Hackers/Dupers Have Taken Over

[IveDefected 1]

I've been a dedicated player since May. In the last month I've seen a ridiculous increase in hacking/duping/admin abuse. I'm now much more likely to die from hackers mass transporting people and admins transporting and activating "death match mode" than I am to die from normal player/zombie interaction. I've since come across multiple camps with 30+ tents, 20+ rangefinders, ghillies, and NVGs. It's becoming obvious to me that hackers/cheaters/dupers now completely control servers. Hacked and duped items are the norm. I'm even seeing jets and attack helicopters on almost a daily basis just by joining almost full servers. My clan can't keep a legitimate base for more than 3 days without it being hacked.

I think the growth of the alpha has gotten out of hand. It's becoming apparent that the devs can't keep up with community abuse. Hacking is starting to become openly acceptable on many large servers. If the situation cannot be contained the community will fracture. The game is quickly becoming a hack fest.

It's gotten so bad that my friends are looking into how to hack DayZ just so they can counter other hackers. I know the devs take a hands-off approach to many player interactions but this is something that needs to be dealt with.

[DeadManDan 23]

Do let us know what counters you find.

[treshold82 28]

Well the tent duping occurs currently even if the player isn't doing it on purpose.

[Disgraced 1123]

Yep.

It will calm down at some point, I imagine.

Until then, I intend to try to have fun and keep my head down.

[bnblue@hotmail.com 40]

Well the tent duping occurs currently even if the player isn't doing it on purpose.

I had this^^ tried to place a tent on a server no joy, relogged had 3 more tents, went to another server same place I was and there was a load of tents there, my earlier failed attempts to place?

Was pretty funny apart from the 3 new tents that I had acquired getting rid of my food/drink!! :(

[Prebenmar 0]

Instead of coming to the forum and bitching about hackers, make a suggestion on how to fix it.

[Disgraced 1123]

I had this^^ tried to place a tent on a server no joy, relogged had 3 more tents, went to another server same place I was and there was a load of tents there, my earlier failed attempts to place?

Was pretty funny apart from the 3 new tents that I had acquired getting rid of my food/drink!! :(

Not on another server, no.

Funny, I have a few tents, but I've never "accidentally" duplicated anything.

[IveDefected 1]

I don't consider duping to be hacking. I've accidentally duped items before so I consider it a design flaw.

This game is an experiment into player interaction based on survival. The point isn't having "fun". It's surviving. What is happening now is that hacking is killing players regularly. You can only respawn and play by the rules for so many weeks before you realize that unless you are also hacking you cannot survive other hackers. This is especially true when it only takes one hacker to /kill an entire server, sometimes dozens of servers a night. And it does happen often now, nightly. Even if only a fraction of the player base turns to hacking as a response it will get exponentially out of hand.

Just look at how alt+f4 has affected game play. I imagine hacking is going the same way. As it isn't punished and is the only way to survive against others using the same exploit, it will blossom as survival is the goal of the game.

[xeaglenec 13]

there is no point going further anymore. the game needs to be standalone... improving a mod would be a waste of resources.

[xeaglenec 13]

This game is an experiment into player interaction based on survival. The point isn't having "fun". It's surviving.

BS. The definition of gaming is having fun. You can have fun with survival games. 700k players would not waste their free time here if they were not having fun.

Edited July 22, 2012 by EaGLe

[Wrath (DayZ) 140]

BS. The definition of gaming is having fun. You can have fun with survival games. 700k players would not waste their free time here if they were not having fun.

He means the game doesn't provide 'fun' people make their own 'fun' from playing. Hell, I've had the most 'fun' I've ever had playing Day Z. But its not the games focus. The games focus is survival. It can be brutal and not fun at all.

Edited July 22, 2012 by Wrath

[Ganjastar 53]

tents need to be removed, because atm, everyone who spends some time server hopping and farming gear can soon have multiple copies of all the best gear.

but this is what happens when a game becomes popular. more popularity, more scumbags playing.

[Winston Whir 3]

Speaking as someone with experience in development, it is much more difficult to prevent hacking on a PC platform as all users have direct access to the filesystem and the game's files. I think you guys need to cut the dev team some slack and be happy the mod exists in the first place. The mod is in alpha and I really doubt the dev team plans to just ignore the issue (and who's to say they aren't working on fixing it now?) Securing things interally in the code is usually extremely difficult as it's hard to tell (programatically wise) if the player triggered a function or a hack/mod did - so unless you think you could do better, be patient with them :)

[Alex988 9]

hey op, thx for telling us that there a some hackers around!

[IveDefected 1]

He means the game doesn't provide 'fun' people make their own 'fun' from playing. Hell, I've had the most 'fun' I've ever had playing Day Z. But its not the games focus. The games focus is survival. It can be brutal and not fun at all.

Exactly. Other games pander to creating a 'fun' experience. This game is a brutally horrid experiment leading to deceit, murder, and sometimes forced kinship to survive. If you aren't willing to play it on a meta level you'll have a hell of a time. With the proper tools to facilitate such a meta game experience, this sort of gaming construct is the future of gaming. I can't wait for a standalone release.

[IveDefected 1]

hey op, thx for telling us that there a some hackers around!

I guess my point is that its getting out of hand because it's so easy and hacking is a means to survival against hackers now. If you play on multiple high population servers every night you'd see it regularly. It's become much more prevalent in the last month.

Speaking as someone with experience in development, it is much more difficult to prevent hacking on a PC platform as all users have direct access to the filesystem and the game's files. I think you guys need to cut the dev team some slack and be happy the mod exists in the first place. The mod is in alpha and I really doubt the dev team plans to just ignore the issue (and who's to say they aren't working on fixing it now?) Securing things interally in the code is usually extremely difficult as it's hard to tell (programatically wise) if the player triggered a function or a hack/mod did - so unless you think you could do better, be patient with them :)

I am patient. I don't think I can do better. I do think it's important to stress this point to the developers. Reporting community wide problems in the Alpha is important for improvement. Devs don't spend 5 hours a night playing on high pop servers. I do. I understand it's difficult, but it's a pressing issue. Especially going into beta/release.

Edited July 22, 2012 by IveDefected

[matticinyoattic 0]

past three deaths have been from being teleported by hackers, all three times I had a sniper/NVGs/RF/Coyote... I'm going to stop playing for awhile, I somewhat understand why clans feel the need to shut down their servers sometimes.

[Winston Whir 3]

I understand it's difficult, but it's a pressing issue. Especially going into beta/release.

I may have just gotten DayZ mod but yeah, I understand the issue with hacking - it obviously needs to be fixed, it just takes time.

[xeaglenec 13]

Exactly. Other games pander to creating a 'fun' experience. This game is a brutally horrid experiment leading to deceit, murder, and sometimes forced kinship to survive. If you aren't willing to play it on a meta level you'll have a hell of a time. With the proper tools to facilitate such a meta game experience, this sort of gaming construct is the future of gaming. I can't wait for a standalone release.

Still BS, sir. If you did not enjoy this type of game, you would not be here playing it. Stop trying to paint dayz as something different from a game. Is not art, is not "anti-game", is just a survival game with zombies. Nothing new, nothing revolutionary...

[Realign 1]

Im just calling bullshit on this, in the 2 months of playing this mod I have seen one hacker that spawned a heli.Thats it, and i play pretty much every day.So yes I agree there are hackers but not to the extent you are saying.

[HalloweeNGT 23]

Im just calling bullshit on this, in the 2 months of playing this mod I have seen one hacker that spawned a heli.Thats it, and i play pretty much every day.So yes I agree there are hackers but not to the extent you are saying.

Have you ever meet a white shark in the sea?

Would you bet on that they dont exist?

[rjack85 55]

LOL, this mod isn't really an "alpha". It's a mod that's basically hit the wall. The restrictions of the ARMA engine mean it WILL NEVER LEAVE ALPHA. It's just a MOD. It might be a real game someday but it will need a new engine and some real gameplay OTHER than the current deathmatch mode. Deathmatch = been there done that, boring.