http://dbd.game/killswitch
Down the Rabbit Hole - Alice in Cheating Land
Note: I’ve read through the forum rules twice before I sat down to write my post. I hope this is a conversation we are allowed to discuss on the forums, but I understand and apologize if I am incorrect.
I am feeling a bit down tonight. While browsing YouTube for a video to watch while I eat, I came across a DBD streamer that livestreams themselves breaking the rules and cheating as 85% naked Sable Ward. The tone of the stream was intensely antagonistic. To provide context, the stream was titled “COME TAKE ME DOWN NEXT @DeadbyDaylightBHVR” and I heard someone repeat “I’m not ruining the fun…” over and over again in a sing-song, smarmy, sarcastic tone until I muted the tab and decided to investigate further. There's a lot to unpack there. It looks like BHVR is already well aware of this person, yet they continue to stream themselves cheating.
Naturally, I went on their Discord and discovered the entire purpose of the live stream was to advertise and market an affiliate code for the cheat software they use. What I said is so strange, yet such a big deal that I feel the need to repeat myself. I still can't believe it. Dead by Daylight has succeeded so well as a multiplayer video game that it has developed an elaborate black market for cheating with affiliate code programs. Not only is it profitable, but it's popular/established enough to have revenue sharing with all these different people? What?
At this point, I’m not sure what to even say. I don’t think people are genuinely paying $5/week or $10/month just to see Sable in a skimpy swimsuit that looks like a banana hammock for girls. On a personal level, I do not understand how someone could enjoy playing Dead by Daylight if they had 999,999,999 auric cells, 999,999,999 iridescent shards and 999,999,999 blood points on their account. There is nothing to unlock. There is nothing to do. There is no journey of growth or development. There is no suspense. There is no worrying if you are going to win or not. All they do is jump around and try to get a reaction from people. Most people just ignore them. It makes little sense to me why someone would keep paying for something that would become dull so quickly … unless they used subtle cheating tactics to fly under the radar—which scares me.
I am not a programmer and I do not understand how video games are actually made — but can't someone at BHVR pony up $5 to get access to the cheating program so they can reverse engineer how it works? I know that the Ouroboros/Arms Race will forever continue — but at the same time it's not really acceptable to have people openly break the rules while they are streaming. If BHVR had a copy of the software, they could run some detection (e.g. ban users that have 999,999,999 auric cells) that only targets cheaters and shut off all paying customers quickly. I know that there is genuine concern that real players could be in the banning crossfire, which is never acceptable, but what real player actually has 999,999,999 auric cells on their account?
Artifact 1: Advertisement from DBD Cheating Discord that shows Motivations for Cheating
Comments
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There is no cheat proection in DBD. So the “arms race” point is no factor at all.
Don't try to understand a cheater/hacker either. Apparently something went wrong in their RL.
In the end they only harm themselves.1 -
I'm not sure how their products work, but at least at my job, I can block behavior by file hash.
If they get the file hash from the official program, they could use it to identify rulebreakers.
But, hash values change very easily and very frequently — so it would have to be a preemptive strike.
At the very least I think BHVR can afford $5 on the expense report and justify someone digging into it.
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I don't know what you're dreaming about, but dead by daylight still doesn't have server side validation.Bans happen based on a manual reporting process (ticket and evidence)
This is the sober statement and a fact.
Priority is elsewhere (skins, DLC's), topics that inc revenue1 -
You're really telling me that DBD has the Easy anti-cheat program, and that program can't search for known malicious file hashes?
I know that file hashes are very flimsy because one change to a program changes the entire hash — but it's still a detection method.
If you are correct, it really says something when the crappy tools I have at my normal job do way more than what DBD can do.
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In summary: If you consider a Nerf gun as a lethal weapon, you can describe DBD's anticheat as protection.
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Cheat developers are obviously going to be aware of these incredibly basic detection methods and implement countermeasures against them.
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The argument that I am making here is that cheating in DBD warrants action now that there is an established market with affiliate codes. I agree with you and believe the Ouroboros is a continual problem and waters down efficacy. I still believe there is value in reverse engineering their software to aid detections. There has to be something they can find to identify players with it.
If a large group of users are banned, most would be dissuaded from purchasing another account. They recently banned a big creator in the DBD cheating community and the only reason I know is because the cheater I watched the other is was still upset and acting out over the loss of his friend days later. There is direct evidence that taking action has real effect. When the big creators get hit, it sends a message that no one is safe.
If they take the most recent version of the cheating software currently in use and use it to identify a large enough group of people—then it only needs to be done once anyway. While it is true that some will choose to purchase new accounts, others may feel burned and wary. The only way BHVR can increase the risk of buying a cheat account is to make it risky to own it — which means targeting people that specifically use those apps. Eventually it might trigger a change in behavior.
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Well there's a market for people that do not want to grind...
5 bucks per month probably sounds really worth it to people that have family, work, etc. Even if you pay the absurd amount of money you still have an even more absurd grind to chew through.
The more content that is added, the more viable these programs are. Doesn't help that we live in the golden age of cheating
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I can guarantee you that's what they're trying to do.
You can't catch everyone, and cheating programs are being continually updated. Some people just love to cheat.
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Arms race is there for any popular online game. EAC IDs one program two others pop up.
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