Talk:Cheating in online games
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[edit] Ongoing edits
I'm going to be editing this article to improve its prose and structure over the next week or two. I'll put a quick summary of what I do in each edit here, please direct your comments here as well. --Ignignot 14:53, 28 September 2005 (UTC)
- Put the definition first, which is the normal Wiki format. Rewrote the introduction to better prose. Relabeled the sections because of their awkward names. --Ignignot 19:50, 28 September 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Camping and other unsportsmanlike stuff
I appreciate it's not technnically cheating, but should this article either mention, or link to a summary page of, the various kinds of "unsportsmanlike conduct" (e.g. Camping (computer gaming)) that are found in online games? -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 17:14, 11 December 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Please Comment on External Links
Here is my proposal for a guideline for the External Links Section:
- We should look for one good site that explains cheats, with as little commercial crap added as possible.
- All edits from anons which only add to external links should be reverted as an advertisement.
Looking back on edits, external links for cheat sites have almost always been added by anons. This makes me suspect that it is a form of advertising because these sites derive their revenue from advertising. At the same time, it does make sense to put links to sites which detail cheating. Unlike a recent editor who removed some links (which I will not put back), I do not feel that distributing information on cheating is particularly bad. Then again I am rather libertarian with my views on the subject - I think of cheaters as pathetic but I also think that community forces tend to keep them away from the level of play that I am usually at. I want to hear what other editors have to say about the subject though. --Ignignot 22:21, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Second paragraph
As true as it probably is, I find "Cheating exists in all multiplayer, online computer games." a somewhat silly argument and sentence. Is there any source for this? --213.169.3.181 12:02, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
- Instead of proving that all games have cheats, why not prove that any one popular game does NOT have cheating? Every game has cheaters...fact -superkala
Somtimes in games they let you cheat like in the sims 2 if you type motherload you get lots of cash.
[edit] Trojan horses and keyloggers and such?
Would it be approriate to mention in this article that, as a result of the spread of cheating, often there will be fake "hack" sites which claim to generate ingame currency, or make you invincible, or any other number of claims, that are actually keyloggers or trojans, intended solely to steal a given player's account information? Errick 14:52, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] MMORPG Article Text Dump
Sorry to dump this work on you, the watchers of this article, but I felt that this content over at MMORPG was not really within the scope of that article and should be placed in here (or in its own article). --Beefnut 02:55, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
Cheating in online games
Cheating is a major challenge for game developers and legitimate players. Cheating is not only limited to MMORPG, but to any major online games as well. Exploiting is a form of cheating involving the use of a flaw in the game mechanics to gain unfair advantages. Depending on the nature of the exploit, developers can address the exploits within a short time through patches and updates. Even when fixed, exploiting can still be an issue, as exploiters may still have the advantage or items they gained before the patch was released. Depending on the nature of the exploit, a rollback may be needed just to counter the effects. Twinking may also be seen as another form of cheating.
Third-party programs may be used to automate in-game actions, often with such efficiency that it gives users a huge advantage. Botting is a term for a player using a script that could automate progress through the game without them actually playing the game. Farmers, if they are unable to use exploits, will use such methods to harvest ingame currency or materials from the game world around the clock. They often sell the currency and items they earn via eBay or other commerce sites, thus possibly unbalancing the game's economy. This gives players a chance to make their way into the upper tiers of the system without following the logic originally intended by the designers.
Some third party programs are released with code in them to capture and relay account details back to the author, enabling them to steal virtual possessions from the account or impersonate the rightful owner to perpetrate confidence tricks and other scams. These are often packaged, trojan-like, with seemingly-innocuous software tools for easier distribution amongst unsuspecting users.
Even more subtle methods are known to be used to cheat; depending on the way the game handles certain aspects of gameplay the client can be modified, either on disk, directly in memory, or on the wire as data passes between the client and server. So far as the server does not verify the veracity of client data or, ideally, take care of important calculations server-side, this can be used to modify values such as character health or armor, speed up movement, or change other aspects of the game to the cheater's advantage. There are programs that have been designed to prevent external programs from running during a game, such as GameGuard. The integrity of client files can also be checked each time the game is loaded, although of course there are usually methods to disable these protection programs.
[edit] Other cheats: sandbagging. multiple accounts, pushing
The cheat list should probably include (my prose sucks - better rewording, grammar, and terms needed):
Sandbagging: widespread and considered cheating in online board games, especially these with auto-ranking systems. Achieving (by various means) a nominal rank lower than the correct one can be rewarding for a player because it leads to match against weaker opponents, but it unbalances the ranking system and annoys the unsuspecting opponents. (examples: IGS, KGS - there is probably more).
Multiple accounts: the cheating player creates fake accounts (using fake identities) and plays them uniquely to give an advantage to his own real account.
Pushing: a much stronger player, usually playing by a longer time, helps a much weaker player, usually with a new account, by giving him virtual resources without anything in return. This is considered cheating in many systems because it gives to the pushed player an unfair fast start. The problem is that, in many system, due to the exponential growth of player stats, the same amount of virtual resources is at the same time negligible for the strong player and enormous for the weak one (examples: Travian, where this behavior leads to banning).
--193.206.170.151 23:27, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
