Cheating in Elite Dangerous

[tolm]

Not sure I fully understand this but are we essentially saying that there is a way - on the PC - to run up Elite Dangerous and then change the [hit point / damage / thrust / whatever] values assigned to your ship / modules at runtime regardless of what ship/module spec was stored on the Elite servers? Sheesh ... I mean, on one hand, that's some impressive coding but, yeh, game breaking doesn't even begin to cover it.

So ... that's only gonna work if the game 'trusts' your local view of the world (your ship, other ships, etc) which works for Elite because it's a peer-to-peer model: so when I instance in with another commander, my copy of the game gets "told" the spec / state of the other commanders by their machines?

Only solution to that would appear to be a central server holding the specifications / state of all commanders in an instance such that the runtime environment becomes un-hackable (at least without a true hack into the server in the first place) vs a local commanders machine being trusted to be unhacked?

 

[Vasco Sapien]

So, should have all the '5 for 1' cheaters have been banned? There should be a chance for a player that made a bad decision to redeem themselves. Three strikes is something universal here in the U.S., I think something similar should apply.

No.. dont conflate in game cheating with the use of 3rd party hacking tools. I never said ban people for using in games cheats (i said that Fdev are a soft touch on cheats in general) Dont create a false equivalency.

BAN for hack tool use. The issue of this thread.

There is no bad decision, They sat there thought about it, downloaded it, installed it, figured out how it works, considered the pro's and con's and decided to ROB other paying ED players of their time and experiance.

BAN them.

 

[Krakenheim]

It seems FDev attitude is a kind of "dont ask, dont tell, everything is all right, nothing to see here".

That wont do, not in this case, you let this run loose you loose control of the game and honest players will stop playing it.

I did saw a couple of vídeos on youtube about it and in my many years playing several kind of MMOs I rarely encountered hacking tools that advanced/powerful that work for more than a limited amount of time before been rendered inoperative. It has been several months now and tttit seems nothing has been done as usual. Also the 3 ban policy is laughable.

To end I realy like the "wasnt possible" reply to the UI color changes and how the hack manages to do that. That fact alone says more about the incomptence/unwillingness of FDev that 1000 posts in this fórum.

 

[Mohrgan]

It's honestly sad to see the "whataboutism" from you two.

It's about a balanced response. Being that the subject here is 'cheating in a video game', something universally common, that should be met with an appropriate response, just as what happened with the '5 for 1' cheat. Your OP even mentioned that cheats are common and accepted in single player games. Circumstances matter.

If you took note, I suggested what I thought was an appropriate response a number of posts ago.

 

[MDHansen]

As others have said, bans needs to also cut them off the ability to influence the BGS. Isn't there a way FDev can shadowban cheats and hackers? Basically cutting them off doing any influence in the game, but still be able to play?

1st offense, 7 days shadowban
2nd offense, 30 days shadowban
3rd offense, strike 3, you're out, permaban, game, forumaccess, everything, so long and thanks for all the fish (maybe even an official hall of (f/n)ame and shame on the forums?)


MDH

 

[Shanaeri]

Between myself, Obsidian Ant and Ryan/SDC we absolutely planned the timing of our videos/post so they would have maximum impact. Plater scooped us by a day as we didn't know he was making a video too, which is absolutely great. The more attention the better IMHO.

It was also covered on Lave Radio last night, albeit not in the detail of the OP

 

[Old Duck]

I would make the exact opposite assumption, TBH. Companies in general (not just gaming companies) have secure programming requirements so far down the totem pole they may as well not even exist.

If the data is unencrypted, what's stopping me from reverse-engineering it and making a Python script on my Raspberry Pi that simulates an invincible Cutter than can jump 500 LY to run PowerPlay cargo 24x7?

 

[Mohrgan]

No.. dont conflate in game cheating with the use of 3rd party hacking tools. I never said ban people for using in games cheats (i said that Fdev are a soft touch on cheats in general) Dont create a false equivalency.

BAN for hack tool use. The issue of this thread.

There is no bad decision, They sat there thought about it, downloaded it, installed it, figured out how it works, considered the pro's and con's and decided to ROB other paying ED players of their time and experiance.

BAN them.

Many of us don't see such a distinction. Albeit such a convenient one.....

 

[orcofry]

Perma ban for anyone caught using them. Who want's to play next to a bunch of cheating scum? This isn't a bug/exploit, you can't exactly install a hack on your client by accident. Ban those pieces of , they want to cheat, they clearly don't give a about the game or the player base. Why should we care if they loose the account?

 

[Vasco Sapien]

It's about a balanced response. Being that the subject here is 'cheating in a video game', something universally common, that should be met with an appropriate response, just as what happened with the '5 for 1' cheat. Your OP even mentioned that cheats are common and accepted in single player games. Circumstances matter.

If you took note, I suggested what I thought was an appropriate response a number of posts ago.

In game cheating by exploiting known game design blind spots is one thing.
The use of 3rd party hacking tools is entirely something else.

happily accept a 3 strike approach to combat logging or station ramming, etc.

BAN for hack engines.

 

[Stealthie]

@FD: Do something. QUICK. This is not tolerable.

Hate to sound all "pitchforks and burning torches" but I think it's at least as important, if not more-so, to respond to these things formally.

Half a dozen incidences of actual hacking are likely to generate a heap of speculation and rhetoric.
Even if the amount of hacking is tiny, the effect it can have on the game, and it's players, can escalate if nothing is done to address the issue.

Sure, I can understand that a dev' might not want to admit that their online game is being hacked but I think it's worse to ignore it, publicly, and allow speculation to run wild.

 

[ryan_m]

So, you suggest them to perform research for each obtained cheater report with a provided video? Do you understand how many there will be such videos per day, assuming daily online by the order of magnitude ~100,000 players?
How do you imagine FDev carrying out 1000 cheat report investigations per day? With 200 additional stuff hired purposely to investigate reports? Wouldn't it be more cheap and efficient to just use dedicated servers?

This is why you use heuristics to identify cheaters rather than relying on user reports. You obtain hacks, find a way to identify them, and ban based on that. Use reports to help identify ones that are unknown.

 

[PFLUEGGE]

"...Developers have to deal with usable proof, and real life legal matters....

This isn't true. FDev can revoke the license for any reason.

 

[Vasco Sapien]

Many of us don't see such a distinction. Albeit such a convenient one.....

That is a shallow response and it doesnt fool me.

 

[Mohrgan]

That is a shallow response and it doesnt fool me.

Oh. It's a good thing I wasn't even trying to fool you. I'm of a mind that one kind of cheater, leads to being another kind of cheater, and the effects of the cheats are pretty much the same. Some players having an unfair advantage over another. Those players caught up in the '5 for 1' scandal knew exactly what they were doing, and chose to do it. '5 for 1' didn't just happen all on it's own. The player had to choose to wangle with the system. That dosen't seem all that different to me.

 

[JonLuis69]

I guess you guys could just play in Solo, it's safe there...

 

[MDHansen]

I'd like to see your face when you suddenly get that permaban without having used any cheats ever. Just because somebody else made you look like cheater in his ED client, recorded this on video, and sent the video to FDev.

Wow, defensive much? Where did I say anything at all about what or how the cheaters and/or hackers should or would be caught? The methods of how to catch the rotten apples is up to FDev to apply.


MDH

 

[Vasco Sapien]

I'd like to see your face when you suddenly get that permaban without having used any cheats ever. Just because somebody else made you look like cheater in his ED client, recorded this on video, and sent the video to FDev.

Again...... In game cheating is different from 3rd party hacking tools.
Punishment for HACKs, Not in client exploits.

If you are filmed cheating, (combat log for example) then Fdev can consider a strike system.

But Fdev need to work through their game code and backend configuration to root out the players who are 1st hand using the hacking TOOLS and directly ban them.
No Strikes.... perma BAN.

 

[Rob At Work]

Just BAN EVERYONE!

 

[Guest193293]

Instant hardware ban for anyone using cheats.