Embedded noninteractive continuous bot detection

Multiplayer online computer games are quickly growing in popularity, with millions of players logging in every day. While most play in accordance with the rules set up by the game designers, some choose to utilize artificially intelligent assistant programs, a.k.a. bots, to gain an unfair advantage over other players. In this article we demonstrate how an embedded noninteractive test can be used to prevent automatic artificially intelligent players from illegally participating in online game-play. Our solution has numerous advantages over traditional tests, such as its nonobtrusive nature, continuous verification, and simple noninteractive and outsourcing-proof design. © 2008 ACM

Mobile Online Gaming via Resource Sharing

Mobile gaming presents a number of main issues which remain open. These are concerned mainly with connectivity, computational capacities, memory and battery constraints. In this paper, we discuss the design of a fully distributed approach for the support of mobile Multiplayer Online Games (MOGs). In mobile environments, several features might be exploited to enable resource sharing among multiple devices / game consoles owned by different mobile users. We show the advantages of trading computing / networking facilities among mobile players. This operation mode opens a wide number of interesting sharing scenarios, thus promoting the deployment of novel mobile online games. In particular, once mobile nodes make their resource available for the community, it becomes possible to distribute the software modules that compose the game engine. This allows to distribute the workload for the game advancement management. We claim that resource sharing is in unison with the idea of ludic activity that is behind MOGs. Hence, such schemes can be profitably employed in these contexts.Comment: Proceedings of 3nd ICST/CREATE-NET Workshop on DIstributed SImulation and Online gaming (DISIO 2012). In conjunction with SIMUTools 2012. Desenzano, Italy, March 2012. ISBN: 978-1-936968-47-

The Economy Of Cheating In Mmorpgs: A Case Study Of Innovation

Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games are socio-technical phenomena that are both complex technological systems and complex societies. They are also highly lucrative businesses. In this paper we present initial findings from a case study of the MMORPG TIBIA which explores the business and social relationships generated by cheating practices. We characterize the economy of cheating as a learning and innovation process and the development of cheating solutions as an answer to breakdowns and market demand

The Economy of Cheating in MMPORGs: a Case Study of Innovation

Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games are socio-technical phenomena that are both complex technological systems and complex societies. They are also highly lucrative businesses. In this paper we present initial findings from a case study of the MMORPG TIBIA which explores the business and social relationships generated by cheating practices. We characterize the economy of cheating as a learning and innovation process and the development of cheating solutions as an answer to breakdowns and market deman

"We Will Always Be One Step Ahead of Them" A Case Study on the Economy of Cheating in MMORPGs

Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) are a sub-sector of virtual worlds that share with other worlds the characteristics of both complex technological systems and complex societies. The success of several MMORPGs makes them a vibrant area for research from different points of view, including their economic aspects (Castronova, 2005). Our research is mainly concerned with the practice of cheating in MMORPGs and its consequences. In this paper we explore the economic dimensions of cheating in MMORPGs as they relate to the business activities of companies that offer cheating software, in particular programs called 'bots'. Specifically, we address the following question: "How do cheating practices shape economic interactions around MMORPGs?" We characterize the economy of cheating (as it is carried out by cheating companies) as an answer to breakdowns in the relationship between cheaters and cheating companies (Winograd and Flores, 1987; Akrich, 1992), which involves both learning and innovation processes. In order to answer our question we present a case study of the Tibia (http://www.tibia.com) and an ongoing anti-cheating campaign. In the conclusion of the paper we provide some general reflections on the relevance of the economy of cheating to Virtual Worlds research

A survey on network game cheats and P2P solutions

The increasing popularity of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) - games involving thousands of players participating simultaneously in a single virtual world - has highlighted the scalability bottlenecks present in centralised Client/Server (C/S) architectures. Researchers are proposing Peer-to-Peer (P2P) game technologies as a scalable alternative to C/S; however, P2P is more vulnerable to cheating as it decentralises the game state and logic to un-trusted peer machines, rather than using trusted centralised servers. Cheating is a major concern for online games, as a minority of cheaters can potentially ruin the game for all players. In this paper we present a review and classification of known cheats, and provide real-world examples where possible. Further, we discuss counter measures used by C/S game technologies to prevent cheating. Finally, we discuss several P2P architectures designed to prevent cheating, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses

Embedded non-interactive CAPTCHA for Fischer Random Chess.

Cheating in chess can take many forms and has existed almost as long as the game itself. The advent of computers has introduced a new form of cheating into the game. Thanks to the computational power of modern-day computers, a player can use a program to calculate thousands of moves for him or her, and determine the best possible scenario for each move and counter-move. These programs are often referred to as “bots,” and can even play the game without any user interaction. In this paper, we describe a methodology aimed at preventing bots from participating in online chess games. The proposed approach is based on the integration of a CAPTCHA protocol into a game scenario, and the subsequent inability of bots to accurately track the game states. Preliminary experimental results provide favorable feedback for further development of the proposed algorithm

Cheating in networked computer games: a review

The increasing popularity of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) - games involving thousands of players participating simultaneously in a single virtual world - has highlighted the scalability bottlenecks present in centralised Client/Server (C/S) architectures. Researchers are proposing Peer-to-Peer (P2P) architectures as a scalable alternative to C/S; however, P2P is more vulnerable to cheating as it decentralises the game state and logic to un-trusted peer machines, rather than using trusted centralised servers. Cheating is a major concern for online games, as a minority of cheaters can potentially ruin the game for all players. In this paper we present a review and classification of known cheats, and provide real-world examples where possible. Further, we discuss counter measures used by C/S architectures to prevent cheating. Finally, we discuss several P2P architectures designed to prevent cheating, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses