HiGame

Cheating has always existed in multiplayer games, and for the most part it’s just a minor annoyance. But now that there are millions of dollars up for grabs at eSports tournaments, cheating has become a problem with much larger stakes. So, how do we fix it? Well, a man by the name of David Titarenco thinks he’s solved part of the problem with a tiny little Arduino box he calls “Game:ref.”

A few weeks ago, Titarenco wrote a lengthy blog post about his hardware anti-cheat solution for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. It got a fair bit of attention on Reddit, and Titarenco is now working to get this device into the hands of tournament organizers and gamers alike. It has since been dubbed Game:ref, and unsurprisingly, a Kickstarter project is in the works.



At it’s core, this Arduino-based solution is designed to detect discrepancies between user input and what’s happening in the game. You simply pass the user’s input through the Game:ref on the way into the PC, and then compare those results with the data on the server side of things. If the two are drastically out of step, there’s reason to believe that there’s cheating software running on the user’s PC. It’s certainly not a silver bullet for every single method of cheating, but it might end up being a useful puzzle piece in the eSports scene.
Keep in mind, this concept isn’t entirely new. In fact, Titarenco himself credits Intel’s “Fair Online Gaming” concept for inspiring this implementation. Earlier this week, he told Polygon that the devices themselves will be made for under $100 each, so possibly this relatively cheap solution can gain traction where Intel’s never did.

So, can this really stop cheaters completely? Certainly not. As soon as someone has physical access to the device itself, all bets are off, and Titarenco seems aware of that. He’s going after input-based software cheating exclusively here, but there’s no real guarantee that will work perfectly either. Given enough time and financial incentive, it’s conceivable that cheaters could target this specific detection method, and find a work around. At best, I can see this working as an additional layer of protection in a tournament setting, but that’s about it.

Frankly, I find it hard to believe that a perfect anti-cheat solution will ever exist — especially with so much money on the line. The best we can do is gather as much data as possible, implement strict regulations in tournaments, and keep our ear to the ground for the latest advancements in online cheating.


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