Hackers: The new skill.

[DaHero]

Anyone that's played an FPS has dealt with hackers. At this point, legitimate gamers are of the minority. How long until hacking (or using a hackers program, AKA cheating) is the only way to play an FPS on the PC; and, do you believe competitive multiplayer based games will begin to die off once everyone hacks and cheats (technically, quickscoping is cheating whether people want to admit it or not)? Where will FPS fans go when there is no way to play a legitimate match anymore?

Personally, I think the next wave of games (BF3/MW3/Etc.) will be the last line of games that can be legitimately played. Big developers will either remove PC support, or just release games without any kind of hacker protection (MW2) and lead to the degradation of the FPS on the PC. FPS gamers will then turn to consoles for their FPS gameplay, and hackers will begin to attack consoles in mass. Once the hackers are done, they'll release the hacks to the internet, and the cheaters will take over the FPS genre completely. At that point, the FPS genre will die back into single player games.

In my mind, the only way to stop hackers is to stop making multiplayer games. If all that's allowed is good, solid co-op, hackers and/or cheaters will die off fairly quickly. I know this won't happen because obviously that's selfish (and I'd like a game with half-way decent co-op but that's just me) but I can't see any way to get rid of the cancer, as far as it's spread.

 

[Loop Stricken]

I respect your right to voice your opinion, but I personally think you're talking bollocks. Especially about quickscoping - how is that cheating?

Also FPS players will not turn to consoles, chiefly because, haha, PCs have keyboard and mouse, and keyboard and mouse is best pony, as any fule kno.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I think you overestimate the number of hackers in online games...

The last multiplayer game I played that was hacked was CoD 4, and that's only because I'm pretty sure that nobody is really bothered about preventing it anymore.

 

[Fayathon]

>PC FPS players migrating to consoles

Not gonna happen, PC FPS players are too ingrained in playing with decent controls to change to consoles. Besides anyone on the PC can find servers that are minimalistic in hackers, hell I do it on a daily basis.

 

[Jedoro]

No, people will still hack so they can breeze through the co-op to get a higher score than the other players. Like most restricted activities, it's not something you can completely get rid of, so all devs can do is try to deter most of it and hunt down those who do hack. There could also be a votekick function in every game so if people decide that someone's clearly hacking, they're gone. Yes, it's open to abuse, but so is everything. This isn't something devs can just give up on if they want to make a profit.

 

[Lightning Delight]

Eh. I don't really care. I play consoles, and I can't see any hackers caring enough to come over and ruin my fun. And even if they do, I am perfectly content playing single player, so long as the single player is good.

You seem to have a rather alarmist point of view on this, and your solution also seems a bit radical. It's like the Forerunners and Halo: they can't hack us if we don't have anything to hack. Just calm down; it probably isn't that big of a deal.

And Quickscoping isn't cheating. It may be cheap as hell, but it's perfectly legal.

 

[gabe12301]

...What?I've only entered hacked games less than 10 times all my life as a PC gamer and probably a lot more on xbl (gotta love rapid fire noobtubes).

and I think most of what you're saying is bollocks and you might be trolling.

 

[DaHero]

Especially about quickscoping - how is that cheating?

It's a glitch, an exploit of mechanics. A Sniper is always meant to wait in the back and provide support for infantry, not run out into the front and spray bullets without even looking fully down the scope.

To explain (before people report for trolling)

I've never played an FPS game that had decent anti-cheat support. This goes right up the list from BF1942 to TF2 to CS:S to Black Ops and so on. I'm not saying everyone hacks, I'm saying that clearly it's only a matter of time. the MW series has it the worst, with MW2 being literally designed FOR hacking. Every time a new FPS is introduced, some players begin to almost immediately look for as many exploits and glitches as they can. As soon as an exploit is discovered, it catches and spreads like wildfire.

On another note, if someone thinks I'm going to spend this much thought and effort into writing up a discussion like this merely to start a flame war, bear in mind that not everyone actually has fun with FPS games.

 

[evilneko]

These losers you refer to as "hackers".... aren't.

The vast majority of them couldn't hack their way out of a paper bag.

Just call 'em cheaters. Thanks.

/pedantic

 

[DaHero]

These losers you refer to as "hackers".... aren't.

The vast majority of them couldn't hack their way out of a paper bag.

Just call 'em cheaters. Thanks.

/pedantic

Fair enough, I'll fix it.

 

[distortedreality]

I respect your right to voice your opinion, but I personally think you're talking bollocks. Especially about quickscoping - how is that cheating?

Very much this.

I've been FPSing for a long time now, and while there's definitely more hackers now than there was say even 5 years ago, i'd hardly go so far as to say the majority of players cheat.

Every cheat detection system has it's flaws, but still the best to date (imo) is VAC. PB is an absolute pain in the ass and damn near useless most of the time. Give me a decent server admin on a VAC secured server any day of the week and i'll be happy.

While i'm going to get into the CoD and BF3 MP, I only do so to have fun, and I can tolerate the odd cheater in that respect. I don't enjoy them, but if someone is ruining my fun I can switch servers and more than likely never see them again.

When it comes to competitive MP, i'll wait for the new CS. While VAC may not be foolproof, it does a much better job of catching cheats than any other system.

edit -

It's a glitch, an exploit of mechanics.

Which in most cases isn't cheating. If it is considered cheating, devs will patch it out. Glitches and exploits are generally (apart from when they're game breaking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vDaM31wGfU ) pretty hilarious and can be countered easily.

 

[MammothBlade]

I respect your right to voice your opinion, but I personally think you're talking bollocks. Especially about quickscoping - how is that cheating?

Also FPS players will not turn to consoles, chiefly because, haha, PCs have keyboard and mouse, and keyboard and mouse is best pony, as any fule kno.

I think you overestimate the number of hackers in online games...

The last multiplayer game I played that was hacked was CoD 4, and that's only because I'm pretty sure that nobody is really bothered about preventing it anymore.

Basically, these. There aren't as many hackers as you assume, and quickscoping is not "hacking". I don't like quickscoping and think games would be better without it, but it is usually within the rules.

 

[Tharwen]

If you want a glimpse of this world you describe, play Crysis online. Don't play for too long though, lest the Hack infest you too.

 

[Mischa87]

These losers you refer to as "hackers".... aren't.

The vast majority of them couldn't hack their way out of a paper bag.

Just call 'em cheaters. Thanks.

/pedantic

Fair enough, I'll fix it.

I've always called 'em "script kiddies" And just about everyone I've met that have been gaming online for more than 1~ year has, or at least in the games I've been playing.

But yeah, these kids have gotten pretty bad, I've recently picked up APB:R, playing it with my ex, and a mutual friend, and we get put up against cheaters just about every round, heck, the round I JUST played before writing this post, we were against 2 aimbotters and some people outside of the mission griefing us, making it impossible for us to win (Literally impossible, not the exclamation of desperation variety) The sad part being, is they had actually just banned over 1500 cheaters on my preferred server earlier today... It was even worse on the EU servers, almost 5 times as many cheaters... And not to point any fingers, but on both my East coast NA server, and the EU ones, most of the people banned, and most of the people you see cheating, are from two countries who make a habit of putting their nationality in their names, in the shortened forms, you know, like xXxMydaddypaidmywaythroughtheeducationsystemBRxXx or -=ScriptkiddieRU=-... again, not wanting to point any fingers... *grin*

There's been games that have gone under due to cheaters, good ones at that, 'tis sad really...

 

[RagTagBand]

If you think quickscoping is cheating then you don't understand what cheating means. Quickscoping is legitimately exploiting a legitimate gameplay aspect, you don't break rules to do it, you dont hack code to do it, it is not a gameplay bug.

Quickscoping is this generations bunny-hopping. Yeah it might be cheap, but it's not cheating.

And no, OP, hacking isn't as rampant as you think it is. I've played a LOT of COD4, COD5, COD6 and COD7 and I -might- have encountered hacking maybe 3 or 4 times...over the course of 4+ years. I encountered more hacking while playing Planetside and even then it was a rarity.

 

[Loop Stricken]

>PC FPS players migrating to consoles

Not gonna happen, PC FPS players are too ingrained in playing with decent controls to change to consoles. Besides anyone on the PC can find servers that are minimalistic in hackers, hell I do it on a daily basis.

Im sorry but "decent controls"?
There is fuck all wrong with Analogue thumbsticks at all

They're far less accurate than using a mouse though. And what hardcore FPSer is going to willingly accept a loss of accuracy?

 

[sir.rutthed]

And that's why I play TF2. Gotta love my VAC. Seriously though, I think you're overestimating the number of cheaters out there. Maybe you just suck at FPS games?

 

[rabidmidget]

In the games I've played, I have seen barely fuck all hackers and I'm a PC gamer.