In video games with ranking or competition, there are unfortunately also always players who unfairly manipulate the outcome of a match. Some developers have developed a good system for this.
Just like in classic sports, esports and gaming are also based on the principles of fairness and equal opportunities. Cheaters and players who create a bad atmosphere in the team are not welcome and in many ways destroy the fun of the game. Nowadays, it is mainly multiplayer games that are affected by such problems.
For this reason, high-quality video games need security instances that maintain and promote positive togetherness in the community. Many companies have already expanded their structures and regularly catch the problem children. In some games, they have come up with particularly blatant punishments.
Table of Contents
Riot Games
In video games from developer Riot Games, bad behaviour is not tolerated in any form. Riot has a very clear line and distributes appropriate punishment to the culprits in the event of violations of the code of conduct, which is anchored in the T&Cs. The game titles League of Legends and VALORANT are particularly affected. Here, the company has been fighting racism, sexism and cyberbullying for years.
However, an automated system that monitors all communication channels in the game, i.e. text and voice chat, makes short work of the problem children. For the first offence, the offender’s account is usually banned for 24 hours. With further offences, the punishment increases to permanent exclusion from the game.
For the cheater problem, Riot has developed suitable anti-cheat software for each game that catches such cheaters in the act and bans them immediately. In esports, the publisher does everything to ensure fair competition and also punishes cheaters who gain an unfair advantage.
Riot Games’ approach has removed a large number of toxic and undesirable players in League of Legends in recent years. Unfortunately, however, there is no permanent solution to the problem, even for a company of its size.
Rockstar Games
While in Grand Theft Auto’s single-player mode it has always been part of the game to guess all kinds of things, in multiplayer mode this is not welcomed at all. Nevertheless, some players can’t do without it and use various cheat mods to get special cars or weapons, for example, and cause trouble in Los Santos with them.
Rockstar has had some fun with cheaters in the past. For example, explosives were automatically placed on cheated cars that went off when they got in. This gave the cheaters a taste of their own medicine. In addition, they were given a cap with the inscription “Dunce” (stupid).
Electronic Arts
Of course, even a company the size of Electronic Arts has some problems. While in the best-known EA series FIFA cheating is mainly done outside the game, for example to get coins faster with auto-bots or to buy cards cheaply, in other titles the gameplay is more affected. In draft mode, where important rewards are at stake, players very often run into cheaters. Here, EA does everything it can to catch the culprits and block the account.
In Apex Legends, the cheater infestation is currently immense. Recently, it was so bad that the community as well as pros and streamers revolted against EA under the hashtag SaveApexRanked and demanded an immediate correction of the grievances.
#SaveApexRanked pic.twitter.com/h71uyboAgy
— TSMFTX ImperialHal (@TSM_ImperialHal) June 29, 2021
Here, in addition to EA, developer Respawn Entertainment also has a lot to say, as they are concerned with the security of the game’s integrity. In addition to the use of cheats, the developer team also bans the mere exploitation of software or map errors. Only recently, more than 2,000 players were banned here who used a matchmaking exploit to be able to play against lower-ranked opponents. Even if you don’t cheat yourself: even playing together with a cheater in a group is enough and your account is history.
In the past, the publisher found a good and amusing way to deal with cheaters in the well-known EA title Titanfall. They didn’t ban cheaters directly, but simply put them in a lobby with like-minded people and let the cheaters have fun with each other. This way, the other players are not bothered and the cheaters no longer have the opportunity to ruin the game for others.
Trolls or grifters who stand out during a game due to hate speech or insulting behaviour usually get an account ban, which is appropriate for the offence.
CD Project Red
To get strong equipment and weapons, a few hours of work are required first in RPGs. Those who want to skip all the work can only do so by taking advantage of some tricks. However, these are mostly not provided for by the game.
In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, players can get the important resource leather by killing cows. By changing the time of day, they respawn faster and the process can be repeated more often.
The developers of CD Projekt RED had such a problem with the cheaters exploiting this glitch that they even specially adapted the game. If a player now uses this method, monsters appear after some time that attack him and punish him.
