Ah, the dreaded cheaters. Haven't met any so far in ED but i remeber them well from the days i ran a server for some very well-known MMO. When cheaters started to become a problem i sat down and implemented a rudimentary anticheat solution (which was quite doable because everything was server-side) that checked some parameters from the client against what the server expected (walking up too steep slopes for example, going too fast within a time interval, etc). Auto-banning was an experiment i made but too many false positives made this strategy a bad idea.
In the end the solution was to broadcast a hidden message to all admins online so they could check the offending player manually. We had some sort of leaderboard publicly visible who caught+banned the most cheaters, that was really fun. Lots of respect for the admins
Therefore, banning just because Cheat Engine is installed is a BAD idea. I have it installed too, but only to make grinding in a certain singleplayer RPG less annoying. It'd be sufficient to just kill the Cheat Engine process if it runs, and issue a warning that it shouldn't be used while ED is running. Dedicated ED cheating tools is another story however...
my 2 cents.
So i started playing ED just recently, intentionally didn't google for ED hacks in order to stay sane.
Has the situation improved since this topic was started?
Really, its the exploiter's that get the most hate, as it is an obvious fingers up at the game (Leader boards ???). FD in there defence clamped down on it pretty quickly when it became a joke, but...
Many players saw no problem in actually paying guys for bounty's. To be honest there are people who would pay to relive the grinding. It's too easy to judge them as they have working-lives and family commitments yada yada yada. Yet clearly the market was there. Given the nature of the game it will continue as there will always be a market. Any and all games have this issue from WoT to WT, you can buy accounts on ebay! Elite has now joined that group. With that in mind and the P2P architecture it will be seen an easy hit.
If people want to buy accounts or in-game currency , someone is gonna find a way to do it!
The use of cheats for game play advantage will have to be addressed at a later stage. The forum for the most part, and no real figures just anecdotal reports. Most such reports can mostly be dismissed as bugs. I am willing to bet that many case's of super-shields and perpetual energy could be put down to instancing and connection errors. Everyone of us has witnessed odd glitches with team mates that are clean.
Though it will no doubt become more apparent when PvP becomes a "thing". I even suspect the CG goals may be actively or passively effected.
Using cheats to actively grief however, not much yet!. The biggest grip was actually down to game issues, dealt with by missile nerfs and such. With ramming being dealt with soon.
It is odd that for the most part the player base has used an enormous amount of self control. It appears that the major use is credit gain, not murder?
I suspect that the new update will open up a pandora's box of power grabbing and there will be unexpected open exploits that are rampantly abused by some greedy players, I expect there will even be a way for players to buy something new from someone dodgy.
I would even suggest that some groups may exploit to increase said groups standing, even in the face of condemnation from the rest of the community. Though in history any such group seems forgiven if they were the first (EvE) and re accepted.
Yet FD have done what they can.
More so, the player base has been REALLY good. Remember this is the internet! We are on-line gamers! We rage and moan etc. Compare the player base here with any rival! Look at the example of the AE thing. People are choosing to work hard together in a large group!
I have never seen that in any online gaming community if this was any other game someone would have just thrown money at it, or done the dodgy.
I hope this game can maintain this level of decency but, do wish it would sort it properly out before it becomes a bigger issue.
But so far no mega issues!
Amazing but true!
