Cheating In Video Games

[+Fates 63]

Saw this over at HomeLan:

 

The official Battle.net web site has posted word that Blizzard has once again taken steps to ban cheaters in their online games. Here is a snip:

A number of additional accounts and CD keys have been tied to the use of a hack or cheat program while playing StarCraft or Warcraft III on Battle.net. In keeping with our aggressive stance against cheating, we have permanently closed 263,000 StarCraft accounts and 19,000 Warcraft III accounts. 8,000 of the Warcraft III CD keys used with the now-closed accounts have been banned from ladder play for one month, and 1,100 more have been banned from ladder play permanently. Repeat offenders risk having their CD keys disabled, which will result in the permanent removal of their copies of StarCraft or Warcraft III from Battle.net.

 

Now that's a threat. Imagine having you CD Key yanked for hacking and cheating...ouch!

 

What's you thoughts?

 

Fates

[Weasel Keeper 0]

Cheating's bad mmm'kayyy.

 

If they pulled that many CD keys for people who are cheating, I wonder how many accounts there are that are trying to be serious about their gaming experience. Maybe in my lifetime I'll be able to see a game I can play online on a public server that I won't have to worry about people taking advantage of code or just flat out cheating. It gets old working hard for weeks or months to be good at a sim or game through just skill...only to have my butt kicked by some punk who thinks it's more fun to win at any cost without skill.

[firehawkordy 34]

Here's my thought on cheating online,

Most of these "gamers" think that online play give them the protection of anonymity and distance. If you cant see me then it's safe to cheat,how you going to find me? I tried online gaming when I first got my computer, and was trashed by cheats and "win at any cost" players everytime. I prefer to just have fun on the FS9 servers now.

Here's something I and my friends realised about cheats, I play table top games also, like Warhammer 40K. We have found that any type of gamer falls into two categories;

 

1] The one who just likes to play useually has a life beyond playing games. Has a wife or girlfreind that lets him enjoy his self, has a job in that he likes and has some control of his life.

 

2] The Cheat, lives with mom, hates his job if he has one, no social skills, no girlfriend or if one is the dominant party{yes dear} hasn't had a date in years, has absolutely no control of his life. The only thing he feels he can control is whatever game he plays, by any means.

 

I love catching cheats when playing at the local hobby shop, the look on their face is priceless when they are told they are now banned from playing for one month. It's even better when they come back and no one will play against them.

 

There are cheats every where,some are easier to catch and ban. Cheaters are the reason we get the looks when we talk about whatever game we play.

[Dagger 21]

I have found that cheaters are guys that THINK they're good but will never be more than barely passable,they brag about they're kills,but can't back them up...I've been fighting these guys since I first started playing on-line at the old MPlayer,or MPlague for those who remember it,and Heat..it kinda spilled over into Red Baron 2 and then RB3D..nothing like shooting a guy until your guns are empty from point blank range and watching him pull up into a vertical climb while accelerating in a plane that should have been flamed only to have him kill you with 1"super"bullet,then to other sims..so cheating is an on going battle...I see it alot at UBI in the Ghost Recon rooms...but I know most of the cheats there so I can find them fairly easily,and yes most won't play with them.all I can say is it's a lonely gaming experience once you're known as a cheat..and I'm sure that living with mommy is a big help as she will wipe your nose and butt and make it all better.

[snapple2993 0]

Oh god, maybe this isnt cheating but it really pisses me off.

 

If you play any sports game, you will find that there are certain nearly fullproof plays for scoring.

 

In NHL2004 you can have auto or manual shot aim. Obviously manual is harder (unless you get used to it and have some skill), auto aim is pure cheese, there's like 5 shots you can take that take advantage of small glitches in the game, and all 5 shots have like an 80% chance of going in.

 

I had a 5 goal lead on this guy online one time, and we got into the final 5 mins, and I knew he had auto aim on and he had been doing the cheese all game long. I ended up just using my supperior passing skills and checking to keep him out of my zone because he had like a 50% shooting percentage. Ended up breaking down late in the game and he scored 6 goals from the same spot, with the same cheese shot, god it was aweful. Then he gloated and started telling me I suck along with some other really un-called for remarks, I mean downright offensive stuff.

 

I mean come on buddy, can anyone really feel that good about winning in such a manner?

 

Here's a little funny story. I made this Berlin map for IL2 and was testing it out with invulnerablity off. All looked good, so I loaded it up online and some guy joined immediatly. I was in the Spit and he was in the Mustang, anyway I started tearing into this guy, like for 15 mins I was pouring lead into this guy (unlimited ammo), just flying around the city getting really really frustrated. So I crashed my plane, to chat safely, and just as I was about to rip into this guy for using some armor cheat I remembered that I left vulnerablity off.... Whoopsy, my bad.

Edited March 15, 2004 by snapple2993

[zagnut 0]

What up all,

 

The cheating thing racks my nerves! Yet, I'm sure they are the type of people you guys listed, and I do have a story for yall from last night. I was playing the new Aces Expansion (Which kick a$$ by the way) and I was flying against a Bf110 @ around 4-5K ft. The ball was in my court as I dove on him in my P-38 at about 350-400 kts. During that initial dive, I wouded the bird with a well placed burst of 20mm and .50 cal into his right engine. Right then, he tried to break away and head home, ditching his payload at the same time, but the kill became a weenie for me because he was low and slow, as I could enjoy taking him out at my leisure. The fight progressed into my sights, as he hadn't turned fast enough to run away as I could've climed out with speed if he got me in his kill zone. By my third pass; speed had bled off to 250 at the lowest, but still my advantage, I had gotten into the 'command position' and was going to give him a dirt nap; but all of a sudden, He nosed to the sky and just started flying backwards and up away from me at an amazing speed! I checked my modem connection- ALL GREEN. There was no explanation so I followed him. Working my way near him once again, boom. Up and away! So I get up on chat: "Wow, you've really perfected that warp thing like on Star Trek dude. That's twice already in less than a minute." Then I messed w/ him furthur after some lol's "Hey is Scottie on board? He gonna fix that wing I almost blew off??" Just a second later I see the 'CHEATING DETECTED!' sign flash on my screen. Boom. He's been cut from the game!

[+Fates 63]

I'm sure everyone would love to know the CHEATERS Callsign,....hint..hint..

[Seawolf 0]

Zag, That wasn't cheating. What you saw was lag. Usually when you see someone zoom away backwards like that then you see a cheating has been detected messege its because the guys connection got so bad he got booted from the game. It's normal.

[snapple2993 0]

Lag cheat? The elusive lag cheat, heard of, b*tched about, but never found.

[Dagger 21]

Lag monster shows up at the worst times...I see at UBI with guys running at warp speed then suddenly running backwards to where they started..or you can shot them a bunch of times and nothing..suddenly they are fine and kill you.I know it's not really a cheat but it really gets on my nerves,and I have had it happen to me as somebody tells me I warped and I couldn't tell it from my end.

I understand this is a given in MP as not everybody has a cable or Faster connection.

[Chaingun 0]

My worst one was the NET in RB3D. normal, but always at the wrong time........ Don't do too much of the online flying these days like I use to, just lost most of my interest there. Would love to get back the commaraderie of the US95th as it was.

[zagnut 0]

Well, about the lag thing, I play on a hyperlobby and not the Ubi.com site. I can;t even get the software to install right! The HL is way better than zone.com or ubi b/c people start up some great dedicated servers. You can play more than just IL2 aces and FB. They have LOMAC, some Janes stuff, and a few others I can't remember. It's a 3.5 mb d/l and I think you can get it from simhq.com. Getting back to the point. Maybe it was lag? No one else had that experience tho. I've seen a few speed hacks in-game before, and he didn't exactly fly backwards. He climbed. I was still flying straight and level (forgot to add). This dude was Superman, with his up-up and away flying. He got back down low where I was before being booted. If it's lag, then I guess it worked out in his favor. I'm still suspicious. I wasn't drunk or anything. Kinda sad when one has to say that. - lol

Edited March 15, 2004 by zagnut

[zagnut 0]

Oh, and sorry, I forgot his name. :(

[Seawolf 0]

Zag many of us use hyperlobby and have for years (Since Janes.net went down) and hyperlobby has nothing to do with the lag in the game. Hyperlobby only launches the game and then goes dormant while your game is in session. What you saw is something we see nightly even in the best dedicated servers. People come and go in these servers and not everyone has the best connection so if this guy had a net fart or 15 programs running in the background of windows then what you saw makes sense and has to be lag on his end. You have to be carefull when accusing someone of cheating because its easy to confuse lag with some nifty new "lag cheat"(which doesn't exist since the 1.2 patch) so the best thing to do is wait and see if there is a pattern. Personally if I saw what you saw (and I do every server I go into) I wouldn't accuse the guy of cheating, but I might make a comment in the chat buffer to the effect of "Nice lag bud" and leave it at that. Of course the ones who lag the worst and are told by several people they do will refuse to believe it's on thier end so you just deal with it and move on.lol

 

One thing I have seen with the IL2 community in my limited time flying IL2 is they don't take to well to cheaters and they will gang tackle a cheater in a heart beat if its proven that the person cheats. For the most part the guys I run into online with IL2 are the most respectfull of any sim community I have been a part of. Each engagement ends with a quick "S!" from both sides and there is very little jaw jackin going on. Thats not to say you won't run into the occasional "You must be cheating because you shot me down with your Uber plane" but for the most part the community has a lot of fun together and it's pretty impressive.

[snapple2993 0]

Here's the lag cheat.

 

Load up a map with lots of stationary objects and flak (preferably ships), and then everybody flies Me262's. If you've seen this, you know what I mean.

Edited March 15, 2004 by snapple2993

[zagnut 0]

LOL! It's cool man. Like I said, I was just playing w/ him. I'm still not for sure if he had that hack or not. It just was wierd (maybe from that angle/ POV). I didn't openly accuse him of "Cheating" I just saw the message w/ the Cheat det. flash, and he was gone after that. I was just giving him a little crap is all.

Edited March 15, 2004 by zagnut

[+Fates 63]

I used to see the exact same thing in USAF, Zagnut. The major cause there was not always lag...but PRNTSCRN. If a user took a screenshot, it would cause them to lag bad. This was exploited quite abit

 

<C>

Fates

[Weasel Keeper 0]

Fates, where those the same guys in USAF who flew A-10s with vectoring thrust or F-22s with a 30mm cannon? ;)

 

One thing I could always say about flying USAF is that most of the hacks out there made me better skilled and there were plenty of times I'd go up against the known hacks just to piss them off...hehe.

[+Fates 63]

Yeah Weasy....while actually flying a THUD! The hack were very noticible with the game, but some of the new FPS games out, I'm noticing that the hacks are more and more subtle.

 

<C>

Fates

[zagnut 0]

Good call Fates. I experimented with the PRNTSCN key last night (single player), and same results like you said. That could be the case. I'm gonna call teh FBI and launch a full-scale investigation.

[Weasel Keeper 0]

That's the reason TK limited the screenshot time for SFP1. :D

[Seawolf 0]

Here's the lag cheat.

 

Load up a map with lots of stationary objects and flak (preferably ships), and then everybody flies Me262's.  If you've seen this, you know what I mean.

I have actually seen that so thats why if I am wanting to dogfight I go into a server setup for dogfighting with a certain aircraft list and little by way of ground objects.