Well aware that cheaters spoil the experience of its games, Activision has decided in turn to rot their experience.
Whether Modern Warfare II And Warzone 2.0 remain extremely popular, the quality of these two online games has suffered, almost since their launch, from the presence and ingenuity of cheaters who always manage to circumvent the rules. Despite the successive waves of bans, Activision, which remains entangled in its difficult takeover, never seems able to really solve the problem. So the company decided to innovate, and the hammer of justice that falls on cheaters is each time a little more original.
cheating on CODa recurrent issue
From the launch of Warzone 2.0a Battle Royale released last November, the lobbies quickly found themselves invaded by cheaters, like the others call of duty before him. It didn’t take long for cheaters (hackers or modders, if asked) to adapt already well-known systems on similar games. Thus, it was apparently not very complicated to install mods allowing to aim automatically even if one does not see his opponent, to reveal the position of other players or the weapons they use, or to pass through walls.
And of course, for players who just want to have a good time, or for those who try hard ranked games, this can ruin the experience. Well aware of the problem that could clearly lead to the death of the game, Activision is on a permanent war footing. Thus, in September 2020, 20,000 accounts suspected of cheating had been deleted, but many players had complained of errors. Team Ricochet, specifically responsible for fighting cheaters at Activision, has therefore decided to innovate.
Activision does not lack imagination against cheaters
Of course, Activision retains the possibility of deleting accounts of cheaters, and does not hesitate to do so. But since the latter spoil the experience of other players, Ricochet spoils theirs.
Thus, in the past, this team has already launched several programs which applied directly during the games to those who were identified as such thanks to software which scans the PC in search of prohibited mods. Among all their ideas, we find the invincibility of the players to the balls of the cheaters, the inversion of the controls, or even a huge slowing down of their movements. Without forgetting their latest novelty: cheaters will now see “clones” of players placed elsewhere on the map appear on their screen, which will disappear when shot at them to frustrate them and prevent them from doing harm.
In the blog post announcing this new formula, Team Ricochet explains that doing so rather than simply banishing cheaters en masse makes it possible to make them rather harmless while keeping an eye on them. Cheating programs are evolving as quickly as the means to prevent them, and mass bans have already proven their ineffectiveness.
Sources: Engadget, call of duty
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