DISCUSSION: Our Anti-Cheat Approach to Battlefield V

Braddock512 · February 6, 2019 4:33PM

Hello Battlefield V Community,

Today we released "Our Anti-Cheat Approach to Battlefield V" blog, providing some insight into our efforts for fair play in Battlefield V, our goals on constantly improving detection, and dedication to the Battlefield community.

What are the top five things DICE is doing to prevent cheating in Battlefield V?

Working on better prevention, hardening the PC client against exploits.
Scaling up detection efforts.
Investigating supplementary deterrence methods which can work alongside banning accounts.
Investigating methods of improving the reporting flow, including easier reporting.
Keeping up to date with the latest cheat developments and reacting to them in a faster and leaner manner.

We definitely want to work with the community on improving our anti-cheat efforts as an ongoing commitment to our Battlefield V community as part of our Live Service.
We'd love to have your feedback, suggestions, questions, so we've opened this thread to gather all of that. We ask that you keep it constructive and productive. Together we can continue improving Battlefield V for all of us.

So, read through the blog and come back to share your feedback.

Jeff Braddock
North American Community Manager - Battlefield

NicDrywall · February 6, 2019 4:51PM

I'm a little disappointed. I am glad you see the problem and you are on it. When 50% of my games last Sunday had a cheater (or I think they were due to my lack of confidence in the ability to catch them) I am keenly interested in seeing this addressed.

But with no concrete dates for when improvements are coming, types of cheats eliminated / blocked, etc. The tweet that said the team was working on an LOD Bios fix had more details than this blog.

Kauzer_RF · February 6, 2019 4:53PM

To do list:
- in game few clicks report method. Also If cheating player gets for example 20 reports from 64 playing on that server ppl, he should be kicked from server and notification sended to EA\DICE support crew;
- maximum cruel panishment for cheaters, i mean origin account ban;

RichardSinerface · February 6, 2019 5:13PM

Thanks for a comment on Anti-cheat. Saying something is better than saying nothing on this topic. But you really didn't say much did you. You recognize this is a problem, do you really? Did you notice that player numbers are going down? Cuz I think they are. Its not fun playing right now. Almost every server has cheaters, and if I'm wrong about that then your game has serious problems that make it seem like an over abundance of cheaters. These could be netcode or balance or whatever else. But I don't enjoy games that have massive imbalance in strength (even when I am on the winning side), and I don't enjoy games with people going 90-3 (even when they are my teammates). If somehow these people really are capable of doing this then set up a pro circuit so they can all play together and we can be amazed by their skills as they play live in front of a studio audience.

Right now this game is going down fast, thanks for the blog, but now its time for action. Considering battlefieldtracker.com still shows people with k/d of over 300 I don't think you guys are even catching the low hanging fruit (17,000+ kills and 51 deaths. Now if thats legit then its even worse statement for your game cuz he spent most of that time in a plane showing just how out of balance they are)

PS. Why are you so sure Stodeh isn't cheating? His videos do not show him in front of a computer (3rd person view so we see his actual computer screen) Is it because he missed those 2 shots?

Cropulus · February 6, 2019 5:18PM

It would be good to report the amount of bans that are given, during a certain period. I understand this might be negative publicity, but this will serve as a prevention method for some cheaters as now the impression is given by some that noone gets caught.

An official statement on what is considered cheating. Maybe a list? I am not using scripts, but any posts on that are removed, so I am not sure whether they are allowed.

Maybe use battlefield tracker as well? Score per minute leaderboard top 100 seems rather dodgy to me.

People have indicated that sent in video’s are not being viewer by DICE personnel. Is that true? Do you not want to receive videos?

ShadowHunterFi · February 6, 2019 5:25PM

Kauzer_RF wrote: »

To do list:
- in game few clicks report method. Also If cheating player gets for example 20 reports from 64 playing on that server ppl, he should be kicked from server and notification sended to EA\DICE support crew;
- maximum cruel panishment for cheaters, i mean origin account ban;

In my opinion, (suspected) hackers should not be banned from Origin. This is because some people might just be good, and seem like hackers. This would basically get legit, skilled players completely locked out of their Origin games. Of course, this could be a good method if the player is CLEARLY hacking, but milder hacks, such as WH (if it's hidden very well) can be hard to spot and good players can seem like hackers due to their awareness and aim.

rockin_master · February 6, 2019 6:43PM

Another snow job.

EA reps explain BFV's AC the same way a parent explains the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny to their kids.

I'm not a child and I'm not a fool and I really don't appreciate being treated as such. You aren't kidding anybody but yourself.

Hope you're enjoying the 18 point drop you've been working so hard at creating. Great job, full steam ahead.

Braddock512 · February 6, 2019 6:59PM

@rockin_master
Not sure you understand the meaning of "Constructive feedback", but it looks like a mod felt you needed a timeout to pause and reflect on it.
Take care.

-Braddock512-

RRedux · February 6, 2019 7:22PM

In bf1, I reported several players with video evidence of extremely obvious cheating, for example, one video was of a medic standing on the bridge on argonne, ressing players on his team the instant they were killed, their player models were teleported to the cheaters location and ressed in midair, falling off the bridge. 100% incontrovertible evidence, literally no room for "maybe he was just good" since no matter how good of a player you are, you can't teleport people from across the map to you when ressing them -_-

Another video was of a guy taking 3 times as much damage to die as other players, but the most telling was that he had endless grenades, he spammed both gas and fire grenades (at the same time, he could use any type of grenade he wanted regardless of loadout) over and over at the objectives much, much faster than what is possible with the normal resupply. Another example where it can't be dismissed with "but he's just good".

The result in both cases, nothing happened, accounts just stayed active regardless, kept racking up battle reports on battlefieldtracker for months afterwards.

Those kinds of incidents convinced me that the reports are never actually seen by a human being. What I assume could be happening is that the reported player gets checked by fairfight, and fairfight goes "nope, no strange accuracy or superhuman k/d ratio here, this player is legit" and the case ends there.

So, while the points listed in the blog sounds good on paper, I'll hold my applause until something actually gets done.

Cropulus · February 6, 2019 7:23PM

I forgot to mention. Learn from the likes of Blizzard about the way they communicate the ban waves on overwatch. It just gives me a sense of security (probably not as effective as I think it really is, but it gives me the idea they are working on it actively). Also, look at what you can do to the cheat creators, speak to their banks and paypal and the like.

Maybe look to sue the cheat creators? Not sure what the posibilities are, make them sweat a little.

Communication is key I think and the start you made with the blog is appreciated. I know it does not solve the issue, but at least it gives comfort to know that action is taken.

rockin_master · February 6, 2019 7:26PM

I linked to a video of one of your very own partnered players that was an expose on the cheating in BFV. I didn't realize there was a name exposed in that video. I guess what I did was horribly wrong in your view. I was sanctioned with no warning. I've never named and shamed before and it was obviously not my intent when it did happen.

I wasn't jailed for my comment to you because it didn't break the TOS or any rule about "constructive feedback". Sorry you didn't like my post. The truth hurts sometimes and some people have a hard time dealing with it.

My constructive feedback was to not treat your customers like children. You can take it or leave it. It is what it is.

Thank you for your reply.

dfk_7677 · February 6, 2019 7:39PM

As @RRedux said, at the moment the reporting system seems to be mostly useless. Obvious cheaters, that don't do any effort to hide their cheating, get massively reported, but don't get banned. Some insight on how the reporting system works would be welcome.

Braddock512 · February 6, 2019 9:48PM

dfk_7677 wrote: »

As @RRedux said, at the moment the reporting system seems to be mostly useless. Obvious cheaters, that don't do any effort to hide their cheating, get massively reported, but don't get banned. Some insight on how the reporting system works would be welcome.

Great call-out. While we cannot discuss actions taken on accounts for privacy reasons, we can definitely be more transparent on how the reporting process works.
Let me work with our anti-cheat admin and our TOS team to get a write-up that provides a bit more clarity.

Appreciate the comment.

-Braddock512-

Juanicee · February 6, 2019 9:55PM

We are investigating is not good enough at this point. If you don't bring a solid solution this month, It will be too late. The amount of cheaters is going to the roof, and the report system or fairfight it's not working at all.

Stop asking to players, you are an AAA developer, you already know the solution to the problem, invest in a proper anti cheater or give us the option to vote for ban.

Kauzer_RF · February 6, 2019 10:13PM

ShadowHunterFi wrote: »

Kauzer_RF wrote: »

To do list:
- in game few clicks report method. Also If cheating player gets for example 20 reports from 64 playing on that server ppl, he should be kicked from server and notification sended to EA\DICE support crew;
- maximum cruel panishment for cheaters, i mean origin account ban;

In my opinion, (suspected) hackers should not be banned from Origin. This is because some people might just be good, and seem like hackers. This would basically get legit, skilled players completely locked out of their Origin games. Of course, this could be a good method if the player is CLEARLY hacking, but milder hacks, such as WH (if it's hidden very well) can be hard to spot and good players can seem like hackers due to their awareness and aim.

I'm was not speaking about suspected players, i'm speaking about ppl which shoot in the skys with MG and killing enemys at another end of the map etc. 100% confirmed cheater should be punished very hard, as much as devs could do it in theory. Unfair game lovers should clearly understand what will they recieve after using cheats. At the moment we have cheaters because the got ban only on one server, and nothing stops them to just join to another one. Full account ban will fix it.

DerMathiasNLD · February 6, 2019 10:13PM

I do appreciate the effort but all the points given should already have existed and for as far as been implemented at the current stage have proven not to work. EA/ Dice is facing this problem in the wrong retroactive way for a long time now over the current and previous Battlefield titles. The current system is a cat (named Fairfight) and mouse (cheaters) system, you will find a solution to combat cheats but those creating the cheats will adapt and this will go on and on. Meanwhile your current (payed) player base is suffering from your experiments of retro-active trying to combat cheating in Battlefield. While I do support an active and improved Fairfight system I strongly suggest also to took in how prevent cheating before it can take place. Where your reading you I am referring to EA / Dice :-)

Mandatory 2FA
From what I have learned most of the persistent cheaters are using hacked accounts which are bought for a few bucks account, when you ban them they just buy a new account. I noticed the tweet on how to activate 2FA in a recent video made by Westie , but I was rather surprised as this was the first time I noticed someone officially linked to EA / Dice mention it. Why not make 2FA mandatory for players who wish to play multiplayer? Take for example Ubisoft Rainbow Six Siege. Ubisoft has send a reminder from time to time while starting the game to secure accounts using 2FA and rewarded players with a skin for activating. They even made it mandatory for ranked matches a little while ago with a reminder (countdown) in the menu before it was activated when 2FA was going to be mandatory. Epics Fortnite rewards players who activate 2FA with a Emote. I suggest starting off with a reminder from time to time when Origin starts to activate 2FA so at least your player base gets to know it. At the moment I believe a majority of your player base does not even know 2FA exists or knows what it does. Make the reminder clickable to a support page where players can read up why they should use 2FA and how they can activate it. Stimulate the use of 2FA, reward players with something unique maybe a skin. All this should be measurable take a baseline, launch a security awareness campaign, rewards players and then measure again. Your next step would be to make it mandatory for multiplayer, announce it way ahead in your social media updates and in game so that players are prepared.
Legal
How easy is it to obtain a cheat? Well just “Google Battlefield V cheats” the first search results are not about how EA is fighting cheaters but are links to videos a cheat forum and websites who offer cheats for Battlefield. I’m not a lawyer but EA is one of the largest game studios who is not even able to protect their own intellectual properties? Are you aware there are websites who even banner on their frontpage they where never detected at all by Fairfight? While some are free most require a small purchase or a payed VIP account people are making money over this. As many others players I have paid the full amount (in a pre-order) to play Battlefield not to see someone likely using an cheap hacked account and an 2 euro cheat to empty my team twice in a round. If even possible again I’m not a lawyer contact EA legal and work something out to counter those harming your intellectual properties. Target those selling hacked accounts is this even allowed within the TOS?
Look into technical solutions to prevent re-using or creating accounts
One of the issues is players who cheat keep returning on new created or another hacked account, look into ways to block them.
Prevent easy entry
This more something for earlier Battlefield titles which are included in Origin Access. For 3,99 euro someone can buy a Origin Access Basic and a cheap cheat and mess around until the account is suspended. I sincerely hope that your account / payment system has something build to prevent someone who has bad intensions to just buy a new Origin Access account and start over and over again after their previous Origin Access account has been banned / terminated.
Announce bans
I Saw Julians Tweet about the privacy laws. I do understand that I can not receive an update what has happened to the reported account in detail. How ever what is happening at this moment is that I see someone who has been reported by me and multiple other players not been online in the unofficial Battlefield tracker, so I’m thinking okay problem solved. Then after a few days I see them again in game, active in Battlefield tracker or to make it even worse see them comment on a Youtube video I posted that they still have not been banned. How paranoia do you want your player base to get? For me this is a serious trust issue. Within the possibilities of the current privacy laws I would strongly suggest to make it easier to see if something has been done I do not see any privacy issues resetting the user stats and changing a banned account name to (Username – Banned) so at least those reporting and doing a follow-up know something has been done without going into details which might cause a privacy issue. There is for obvious reasons limited information about Fairfight but it would be nice to be able to check the status of the service or maybe a page on which EA can brag how many accounts (without any details) have been banned in the past week / month). In the past other game studio announced large ban waves which you might want to look into to. Knowing something is done may take a little of trust issues away and it may scare those of thinking of using cheats. In general be more open about the things you are allowed to share within the current privacy laws so players know you are working on it rather then a little to late response, we all know there is an cheating issue for a longer time.

RichardSinerface · February 6, 2019 10:14PM

ShadowHunterFi wrote: »

Kauzer_RF wrote: »

To do list:
- in game few clicks report method. Also If cheating player gets for example 20 reports from 64 playing on that server ppl, he should be kicked from server and notification sended to EA\DICE support crew;
- maximum cruel panishment for cheaters, i mean origin account ban;

In my opinion, (suspected) hackers should not be banned from Origin. This is because some people might just be good, and seem like hackers. This would basically get legit, skilled players completely locked out of their Origin games. Of course, this could be a good method if the player is CLEARLY hacking, but milder hacks, such as WH (if it's hidden very well) can be hard to spot and good players can seem like hackers due to their awareness and aim.

This sounds like you are worried. Any reason you might be worried? Skill? HAHAHA

"But now I can't play SIMS"

Then don't cheat, not that hard. They explain that they look into cheaters and don't just ban people due to a report. The report just starts the investigation. If you are worried about getting banned don't cheat

DirtHole72 · February 6, 2019 10:24PM

Thank you for an official comment on this problem. It truly is killing the game. Some suggestions:

1) Easier way to report cheating. You want us to be more certain of a cheater before we report them right? How about this:
a) A death cam, like PUBG has
b) Easier way to enter spectator mode and watch the suspected cheater for a while. Right now wee have to jot down the server, exit it and hope we get back in to spectate. Its a joke

2) I know PUBG is a different game without different technical challenges I am sure but maybe you can gleam some ideas from what they did to fight it. It destroyed their game as bad if not worse than yours.

3) A specific example that Ten-Cent did related to PUBG cheating. They started taking legal action against the groups that create the cheats. Google "Battlefield 5 cheats", you see how easy it is to get cheats that ruin the game. It's absolutely insane. Go after these guys.

I know you guys got a black eye for not having Battle Royale out when the game released. Personally it is no big deal to me, I can wait. But I tell you what, you think cheating destroys a game in modes like conquest or breakout. Think about how ONE CHEATER in battle royale will kill the game for 100 people, every time. You think the community is angry about cheating now, wait until battle royale comes out if its not addressed. My advice, don't release it until it is. Even if it takes 6 months.

PoppaPappo · February 6, 2019 10:38PM

DirtHole72 wrote: »

I know you guys got a black eye for not having Battle Royale out when the game released. Personally it is no big deal to me, I can wait. But I tell you what, you think cheating destroys a game in modes like conquest or breakout. Think about how ONE CHEATER in battle royale will kill the game for 100 people, every time. You think the community is angry about cheating now, wait until battle royale comes out if its not addressed. My advice, don't release it until it is. Even if it takes 6 months.

This. This cannot be emphasized enough. Cheating will kill Battle Royale. Full stop. This should be of the highest possible priority. If EA/Dice cannot or will not recognize this, then, well...

crapjon · February 6, 2019 10:57PM

Dedicated servers with community admins will take care of most of the cheating without any help(money) from EA/DICE except the initial setup of the servers. Even a simple 'Vote-kick' polling option for official servers would alleviate a lot of it(sure it can be abused, but it's better than what we have now).

frankbama · February 7, 2019 2:00AM

BFV is the first BF title I did not buy all the way back to 1942. The main reason was BF1 and not having dedicated servers. It absolutly killed the clans. I agree that dedicated servers can control cheating. I never even thought about cheaters until late BF4. Give the communty back dedicated servers!

DISCUSSION: Our Anti-Cheat Approach to Battlefield V

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DISCUSSION: Our Anti-Cheat Approach to Battlefield V

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