Escape from Tarkov devs use public shaming to combat recent waves of cheaters

[Cal Jeffrey]

But it's too hard: Escape from Tarkov is a hardcore multiplayer online shooter. We're talking about a game that requires you to inspect your magazines and ensure you have enough ammo for upcoming battles hard. Despite its steep learning curve, the game has become highly popular through Twitch, and many players are preordering to get in on the long-running beta. Unfortunately, some find it so hard that they feel the need to use cheats.

Cheating is so common an entire industry has been built to combat it. Show me an online multiplayer game, and I'll show you a game rife with cheaters. For the most part, the solutions the anti-cheat sector offers are decent at detecting those exploiting the game but not very good at deterring their behavior.

Online multiplayer shooter Escape from Tarkov has recently seen a significant problem with cheaters. According to the game's developer Battlestate Games, it has banned over 6,700 players in the last several days — around 4,000 over the last weekend of February and another 2,700 since then.

So the developers have created a wall of shame of sorts. It is just a simple Google Docs spreadsheets posted publicly and listing the handles of all the cheaters they have banned. Some industry pros think it might be an excellent policy to deter repeat offenders.

"Good. I wish we did it too," one anonymous employee of an unnamed rival studio told TechCrunch. "Many cheaters fabricate a false image to their friends and significant others, and when their deceitful behavior is exposed publicly, it brings shame to their name and discourages them from repeating the act."

We have decided to resume the practice of sharing the information about large ban waves done with the support of BattleEye anticheat. Throughout the weekend over 4,000 cheaters were banned in Escape from Tarkov. https://t.co/c3hp3QGGPd

— Escape from Tarkov (@tarkov) February 27, 2023

The public shaming would also expose the handles of cheaters who might wish to play professionally in other competitive games. If more studios adopted the practice of posting nicknames, it might become a way of warning would-be cheaters that they have a chance to ruin their budding careers. It's the old "put your name on the chalkboard" tactic that primary school teachers have used for decades.

"Also, cheaters who try to be professional and win tournaments would be exposed to the public, so other players never give them the chance again to play," the insider added. "You have broken the trust, you do not deserve the chance to come back."

Battlestate Games looks at it a bit differently. It uses the wall of shame to let other players know they are not just dealing with cheaters by banning them as every other studio does. They are posting the names so that the real players can have the satisfaction of seeing their annoying nemesis has been dealt sweet "justice."

"We want honest players to see the nicknames of cheaters to know that justice has been served and the cheater who killed them in a raid has been punished and banned," said the studio's spokesperson Dmitri Ogorodnikov.

Of course, some cheaters just don't care about their reputation. Such shaming has little effect on them. They simply create a new account to continue with their annoying behavior. There will always be a cheating issue in online gaming. It's practically unavoidable because the internet ruins everything.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/97847-escape-tarkov-devs-use-public-shaming-combat-recent.html

 

[m4a4]

Should add why they've all of a sudden decided to do that.

This was also mentioned in an LTT video (WAN show), so it blew up more than it would've otherwise.

 

[amghwk]

Humans are scums. They just have to cheat, steal and kill. At least more than half of them.

 

[yRaz]

Should add why they've all of a sudden decided to do that.

This was also mentioned in an LTT video (WAN show), so it blew up more than it would've otherwise.

Watching this whole thing unfold on youtube was great

 

[Kam7r]

Public shaming should be generalized on all multiplayer games, on a solo you do whatever you want, you don't bother anybody, but on a multiplayer game... it's a big no... but I guess some ppl need to feel "strong" in a VIDEO-GAME (GAME ! ) ... to boost their self-esteem... when you think about it, it's kinda sad...

 

[return]

Cheating can be fun. Remember steam cafe accounts? Admins couldn't do anything! lol

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The EfT devs have been whining about cheaters for YEARS, making grandiose claims about the number of bans handed out (which are numerically impossible) and have absolutely slept at the wheel on any actual fixes to the problem.

 

[rsmith222]

Want to quell the cheaters? Release a game that focuses on cooperation and other prosocial nurturing behaviour rather than killing.

Games that show a big gun pointing at things are asocial, regardless of the debate about them causing violence in real life. That is the fundamental psychological frame they possess. Expecting good behaviour in that context is unrealistic. Such things also select for a select portion of the population.

I know saying this is not PC at all but there it is.

Blowing things up with guns is cheating. It's an exercise in avoiding the consequences of one's actions, actions steeped in excessive aggression. It may be fun and it may be harmless but it's not going to be easy to avoid the framing effect and the selection process.

 

[Julnor]

Online games have always been like that. And that was even before money started rolling in for some of it.

A lot of these games have such low skill caps, you pretty much have to cheat to get beyond a certain winning percentage. And then you have these people bragging online and attacking anyone that complains, and these communities really enable this poor behavior. Eventually they get banned but it's usually many months or years later, they play the victim and complain but eventually fade away---after ruining how many people's experiences both in game and in community?

I generally only play online multiplayer with people I know. Pandemic forced more online play but that's over now, offline has always been better for anything else. Single player games and co-op against the computer are still better experiences than pvp because of cheating most of the time. And even co-op can be rife with cheating and toxic behaviors like MMO raiding with tons of automation and scripts being used, such that you can't even play naturally and get a spot most times.

But ultimately it's all just video games and especially with no money it's not even too big of a deal. Sure ideally we don't want anyone to cheat but they're going to, and intrusive anti-cheat software often makes performance worse too. There really isn't a truly great solution.

 

[corvard]

Want to quell the cheaters? Release a game that focuses on cooperation and other prosocial nurturing behaviour rather than killing.

Games that show a big gun pointing at things are asocial, regardless of the debate about them causing violence in real life. That is the fundamental psychological frame they possess. Expecting good behaviour in that context is unrealistic. Such things also select for a select portion of the population.

I know saying this is not PC at all but there it is.

Blowing things up with guns is cheating. It's an exercise in avoiding the consequences of one's actions, actions steeped in excessive aggression. It may be fun and it may be harmless but it's not going to be easy to avoid the framing effect and the selection process.

Whay would be that prosocial nurturing behavior game. Is that growing pot plants simulator?

 

[envirovore]

Good, all developers should take this same approach.

 

[consig1iere]

Want to quell the cheaters? Release a game that focuses on cooperation and other prosocial nurturing behaviour rather than killing.

Games that show a big gun pointing at things are asocial, regardless of the debate about them causing violence in real life. That is the fundamental psychological frame they possess. Expecting good behaviour in that context is unrealistic. Such things also select for a select portion of the population.

I know saying this is not PC at all but there it is.

Blowing things up with guns is cheating. It's an exercise in avoiding the consequences of one's actions, actions steeped in excessive aggression. It may be fun and it may be harmless but it's not going to be easy to avoid the framing effect and the selection process.

I see your well intentioned and almost logical statement but I would have to disagree. I don't know the exact age limit to be able to play this game but I am guessing it is 18+. If that is the case, you should be able to judge right and wrong at that age. Yes we can't just treat 18 as the magic number but we have to start somewhere. If one can't differentiate between a game and real shooting, then that person is not socially/mentally fit. There should be resources and ways to help the socially/mentally unfit but calling video games asocial is not fully a black-white matter.

 

[MaestroIT]

Public shaming of a user handle is not that much useful most of the time, yes some users use the same handle and stick to it, and it would be bad for them to get caught cheating, but if we know the user "hiiiiiiii" cheated how much useful is that?

 

[MaXtor]

The major flaw is that players can change their nickname every single raid if they want. So what's the use in posting a random nickname? I guess they're going to remove that feature?

 

[hahahanoobs]

I just watched this the other day:

 

[Avro Arrow]

Some people here don't seem to realise something and, in a way, it's a good thing that they don't because it means that they're not thinking like a psychopath.

A lot of people who cheat are psychopaths and psychopaths have NO SHAME so "shaming" them is impossible and therefore, ineffective.

This is why I don't play online PvP games anymore. I got fed up with this crap years ago.

 

[PEnnn]

Cheating can be fun. Remember steam cafe accounts? Admins couldn't do anything! lol

Thank you for being part of the pathetic problem.

 

[Hodor]

Some people here don't seem to realise something and, in a way, it's a good thing that you don't because it means that you're not thinking like a psychopath.

A lot of people who cheat are psychopaths and psychopaths HAVE NO SHAME so "shaming" them is impossible and therefore, ineffective.

Exactly. If you publish their nicknames/handles and their profile pictures, all that will happen is that they will adapt. For example, they might put a picture of someone they hate. Say, a local bully Tyrell and his picture. And one day when the cheater gets detected, the picture and name of Tyrell will appear on the wall of shame. Which may not be bad in this specific case, because he's a douchebag, but next time it could be someone innocent ending up publicly shamed like that.

 

[MakeMSGreatAgain]

Cheating is socially accepted, at least partially, in most of the world. Few societies still care about honor, honesty, integrity, moral and ethical behavior. Cheating, or some form of corruption, lying, stealing, manipulating, etc. etc. is very common in our politicians and leaders, even in the corporate business world. It is disgusting. Some wear it as a badge of (dis)honor, and society goes along with it. It is disgusting. Some might say it is human nature, but I saw good people can raise good children. It doesn't always work out that way, but the good is becoming fewer and fewer as evil takes over, because again it has become socially accepted.

I'm not a religious person, but to hell with them all.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Exactly. If you publish their nicknames/handles and their profile pictures, all that will happen is that they will adapt. For example, they might put a picture of someone they hate. Say, a local bully Tyrell and his picture. And one day when the cheater gets detected, the picture and name of Tyrell will appear on the wall of shame. Which may not be bad in this specific case, because he's a douchebag, but next time it could be someone innocent ending up publicly shamed like that.

Absolutely! Innocent people would more likely be targeted because a psychopath wouldn't do something that could backfire and threaten their own well-being (ie: Tyrell found out who did it).

Sounds like you have quite an axe to grid with Tyrell!

 

[Avro Arrow]

Cheating is socially accepted, at least partially, in most of the world.

Unless you're playing cards.

Few societies still care about honor, honesty, integrity, moral and ethical behavior.

And that's why those countries are the way that they are. If they don't embrace something that forces them to behave better, their societies will never reach the levels of countries that do. Countries whose culture ingrains a sense of honour in their citizens are the most prosperous in the world.

Cheating, or some form of corruption, lying, stealing, manipulating, etc. etc. is very common in our politicians and leaders, even in the corporate business world. It is disgusting. Some wear it as a badge of (dis)honor, and society goes along with it. It is disgusting. Some might say it is human nature, but I saw good people can raise good children. It doesn't always work out that way, but the good is becoming fewer and fewer as evil takes over, because again it has become socially accepted.

And it has become socially accepted because most people are relatively stupid and believe everything that they're told as long as the person telling them is preying on their ignorance, prejudice and fear.

How else could lying charlatans like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones get such huge followings?

How else could ignorant and uneducated apes like Joe Rogan get such cult-like status?

The rich want the degradation of society because people who are ignorant and stupid are easier to control than people who are intelligent and educated because they're so much easier to fool.

 

[Hodor]

Absolutely! Innocent people would more likely be targeted because a psychopath wouldn't do something that could backfire and threaten their own well-being (ie: Tyrell found out who did it).

Sounds like you have quite an axe to grid with Tyrell!

I don't even know anyone named Tyrell, just saw some character in a crime series

 

[rsmith222]

Whay would be that prosocial nurturing behavior game. Is that growing pot plants simulator?

It actually supports my point that it's so difficult for most gamers to envision such a thing.

The mindset is excessive aggression. It's the frame that dominates gaming. When Will Wright was developing SimCity, he faced the claim that it would never sell because there is no way to win. Winning is an act of aggression, although it can be more abstract than walking around as a marauder with a giant gun.

When he developed The Sims, again, people claimed few would be interested in a game that didn't have a win condition. It does have one, although it's rather weak. The main condition is RPG-style character development (more skills = better jobs/homes = experiencing more aspects of the game/collect 'em all).

I found it fascinating that practically every article about the game had the reviewer talk about murdering their Sims.

Gamers can envision games like SimCity but even there there is a demand to have disasters/monsters to satisfy the bloodlust. MYST wasn't like this but it was very dull, at least for me.