There's No Such Thing as Fair Multiplayer Competitive Games

Table of Contents

Note: This article was originally drafted in 2024-01-26 but it was republished in a later date after I rewrote for quality sake

During the last 3 years I have played and trained almost everyday in the fps multiplayer game Apex Legends. Unfortunately the increasing occurrences of players hacking in the server has made me play less by the day.

Most of the times it’s just suspicions based on historical experience. A good player usually can recognize another good player by the way they move, how they time their attacks and healing, etc.

The Conspirers

Last month the topic started trending on X.com after many “pro’s” were exposed of using cheats in screenshots and videos that exposed how many players gain their rankings and fame by conspiring in private Discord servers to help one of the 3 man squads by not attacking the other conspirers and instead attacking together the rest of the squads or paying to get boosted to high ranks like Apex Predator, and some top players knowingly played with cheaters to gain an advantage.

The overall concern was that cheating and win-trading seems rampant even at the highest levels of Apex Legends competitive play. This has damaged the integrity of the game. Some suggested Apex needs more invasive anti-cheat systems, even if it means allowing deep access to player’s computers, in order to properly address the cheating crisis (which I don’t really agree with).

The Commercial Products

After the controversy rose again, some other people have been calling out the technologies this losers use. One method is using hardware devices like the Cronus Xen that can modify controller inputs to reduce recoil or mimic aim-bots, though setting them up perfectly is difficult. This product as well as other of the more advanced available options are commonly available to purchase at your local Walmart or Amazon.

The Blatant Code Exploits

More advanced cheats also include aim-bots, wall-hacks to see enemy locations, and radars that show all player positions on the map that squads can share.

To avoid detection, cheaters use services to spoof or mask their hardware IDs to bypass bans. The cheaters can make the external hardware appear as legitimate devices like wifi cards to the anti-cheat. But the most sophisticated method involves using a separate computer connected to the gaming PC to run the cheats externally, which current anti-cheat software cannot scan and analyze.

Just imagine setting up an entire new pc just to cheat in a game. These losers get absolutely no respect from me.

The “Light” Cheaters

But it’s not only advance cheats, there’s also many “soft” cheesing options that many more players recur to, like modifying the game config files to make controllers do things that they shouldn’t be able to do. After this video showcasing this scripts got viral, Apex Legend’s developers removed the game capability of executing this kind of scripts from the officially distributed game client.

But some other basic methods include using software to remap keys for automated jumps/throws or reduce recoil by using the manufacturer provided mouse software that has the capacity to run scripts that perform mouse movement functions like pulling down the mouse for you or making the spray pattern jitter in order to reset the spray patterns in some games where this technique is available (like Apex Legends).

The impossible to win battle.

If that wasn’t enough, here’s someone that developed an aim-bot and has been using it for months in Valorant, which is a competitive FPS game with the reputation of having the most advanced kernel level anti-cheat. The video provides an in-depth look at the widespread cheating problem in competitive tactical shooter games like Valorant and Counter-Strike, despite the games utilizing advanced anti-cheat systems. While developers keep fighting most common cheats with their anti-cheats, many subtle cheating methods persist that give players an advantage over non-cheaters in competitive matches.

Conclusion

With entire communities of cheaters gathering in Discord servers focused in cheating techniques and exploiting the game to their advantage and an entire industry making money selling cheating enabling products, this seems to be a never ending battle that may not ever be won. All this is lame and disgusting. Teach your kids not to lie, cheat or steal, because cheating is always a decision to which you can say no and one of the most satisfying things in a difficult competitive game is overcoming your own skill issues by correcting your weaknesses and learning from your mistakes in order to become better, stronger and more capable.

When used with the correct approach and set of values, videogames can teach you valuable skills that can make you a better person in your everyday life, at work, with your family or your local and remote communities.