When suspected of cheating in Valve’s newly released, early-growth MOBA-style third-person shooter, the corporation has a unique and entertaining way to penalize gamers – a fittingly artistic resolution that serves as a clever deterrent. As of Thursday, individuals who cheat may potentially transform into helpless frogs, with the outcome of their metamorphosis determined by the opposing party’s actions.
In instances where an individual’s dishonesty is exposed during a sports competition, opponents may face a difficult decision: either expel the cheating participant immediately and terminate the game, or transform them into a frog for the duration of the match before subsequently imposing penalties. The system is poised to refine its conservative detection ranges as we develop a more sophisticated v2 anti-cheat system with enhanced depth and complexity. Once the new system is live, we will shortly implement the feature allowing for customer bans in a few days’ time. When a match ends in this manner, the outcomes are no longer dependent on different players.
As suddenly as the words unfold, I’m transformed into a frog, beset by an eerie sensation.
Valve is no stranger to combating cheating, having developed innovative solutions in the past to counter unfair play. The developer had anticipated the cheating issue and cleverly enticed cheaters to reveal themselves by exploiting vulnerabilities in video games, ultimately resulting in tens of thousands of account suspensions. Typically, these bans arrive as a public rebuke, shrouded in shame for cheaters and celebratory accolades for faithful players. To combat exploitation, Valve rewarded genuine players by offering a unique “Cheater’s Lament” hat for those who eschewed the temptation of idle-hunting and instead earned their rewards through dedicated gameplay.
Valve’s prolonged pursuit of dehumanizing cheaters appears to be an ongoing anti-cheating tactic within their organization. In response to a prior developer, Burton Johnsey, Valve designed a similar system aimed at turning cheaters into the infamous “chickens” in their games.
