What or Who allows video games to be plagued by Hackers, Cheaters and Modders?
Lack of support for games generally.
Obviously some people manage to find a way around some security features and are able to use a modded ISO burned on a DVD to mod an hack while others are something as simple as a DNS server or a file on a USB stick.
“Hacking” Xbox games is a relatively easy thing to do. Since nobody is physically or financially harmed by this type of hacking(as opposed to somebody hacking your bank account or ballistic missile launch codes), programming software security is relatively weak. It is easier(and cheaper) to catch the people hacking Xbox games than is to prevent them from doing it.
It’s hard for me to understand why Microsoft would permit their video game products to fall victim to the problems that plagued Forza and which seemingly caused the removal of the Auction House, Gifting, Store Front etc. from FM5.
Game developers and Microsoft are harmed, as well as anyone who plays a game online with a hacker. If I were to play Forza online, do a drag race with a hacker who hacked their car to go 0-60 in .4 seconds and go over 400mph, I would be harmed. If I were to play Call of Duty online with a hacker who hacked the game so they couldn’t die, I, as well as everyone else in the lobby, would be harmed. If hacking was such a harmless act, people wouldn’t get permanently banned for doing it. Hackers were the reason Unicorns are no longer sold in the Auction House in FM4. EVERYONE who plays/played is/was harmed.
How are the game developers and Microsoft harmed? Financially? You’ve already purchased the game and a Microsoft console. When somebody cheats, are Turn 10 or Microsoft employees physically harmed?
When you play an online game with someone who is cheating, how much does that financially or physically harm you? If you’re being harmed, quit playing. How much did you pay for those unicorns you were selling in the Auction House? Are you complaining because you are unable to make a profit from something you received free of cost? Perhaps Microsoft removed the features that everyone is complaining about so they can “give” them to you for Forza 6.
Microsoft bans people for hacking because it’s all they can do to “protect” their product. If they were so worried about it, they could encrypt the code and add security features. That would add to the cost of the product and Microsoft has decided it’s not worth it to pay for that level of security.
Nobody is harmed by anything that happens on Xbox because it’s a video game, unless you buy into the theory that playing violent video games makes you go out and kill people. If something on the Xbox console is harming you, push the big button on the front of the console, turn it off and walk away. People who feel the need to cheat at video games kind of need to get a life, but then again, if you play video games to the point of obsession, I don’t know if that’s much better.
Nobody likes a cheater, but there’s plenty of them; way of the world.
Problems for the consumer/customer may not be problems for the vendor. It was probably easier and cheaper to remove the Auction House, Storefront, etc. than it was to improve them for the next generation game. Forza 5 seems to target new players who are probably the majority of the game’s customers and don’t know anything about previous Forza versions. As long as people keep buying the games the developers and distributors throw out there, why spend additional money to do what a relative few customers want?
It would be interesting to know the point of diminishing returns when comparing the repairing of a game as to the building of a more secure game in the first place. I bet that the repairs are more expensive…just saying
All of us who play the games are harmed because the cheaters/hackers are illegally gathering credits, obtaining Unicorn cars (FM3, FM4 & Traffic Cars in Horizon, and they barge their way through sane, legal players to achieve what, a neat gamer score?
Don’t kid yourselves, we’re all harmed. The more theft that goes on, the more expensive the games (and add-ons) will become.
Can you imagine these folks when they’re dealing with real life, a real job and real families? What’s next? The spouse, their employers, their children?
We all agree when we have created our accounts to abide by the Code of Conduct on Xbox LIVE: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/Legal/CodeOfConduct?xr=footnav
In part, it says:
Complaint System and Player Feedback:
•If you encounter an enjoyable player:◦Send a Friend Request
◦Give positive feedback
•If you encounter an obnoxious player:
◦File a complaint if you believe the player is violating the Code of Conduct.
◦Give negative feedback and/or Avoid This Player. This can be done by selecting the player’s profile and choosing the Feedback option.
◦Use the Block Communications feature.
◦Do not retaliate. If you act out, it could be considered harassment.
◦Mute the player.
•File a complaint if you believe the player is violating the Code of Conduct.
•Give negative feedback and/or Avoid This Player. This can be done by selecting the player’s profile and choosing the Feedback option.
•Use the Block Communications feature.
•Do not retaliate. If you act out, it could be considered harassment.
•Mute the player.
F. Cheating & Tampering
•Do not cheat in a game unless the developer has deliberately enabled cheats.
•Do not use unauthorized hardware or modifications.
•Do not exploit game vulnerabilities or glitches.
•Do not make unauthorized modifications to your account profile or its contents, including but not limited to tenure, Avatar, saved games, Gamerscore, or achievements.
•Do not intentionally play with someone who is using unauthorized software or methods.
•Do not play any illegitimately obtained software or pirated games.
•Do not take any action to cause degradation of service for Microsoft or other users, including but not limited to network interference or manipulation.
•Do not play a game before it has been authorized for play on the service.
Should be plain enough for everyone to understand that.