I was considering if I should reply to this thread in case I inadvertently warn the cheaters, but since someone is going to point this out sooner or later...
We all know that there are cheat programs and scripting programs in UO. Just like WoW players know that there are cheats and bots in WoW. Just like any MMO game has cheats and script programs. Even non MMO online games like Diablo. Or even the really old BBS MUDs (just have your telnet client run a list of move commands to rush your char to certain rooms and grab that daily spawned +5 holy avenger).
If anyone thinks that there are no cheats in other MMO games, you will be sorely dissappointed. As long as people can get an advantage, there WILL be people that will come up with a way to gain that advantage.
So it boils down to what the people that run the game do to deal with cheaters. In UO's case, it would be the devs and GMs.
The devs' job is to fix the codes and close holes that allows exploits. The GMs' jobs is to provide a first line of response in the interim and enforce the rules.
DEVs
If you think the devs are sitting around on their butts without looking to fix cheating in ANY form, please take a look at the publish updates. Around half of it deals with cheats and exploits. That's not to mention the emergency fixes. you know, those system message say the servers are going down shortly, but it's no where near the daily maintenance cycles? You never encountererd this? Well, just check UHall and look for the many "xxx shard is still down" posts.
Most exploits are actually fixed very quickly nowadays. Most of the time, within a couple of days after it's known. Some exploits however, are alot more difficult to eradicate via coding. This is where the GMs come in. But first, the devs - repost from one of my other post regarding speedhacking:
Speedhacking is a difficult problem to deal with and is not isolated to UO. How do you stop someone running legit performance boosting programs that tell their system to respond faster and behaves like an overclocked PC?
The problem is, certain types of programs they use do not manipulate the client or the packets directly. They boost parts of the processing speed of the entire PC, sometimes by manipulating the cpu cycles. You and I know that something's fishy when we see cheaters zooming past like a rocket and skipping frames, but on a coding level, it's harder to eradicate without affecting legit players. Some of these are legit programs too, which will work on any PC application, be it Microsoft Office or WoW.
For those that manipulate the packets directly, if you think they did not do anything, just google "Mr Tact" and "How Players Cheat in MMOs". Here's an extract of the part on speedhacks:
Speed Hacking
Player sends one move packet per tile of movement.
DON’T DO THIS.
Speed hack #1: send more packets.
Solution: Throttle Movement
Throttled distance over time.
Speed hack #2: When players ran in a circle they bypassed the distance checks.
Solution: Movement Queue
Final solution was to buffer user movement, discarding movement packets when the queue was full.
Was tremendously difficult to get to “feel right”
Still lets players get short bursts (<1 second) of fast movement.
Movement is probably about as good as it’s going to get without rearchitecting.
So, we know the devs have done as much as possible with regards to speedhacking without re-architecting. But what exactly does re-achitecting entail? Changing codes on the server end? Client end? Both?
Meanwhile, on a completely "unrelated" note - hey, we've got this nifty new SA expansion that consists of changes on both the client and server... Also, to explore "unrelated" issues further, while punkbuster is unsuitable for UO, this will be a very good chance for devs to
add codes into the UO client to detect 3rd party proggies...I'm just sayin...
GMs
Right, now comes the GMs' part in this. IMHO, the enforcement really seems a bit lacking. Judging from response times, I think they are severely understaffed. If this is the case, simply monitor a cheater a day and publicize it! Once cheaters know that they will be banned, I am confident that duping, speedhacking, bots and any exploit will be vastly and effectively reduced.
Ok, maybe it's hard to prove if someone is using exploits. Gee, it would be nice to have some sort of detection engine built into the client so that the GMs can prove that the cheater is using some kind of exploit. Hey maybe we can build it into a
new client? Hmmm...I wonder if there's any news on them releasing a new client recently?
Back on topic - Fox, goodbye. I can't blame your reasons, in fact, I think it's good to bring to light when players are leaving and for what reasons. But at the same time, I just want say that I can see the devs have been doing a great job (even with regards to speedhacking) and are continuing to do so. Most of the time, they just can't say anything about it. It's a pretty thankless job. No one ever says, "Hey, you are doing a great job!" when everything works and exploits are fixed. But when **** happens, everyone starts blaming them.
PS Fox - I think it's wise to wait for summer. I hear something called SA is about to happen
If you can't wait, then bank as much of your stuff as possible and watch the boards.
