Discussion How do you recognize a cheater?

[Dessire]

In my case. I just check the graphics and if I see a line like in the first screenshot, I know that person is an honest player.

If I see a line like in the second screenshot, I know that person is a cheater, specially when the person had for example 250M or less for 3 or more years and then in less than 1 year gets more than 1 billion of ranking points.

Which are your methods to recognize a cheater?

 

[exstreme]

lol
I was in Modern era and have less than 100M
Then I up era to Venus, do a lot of battles and have 1 billion of ranking points in 1 year and don't see any problem.
Why am I cheater, if someone is just jealous?

 

[Arya66]

I don't think that is a way to spot a cheater, either. They just became very active again - perhaps a lot of diamond spending helped!

 

[Pericles the Lion]

I don't spend any time trying to identify cheaters. What's the point? There are hundreds of 1000's active players. FoE was introduced almost a decade ago and INNO has enough data to model the most likely city development profile. Any player that is significantly off the curve is a likely suspect for cheating. INNO doesn't seem motivated to weed out cheaters so fretting about cheating and cheaters is a fool's errand I think. "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change"

 

[DEADP00L]

I like cheaters or more specifically potential cheaters.
Because if I do better than them, it flatters my ego.
And if I do worse than them, I tell myself that it's completely normal.

Fortunately there are cheaters in this game which is so represented by players without thinking, without any analysis, who play FOE between two candy crushes!

 

[Yekk]

My US guild has a player that matches your second graph. Last season in GBG she did 16K plus fights there plus on a split map. When we are with only one other power she can do much more. All done totally within the rules. No scripts, bots, ect. Just 2K plus attack and defense, GvG was where we saw cheaters. Single person guilds that could re-siege on the fly while fighting full speed. Deadpool is right. It is more fun to beat such a person legally than to step down to their level.

 

[CrazyMary]

I like cheaters or more specifically potential cheaters.
Because if I do better than them, it flatters my ego.
And if I do worse than them, I tell myself that it's completely normal.

Fortunately there are cheaters in this game which is so represented by players without thinking, without any analysis, who play FOE between two candy crushes!

Maybe by their numbers and pomposity etc... and the actuality that some aren't very good fighters or the best strategists, etc. Doesn't necessarily mean they are cheaters it could also mean they paid their way to reach those levels. Their option. Whatever works I suppose. Your dime, your time. It's all about the Benjamin's, but doesn't necessarily make one a GREAT player, just a rich one. Rich works. *laughing*

 

[Nessie]

6) Bots and scripts
It is strictly forbidden to use bots or scripts.
Examples:
- It is strictly forbidden to use bots or scripts that automatically collect your resources.
- It is not allowed to use click-bots or scripts that minimize your manual clicks.
- You may not use programs that mimic premium features or provide an unfair advantage.

As we know, InnoGames is not in the least interested in whether this rule is adhered to.

If the gaming company's senior management doesn't care, why should we care?

The problem has been known for years! A great many players gave up the game for this reason

 

[napodavout]

HELLO
the guild war remains a good way.
an isolated player who wins against 4 to 5 players is very likely to have a boot.
but I think that the support does not have the means to detect it, because these are always the same and are still on the game
the other way is to see gm rise with players who do not mount their cities, and who massively pose the pf on a player.
the support cannot deny it
not to mention the multiple accounts which have been multiplying since the changes in the regulations several years ago
Now it depends on which cheat we are talking about ??
for me the real concern are those with boots with whom we do not fight with the same weapons


BONJOUR
la guerre des guilde reste un bon moyen .
un joueur isoler qui gagne contre 4 a 5 joueurs ,a de grande chance d avoir un boot .
mais la je pense que le support na pas les moyens de le détecté , car ce sont toujours les même est sont toujours sur le jeu .
l autre moyen est de voir des GM monter avec des joueurs qui ne monte pas leurs villes ,et qui posent massivement les pf sur un joueur .
la le support ne peut le nier
sans compter les multi comptes qui ont était multiplier depuis les changements du règlement il y a plusieurs années.
Maintenant cela dépend de quel triche on parle ??
pour moi le vrai souci sont ceux avec des boots avec qui on ne se bat pas avec les mêmes armes

 

[Nessie]

not to mention the multiple accounts

Some players handle many accounts. They simply use a Proxy (VPN) server like Tor Browser or alternatives and cannot be recognized as far as I know. No idea if it's still possible today: in former years you could have multiple accounts if you claimed the person lives in your household (e.g. your parents, your five children and your uncle LOL)

 

[drakenridder]

@Nessie there is some abuse prevention, eg players of the same house can't donate in each other's GB. Though I'm not sure how abuse prevention, even with legit family under 1 roof can be implemented without harming the honest players. I guess restrictions like not being able to donate in each other's GB, perhaps going further and not being able to trade with each other would be something.
I'm not sure how to abuse prevent regarding guild matters. As GbG and GvG are making stuff complicated. Not being able to join the same guild would be a bummer for the family member joining the guild later but would stop multiple accounts controlled by 1 person in GbG and GvG would be halted but spionage and other potential malicious actions in other guilds not.

 

[Markus Stormrider]

how to recognize a cheater: they live in their mother's basement, hide their face in a hoodie and play 24/7

 

[Markus Stormrider]

an isolated player who wins against 4 to 5 players is very likely to have a boot.
but I think that the support does not have the means to detect it, because these are always the same and are still on the game
...
the support cannot deny it

trust me, support will not do anything against it. i had recorded several videos of one guild (or actually one player in it, in a 2-man guild nonetheless) fighting us (10-12 people of a 70 people guild), and winning against us *every* time. we were with 10-12 people at that single moment, but his scripts were still able to kill our sieges within a second or two, and even refill his defeated armies even when our new siege was placed already. there was no way that 1 (or even 2, but we think they were multi accounts of one player) guy could beat 10 of us with that much ease.

support's answer after showing them the videos was (translated to english): we cannot trust 'home-made' movies or pictures, because they may have been altered. In this case for example, we cannot be sure that you have sped up the recording by at least 2x or 3x, before sending it to us.

NB: in the bottom-right corner of that video, i had the REAL-TIME computer clock being displayed, running alongside the video, showing it was running at normal 1x speed. But, apparently they think i am clever enough to still speed up part of the video anyway (tbh i don't even know how to; even though i am well-versed in several programming languages ).

ofc i gave them this explanation, but the answer remained the same: they cannot and WILL not allow any visual proof we provide them with. the 'only' proof they accept is if we write support request, or report in-game messages to them. oh, and they also hardly ever ban multi-accounts, because they're not allowed to look at ip-addresses either (privacy law prohibits them to do so).

 

[OveRLoaD]

trust me, support will not do anything against it. i had recorded several videos of one guild (or actually one player in it, in a 2-man guild nonetheless) fighting us (10-12 people of a 70 people guild), and winning against us *every* time. we were with 10-12 people at that single moment, but his scripts were still able to kill our sieges within a second or two, and even refill his defeated armies even when our new siege was placed already. there was no way that 1 (or even 2, but we think they were multi accounts of one player) guy could beat 10 of us with that much ease.

support's answer after showing them the videos was (translated to english): we cannot trust 'home-made' movies or pictures, because they may have been altered. In this case for example, we cannot be sure that you have sped up the recording by at least 2x or 3x, before sending it to us.

NB: in the bottom-right corner of that video, i had the REAL-TIME computer clock being displayed, running alongside the video, showing it was running at normal 1x speed. But, apparently they think i am clever enough to still speed up part of the video anyway (tbh i don't even know how to; even though i am well-versed in several programming languages ).

ofc i gave them this explanation, but the answer remained the same: they cannot and WILL not allow any visual proof we provide them with. the 'only' proof they accept is if we write support request, or report in-game messages to them. oh, and they also hardly ever ban multi-accounts, because they're not allowed to look at ip-addresses either (privacy law prohibits them to do so).

Why don't you give them logs from your browser? Everyone can extract them if they wish and are patient. Besides, you say you know the technical side.
They will not be able to argue with these logs

 

[Markus Stormrider]

Why don't you give them logs from your browser? Everyone can extract them if they wish and are patient. Besides, you say you know the technical side.
They will not be able to argue with these logs

they will, because they say "anything that does NOT come directly from our *own* systems can be tampered with, and therefore cannot be trusted as undeniable proof". it's not like i didn't try that before either

 

[Darrth Eugene Vader3]

At least they could open a list of those reported players and then conduct their own investigation using their "own" systems to verify if a cheating behavior is detected.

I mean, if they cant accept our evidence to arrive to a conclusion, then at investigate themselves, raise their own evidence and reach to a conclusion.

 

[Move]

le problème, ce ne sont pas les tricheurs. Le problème est qu'aucune sanction forte ne tombe

 

[Markus Stormrider]

le problème, ce ne sont pas les tricheurs. Le problème est qu'aucune sanction forte ne tombe

the problem is both

 

[Darrth Eugene Vader3]

le problème, ce ne sont pas les tricheurs. Le problème est qu'aucune sanction forte ne tombe

Translation: the problem is not the cheaters. The problem is that no strong sanction falls

the problem is both

Agree: Both are problems.

 

[Sibel]

If you write tickets because of ... impossible number of fights (guild mates confirmed afterwards that he used a recorder), strange behavior of FoE, the use of programms (incl. forwarding readable files), ... often receipt of your ticket is approved after 4 (!!!) days, informing that the ticket will be forwarded to someone responsible, asap, the responsible supporter quite soon afterwards sends you the usual (!!!) formal letter "we will check...", you answer, "How can you check, the data is no longer available after 5 days?" And then, the supporter has to confess, that nothing at all was checked (because the 24/7 bot detection did not detect anything).
... and NOTHING ever happens ...

And, yes, if a ceater confesses within FoE, you should ban him permanently, because of stupidity. Usually communication is via Teamspeak or Discord, and this is not accepted as proof.

Sorry guys, how would you feel if the support (who should support you and not put more obstacles in your way) obviously lied to you and hid behind "data security" (not only once)? And, after x tickets, what will be the result of such a treatment? I nearly stopped playing, only my guild mates got me back.