Sony Online Entertainment prez John Smedley has taken to /r/planetside to give a clear explanation of the current state of PlanetSide 2’s policies regarding the banning and suspension of hackers and cheaters and other assorted ne’er-do-wells. No surprise: it’s a depressing cat and mouse roundabout, with SOE developing anti-hacking algorithms as quickly as hackers can develop smarter aimbots. Some surprise: SOE are planning on fighting back against the cheat enablers using lawyers and gavels.
“After having personally viewed some of the major cheat sites I can tell you I’m blown away by how sophisticated some of these operations are,” writes Smedley. “They are making money on this. We’re working on that from another angle too that I’m not going to go into just yet (hint. it involves lawyers) . But we have the resources to fight this fight and we will keep doing it.”
Smedley also addresses some of the concerns of players who accuse the PlanetSide 2 devs of not acting quickly enough to squish cheaters, assuring them that they’re taking steps to keep the shooter hack-free and fair, with GMs actively peeking over the shoulders of previously suspended players to ensure that the ban hammers always hit their targets. “Sometimes we suspend people for something while we actually suspect them of cheating,” the faintly Orwellian bossman explains. “We’ll watch them when they come back and the GMs are able to watch people while they play to make sure we’re satisfied they are cheating.”
Taking the legal battle to the very websites who are providing, improving onand profiting from the software employed by cheaters would be a potentially costly step — the boldest SOE will have taken in their fight against hackers —but seemingly one the developeris willing to take to protect the integrity of their game. It’s alsoone that could potentially see development of better PlanetSide 2 hacks grind to an abrupt halt as soon as creating cheating toolsceases to be profitable. “It’s a constant effort,” says Smedley. “We just want you to know we hate them just as much as you do and we’re busting our asses to get them out of the game.”