Opinion: Increase In-Game Moderator Presence

February 4, 2019

I would like to to know if there could be an increased presence of in-game moderators who can act immediately in active game sessions. If so, is that feasible for BSG to implement? I ask primarily because of a recent revelation that was made to me in regard to the presence of individuals cheating within the game at this time. Put simply, it appears to be almost rampant at this time. Technical solutions are crucial, of course, but I think it would appropriately be augmented with a greater, authoritative presence that can recognize and act upon problems in the moment. I also wanted to bring up this topic because it reminds me of a balance we have to strike in my own place of work, where I am responsible for legal and regulatory compliance that includes the protection of sensitive, personal data.

---That was the summarized version of the argument. If you have the time and are so inclined, I am providing my full argument below here.---

To go into more detail, I am not one who typically does not complain about cheating in online games. My general assumption is that it does happen, but is typically a rare occurrence. Thus, any shortfalls on my part are simply the result of my own skill, or lack thereof, against players. I would consider myself to be mediocre in shooters at best. EFT adds elements that make it more intriguing to me, however, and I have generally enjoyed it, but I digress. In recent weeks, coming up against other players has appeared to be a losing scenario for me in sometimes surprising ways.

I explained some of my scenarios to a friend. The examples that stuck out most in my mind were cases in which I knew another player was present and chose to wait. I attempt usually to avoid a confrontation if I do not feel certain that I am prepared for it. However, despite having considerable distance between the other player and myself, they would suddenly appear as though honed in on me. These were cases where no real searching was done. These players already knew where I was located and just had to get in place to take their shot on me. For example, if I am in a building and crouch-walked to a random room, they know which room and where I am sitting inside of it.

I still wanted to attribute this to skill and, perhaps, better gaming equipment, such as a better quality headset with more precise audio location. As I relayed these stories to my friend, he said they were likely hacking. I conceded that some might have been, but it seemed doubtful that it could be quite so prevalent. To prove his point, he created an alternate account and acquired a cheat program that was, I must confess, cleverly designed to avoid many methods of detection. I will not provide the name of that program here, as I am loathe to risk encouraging more people to use it. Further, I suspect the developers are at least aware of it. However, I am certainly willing to share it through a private message with any developers or administrators, if they should like me to do so.

He showed me a private live stream of his game session while the cheat was being used. Every item that had been spawned on the map appeared on the screen, alongside bright blue "skeletons" of every player and indigo "skeletons" of every AI controlled character. When the characters came into view, such as from behind a wall, the portions of the skeleton covering the visible parts of the body turned orange. However, that was only part of what he wanted to show me. Instead, he wanted to demonstrate how many players were obviously using this same program, or at least something similar to it.

He pointed out how often other players would follow his movements through the walls, their aim quite obviously following his movements with extreme precision regardless of the distance or how much or how little noise he made. On occasion, they would even perform the famous/infamous "wiggle" while looking at him through the wall, facing him specifically, and even with absolutely no one else in sight. It was as though they suspected that he might see them through the wall as well and were hoping to elicit some response to confirm this.

I apologize for the length of this post. However, I thought it was important to illustrate that I have seen this is not only happening in the game right now but that it appears to be almost common at this time. I think there was at least one player in each session who demonstrated behavior similar to what I have described, and more than one more often than I would have liked. It seemed rare to not run into this kind of behavior at all.

In returning to my opening assertion, I believe this situation calls for an augmented solution using both technological and personal means. As I previously mentioned, I am in a profession responsible for monitoring the capacity of our organization to keep information secure. There are two ways privacy can be compromised: technological errors and human errors. Likewise, securing information requires the use of effective and current technology alongside active team members who can apply experience and judgment in augmenting the security response as well as find ways in which security may be strengthened. In short, we can only achieve our objective properly with both technology and people.

I know the developers are dedicated to keeping cheats out of EFT. However, it is my own belief and my professional opinion that an active and dedicated team of people who can keep an eye on unusual player behaviors and respond to them quickly is equally important. I have seen the exclamation mark for in-game moderators only on rare occasion, and I confess that I am not even aware as to how much these moderators can do at this time. I understand fully that it is not as simple as telling a few people to be moderators and hoping for the best. Volunteers can be difficult to manage and employees add a cost. I do not expect this suggestion to be taken up with alacrity, but I felt compelled to make it.

I have enjoyed EFT a great deal, but it has been getting more frustrating. I have been speaking with friends about getting it, but I am now telling them to wait until something is done to better control the presence of cheats in the game. I think EFT is unique and innovative, and I was pleased to support it. I would hate to see it fall into obscurity after entering a sort of cheating "arms race," wherein individuals have to cheat and risk the ban just to stay competitive. Seeing added measures to address this problem would make me feel more confident about continuing to support it and recommend it to others.

In closing, again, I do not wish to disclose the name of the cheat program in question here publicly but I am happy to share it privately with any developers/administrators/moderators who may wish to confirm what it is. I have kept the identity of my friend hidden because he thought I should see the extent of cheating that exists in the game right now, and I do not believe anything is achieved through punishing whistle blowers when there is a very real and very present problem to which they are trying to call attention. I also realize that my own admission to having witnessed this and choosing not to surrender my friend's in-game identity could subject me to certain actions as well. I pray the team at BSG will take my words as genuine and know I am making this suggestion in good faith for the long-term welfare of their great and innovative project. Once more, I apologize for the length of my post and I thank all of you who took the time to read it.

February 4, 2019

i agree

HACKs are invading tarkov since while ago and anti cheat system is just doing nothing

why? why is this still happening?

is a game where u spend long time, stress and focus on the screen, this gives you a reward after any raid and every fair figth are enjoyable

but then here comes the naked pistol player who one tab you like bs speed hacking or flying around the map and …..fun ends there

forum is flooded with cheaters posts and well i think the main responde here is always "anticheat will ban them all"

but then….hackers all over again

February 4, 2019

1 hour ago, Fukzo0 said:

forum is flooded with cheaters posts and well i think the main responde here is always "anticheat will ban them all"

but then….hackers all over again

To be fair, it is a complicated problem. Actually creating that presence of people to effectively the situation would be onerous, both in how many it could require and the quality of those individuals who do it. BSG could almost certainly have a new, technological anti-cheat system in place before it could try to roll out some form of active moderation.

I must also concede that I am looking at this from the perspective of someone who is in a line of work where having both a strong technological solution and an alert, well-trained staff is an absolute requirement, not an option. In the end this is, of course, a game and it's up to BSG to determine what is best for it.

Even so, I have worked with enough people who have a similar attitude to "anti-cheat will ban them all" to know that it never works that way. In my line of work, it might be someone saying we do not need more IT staff for monitoring network activity because the "intrusion detection system will catch them all." In an ideal world, sure, and it will catch most. You can never expect the technology to catch everyone on its own, however.

Computers are fast but limited "thinkers"; they can only "think" within the scope of their programming. Sometimes it takes a human being to say "Oh, I know what this employee is doing. It's fine." or "I don't feel comfortable with the behavior I'm seeing and I'm blocking this point of access." Maybe we'll have "perfect" machines to do this someday, but we aren't nearly as close to that as some tech enthusiasts want to believe.

I should note again, though, that I'm only putting this up as a suggestion from my own perspective. I have no idea how feasible it is for BSG to implement a team of moderators to keep track of people actively in the game, or to guarantee those moderators behave professionally. Maybe it's not. Still, it would be nice to see something to augment the anti-cheat efforts in a focused way.