purpose of this series is not to teach people how to cheat, but to inform you all as to where we are in combating a problem that causes harm to the game industry. The extent of damage though is still up for debate. So I will limit certain details in an effort to not divulge too much information on how to cheat. It is also my intent to try to impress upon the gaming industry itself the importance of facing this problem sooner rather than later.
To Cheat or Not to Cheat
Some cheats can be classified as more severe, and blatant than others. Depending on your school of thought you may view them differently. This is a topic that is often up for debate; are they cheats in the same sense as an aimbot or custom skins or are they are similar to just a settings change that improves performance. There are those who believe they are flat out cheats and others think otherwise.
First though, let's see what variations there are that may or may not constitute a real cheat and what makes those areas of debate I mentioned before.
- Ranking Upward: For instance in Battlefield 2 there is a global leader board that is ranked. Some people will create fake accounts to make themselves move up in the ranks, virtually playing against themselves. These free wins move the player up falsely in the rankings but is something that has to be maintained on a continuous basis to sustain the top ranking.
- Computer Settings: Sometimes there are discoveries made that are just a fluke. An example of this is when certain video cards are used with a particular video driver and this will allow you to look through walls or not to have the fog effects in some levels. This is more than just adjusting the usual settings to make the game run better. This is seeking out and using using an error of technology to gain an edge. It is more than just the adjusting of your gamma, brightness and other settings that make it easier to see in dark levels or spot model skins easier. This video card and driver example is just one but this has happened in several games. Another example is from Call of Duty there was a flaw with running MSN Messenger that would allow you to see through walls and other textured areas of the levels. Once this was discovered the word traveled fast and it was exploited heavily. Fortunately, PunkBuster servers take screenshots of players and the problem was quickly detected.
The other means of cheating are ones that most everyone can agree are definitely hard core cheats, in every sense of the description. These are the ones that the person must seek out to find, install on their PC and implement. Some are already there in the game, but when found are used to gain an unfair advantage.
- Exploits: These are bugs found in the game maps, levels or the game itself. The game developers unintentionally included them and once discovered the word quickly spreads. These can be, for instance, a hole in a level that allows you to kill but not be killed. They can be code that was left in place for a specific purpose by developers but when discovered and exploited, can enable the cheater to do things unintended. Sometimes these are fixed in game patches but other times they are left unattended and seen as unimportant or not a high priority.
- Hack Files, Trainers, Aimbots, Driver Hacks: The actual game and/or driver files are modified to allow the player to gain an advantage by the use of one or more combinations of aimbots, wallhacks, special skins, driver alterations, and bypassing the game by loading it directly into memory. These files are written and created by individuals who are familiar with coding/programming.
