Valve says that denial of service (DDoS) attacks are unavoidable for large-scale online games. In a presentation at GDC earlier today, Kassidy Gerber who works within the company’s business development and internet infrastructure departments, says that DDoS attacks “are going to happen.”
Given the apparent inevitability of the attacks when it comes to popular online games, Gerber says that developers “need to protect both your players and game servers, because they’re both vulnerable to attacks.” Thankfully, Valve has plenty of tricks up its sleeve on that front, including the ability to hide IP addresses, and “reroute traffic in the event of an attack.”
Amusingly, Gerber channels Netflix clean queen Marie Kondo in describing the attacks, which she says “spark joy” in the hearts of players who want “to ruin everyone else’s time.”
While that might not help players who’ve had their Dota 2 or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive experiences disrupted by cheesed-off players, it does at least suggest that Valve is trying its best to mitigate the impact that the attacks have.
Personally, I’ve only experienced something like this once, the result of an ill-advised foray into CS:GO’s cursed matchmaking queue (not its official title). Even that was an attack more of the lag-switch variety than the full-blown DDoS, but given how irritating it was it’s good to know that Valve does at least have a few ways to try and help out.
Read more: CSGO’s creator wanted to add weapon inflation to the game’s economy
Elsewhere in Valve’s address, the company revealed the long-awaited new look Steam library, as well as a closer look at a new system that’ll help players keep track of their in-game events.