Big Concern: Hackers

[CTheRain]

Originally Posted by cryosin

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?

Yeah the SSN would be done automatically by a voice machine to the registered account. It would be a splendid idea. People outside the US though, I'm not really sure.

The call would work as setting up account information instead of signing up on the site via account. Also owning previous games would be great also. I'm not really sure how it would all work.

[psychobilly]

Originally Posted by CTheRain

Yeah the SSN would be done automatically by a voice machine to the registered account. It would be a splendid idea. People outside the US though, I'm not really sure.

The call would work as setting up account information instead of signing up on the site via account. Also owning previous games would be great also. I'm not really sure how it would all work.

If you knew anything about data privacy regulations you would know this isn't going to happen.

They can ask for a credit card, but that's as far as it goes.

Imagine if steam or someone got hacked AND they had SSN info stored...

[HellsPanda]

It may be F2P, but there is also time spent to earn Certs, aswell as Cash/resources spent to earn stuff. It will smart, people will be less likely to hack than in normal shooters. And getting your account banned will smart, if you have actually bothered earning anything, if not your going to be at a disadvantage anyway.

[Lonehunter]

Although I agree Punkbuster is almost useless, this topic has been beat to death

[Baneblade]

Make everyone buy the game box.

[Shogun]

if hackers spoil the game and things get messy, force every player to verify by phone.
sms process for everybody with a cellphone, optional normal phone computervoice process for people without cellphone.

you have to provide a phone number to open an account. you get a password per sms or computervoice, provide it at lockin and you are set.

you cheat, you get banned and the phonenumber you used will get flagged as a cheaternumber and not work for any new accounts.
as with all solutions, there are ways to bypass this or to get disposable phonenumbers, but the majority of cheaters will not take the hassle to do this again and again. it would be annoying like hell to have to get new phonenumbers just to cheat again. and annoyance seems to be all you can do against cheaters.

and a phone number is not as sensible as a creditcard number or the other things that were suggested here. also almost everybody who wants to play planetside 2, will most certeinly have a phone number of some kind. and those who don´t have one, can ask a friend to help with the process. sure, cheaters can do this as well, but each number can only be abused once.

[Fenrod]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

Make everyone buy the game box.

Hackers often buy several boxes of their games, in case they would be baned.
The cost doesn't stop them.

[RadarX]

Realistically there are folks who feel the need to cheat in every game. Fortunately we have more than a decade of experience dealing with it and systems (including experienced Customer Service reps) will go in place to mitigate it.

In short, it's been thought about considerably.

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by Fenrod

Hackers often buy several boxes of their games, in case they would be baned.
The cost doesn't stop them.

If they love the game that much...

[Shogun]

Originally Posted by RadarX

Realistically there are folks who feel the need to cheat in every game. Fortunately we have more than a decade of experience dealing with it and systems (including experienced Customer Service reps) will go in place to mitigate it.

In short, it's been thought about considerably.

thanks for dropping by and easing our minds

we know, that soe and sony as a whole propably now have more experience than anybody else in dealing with hackers and cheaters. but the concerns will pop up again and again.
but it´s always good to hear that there are a lot of people working on the issue all the time. just keep reminding us that you are always aware of the problem and that you just cannot talk alot about it, because everything communicated will end up in the wrong hands and will help the hackers to find workarounds.

[Dir]

Originally Posted by psychobilly

If you knew anything about data privacy regulations you would know this isn't going to happen.

They can ask for a credit card, but that's as far as it goes.

Imagine if steam or someone got hacked AND they had SSN info stored...

Unless someone can think of a reason why a credit card wouldn't work would love to hear the reason. I mean how many credit cards can a person have before raising red flags on some database watching cards being created and cancelled continuously. It's not a perfect answer but seems as soon as anything has gone free or trial on Planetside it was like knocking down an outside wall during a snow storm. It's one of the things I do not have any problem with on Planetside...I pay for it...one account, one credit card. Keeps the riffraff out...but then who is going to trust Sony with their credit card info?

[Furret]

If you require a credit card, you're going to lose a lot of players.

Requiring players to buy the game every time is a good idea though, even if you only charge $20 for the game, that's still a lot of money to pay just to be banned (hopefully) within a week.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to keep every single hacker out of the game. The point is only for damage control.

Something else that would help (that's out of the developer's control) would be if players reacted better to cheaters. The blatant cheaters don't cheat because its fun to have a computer play for them, they do it because it pisses people off. If everyone's reaction to a cheater was simply: '/report cheater' then less cheaters would come back. But there's always the morons who completely overreact with all caps rage tell arguments that go on for minutes, that's how the cheating trolls decide they've gotten their money's worth.

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by Dir

Unless someone can think of a reason why a credit card wouldn't work would love to hear the reason. I mean how many credit cards can a person have before raising red flags on some database watching cards being created and cancelled continuously. It's not a perfect answer but seems as soon as anything has gone free or trial on Planetside it was like knocking down an outside wall during a snow storm. It's one of the things I do not have any problem with on Planetside...I pay for it...one account, one credit card. Keeps the riffraff out...but then who is going to trust Sony with their credit card info?

Too many ways to dupe a credit card... moneycards for one, they are disposable and work like a credit card.

[Pollo Jack]

Originally Posted by Furret

If you require a credit card, you're going to lose a lot of players.

Requiring players to buy the game every time is a good idea though, even if you only charge $20 for the game, that's still a lot of money to pay just to be banned (hopefully) within a week.

The idea behind a credit card is, like an IP, or phone number it takes effort to get another one to use. Having to change phone, CC, IP, Hardware every time just to cheat will separate the casual kiddies from the dedicated cheating enthusiasts. Hopefully with low enough numbers that our CSRs can handle in a timely manner.

The problem was never money, the cheating crowd we need to be worried about are the ones that do it as a hobby. Their fun is ruining others, blowing away 20 bucks on a game is still cheaper than just about every form of entertainment out there. Considering most of these people have no dependents they will have a much less finite money pool than us.

Credit cards wouldn't be the first line and certainly wouldn't deter a large player base since we had a large player base when you actually had to pay for the game. If you have to ask your parents to borrow their credit card and your mother doesn't want you playing a game she considers too violent it is her right.

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

Too many ways to dupe a credit card... moneycards for one, they are disposable and work like a credit card.

Just like some websites don't accept e-mails from tossaway websites SOE can decline tossaway cards.

[Thoreaux]

Originally Posted by RadarX

Realistically there are folks who feel the need to cheat in every game. Fortunately we have more than a decade of experience dealing with it and systems (including experienced Customer Service reps) will go in place to mitigate it.

In short, it's been thought about considerably.

I keep hearing the party line on this, and as much as I want to believe you guys, lots of other companies/developers have made this claim. Not that I don't think you can succeed, but PS1 left me somewhat bitter about SOE's ability to deal with hackers.

So... I guess I'm reserving judgment until beta. I'm just hoping that nobody has to break out their white hats. You can expect, however, that with the concern about this, some people will be testing your anti-cheat systems, even in beta.

DISCLAIMERS: I have no idea what the term "white hat" even means. What's a hat, anyways? No that's not mine. It was an allegory. I was under a lot of stress at the time. Jesus has forgiven me. I've signed up for counseling. She told me she was 18!

ALSO: Seriously. I do not advocate any form of hacking by anyone, for any purpose.