Thinking of cheating in the new Call of Duty? Those precious brains may just end up on the pavement.
In a new blog update about RICOCHET, Call of Duty’s anti-cheat solution, Activision revealed that it “may randomly, and for fun,” disable the parachutes of any identified cheaters in Modern Warfare III, sending them to what is apparently a hilarious death from thousands of feet in the air.
The feature, which Activision has cleverly dubbed “Splat,” will even work against cheaters who have already deployed, although the company has clarified that legit players shouldn’t be affected by it:
Splat can also adjust player velocity, which transforms a bunny hop into a 10,000-foot drop taking them out instantly. This is one of many new tricks we’ve developed – and we’ll talk about more in the future.
Like all mitigations, Splat won’t randomly turn on for a player that isn’t verified to be cheating. Player reporting won’t turn it on, and the game can’t accidentally activate it.
Activision has also confirmed that players can report people that they don’t like as much as they want, as its anti-cheat system will only acknowledge the first report:
A common misconception we see is that spam reporting will result in actions being taken against accounts. For clarity, whether one player reports another once or multiple times, our system only considers the first report (throttling any additional reports from that player).
Machine Learning processes are also being activated to increase the efficiency and strength of some of its existing anti-cheat tools, Activision said:
For the Replay Investigation Tool, a Machine Learning model is trained to identify suspicious behavior like wall hacks or raging (plus many others), and immediately prioritizes and alerts the team to review the issue for account action. A single PC running the model can review up to 1,000 clips per day – a number that grows exponentially when multiple computers are tasked with operating this specific Replay Machine Learning Investigation model.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is officially out on November 10, and according to a new trailer that Activision released, it’s time to get hyped.
Discussion (17 replies)
Join Discussion →Cheaters is the main reason why I don't play online much anymore.
Regular non-cheating players who have a skill level way higher than mine (which is almost all of them) is the reason I gave up playing games online back in the early 2000s. That and the fact that I don't like playing with strangers, and that you can't pause the games cuz they are live. Multiplayer games needs bots. If you don't have bots (looking at you, Halo series), then F*CK YOU.
Yeah, this. It was hard to get good at a shooter when the other players are one-shotting me as I load in, over and over. I felt like I was playing Duck Hunter, only I was the duck.
I'm not even going to call them cheaters, it's just that I'm not very good - that's the fact of it. Sure, I suppose I could stick with it and learn, but picking myself up off the floor over and over again is only entertaining for so long, and not many shooter games have a hook to keep me in beyond that.
the problem is that people have moved on from software cheats and are now using hardware cheats that are virtually impossible for anti-cheat software or the game to detect. Like the Cronus Zen. You can use it on console or PC with a controller. I basically cranks the aim assist up to 11, removes recoil and does auto trigger. Basically, just sweep your crosshairs across someones head and it'll shoot for you when you're dead centered.
I gave up on COD online games because they're 75% cheaters. Everyone is using a controller and cronus. They're not even trying to hide it anymore. And activision doesn't care because the cheaters are streamers that showcase their game and pump up sales.
I never knew this. I'm glad I decided to play offline against bots for sure now..lol
I honestly don't have a good idea of how widespread cheating is these days.
Back when I played a shit ton of Counter-Strike I used to be accused of cheating by crybabies almost every single game.
Sometimes it is super evident, but most of the time it is not, and then it really could just be someone who is that good.
Cheating absolutely sucks, but it isn't what ended me playing multiplayer games. I just can't stand the people anymore. These days I play games to get a break from people, not to have to deal with more people and all of their bullshit.
The constant shit stream of homophobia, racism, sexism, and all other manners of offensive shit by pimply teenagers trying to get a rise out of people just gets old after a while, you know?
The last multiplayer game I truly enjoyed was Red Orchestra 2. I had a regular server where I knew most of the other regulars, who were all more mature players, and generally decent folks (except that one guy who it turned out was an honest to goodness neo-nazi, but even he behaved himself, at least in-game)
At times I almost wonder if multiplayer games could be improved by having a "mature" section that you can only join if you have positive ID that you are 30 or above. Something like that out to weed out all the annoying kids. if I never have to interact with anyone under 30 again, my quality of life will likely be much improved.
These days the multiplayer game experience is mostly mic spamming children trying to get a rise out of people, and either having to play official matches with try-hards who have WAY more time to to play games than you do, or go into casual games where everyone is just goofing around, not pursuing game objectives and trying to be a "cool streamer".
As far as I'm concerned, a few things killed multiplayer games for me:
1.) The availability of matchmaking and official servers.
Before this, you absolutely HAD to play on a community server. Everyone was forced to. There wasn't anything else. And if you were a dumbass you got yourself banned, so there was an incentive for people to generally behave themselves once they found a server they liked. Now it's just the wild west with official servers and companies trying to use algorithms to police things that will never work as well as a dedicated server admin who is actually playing on the server they administer.
Sure, you can still play on a community server in many games, but because you are not forced to, they spend most of their time empty. It's too easy for people to just auto-join an official server. I wish that would end.
2.) Streaming.
When Streaming started becoming a thing years ago, it transformed games from fun to just a bunch of idiots fishing for the latest viral video, as way too large a proportion of people playing were deluded into thinking they could become the next millionaire streamer (or at least make a living that way)
Multiplayer gaming was infinitely better before streaming was a thing.
3.) Skins/Lootboxes/Microtransactions
As far as I am concerned, this is what finally killed Counter-Strike for me. Casual games were transformed into kids mic-spamming about trading skins instead of playing the damn game. That, and some ridiculous pink camo-pattern rifle just isn't realistic. It was a total mood killer. And because this is the way Valve made their money, there was no way to disable it completely.
I have plenty of other issues with the state of multiplayer gaming (like making it a race to the bottom so everyone can play, making every multiplayer game look like a damn phone game, or different settings putting those who turn up quality settings at a disadvantage, as more foliage gets in the way, and - yes - cheaters and obnoxious children, but the three above are huge.
Hahahahaha, I feel yah there too!
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT
I like the sound of this idea, and I'm in the same boat as you with people under 30.
I agree with all your numbered points too.
You missed one....
Cross Platform Play... yea it's nice to be able to do that from time to time. But MF I want dedicated servers for PC players... at least that's a PARTIALLY walled environment to begin with.
I have fond memories of schooling foulmouthed kids in games. But really I'm damn near 50 now... My patience for that BS is GONE. Much like everyone else here I'd much rather a walled garden... I honestly don't care of it's 10 bucks a month. I just don't want to be stuck dealing with shithead players that ONLY want to piss people off.
At lest if there is some $$ for the accounts those servers can be protected and policed for crappy activity on them. And really if people want cheats... make a 'auto skilled' room for games with other 'auto skilled' players.. or vs bots only. We're using AI for everything else in games... lets see some AI learn and play some FPS games to give those 'Auto skilled' players something to target. ;)
This is why senior-only retirement communities exist.
Used to be able to turn off cross platform play. And it was glorious. I don't know why they removed that option. Another reason I won't buy a new COD game.
It's a pretty close tie between that and the people themselves.
Agreed. I deal with the public on a daily basis with my job, so I don't need to be dealing with the worst of them in my down time.
About 20 years ago I used to work retail (GameStop-owned EBGames and then Zales). If you don't already hate people, working retail will definitely cause you to not be able to stand them.
Yeah I wish there was better way to match ranked players so the kiddie pool types (like me) aren't swimming with sharks doing 360 noscope headshots
I worked retail and I have also done telephone PC end user tech support. Tech support is worse, just with less hot bad breath in your face. If I found myself jobless tomorrow, I would rather go work at Lowes or Home Depot than do tech support again.