Deadlock’s latest update introduces a humorous anti-cheat measure for all the cheaters. 🐸
In reality, nothing will change for cheaters. On the contrary, the situation may even improve as cheat developers will find it easier to identify the functions that the anti-cheat detects.
Therefore, this innovation is more of a strategic move, aimed at creating an illusion of fighting cheaters. The only real benefit seems to be the hype in the news.
Ordinary players are quite fond of such stories: “Haha, the cheater got busted!” However, in reality, nothing will change drastically in the fight against cheats.
The truth is that there’s no point in permanently banning cheaters in free-to-play games. Bypassing hardware bans (HWID) is relatively simple, creating new accounts is quick, and cheats are constantly modified to avoid detection, turning the cheater into a frog.
Current steps to effectively combat cheaters:
1️⃣ Improve the HWID ban system: Ensure that cheaters can register new accounts, but immediately push them into a separate “cheater pool.” It’s crucial to create the illusion of a “successful HWID bypass.”
2️⃣ Add requirements for playing with regular players: Similar to CS2, where a 10th rank is required to access the “Premier” mode, or in Dota 2, where players need 100 hours of gameplay. This will increase account costs and make it harder for cheaters to join matches with honest players.
3️⃣ Unnoticeable separation of cheaters from regular players: Cheaters shouldn’t realize that their matches take longer to find or that they only play against other cheaters. To smooth this out, include players who have violated the rules (but not necessarily cheated) in their matches.
4️⃣ Delayed punishment: When a cheat is detected, delay the penalty for some time, as done on Faceit, where a ban is applied after 7 days. This complicates the process of circumventing punishments.
5️⃣ Direct cheat monitoring: Not just tracking the consequences of cheats but actively purchasing and studying their features for further detection and combating them. This approach is already used by Vanguard and BattlEye developers.