<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Reuters: Cheaters Never Prosper --> <!--X-From-R13: X Q Znjerapr <pynjNhaqre.rate.ftv.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 17:14:38 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 199804300013.RAA00129#under,engr.sgi.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, [MUD-Dev] Reuters: Cheaters Never Prosper</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00247.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00250.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00274.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00236.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00248">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00248">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00248">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>[MUD-Dev] Reuters: Cheaters Never Prosper</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Reuters: Cheaters Never Prosper</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: J C Lawrence <<A HREF="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 17:13:48 -0700</LI> <LI><em>Delivery-date</em>: Wed Apr 29 17:14:38 1998</LI> <LI><em>Delivery-date</em>: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 17:14:38 -0700</LI> <LI><em>Envelope-to</em>: claw#kanga,nu</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Sender</em>: "Petidomo List Agent,,,," <<A HREF="mailto:petidomo#kanga,nu">petidomo#kanga,nu</A>></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> <A HREF="http://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/11995.html">http://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/11995.html</A> Cheaters Never Prosper Reuters 3:01pm 29.Apr.98.PDT As long as there have been games, there have been cheaters. But as Internet-based, multi-player games such as Quake II and Air Warrior II grow in popularity and the stakes for winning become higher, the methods that unscrupulous combatants employ to gain an unfair advantage over their opponents are becoming ever more sophisticated. In other words, the bigger the prize, the sneakier the cheats. Last week, the fledgling Professional Gamers' League said it booted eight cheaters from a field of 1,500 participants in the initial qualifying round of its second season. Some players were disqualified for using software programs called "bots" and "trainers" that help steady or aim a weapon, or illegally control some other aspect of the action so the players can outscore their opponents and win a match. Others were kicked out for "padding," playing against a friendly adversary who agrees in advance to be hit or killed repeatedly so their buddy can rack up points. "If you face someone for seven minutes and kill him 128 times, the only way to do that is if they stand still and let you," said Garth Chouteau, spokesman for the PGL, owned by Total Entertainment Network, an online games company. Cheating is no small matter. In fact, some gaming industry insiders believe it's the main reason that professional play isn't taking off faster. "It's a headache from a personnel point of view to referee for cheating, and from a technical point of view to create tools to inhibit cheaters from being able to gain an advantage," said Chris Sherman, long-time online games watcher and publisher of Unified Gamers Online. Serious gamers have a vested interest in keeping play clean. They want people to take them as seriously as they do players in the National Football League or Major League Baseball. The more professional the field, the better chance they will have of drawing fans and reeling in endorsement deals from sponsors. "A lot of younger players will look up to the well-known players and if they're acting like jerks, it makes them look bad," said Adam Hudson, 20, otherwise known as "Hud," a college student from Boston and currently the PGL's second-ranked "Quake II" player. The PGL uses referees and cameras to monitor play in its semifinal tournament of the top 128 players. Officials review game tapes looking for extraordinarily high kill rates or repeated use of obscure weapons that could signal use of trainers or bots. The league's final tournament, a double-elimination contest among the top eight players in two categories, is held live at a game center or another public venue to wipe out any chance of cheating. If contestants are caught cheating, they are thrown out -- but only for the remainder of one of the league's three-month seasons. Rule-benders can enter future tournaments as long as they pay the US$10 entry fee. "Games change. People change. If it wasn't relatively easy to catch them we would" bar them for life, PGL's Chouteau said. In the early days of online games in the 1980s, cheating was less common because people played on local networks and knew their opponents. The Internet has changed that, said John Taylor, president of Kesmai, the News Corp. division that runs GameStorm, as well as online gaming areas for America Online, CompuServe and Prodigy. "Once you go online, people are anonymous and that makes all the difference," Taylor said. Kesmai eliminates most circumstances that could lead to cheating by running its online games on company computer servers tucked safely behind hacker-proof firewalls. "We don't put game-critical information on the (user's software) so we can offer a higher level of security," Taylor said. But even that does not stop top players from agreeing not to compete against each other to preserve their standing, actions Taylor puts into the category of cheating. "One of the eye-opening things we've learned over the years is [that] having a game that relies on people competing against each other and thinking they'll compete doesn't necessarily work," he said. In the end, most people who play games online would rather not cheat, Taylor said. "If people believe they can compete fairly and cheaters will be caught, they're happy," he said. "But if there's only rampant cheating going on, the only people who'll be happy will be the cheaters." -- J C Lawrence Internet: claw#null,net (Contractor) Internet: coder#ibm,net ---------(*) Internet: claw#under,engr.sgi.com ...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith... -- MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future. </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00247.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Java for Mud Client (Crossfire MUD topic)</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00250.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) [DESIGN] Macro semi-language</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00274.html">[MUD-Dev] DOOM Gets a Storyline?</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00236.html">[MUD-Dev] Bio of John Bertoglio</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00248"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00248"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>[MUD-Dev] Re: Mud-Client, and specifically, COOLMud and SFWhite</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00257" HREF="msg00257.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Mud-Client, and specifically, COOLMud and SFWhite</A></strong>, Dan Root <a href="mailto:dar#thekeep,org">dar#thekeep,org</a>, Thu 30 Apr 1998, 02:34 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00306" HREF="msg00306.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Mud-Client, and specifically, COOLMud and SFWhite</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Fri 01 May 1998, 22:01 GMT </LI> </ul> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00253" HREF="msg00253.html">[MUD-Dev] Supporting articles found for UOL play style</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Thu 30 Apr 1998, 01:25 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00274" HREF="msg00274.html">[MUD-Dev] DOOM Gets a Storyline?</A></strong>, Holly Sommer <a href="mailto:hsommer#micro,ti.com">hsommer#micro,ti.com</a>, Thu 30 Apr 1998, 19:07 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00248" HREF="msg00248.html">[MUD-Dev] Reuters: Cheaters Never Prosper</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Thu 30 Apr 1998, 00:14 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00236" HREF="msg00236.html">[MUD-Dev] Bio of John Bertoglio</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Wed 29 Apr 1998, 20:01 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00230" HREF="msg00230.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) Confusing?</A></strong>, Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Wed 29 Apr 1998, 06:02 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00228" HREF="msg00228.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Some thoughts on languages and users - was: Macro semi</A></strong>, Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Wed 29 Apr 1998, 06:02 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00318" HREF="msg00318.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Some thoughts on languages and users - was: Ma</A></strong>, Jon A. Lambert <a href="mailto:jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com">jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com</a>, Sat 02 May 1998, 06:17 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>