Riot Games Stopped League of Legends Cheats by Hiring The Coders

[Steven Bogos]

Riot Games Stopped League of Legends Cheats by Hiring The Coders

A League of Legends cheat coder tells of his "double life" coding cheats for profit, then selling that code to Riot Games.

The battle against cheats is something that pretty much every online multiplayer developer struggles with. It's a constant "arms race" between cheat coders and anti-cheat software that more often than not, the cheaters are a step ahead of. So how do you get ahead of the cheaters? Well, you hire the people who make them.

For at least five months-and likely more-Riot paid cheat coders to pass along code, work as consultants, and act as informants on their peers, according to sources within the cheat-coding community and a contract obtained by the Daily Dot [http://www.dailydot.com/esports/riot-cheat-coders-league-legends/]. One of the sources, who for obvious reasons prefers to remain anonymous, tells of how Riot first approached him.

"At first a well known Rioter, who I won't name, would reach out to members of the cheating community that they could entice with non-monetary rewards," said the source. "They'd be giving them free Riot Points [Riot's "premium" in-game currency] and various items of swag, like Teemo hats. I can't believe people actually accepted it. When I was offered that, I told them to get fucked."

"They appealed to what all coders really enjoy: exposing flaws in someone else's code."

The source went on to say how Riot's next step was to appeal to what all coders really enjoy: "exposing flaws in someone else's code. They straight out said we could get paid to work as consultants and all we had to do in exchange was explain how these programs we were making worked. We didn't have to stop coding cheats. We would get paid twice."

However, the source said that while the pay was good, and working with Riot was generally rewarding, after a time the company became more and more demanding of him. "Personally, I think I gave them everything they could have wanted and more," he said. "There were probably 10 exploits that never saw a ranked game during the months I was contracted. The management would pressure you and say they weren't getting enough for their money, so you'd work more and more hours. If that didn't satisfy them, then they'd ask you to give up other people."

"What they do with the information we provide them... Well, it's not always what I would call ethical."

The source explained that what Riot did with the information provided in "giving up" fellow cheat coders wasn't exactly ethical. "They know legally they can't touch them without cast-iron evidence, so when developers won't 'flip,' Rioters go directly to them and let them know that they know who they are. If you're a 16-year-old learning how to code and you get confronted like that, obviously you're going to shit your pants. It's obviously more cost effective than how they used to do things but I doubt it has the same results."

In the end, the source claims that Riot's dubious ethical nature, combined with a change in his contract that would see him earn considerably less money, caused him to cut ties with the company. "I know that no-one reading this will be sympathetic and I guess I can't complain," he said. "I got months of great pay-until they switched the agreement-and a free trip to L.A. In the end though, they weren't committed to fixing the problem and couldn't pay me enough to make my time worthwhile, so I went back to developing cheats and Elo-boosting."

Source: The Daily Dot [http://www.dailydot.com/esports/riot-cheat-coders-league-legends/]

Permalink

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

When someone who codes cheats uses the word "ethical", that word should immediately turn around and kick their teeth in.

When you enable the scum of the Internet to ruin the enjoyment of others, you're not what I'd call an authority on the topic.

 

[The Wykydtron]

A kinda standard solution to that sort of problem actually, if a bit ruthless from Riot's side. Companies hire people who've hacked their security to improve it semi regularly. Still if it means Riot can get rid of shit like this


Then people shouldn't have much of an objection.

If only they would fix the problems from their end. EU West is still wank and there are still ongoing firewall errors preventing game connection on every server.

As someone who's been on EU West for years, I still love to see people on NA ***** about lag though.

"You merely adopted the lag, we were born in it, raised in it! I didn't see stable ping until I was already level 30!"

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

Hooray for moral ambiguity, for both parties. Although I'd have to side with Riot here. Zero respect for people who profit off of ruining the game for others.

I guess this means the arms race will resume then?

 

[RJ 17]

Snip

To be fair...you don't really need cheats to win with Fiora.

Assuming you know what the hell you're doing with her, of course.

OT: Guess it's a good thing that I'm pretty much the picture definition for "Casual LoL Player." That is to say I started playing LoL back in July annnnnnnnnd from day 1 I've done nothing but bot matches. I don't care to get involved in the actual competative ladder...I just like the MOBA game style and don't want to fell any pressure coming from the community (such as the "OMG WTF YOU BOUGHT (X) AS (Y) CHAMPION?! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!?!?!"

I learned the basic principles of MOBA by playing DOTA back when it was just a WCIII custom map. I'd go competitive...but I just know I'd likely piss everyone I played with off. That's why I just stick with nice, easy bot matches to kill some time here and there.

And just for clarification: a good friend of mine is big on LoL's competative scene, that's how/why I said what I said regarding Fioara.

PS: Need More Karthus Skins. As much as I love the Grim Reaper skin, I'm about ready for something new.

A new Katarina or Ashe skin wouldn't go amiss, either. =3

 

[Karathos]

Developing cheats for games and complaining about ethics! Priceless.

As far as I'm concerned these people got more than they deserved. Most devs would never even contact you about work, let alone pay you for it. The nerve of this guy. Gets caught developing cheats - is offered reward rather than punishment - complains about ethics. You get a out-of-jail-free card, and you're too much of an entitled muppet to even recognise it...

 

[The Wykydtron]

Snip

To be fair...you don't really need cheats to win with Fiora.

Assuming you know what the hell you're doing with her, of course.

OT: Guess it's a good thing that I'm pretty much the picture definition for "Casual LoL Player." That is to say I started playing LoL back in July annnnnnnnnd from day 1 I've done nothing but bot matches. I don't care to get involved in the actual competative ladder...I just like the MOBA game style and don't want to fell any pressure coming from the community (such as the "OMG WTF YOU BOUGHT (X) AS (Y) CHAMPION?! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!?!?!"

I learned the basic principles of MOBA by playing DOTA back when it was just a WCIII custom map. I'd go competitive...but I just know I'd likely piss everyone I played with off. That's why I just stick with nice, easy bot matches to kill some time here and there.

And just for clarification: a good friend of mine is big on LoL's competative scene, that's how/why I said what I said regarding Fioara.

PS: Need More Karthus Skins. As much as I love the Grim Reaper skin, I'm about ready for something new.

A new Katarina or Ashe skin wouldn't go amiss, either. =3

Yeah but some of those other hacks were even worse, maybe. Fiora's was pretty bullshit. Her autoattacks were her ult. Shit's fuckin' stupid.

You had Vaynes whose autoattacks were Condemns so she would pingpong people back and forth all game, I think TF had one where every autoattack was a Red Card too.

Anyway Fiora is a proper solo queue character. She can carry a game easy if you let her get fed in a standard non-competitive level game but she's never gonna get played in the pro scene. How to explain... She's good at taking advantage of mistakes and there are a lot of mistakes going on in any given solo queue game.

Spoiler: Gbay actually did this very specific video on her thinking about it, it's pretty interesting

She's an example as to why people who go "I can't believe you picked X, X is never played in the pro games GG noob" have no idea what they're going on about. Almost as bad as people who use Champion win rates as a point in their argument which is flawed in so many ways. Unless you're talking about Patch 4.20's Warwick cuz it was impossible to lose with him on your team.

Can't believe people actually play 100% bot games, I know the community can be bad sometimes but you're never going to get much better unless you PVP. Just mute your entire team from minute 1 if you think you have to. The fun cap is way higher in PVP too. You'll never see a Yi Bot activate Ghost to run away from a gank he'd already dodged easily. The endless tales I could tell about random League players...

Those were the days. The days when AP Yi was a thing. Fuck those days actually, i'm glad AP Yi is dead. He would legit tank towers forever with his Meditate easily healing him through it. Then would kill your entire team because his Q had a stupid high AP ratio and it resets on kill or assist.

 

[Ironman126]

Those were the days. The days when AP Yi was a thing. Fuck those days actually, i'm glad AP Yi is dead. He would legit tank towers forever with his Meditate easily healing him through it. Then would kill your entire team because his Q had a stupid high AP ratio and it resets on kill or assist.

But... But AP Yi was the only fun I ever had playing LoL. That and Ashe's "tag, you're it" cross-map arrow shit. So many angry players, usually on my team.

 

[Guffe]

When someone who codes cheats uses the word "ethical", that word should immediately turn around and kick their teeth in.

When you enable the scum of the Internet to ruin the enjoyment of others, you're not what I'd call an authority on the topic.

I think there can be 2 sides to this. Someone may only code the codes of a game, use it once to see if it works and then be done, just to learn coding. Then again hacking, and actually using the codes you coded against the original code to get something out of it, that's wrong.

I know nothing about coding but I can only think how difficult it must be, and I guess the best way to learn is by doing, and why not test yourself against someone who has more resources and probably, more training in it than you (big corporations). But then there is of course the fact that it isn't always 100% legal the stuff hackers do...

 

[Ark of the Covetor]

What they're doing is hardly unethical. In fact, if they were dicks about it, they would have came down on these script kids way harder than just implied threats and coercing them to cooperate.

Hey, I haven't encountered a single hack (as far as I'm aware?) in my two years of playing league. They're keeping their game secure as far as I'm concerned and that's fine by me.

To be fair, while this guy is hardly qualified to talk about ethics, what Riot is doing is a bit unethical if you read what's allegedly been going on; they're confronting and threatening people on no more evidence than hearsay from some bloke who gets money(and avoids consequences himself) for giving them that hearsay. People they know they can't touch legally due to lack of evidence.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Those were the days. The days when AP Yi was a thing. Fuck those days actually, i'm glad AP Yi is dead. He would legit tank towers forever with his Meditate easily healing him through it. Then would kill your entire team because his Q had a stupid high AP ratio and it resets on kill or assist.

But... But AP Yi was the only fun I ever had playing LoL. That and Ashe's "tag, you're it" cross-map arrow shit. So many angry players, usually on my team.

Trust me, if you were playing AP Yi decently the players on the enemy team would have been even angrier.

Though during this time of Zed mid every single fucking game, I would almost prefer an old AP Yi game. Almost. The rising plague of "i'm so edgy, I dodged a move with my ult, pressed all my buttons then tapped R again for the free tower dive, i'm literally Faker right now" Zed players is so frustrating.

It's teaching me that I have to be a total dick from minute 1 to even stand a chance at winning lane. He walks into lane and eats Blue Cards every time it comes off cooldown. You have made me do this, I am usually happy to ignore my opponent and just farm with TF but that's not an option here.

 

[RJ 17]

Can't believe people actually play 100% bot games, I know the community can be bad sometimes but you're never going to get much better unless you PVP.

Yeah, but I don't care to get better. As I said, I'm about as casual an LoL player as you can be...just playing a game here or there to kill some time. I don't really care about getting competitive with it.

 

[webkilla]

I've always been told stories of companies that would hire hackers that entered their systems to consult on fixing those sexurity issues. Thus, I see nothing wrong with what Riot is doing.

Oh, is the hacker saying he's not being paid enough to fix these things? well... Riot knows who he is, so if he goes back to just selling hacks they can sue his ass.

 

[Aeshi]

So the moral of the story is that (most) cheaters prosper, while (most) non-cheaters don't.

What an inspiring message!

 

[VladG]

This doesn't really change my good opinion of Riot Games. Hiring lockpicks and safecrackers has been a thing much longer than computers have. Sure, they might have been a bit dickish by intimidating people.. but in the end they are protecting their product and their customers in what seems a pretty fair and reasonable manner.

 

[RaikuFA]

Can't believe people actually play 100% bot games, I know the community can be bad sometimes but you're never going to get much better unless you PVP. Just mute your entire team from minute 1 if you think you have to. The fun cap is way higher in PVP too. You'll never see a Yi Bot activate Ghost to run away from a gank he'd already dodged easily. The endless tales I could tell about random League players...

I'd rather play by myself than with a bunch of jerks who'd just criticize me for not playing how they want me to play.

Single player dosen't judge me. Neither does bots.

 

[XenoScifi]

The problem I see here is not the coders. Not the developers lack of understanding of their own code. Not even the fact publishers are hiring coders to show them the flaws in the code. The problem is still the consumers of the coders work. Always has, always will be. Does anybody really believe a coder would continue to work without getting paid? Some may, but not for extended periods of time. Most of these hacks would not keep showing up if people would not keep buying them. You may find some for free, but free is not always free (introducing malware all over the place).

This, of course, is only my opinion and in no way reflects the truth, unless this absolutely the truth, in which case...STOP BUYING HACKS. Please and thank you

Cool story though. Enjoyed the read.

 

[Ironman126]

Those were the days. The days when AP Yi was a thing. Fuck those days actually, i'm glad AP Yi is dead. He would legit tank towers forever with his Meditate easily healing him through it. Then would kill your entire team because his Q had a stupid high AP ratio and it resets on kill or assist.

But... But AP Yi was the only fun I ever had playing LoL. That and Ashe's "tag, you're it" cross-map arrow shit. So many angry players, usually on my team.

Trust me, if you were playing AP Yi decently the players on the enemy team would have been even angrier.

Though during this time of Zed mid every single fucking game, I would almost prefer an old AP Yi game. Almost. The rising plague of "i'm so edgy, I dodged a move with my ult, pressed all my buttons then tapped R again for the free tower dive, i'm literally Faker right now" Zed players is so frustrating.

It's teaching me that I have to be a total dick from minute 1 to even stand a chance at winning lane. He walks into lane and eats Blue Cards every time it comes off cooldown. You have made me do this, I am usually happy to ignore my opponent and just farm with TF but that's not an option here.

Oh, my team was never angry with AP Yi. They were, however, pissed at my Ashe ult kill stealing skills. Or maybe it's the fact that I played Ashe that they were pissed about... Meh, fuck them, everyone takes LoL too seriously, especially in unranked. "If you were good enough for me to care about your opinion, brah, you'd be playing a ranked match," was kinda my battle cry.

As for Zed mid, i quit LoL about the same time Zed came out, so I think I only played like ten games with him around. I did, however, usually play Lux or Morgana mid and don't recall seeing Zed more than once or twice. Still, he sounds like an awful opponent.

 

[MCerberus]

Is anyone else imagining a reservoir dogs scenario where a hack goes bad, they cut off the ear of a tribunal voter and then Teemo confesses to be an admin?