I thought this was an Interesting take on how it may affect the income of the industry as a whole. Its a long read but worth it. Also intersting to see that Blizzard had no comment.
From
www.mercurynews.com
Cheaters are undermining the once-promising world of online video gaming.
The problem is most prevalent on PC games where cheaters download codes off the Internet to give themselves advanced powers and super-human reflexes. But cheating can also be found on console networks including Microsoft's Xbox Live that was designed to be cheat-resistant.
``It really takes all the fun out of online gaming,'' said Iraklis Notis, a high school senior in Southern California who frequently plays online.
Notis grew so frustrated with the cheating in ``Rainbow Six 3'' on Xbox Live that he posted an online petition demanding that Microsoft take action. The petition already has more than 150 signatures.
Many, if not most, cheaters use techniques that aren't obvious. They might use a trick to see through walls, steal items that others must invest huge amounts of labor to create, or automatically aim a weapon for a vulnerable spot.
Some highly skilled gamers question how big a problem it is.
``Cheating is definitely an issue, but it's more perception than reality,'' said Dennis Fong, better known as ``Thresh,'' the Michael Jordan of video gamers. ``There are cheaters online, but because there is this perception that everybody cheats, people that are good are not recognized for their skills. When I play online, I'm always accused of being a cheater. Because everyone thinks everyone else is cheating, it ruins the whole experience.''
For years, analysts have expected the market for playing video games online against other people to take off. A 1997 Forrester report, for instance, predicted revenues from people who pay a monthly fee for playing an online game would hit $1.6 billion by 2001. But a just-released report from the Themis Group reveals that the total take last year was still less than $1 billion.
Cheating makes online games an unpleasant experience, especially for first-timers, says Matt Pritchard, a game developer at Ensemble Studios, a Microsoft-owned company.
Online cheaters can rig the game so they can't lose. If someone who's new to the environment can't even get started without being demolished, they're not likely to come back, Pritchard said. ``Basically, they're going to conclude, `Well that wasn't very entertaining,' and never even try it again,'' he said.
Pritchard, one of the creators of the classic ``Age of Empires'' strategy games, is one of the field's elder statesmen. For the past few years he's been waging a somewhat quixotic campaign to get video-game companies to pay more attention to the cheating issue. But many are reluctant to even discuss cheating. ``The basic position of a lot of companies is they can't admit to a fault with any program because if they acknowledge that then they're going to face some liability for it,'' he said.
Indeed, Blizzard Entertainment, which has a number of successful games that can be played online, did not respond to requests for comment, although the company has taken an aggressive stance in recent years and thrown known cheaters off their systems. Valve Software, which makes ``Half Life'' and ``Counterstrike,'' two games that are wildly popular online, declined to comment as well, but did offer this statement: ``Public discussion of our personal anti-cheat technology inherently compromises its efficiency. As such, we generally decline interviews on the topic.''
Not all cheating is considered a bad thing. In fact, most games have cheat codes built in, sometimes to help developers with testing the software and sometimes just to let players have a little fun by themselves. For instance, punching in a series of codes via a controller's buttons can render the player's character invulnerable, or able to do something not normally allowed, such as pass through walls.
Such cheats are designed to be used in individual games and have become increasingly popular as games have become more complex and story-driven. Players who lack the skills to get through a particularly tough sequence can punch in a cheat code to get to the end of the game and see how the story turns out.
Some groups of people play against each other online using cheats and as long as everybody else knows what's going on, it's not considered a problem.
The real issue is people who cheat in public and ruin the game for everybody else. They may just exploit a bug in the game's code for concealment, or they may actively seek out code written by hackers that, when added to their copy of the game, gives them special powers.
For instance, cheating was so widespread in ``Counterstrike'' that some players felt compelled to install at least a few cheats just to keep a level playing field. In recent years, technological solutions, such as software called Punkbuster from a company called Even Balance, make it harder to cheat, but not impossible.
Fong has helped set up a company called Ultimate Arena, where people play for money. Anonymity isn't allowed, so anybody who's caught trying to cheat can't come back.
Fong's company takes a cut of the small amount of money -- under $20 -- that's on the table, which suggests one reason why cheating remains an issue: Companies don't see that it has any influence on the bottom line. Pritchard said that's not a valid assumption. ``There is an impact to revenue based on reputation. `Diablo 1' was so notorious for cheating in the online component that majority of people who bought `Diablo 2' bought it with intention of playing single player,'' he said.
Games played on a personal computer can nearly always be modified in some fashion with code imported from the outside.
Microsoft was aware of the issue when it developed its Xbox video-game console and tried to develop a closed, cheat-proof system. But hackers have learned how to use a tool called Action Replay (see accompanying story) to cheat even on the Xbox Live.
Scott Henson, director of platform strategy for Microsoft's Xbox division, said the company worked hard to make the system cheat-resistant, but had no illusions. ``We didn't go into this with the idea that no one's ever going to be able to exploit this,'' he said. ``But we absolutely take this stuff seriously and are taking action on it every day.''
Microsoft uses a number of techniques to battle cheaters. The company works with game developers when cheats are discovered. Game developers write a patch preventing a specific cheat and give it to Microsoft, and then Microsoft forces the patch down so no one can get into a game with an unpatched system. The company will also boot people off the system for weeks or months, if complaints are filed about an individual gamer using the Xbox Live's feedback system.
``There's no magical technical silver bullet here,'' Henson said. ``It's definitely a holistic approach.'' Microsoft takes cheating seriously for one reason, he said. ``It's critical to the health and vitality of Xbox Live.''
But the company doesn't announce its moves so it may seem as if nothing is being done. ``We just want Microsoft to do something,'' said Notis, the Southern California teenager. ``I won't really be happy until I see something actually happen.''
By Dave Wilson
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