Some Anti-Cheat Suggestions

[Thadius (DayZ) 40]

As the topic may indicate, this thread (I hope) will be a discussion about the problem of hackers in this game, why I see the basic game design being at fault at the growing number of them. Also what may be done to lessen its regularity (as this issue will never be fully solved in any game).

 

Firstly, what do I mean by "encourages hackers"? I mean it in its most literal form, it emboldens cheaters by a lack of accountability.

 

The current game design is one more or less centered around the concept of "realism". As in, we do not have an allchat, we do not see player names, and we get no detailed information why/how we died. These atleast are the more prominent ones. 

 

I argue that these same "realism" game concepts are also the contributing factors of making this game (in its current state) the leading game in hacker anonymity. They can operate with almost total impunity, immunity and concealment. Their only concern being the very slight chance the minimal tampering protection this game has detects whatever they are using. Combined with that server admins have clumsy tools to work with.

 

This all becomes a fertile spawning grounds for cheaters of all colors and walks of life, since if there is anything we have learned from the internet, is that complete anonymity breeds a-holes like maggots onna dead elephant in sweltering heat.

 

 

Now what to do about this? Are there ways to do something about this without compromising Rockets vision of "realism"?

Short answer is "no".

 

1. Chat. Now the easiest answer would be to just enable allchat so players could communicate with the server admin or players in contact with the admin. However, bearing in mind about Rockets vision of "realism", this option is most likely never going to be implemented.

But, maybe a compromise would be possible, such as being able to send messages directly to the server admin and/or an announced list of server "helpers".

 

Being able to quickly communicate to an admin that "come here and look at these guys, they are duping right now" would be a most important weapon in the arsenal against cheaters and hackers.

 

2. Player names. Being able to see the name of the person you may be observing cheating would be valuable to a server admin. However, due to the constraints set from the "realism" vision, displayed player names seem to be off the table. I would argue that this should change, or atleast a compromise reached. 

 

For example, you could make it so that player names are only visible if you are within 5-10m of a person. You could make it so that binocs have the magical ability of "seeing" names of observed players. This will of course take away a bit of the "realism" but I feel this compromise would be acceptable to further be able to combat the malignant elements among us.

 

3. Death. Just knowing if I just got killed by a bullet, or if both my kneecaps spontaneously decided they would rather like life in lower orbit, would be very nice. But it would also be nice to know the name of the twerp that hunted my entire group while teleporting around invisible, meleeing us with what probably was an axe, while taunting us in his prepubescent russian.

 

Point 2 and 3 are about knowing names. Even if the Admin had the Eye of Sauron, the little tricksy hobbitses could still hide or just be overlooked if a name is not produced. Also, see point 4.

 

4. Server Admin tools. Now for this point I can only go from what I heard others say. And that is that server toolset for admins is lacking and could use a good overhaul or two, or five. I can not stress this point enough. If the admin has a pair of broken legs and is forced to wear a burlap sack over his head, how is he supposed to catch bad guys?

 

I could write a fifth point about better automated cheat detection, but those are almost always circumvented by the hacker community. The only real way of keeping the population of hackers down is by boots on the ground. Passive measures will never be effective.

Policing by citizens and admins alike is needed. Constant vigilance. Always.

Make it such a hassle to hack that a cheaters inate lazyness says "screw it".

 

 

That concludes some of my suggestions. Feel free to post your own or argue about mine.

 

Preempt 1. To preempt the "its alpha" crowd from drooling all over the nice carpet in here, remember most of these are fundamental game concepts that most likely will not be changed (even though I would argue that they need it, be it for more game enjoyment or catching bad guys).

 

Preempt 2. Another preempt. If you wish to argue with "I never see cheating" or "It is super rare", please remember a sample size of just you personally is not indicative of a trend. To be brutally honest though the thirty odd souls playing DayZ in the gaming community I hang out with is not a massive sample size either. But we all make observations with what we have to work with I guess.

 

**This post brought to you by a very slow work day**

[Thadius (DayZ) 40]

This is the place to discuss hacking and will remain so until there are no hackers left to hack.

I do read the content btw !

 

Merged.

I would argue that a discussion thread about how the some of the core concepts of the game may be hindering (and in some cases directly preventing) customer ability to self-regulate from people abusing the system, and possible steps to combat this, does not belong in a general hacker complaint thread. But hey, thats just me.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Thadius

[boneboys 7988]

I would argue that a discussion thread about how the some of the core concepts of the game may be hindering (and in some cases directly preventing) customer ability to self-regulate from people abusing the system, and possible steps to combat this, does not belong in a general hacker complaint thread. But hey, thats just me.

I concur, my appologies.

[Thadius (DayZ) 40]

I concur, my appologies.

Oh... uhm... I am quite at a loss what to say here.

I am not used to moderators behaving in a civil and gracious manner, especially not extending an apology. What is the world coming to when you can't even count on game forum moderators to be heartless fascists? Who am I going to demonize as shills and lapdogs of "da Man" if you start behaving with courtesy and tact?!

 

Joking aside, thank you kindly.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Thadius

[boneboys 7988]

Not the first time and probably not the last.

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The suggestions are of course all within the realms of possibility and reason.

[Thadius (DayZ) 40]

Might as well have thrown this topic down a well. The suggestion box section has less traffic then the inside of the Chernobyl reactor concrete sarcophagus.

Edited September 23, 2014 by Thadius