It’s Like it’s Anti-Cheat Week
This is the third time this week a major online game dev puts out news that they are taking the fight to the cheaters. First, Blizzard talks about their machine-learning anti-cheat tools. Then Respawn outlines their plans for cheaters in Apex Legends. Now, the PUBG Corporation has put out a video talking about how they approach cheating. The PUBG Anti-Cheat video breaks down the team’s overall goal and the general steps they take in tackling specific exploits and hacks.
In their video, the Anti-Cheat Unit explain that their objective is to identify, collect data on, and implement counter measures to cheats. Once the team has done this, they begin punishing the offenders. A timeline is shown of the “Ghost Flying Car Cheat” and the actions taken against it. The chart labels sharp increases in reported uses, when the team analyzes the hacking tool, and when the fixes are made. At this point you can see a sharp decrease in this cheat being used. Following all the analyzing, the team applies an auto-banning system to those who persist. They also implement defenses in the game against certain programs that allow for hacking.
Once the Anti-Cheat Unit collects enough data, they work with their partners outside the digital realm in bringing the offenders to justice. They briefly show online headlines featuring PUBG hackers being fined, arrested, and prosecuted. This information they collect is shared around the world to stop hacking, even outside of PUBG. It is likely that the pool of anti-cheat information full of contributions from companies like Blizzard and Respawn as well. Meanwhile, the war on cheating is ongoing and our heroes behind the scenes are ever vigilant.
Does this video give you a greater perspective on what developers do to support their game?
Source: YouTube