Cheaters Pose A Threat To Internet Gaming
from the too-bad dept
It seems there are always going to be these types of people online - who simply enjoy messing up things for everyone else. Honestly, I'm not sure what motivates them, but it's clear they're not going away. Now, the various online gaming systems are looking for ways to cut down on the number of cheaters who ruin the games for everyone else. It seems the best working system so far is to build up "trust metrics" similar to eBay's ranking system. Then, untrustworthy players can't find anyone who will deal with them. Of course, the problem with these sorts of trust systems is that people always find a way around them. The amount of fraud that still happens on eBay clearly demonstrates that.
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Time for Online Country Clubs
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Trust systems can be abused...
For an example on how this can backfire, just look at slashdot ratings or modstorming from "trusted" users on kuro5hin that can sometimes happen.
Any system that relies on mob rule is problematic at best (even if sometimes its the best option we have).
Personally, I just don't understand how someone can be sad enough to WANT to go through all that trouble to cheat at an online game...that doesn't spell 733t to me, just loser.
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I assume what motivates cheaters is money, fame and ego (eg, being rated highly at games such as UT 2003) and simply boredom.
But it's a huge problem, and has resulted in many people giving up on their favourite game altogether, or joining a small private server which is intensively regulated.
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