Outriders Reveals Awesome Way to Shame In-Game Cheaters
03/25/2021 06:17 pm EDT
Cheating is a big problem in some online games, but Outriders developer People Can Fly has revealed its plan to shame those that get caught cheating in the game. In a new developer update, the team revealed that anyone caught cheating will have a visible watermark placed permanently on their HUD so that any screenshots or video taken during the game will identify the player. It's a great concept, and it just might prove a better deterrent than some of the other ideas that developers have come up with over the last few years! The developer also listed some other consequences:
- Repercussions are account wide, not character specific
- You will not be able to matchmake with legit players
- Matchmaking will likely take significantly longer
- You will still be able to play solo
- In future, your HUD will have a discreet but visible watermark placed on it so that gameplay footage created on this account can be readily identified as coming from a flagged account.
It's clear that People Can Fly is taking the issue of cheating very seriously from the outset, which should be welcome news to legitimate players. The developer also laid out its specific guidelines on what constitutes cheating, in order to make it clear for players:
- Intentionally running the game on PC without Easy Anti Cheat (EAC)
- Modifying game files to enhance a character: levels, skills, inventory, etc.
- Externally modifying game time to reduce time dependent features such as vendors and challenges
- Using a trainer program or similar to gain advantages within the game
- Using gameplay altering programs such as aimbots or wallhacks
Outriders is set to release on Steam April 1st, and all accounts will be checked on launch day for those that cheated during the demo. For those that used cheats during the demo and did not plan on cheating in the game, People Can Fly is telling players not to carry over any progress; the cheating player must delete all characters and items on the entire account. That will allow them to play the game "unbranded." All accounts will be periodically checked after.
It remains to be seen how effective People Can Fly's measures will be. Lots of developers have the best intentions, and things don't always work out as planned. However, these steps seem pretty ambitious, and it will be interesting to see how things play out when the game launches next week!
What do you think about the anti-cheat measures in Outriders? Do you think this is a strong deterrent? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk about all things gaming!
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