A person i knew in game got banned for cheating - here are some questions i asked him
Hi everyone,
I know this might be a controversial topic, but as the title says, one of my in-game friends recently received a 10-year ban for cheating. After that, I decided to ask him a few questions about cheating in the game.
Just to be clear: I am not affiliated with cheats in any way, and I do not promote or support cheating. I am only sharing what he told me because I think it gives some insight into the current state of the game.
1. What do cheats actually do?
Pretty much anything you can think of. The most basic ones are things like wallhacks, aimbot and sound modifications. More advanced cheats can supposedly allow people to shoot through walls, lock HP, or even fly. However, according to him, most cheaters stick to the more basic features because the extreme ones usually get detected and banned very quickly.
2. Can cheaters identify other cheaters?
Most of the time, yes.
He said that cheaters can sometimes identify each other if they are using cheats from the same developer. On top of that, cheaters tend to behave strangely, especially from the perspective of someone who can see everyone through walls.
For example, they may subconsciously aim at your position even though they should not know where you are. They may also check completely random spots at strange times, pre-aim corners for no logical reason, or move in ways that make it obvious they have more information than a normal player should.
3. How many cheaters are there on average in a game?
His conservative guess was around 30% at least, and that is not counting the extremely obvious cheaters who are not even trying to hide it.
I asked him how he could be so sure, and he said it was based on the activity, size, and sales numbers of cheat groups and communities. Of course, this is only his estimate, and we can never know the exact number. Still, it was very demoralizing to hear.
4. Why is DF so prone to cheaters?
DF uses ACE anti-cheat, which is also used in the Chinese client. However, according to him, the Chinese version of ACE has stronger permissions and can scan the disk, while the global version cannot do the same due to privacy reasons.
Cheating in DF is apparently a huge business in China. Even with the stronger anti-cheat permissions, tens of thousands of cheaters are still banned every month. According to him, when cheats get detected in the Chinese version, some cheat providers simply move their focus to the global version, where ACE is far less effective, and continue making money from their old cheats.
It was basically like bunch of Ronaldos retiring and then playing in a children’s league, the global ACE simply has no chance of catching these advanced cheats designed for a stronger anti cheat engine.
5. Is it true that most cheaters are Chinese?
Not really.
There are definitely many Chinese cheaters, partly because the game is very popular in China and because cheating in the global version is easier. However, based on what he told me, at least around half of the cheaters he sees are not obviously Chinese, or at least do not have Chinese names.
He also said that many cheaters use names that are hard to type or report, such as names with smiley faces, special characters, or strange symbols. He also mentioned that TTV-style names are surprisingly common among cheaters, although of course that does not mean every TTV player is cheating.
6. How much do cheats cost?
The good ones can cost hundreds of dollars per month. Cheaper, usable ones can apparently cost as little as 1 dollar per day.
That is probably one of the reasons why cheating is so common in DF. The barrier to entry is just very low.
7. Are the ban waves actually working?
According to him, not really.
Some people he knows have been cheating since the beginning and are still playing on the same accounts. There are leaderboard players cheating for seasons and seasons. He said people are simply getting better at hiding it. Also, since it costs nothing to create a new account, bans do not always feel like a strong punishment unless the anti-cheat can reliably detect repeat offenders.
To be honest, I felt really demoralized after this conversation.
I love the game, even though I am not very good at it. I really hope the situation improves, because it is sad to see a game with so much potential being affected this heavily by cheating.