Official statement of cheating on PBW.

disabled · #1 April 13th, 2002, 05:25 PM

Hmm.. True on that. A more complex route to block IP's would to create an 'allowed Users list' with whole IP ranges blocked off because of cheaters and Users also in that range would be granted access.

There is no 100% way to block a cheaters besides finding them and pounding them into a pulp.

Rich04 · #2 April 14th, 2002, 03:34 AM

A sad state.

There is a growing sense of paranoia it seems over on PBW.

A person whom I know would never cheat in in a game was recently accused by his main opponent whom is also the host. This is very self serving.

Futher rather than find out from the player what was up. He went straight to admin and complained.

With all the talk here on this topic, I guess things will get worse before they get better.

geoschmo · #3 April 14th, 2002, 04:49 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Rich04:
A sad state.

There is a growing sense of paranoia it seems over on PBW.

A person whom I know would never cheat in in a game was recently accused by his main opponent whom is also the host. This is very self serving.

Futher rather than find out from the player what was up. He went straight to admin and complained.

If a player has suspicions about someone I would prefer they come to one of the admins first rather than confront the player, or spread unsubstantiated rumors about them. We can check the files and put your mind at ease without having the hurt feelings.

Consider the options if you think someone is cheating. Either they are or they aren't. If they are, what purpose is served by going to them first? If they are cheating they are going to admit it?

If they are not cheating what purpose is served. They say they aren't, but you don't really know do you? So now they are feeling insulted and paranoid, and you still think they are cheating.

quote:
Originally posted by Rich04:
With all the talk here on this topic, I guess things will get worse before they get better.

I have to disagree respectfully. As long as the discussion stays curteous and constructive, there is no harm from talking about it. It's an important issue as it raises fundamental questions about the fairness of play. My intent in bringing it up was not to fuel the hysteria, but to try and calm it.

The fact is, and this should give some perspective and make people feel better, that only twice in the year of PBW have we found evidence of cheating. That's a pretty good record considering that we have had over 2000 Users, and almost 300 that use it every day.

Geoschmo
PBW Admin Team

Fyron · #4 April 14th, 2002, 07:11 AM

I agree with what Geoschmo just said.

The game owner that is being refered to probably felt this way, so that would be why he did what he did. Doing this has nothing to do with being self-serving. If he was only looking out for himself, he probably would have looked at the game files himself first, instead of contacting the admin.

Kimball · #5 May 30th, 2002, 04:06 AM

How do you go about proving someone is cheating?

I have heard of some sort "anti-cheat" method in the game. What is it? Does it work? Is that only good for simultaneous games? What about typical turn based games? What's to keep someone from modifying the data files on his computer so that when he attacks during his non-simultaneous-turn turn (does that make sense? his anti-proton beam I (which, of course the adversary doesn't have anymore) has 10,000 damage points etc...

I think the only solution is to play with someone you can honestly say you trust.

Suicide Junkie · #6 May 30th, 2002, 05:34 AM

ISTM that some sort of record of the game's data files are kept (encrypted) in the savegame file.

If your data files do not match, the game dosen't let you play your turn.
It does cause some trouble when you are trying to update the data files to fix bugs, or get a new patch of SE4; all the players have to make the change at the same time in order for it to work.

Tenryu · #7 May 31st, 2002, 01:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hadrian Aventine:

There is no 100% way to block a cheaters besides finding them and pounding them into a pulp.

Well, I'll admit it is difficult, but I believe you can come pretty close. You need two pieces of software; a client which is graphics, communications and control interface, and a server that does everything and keeps all the data. You have to design the game this way from the outset. You have to assume the players will cheat at every opportunity.

You also have to have a clear idea just what real cheating is in a multiplayer enviornment, {the delibrate manipulation of game data or anothers computer, as opposed to taking advantage of oversites or aspects in the game design that can give a player an advantage if exploited. The former is probobly illegal, the latter, annoying, but none-the-less, can ruin a game.

That all said, "Pounding them into a {bloody} pulp" can be an excellent and rewarding pastime.

[ May 30, 2002, 13:05: Message edited by: Tenryu ]