Botting has seen an increase over the past few weeks, as many have noticed. There could very well be too many botters for the current anti-botting system to handle.
Here's a topic that will hopefully prove some usefulness towards the current dilemma we are facing with botters.
We are fortunate to have a *generally* trustworthy player base in terms of defeating the exploiters and botters. Many have the intent to establish a report via the ticket submission system, and desire for them to have their account(s) banned in some form. This system works, but it does not work well enough for scalability, and also fails to meet the demands of our player base.
Here's an idea. Why not open up the entire anti-botting process and its procedures to the community? Community-controlled bans are probably going through your head right now; or unfavorable odds against an innocent individual through sheer numbers imposes swift action against said individual. That can be avoided through a filtered and buffered, if you will, contact system.
This is what it could boil down to:
The Procedures
Procedure # 1 - If there are a certain amount of reports (i.e. tickets from the support site) aimed towards a certain user(s) account or identity, this procedure will automatically trigger Procedure #2. Such reports can still be examined by a qualified person.
Procedure # 2 - The system will establish communication using a list of verified (i.e. valid users) users through E-mail, forums, ticket, et cetera. The communication details are automatically generated based on the report that Procedure #1 found eligible. Details of the message will—or rather, should—go along the lines of a request for information / evidence (if any), some questions regarding if you've played with the user(s) in question for any amount of time, and / or a link to evidence that the original reporters provided to the ticket submission system; for you to examine and answer questions pertaining to said evidence. The next procedure is automatically triggered once the system has finished sending out messages to those valid users from the community.
Procedure # 3 - The system is now waiting for responses. Once there have been enough responses, the system will send the results to an Administrator (i.e. the team at Reloaded). The team should then be able to base their final action from the information, and hopefully make informed decisions about the reported account that's flagged for an investigation. The results are not shared, due to Reloaded's privacy policy on accounts.
Procedure # 4 (implementation is optional) - The system collects relevant information regarding the identity of the reported account. What is collected is entirely up to the discretion of Reloaded (within their own privacy policy), but should allow for a basic unique identifier. The system is then programmed to recognize the characteristics of the unique identifier, and can automatically ban the user for up to 24 hours based on the offense. After a ban has automatically been applied, the system will notify an Administrator. The Administrator can manually check on things to ensure it's not a false positive. Although for this procedure to be triggered, there would have to be a manual ban in the first place for such an individual, as explained in Procedure # 3.
OR
- Add a right-click option to report players from within the game. Standard procedures will be used. Surprisingly effective.
FAQ
Q: How is this better than the current system already in place?
A: This system is designed to offload the tasks of those wishing to report players and those examining the reports, respectively. It follows the same characteristics of the current. If designed properly, it can handle the scale of botters better, and with future game updates, can be used in conjunction with another anti-cheat system.
Q: It is against Reloaded Games' privacy policy to share details about users, right?
A: Their privacy policy is assumed to be derived from, or is, this. Since there is no public front being established with any procedure, it avoids the issue of "call out" threads, as indicated by the Official Hawken Forum Rules. However, the procedures can be altered to avoid problems with this as well. There should be no personally identifiable information that is collected throughout the entire process. Evidence pertaining to a callsign, at best, a video, is essentially all that is provided. Obviously there will be a known fact about a certain user being lamented a botter/exploiter. Making it a public front on the forums should be disallowed, and is in fact, not allowed. Based on this, there shouldn't be a problem with sending information only about their callsign and account to certain community members. And even then, a verified list is in place for such community members.
Q: Why?
A: We need something better than what we have for anti-cheat. With a future update, perhaps it will render the cheats null, but if the game gains popularity, there will always be a threat of botters out there. This system can absolutely do a decent job at handling botters while retaining the current system's characteristics. By taking advantage of the community at large, why not at this point?
Q: How does this system avoid stigma, while also ensuring no unfair, community-controlled actions against any innocent individual?
A: Due to the nature of callsign creation, it's incredibly easy and fast to create bogus call signs. Many botters already have been banned, and the nature of their existence is arguably non-existent in the first place. As such, no stigma would be associated with that person for the majority of the time. It's incredibly rare, if at all, to see a valid, community member use an aimbot or some form of augmentation, and to receive reports about them. Regardless, this is why each requested response from a valid community member is randomly selected each run, so as to not favor certain individuals and their judgement. Telemetry can tell what these valid members have contributed to, and can also assist in determining their intent based on their record. Insight is key here, and it's probably best left up to Reloaded for gaining it ultimately.
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I think Reloaded should recognize the community for what we've done, and our relationship with Hawken. We are dedicated, some show it, others don't. We want to see this game become great and rise from the ground, especially after The Fall. This community, as small as it is, is actually quite intelligent and reasonable, and it shows. I also believe there are a handful of users who have the capacity to make sound judgement, especially given their experience and desire to provide a fair gameplay experience.
TL;DR - There is none. This is a serious topic, and deserves a super serious read.
Also! Freezepage link for the uninformed (if any).
Edited by Cytor, 20 January 2016 - 11:44 PM.
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