Surely SOE can ban at a hardware level?

[EVILoHOMER]

We have that Steam Guard thing now which is tied to your hardware until you want to switch PCs and have to go through the email process. Surely SOE can just force you to tie your account to your PC hardware and then ban at a hardware level to stop hackers in a F2P game?

[maradine]

I'm guessing due to the other half who think the administrative privileges necessary to do that effectively are a horrible invasion of privacy and/or system integrity. Reference ubisoft of the early millennial years.

At the end of the day, I'd prefer they do so, but whack-a-mole is fine too, I guess?

[MrBloodworth]

Word on the street is they do ban by hardware.

And don't call me Shirley.

[Hamma]

You realize that you can spoof hardware as well right?

You can spoof just about anything.

[maradine]

At varying degrees of difficulty and time, yes. There's always a sweet spot.

[Rat]

You realize that you can spoof hardware as well right?

You can spoof just about anything.


True dat, but I bet its a pretty small percentage of cheaters that would know, or even bother to find out how to spoof it...just the knowledge of a potential hardware ban would make a lot of cheaters go strait.

My wife is a prolific orgasm spoofer!!!

[MrBloodworth]

You realize that you can spoof hardware as well right?

You can spoof just about anything.

This assumes that the people who are using hacks, are as smart as those that created them.

[Soothsayer]

This assumes that the people who are using hacks, are as smart as those that created them.

haha that's dead on.

[ThePackage]

This assumes that the people who are using hacks, are as smart as those that created them.

No it doesn't, they just use another piece of software that someone else created.

[basti]

Time for the 101 on bans:


You cannot ban someone in a game, period. Its impossible. There is no way to ban a actual person in a game, or their PC.

Hardware bans can be broken. Changing a hardware ID isnt hard, and only requires a quick google. Pay 2 cheat sides offer guides to their customers, and free hacks usually come along with a what to do in case of ban.

IP adress bans are pointless, as they only work for a bunch of you US folks. Us Euros here have dynamic IPs that change every time we log into the web.

Banning bases on certain software stuff (installed programms, Win CD-Key) is mostly illegal, as it invades folks privacy.


The key to get rid of cheaters is not a single, hefty ban, but many, small ones. Ban them in a way that makes it time consuming to get around it. Even just a minute or two of time spend are enough. Then, most important, ban fast. A cheater should not be around for more than 5 minutes.
If you can only play for 5 minutes, and then have to spend 2 minutes to get yourself unbanned, then you quickly get annoyed and stop.

Thats how you get rid of cheaters. There is no other way.

[Dragonskin]

No it doesn't, they just use another piece of software that someone else created.

Seriously doubt your average aimbotter will go through the trouble of doing a ton of research to be a proficient aimbotter. Most are just punks that do it to try it out or for a few kicks.

Hardware bans will cut out a lot of the hackers/cheaters. Then you just have to worry about the dedicated ones.. but then you probably won't get rid of the truly dedicated ones. MMORPGs have been battling those kinds of people for over a decade now. All you can really do is keep banning accounts until they get tired of creating new ones.

[EVILoHOMER]

Don't Intel have that tech where each CPU has it's own Id and can never be changed? No one in their right mind would play this game with an AMD cpu anyways.

[basti]

Don't Intel have that tech where each CPU has it's own Id and can never be changed? No one in their right mind would play this game with an AMD cpu anyways.

Err, it can be changed.

Its always, and will always be a software thing. Just change the ID at the best place possible, you have a few to choose from.

Homer, you cannot ban people by hardware. Its impossible. Trust me, i know.

[maradine]

Don't Intel have that tech where each CPU has it's own Id and can never be changed? No one in their right mind would play this game with an AMD cpu anyways.

Yes, and TCM/TPM besides. And yes, companies use them.

Time for the 101 on bans:

I agree. Here we go:

Hardware bans can be broken.

Counterfactual. Many system identifiers can be bypassed. Some are cryptographically secure. They may not be economically beneficial to mandate for a free-to-play game, but the technology exists widely, and is used frequently.

Banning bases on certain software stuff (installed programms, Win CD-Key) is mostly illegal, as it invades folks privacy.

Counterfactual, and practiced regularly. Most serious identification technologies are only unavailable in China, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakstan, where key data must be made mandatorily available to state security services.

Thats how you get rid of cheaters. There is no other way.

If the key to getting rid of cheaters was expressible in a small paragraph, we wouldn't have a cheater problem.

Homer, you cannot ban people by hardware. Its impossible. Trust me, i know.

You conflate practical with possible.