05-28-2003, 07:02 PM
The US Army created a video game/recruiting tool that used a popular game engine to make a free FPS. Of course, the LEET HAKZORZ and friends made a few little helpers for themselves . . .
I wonder if the guys who budgeted for this game allocated Operations and Maintenance funds for long term cheat detection and removal. They seem to have some admins on payroll. Let's hope they did not go to Blizz to learn any 'commercial best practices' in that regard. Seeing as how Starcraft was used at the Air Force Academy to do some illustration on the Principles of War, I shudder . . .
Make cheats, not war
The US Army's foray into violent PC games has been hailed a success. But, says David McCandless, it didn't allow for one thing - cheaters
Thursday May 22, 2003 The Guardian
Christopher has been killed in action many times: 305 to be exact. But his most recent death was the last straw. Defending an Alaskan pipeline from terrorist attack, he and his nine-man squad came under fire from a sniper who picked them off, one by one, in just under a minute. "We were lying on the ground, prone, in thick fog," he says. "There's no way he should have been able to shoot us, let alone see us. He must've been cheating."
Christopher, 24, is an avid player of America's Army, a violent online PC game created by the US Army to give the video-gaming generation a realistic taste of modern warfare. The soldier-simulator is free to download for any gamers interested in exploring "the adventures and opportunities" of a military career. Players handle realistic weapons, train as "advanced marksmen" snipers, rescue prisoners of war and engage in fire fights with enemies of freedom in virtual swamps, valleys and blasted villages all around the world.
Christopher plays for around two hours a day. In three months of playing, he has notched up 437 kills. He has also earned 30 honour points for internalising noble army traits such as teamwork, courage and integrity - and, of course, blowing the hell out of terrorists with his M203 grenade launching rifle.
The game has been a massive success. In the year since its launch, more than 1 million players have played more than 100m missions. Glowing reviews adorn the video games press. Expansion packs are planned. It has been a successful and innovative experiment by the world's "premier land force".
However, Christopher, like many others, is unhappy and frustrated. He is on the verge of giving up the game he loves for good. "There's almost no point in playing any more," he says. "Cheaters are ruining the game."
Online gaming is suffering from an epidemic of cheating. America's Army is just the latest in a long line of major titles - Quake III, Diablo II, Warcraft III and Battlefield 1942 - to be infested by dishonest players using "hacks", little programs that secrete themselves like parasites in the host game, and powerfully and invisibly enhance the player's ability.
"Evilhack", the main cheat for America's Army, for example, is freely available on the web. It makes all hostiles bright red, while computer-controlled "aimbots" ensure the player's gun never misses its targets. The undetectable program will even throw your M67 frag grenade for you if you accidentally hold it too long.
For the hundreds of thousands of gamers like Christopher who consider these games to be a sport - a test of mouse-marksmanship, reflexes and cunning - the rise of cheats has been devastating.
"It's akin to being burgled and having your most treasured possessions stolen," says veteran player Rob Miles.
Gaming communities, once celebrations of skill, have descended into bitching and ill-feeling. Paranoia reigns. Players no longer know whether their opponents are genuine or cheats. Games are ill-tempered. Accusations fly faster than bullets. Online leagues have folded. Players are deserting games in droves.
"Nobody trusts nobody," says Christopher. "If you play honestly and well, you run the risk of being accused of cheating and kicked out of the game." He has decided to quit for a while. "Until they do something about cheating, there's just no point playing any more."
Others feel the same. Angry soldiers have flooded America's Army forums demanding action. "For this not to be addressed is a slap in the face to all of us who are busting our humps to get honour points," said "Sloppy", one poster.
The army has been quick to respond and has pledged to engage the enemy. After all, using an aimbot is not among their stated values. Undercover operatives, or "admins", disguised as normal players have been deployed on all 140 official servers to hunt out cheaters.
"Players who act up, violate the rules of military contact and land warfare are banned from the game," says their spokesman, Paul Boyce Jnr.
An external security company, Even Balance, has been hired to deploy Punkbuster, its state-of-the-art, anti-cheat technology, to protect its players. Like a virus-checker, Punkbuster scans players' computers for illegal hacks. Those who are caught face lifetime bans. Its creator, Tony Ray, is a passionate anti-cheat crusader with a single message: "Cheating destroys." He has no truck with cheaters, or "punks" as he calls them. For him, they are the same as criminals.
"The worst cheaters are the evil people who are only happy when they cause ruin for others - like the punks who commit crimes under cover of darkness, from knocking over mailboxes to setting fires. It is far easier to break the work of another than to build something that enhances the lives of others in a positive way."
The only thing he hates more than a cheater is a cheater-coder (or "hax0r" as they are known in gaming patois). Hax0rs are almost universally maligned. Most are young kids, around 12 to 14 years old, although some are as young as nine. Ruinously bright, they hunger for the pure intellectual buzz they get from hacking a protection system. They know they are bringing online gaming to its knees, but don't seem to care.
"I'm famous," says Joolz, a well-known cheat coder from the south of England. By day, he's a corporate software engineer, by night the famed creator of Joolz Cheatz, arch-hack for the most popular action game on the net, Half-Life: CounterStrike. Of an evening, Joolz likes nothing better than taking on the "gits" who create anti-cheats. He loves the challenge. "I've used my skills to beat the game," he says.
He's clearly proud of his work. His cheats are lovingly created, almost hilariously multi-featured. One version allows you to simultaneously cheat, play your favourite MP3s, and run chat software - all from within the game.
"One of my favourite creations is called Lookaim. If you've got your back to someone and they look at you, it spins you round and shoots them. You looking at me? Bang! Not any more you're not!"
Joolz's hack is popular. Well over 50,000 people have downloaded it. He gets fanmail. It's given him a name and a Wild West notoriety. When Joolz walks into certain online chatrooms, a reverent quiet falls.
Perversely, though, he has a low opinion of those who use his cheats. "I've sat there for hours on end, writing the thing. They've just downloaded it from a website."
(Occhi note: why does he not set up a paypal account and charge for it?)
He's even built hidden backdoor features into his cheats to allow him to spot when other people are using his code and disable it. "I don't like being beaten by people using my cheat," he says. He secretly gathers information from his users. "Did you know most cheaters come from France?"
Honest gamers despair over remorseless hackers like Joolz. Threats of physical violence abound. Many have petitioned the publishers of their favourite games to do something - anything - about the problem. However, unlike the ideologically motivated US Army, commercial publishers seem reluctant to deploy expensive anti-cheat software, especially for older games nearing the end of their shelf lives.
As Punkbuster's Tony Ray says: "One vice-president of a top publisher told me that they believe it is in their best interests to let the cheating destroy a game so the players will get mad and move on to their next title."
Those companies who do take on the cheater-kiddies suffer the consequences. Two years ago, Valve, the creators of Half-Life: CounterStrike, vowed to protect their million or so players from cheaters. Today, they are still fighting a losing battle against prolific hackers like Joolz. "What takes me five hours to code takes them two weeks to counteract," he laughs.
Many gamers have given up on the authorities and decided to take matters into their own hands. Rob Miles, for example, has set up Cheat-police.com, a 7,000-strong constabulary of players who make citizens' arrests of cheaters, naming and shaming them online.
"I feel I have a highly developed sense of right and wrong," he explains. "Although most cheaters laugh at us and what we do, there appears to be emerging a grudging respect from their memberships."
Another player police force, United Admins, has established itself as a sort of gaming CIA, coordinating anti-cheat activity across the globe. For the sake of the community, they preach conciliation with cheaters, not punishment. Their anti-cheat software, Cheating Death, which copies many of its techniques from the cheats themselves, is proving highly effective.
The US army has all this to look forward to. By releasing America's Army, they may have been drawn into a battle they have no chance of winning, since there is one thing the cheaters and the anti-cheaters agree on. "Games will be cheat-free the same day society is crime-free," says Punkbuster's Tony Ray. "As long as bad people think they can get away with doing bad things, they will try and some will succeed."
Joolz agrees. Cheating will never be stamped out. He accepts he is partly to blame, but remains unapologetic. "I don't see cheating as wholly right. But why do people cheat at anything? Whether it's athletics or any sort of sport, they cheat because they can."
Army Game
www.cheat-police.com
www.counter-strike.net
www.unitedadmins.com
I wonder if the guys who budgeted for this game allocated Operations and Maintenance funds for long term cheat detection and removal. They seem to have some admins on payroll. Let's hope they did not go to Blizz to learn any 'commercial best practices' in that regard. Seeing as how Starcraft was used at the Air Force Academy to do some illustration on the Principles of War, I shudder . . .
Make cheats, not war
The US Army's foray into violent PC games has been hailed a success. But, says David McCandless, it didn't allow for one thing - cheaters
Thursday May 22, 2003 The Guardian
Christopher has been killed in action many times: 305 to be exact. But his most recent death was the last straw. Defending an Alaskan pipeline from terrorist attack, he and his nine-man squad came under fire from a sniper who picked them off, one by one, in just under a minute. "We were lying on the ground, prone, in thick fog," he says. "There's no way he should have been able to shoot us, let alone see us. He must've been cheating."
Christopher, 24, is an avid player of America's Army, a violent online PC game created by the US Army to give the video-gaming generation a realistic taste of modern warfare. The soldier-simulator is free to download for any gamers interested in exploring "the adventures and opportunities" of a military career. Players handle realistic weapons, train as "advanced marksmen" snipers, rescue prisoners of war and engage in fire fights with enemies of freedom in virtual swamps, valleys and blasted villages all around the world.
Christopher plays for around two hours a day. In three months of playing, he has notched up 437 kills. He has also earned 30 honour points for internalising noble army traits such as teamwork, courage and integrity - and, of course, blowing the hell out of terrorists with his M203 grenade launching rifle.
The game has been a massive success. In the year since its launch, more than 1 million players have played more than 100m missions. Glowing reviews adorn the video games press. Expansion packs are planned. It has been a successful and innovative experiment by the world's "premier land force".
However, Christopher, like many others, is unhappy and frustrated. He is on the verge of giving up the game he loves for good. "There's almost no point in playing any more," he says. "Cheaters are ruining the game."
Online gaming is suffering from an epidemic of cheating. America's Army is just the latest in a long line of major titles - Quake III, Diablo II, Warcraft III and Battlefield 1942 - to be infested by dishonest players using "hacks", little programs that secrete themselves like parasites in the host game, and powerfully and invisibly enhance the player's ability.
"Evilhack", the main cheat for America's Army, for example, is freely available on the web. It makes all hostiles bright red, while computer-controlled "aimbots" ensure the player's gun never misses its targets. The undetectable program will even throw your M67 frag grenade for you if you accidentally hold it too long.
For the hundreds of thousands of gamers like Christopher who consider these games to be a sport - a test of mouse-marksmanship, reflexes and cunning - the rise of cheats has been devastating.
"It's akin to being burgled and having your most treasured possessions stolen," says veteran player Rob Miles.
Gaming communities, once celebrations of skill, have descended into bitching and ill-feeling. Paranoia reigns. Players no longer know whether their opponents are genuine or cheats. Games are ill-tempered. Accusations fly faster than bullets. Online leagues have folded. Players are deserting games in droves.
"Nobody trusts nobody," says Christopher. "If you play honestly and well, you run the risk of being accused of cheating and kicked out of the game." He has decided to quit for a while. "Until they do something about cheating, there's just no point playing any more."
Others feel the same. Angry soldiers have flooded America's Army forums demanding action. "For this not to be addressed is a slap in the face to all of us who are busting our humps to get honour points," said "Sloppy", one poster.
The army has been quick to respond and has pledged to engage the enemy. After all, using an aimbot is not among their stated values. Undercover operatives, or "admins", disguised as normal players have been deployed on all 140 official servers to hunt out cheaters.
"Players who act up, violate the rules of military contact and land warfare are banned from the game," says their spokesman, Paul Boyce Jnr.
An external security company, Even Balance, has been hired to deploy Punkbuster, its state-of-the-art, anti-cheat technology, to protect its players. Like a virus-checker, Punkbuster scans players' computers for illegal hacks. Those who are caught face lifetime bans. Its creator, Tony Ray, is a passionate anti-cheat crusader with a single message: "Cheating destroys." He has no truck with cheaters, or "punks" as he calls them. For him, they are the same as criminals.
"The worst cheaters are the evil people who are only happy when they cause ruin for others - like the punks who commit crimes under cover of darkness, from knocking over mailboxes to setting fires. It is far easier to break the work of another than to build something that enhances the lives of others in a positive way."
The only thing he hates more than a cheater is a cheater-coder (or "hax0r" as they are known in gaming patois). Hax0rs are almost universally maligned. Most are young kids, around 12 to 14 years old, although some are as young as nine. Ruinously bright, they hunger for the pure intellectual buzz they get from hacking a protection system. They know they are bringing online gaming to its knees, but don't seem to care.
"I'm famous," says Joolz, a well-known cheat coder from the south of England. By day, he's a corporate software engineer, by night the famed creator of Joolz Cheatz, arch-hack for the most popular action game on the net, Half-Life: CounterStrike. Of an evening, Joolz likes nothing better than taking on the "gits" who create anti-cheats. He loves the challenge. "I've used my skills to beat the game," he says.
He's clearly proud of his work. His cheats are lovingly created, almost hilariously multi-featured. One version allows you to simultaneously cheat, play your favourite MP3s, and run chat software - all from within the game.
"One of my favourite creations is called Lookaim. If you've got your back to someone and they look at you, it spins you round and shoots them. You looking at me? Bang! Not any more you're not!"
Joolz's hack is popular. Well over 50,000 people have downloaded it. He gets fanmail. It's given him a name and a Wild West notoriety. When Joolz walks into certain online chatrooms, a reverent quiet falls.
Perversely, though, he has a low opinion of those who use his cheats. "I've sat there for hours on end, writing the thing. They've just downloaded it from a website."
(Occhi note: why does he not set up a paypal account and charge for it?)
He's even built hidden backdoor features into his cheats to allow him to spot when other people are using his code and disable it. "I don't like being beaten by people using my cheat," he says. He secretly gathers information from his users. "Did you know most cheaters come from France?"
Honest gamers despair over remorseless hackers like Joolz. Threats of physical violence abound. Many have petitioned the publishers of their favourite games to do something - anything - about the problem. However, unlike the ideologically motivated US Army, commercial publishers seem reluctant to deploy expensive anti-cheat software, especially for older games nearing the end of their shelf lives.
As Punkbuster's Tony Ray says: "One vice-president of a top publisher told me that they believe it is in their best interests to let the cheating destroy a game so the players will get mad and move on to their next title."
Those companies who do take on the cheater-kiddies suffer the consequences. Two years ago, Valve, the creators of Half-Life: CounterStrike, vowed to protect their million or so players from cheaters. Today, they are still fighting a losing battle against prolific hackers like Joolz. "What takes me five hours to code takes them two weeks to counteract," he laughs.
Many gamers have given up on the authorities and decided to take matters into their own hands. Rob Miles, for example, has set up Cheat-police.com, a 7,000-strong constabulary of players who make citizens' arrests of cheaters, naming and shaming them online.
"I feel I have a highly developed sense of right and wrong," he explains. "Although most cheaters laugh at us and what we do, there appears to be emerging a grudging respect from their memberships."
Another player police force, United Admins, has established itself as a sort of gaming CIA, coordinating anti-cheat activity across the globe. For the sake of the community, they preach conciliation with cheaters, not punishment. Their anti-cheat software, Cheating Death, which copies many of its techniques from the cheats themselves, is proving highly effective.
The US army has all this to look forward to. By releasing America's Army, they may have been drawn into a battle they have no chance of winning, since there is one thing the cheaters and the anti-cheaters agree on. "Games will be cheat-free the same day society is crime-free," says Punkbuster's Tony Ray. "As long as bad people think they can get away with doing bad things, they will try and some will succeed."
Joolz agrees. Cheating will never be stamped out. He accepts he is partly to blame, but remains unapologetic. "I don't see cheating as wholly right. But why do people cheat at anything? Whether it's athletics or any sort of sport, they cheat because they can."
Army Game
www.cheat-police.com
www.counter-strike.net
www.unitedadmins.com
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete