In Activision’s latest blog post titled “Cheater’s Not Welcomed in Call of Duty: Warzone,” they put forth a list of ways they are dealing with cheaters. In their statement, they discussed their zero-tolerance policy as a way to maintain a fair and level playing field, but are they doing enough?
Why do Cheaters Cheat in Video Games?
Cheating is the pursuit of the desired end, in this case, to win or to be the “best” player in the game. Every cheater has different motives and reasons for cheating, but the one commonality between cheaters is that they ruin the game for those who play the game the way it should be played.
This is especially true in Call of Duty: Warzone. Since its release back in early March, there has been a growing concern over Warzone cheaters as the free to play Battle Royale tournaments start to ramp up. Professional players and Call of Duty fans alike have taken to social media to expose the cheaters and call out Activision for not doing enough.
For many players, it’s a lost cause. PC users have the short end of the stick because of how easily accessible the cheats are for their platform. Most are available for free, which means anyone can cheat at any time in a few simple steps. So, what has Activision done to curb the number of cheaters in their game?
Activision Issues 50k Permabans Worldwide
On March 31, Call of Duty staff posted on Activision’s blog that they “take all forms of cheating very seriously, maintaining a level and fair playing field for everyone is among [their] highest priorities. This is an area [they] have been working on heavily, but it isn’t always something [they] discuss publicly. [They] have been enforcing account bans since Day 1 of Warzone’s release. To date, [they] issued more than 50,000 permabans worldwide. [They] employ a number of programs in place to combat both cheaters and cheat providers.”
- [Their] security teams monitor 24/7 to investigate data and identify potential infractions.
- The teams review all possible cheats and hacks; this includes identifying the use of aimbots, wallhacks and more.
- [They’re] working to improve our in-game system for reporting potential cheating. Plans are underway to streamline the UI for a more seamless reporting experience.
- For all reports that are received in-game, they are both analyzed and filtered based on key data.
- Once investigations are complete, [they] will continue to work as quickly as possible to ban.
“Moving forward, [they] will aim to provide a regular count on the latest number of bans issued, as needed. [They] recognize that there’s no single solution for combating cheaters, it’s a constant enforcement every day, 24/7. Rest assured, we’re committed to ensuring a fun and fair experience for everyone.”
Call of Duty: Warzone Security and Enforcement Policy
Activision has also released the Call of Duty: Warzone Security and Enforcement Policy, which is a complete outline of all the infractions the Infinity Ward security team enforces and penalties subjected upon those that break their rules.
Under Infinity Ward’s policy, there are nine ways a player can be banned.
- Use of Unauthorized Third-Party Software for Modding/Hacking
- Pirated Content
- Unsupported Peripheral Devices and Applications
- Boosting
- Glitching
- Griefing
- Offensive Behavior
- Improperly Obtained Downloadable/Unlockable Content
- Decompiling or Reverse Engineering of Game Data
After a quick read through, however, the highest penalty a player can receive for any one of those offenses is a permaban. A permaban permanently suspends players from playing the game online, has their stats, emblems and weapon customizations reset and blocks them permanently from appearing in leaderboards.
Got second place in Wednesday Warzone! Hackers killed us game 2 2nd circle :/ Really hope Activision takes these cheaters seriously and cracks down hard, soon. Getting to the point where its almost every other game.
— Ninja (@Ninja) April 2, 2020
This doesn’t do much for the community because players can create a new account for free and go through the entire process again. Even if Activision went through the process of permabanning IP addresses, it would be just as easy to change your IP address as it would be to create a new account.
How Do Players Combat Cheaters in Warzone?
As of right now, there is nothing players can do to combat cheaters in Warzone. They can report the player and hope that Infinity Ward takes action quickly, but it will be a waiting game.
Unless there is an anti-cheat software implemented like CS:GO’s ESEA, which takes a more active and aggressive approach, similar to the publicly available anti-virus software, Warzone users will be stuck on constant alert to avoid cheaters.
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Featured photo via Activision.
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