Big Concern: Hackers

[cryosin]

After playing Blacklight: Retribution, i am deeply concerned about hackers.

That game uses punkbuster, the same anti-cheat system that planetside uses.

I was in a server where at least 3 people where blatantly hacking. Others might have been too, but these guys where completely obvious.

Speed hacks, instant headshots across the map(with a full auto rifle), teleportation.

One guy was literally invisible to other players.

I mean it was bad, real bad.


Punkbuster has never been a powerful tool. Even valve had to create their own anti-cheat because punk buster did not suffice.

With the ability to just register and create a new account, i am deeply concerned that hackers will run rampant and ruin the experience.

[HellsPanda]

As has been stated before Punkbuster is just one of a plethora of anti cheating tools SOE will be using, that and anyone caught cheating can get all their accounts deleted [With all the stuff they have earned, or paid for]

[PlaceboCyanide]

Another problem is that PS2 will be F2P, so any hackers that have their accounts terminated will just make another account. SOE could always ban IP addresses, but that's hurting business and doesn't work on dynamic IPs. Consistent updates and constant vigilance will be the only way

[Fenrod]

I don't see the point in discussing that. No matter how many anti-cheat obstacles will be used, there will always, always be cheaters who will manage to get around them.

[ringring]

Yes, it is a big concern and it has been raised by this community several times.

All I cab say is to repeat what SoE say, that they more than anyone know the disruption the hacker can cause; they will use punkbuster as only one of their tools and they fully understand the disruption that hackers can cause.

[PredatorFour]

Im concerned with legit players getting banned in the fracas which will happen with the hackers. There was times people would say i hacked on PS, cos they got lag killed and other people i knew got accusations thrown at them too. There`s gotta be a robust /report system and active devs to insta ban the hackers on every server.
I wonder if they want to employ any people to regulate the servers and ban hackers ??? hmmm

[Kran De Loy]

This is a topic that has be gone over a number of times. Malorn (I think it was him) made a point that there are two types of hackers, those that use in your face blatant bullshit methods and those that use very subtle ones.

The blatant m**********rs will get spotted, reported and hopefully banned quickly. These people will show up no matter what you do because they're a bunch of gelatinous puddles of knob snot that get their willys excited when pissing people off. There are methods to permanently get rid of them but most of those are outlawed in civilized society.

The subtle ones only slightly enhance their normal skill with computer aids that make each and every one of them top end competitive players, but nothing more.

The more problematic group is the second one as they skew the bell curve of the skill needed to compete in the game and no one can tell for sure who is just damned good and who has AIDS.

[EVILPIG]

Some prior and future discussion on this topic..

[Immigrant]

Hackers are a concern I agree but I believe SOE will do their best to keep them away. Period. Also most hacking stories I know are anecdotal and have rarely faced real hackers myself. Nevertheless I have heard many players shouting hacker at each other and also I myself sometimes felt that someone was just a little bit too good. I was also once accused of cheating, and I'm really not that good to earn this kind of accusation to be honest. So back to my point - cheating is a problem, but it's usually blown out of proportions with cases of false accusation. So like in that story where boy cried wolf constantly I have grown deaf to most hacking accusations where there's no hard evidence (video) to back it up ...

[RNFB]

Originally Posted by PlaceboCyanide

SOE could always ban IP addresses

Bad idea. People with dynamic IPs could potentially be assigned to an IP that was banned.

[PlaceboCyanide]

Originally Posted by RNFB

Bad idea. People with dynamic IPs could potentially be assigned to an IP that was banned.

Read the last half of that sentence

[psychobilly]

If you require existing players to have a valid credit card, you can ban off the credit data when someone is caught. It won't stop hacking, but will limit repeat offenders.

If they allow you to put in fake information and go, hacking will be rampant.

[CTheRain]

Do what Nexon does with the Korean versions of their games. Require you to call in or give them a valid SSN. That would halt hacking period.

[cryosin]

Originally Posted by CTheRain

Do what Nexon does with the Korean versions of their games. Require you to call in or give them a valid SSN. That would halt hacking period.

Although I actually like this idea, there are two problems i can foresee with it:

1) Not everyone is willing to give their SSN to sony. I personally wouldn't care, but i know numerous people who would never do it.

2) How would this work for people outside of the US? They would call in and give what information?

[Tamas]

Originally Posted by EVILPIG

Some prior and future discussion on this topic..

Daft Punk - Around The World - YouTube

That song is epic win, but so are all Daft Punk songs.

Hackers - it will happen, its just a question of how fast can the anti-cheat programs respond so it doesn't inconvenience many people.

While I personally haven't been kicked by Punbuster, there are legit concerns that it sometimes kicks normal players. Despite all your efforts, people will find ways to hack, especially since account banning wont affect them as much - its F2P after all. All you can do is hope that it's something along the lines - shows all enemies and not "auto kill" everything in sight - seen hackers in BF3 that don't even shoot their gun, but just sit in a corner and everyone dies.

However I do have faith that PS2 will have decent protection.