Respawn have announced that they have started punishing cheaters in Titanfall. According to a blog post on their site they have been running the server-side anti-cheat software FairFight ever since the release of Titanfall.
Farifight is the same software that powers the anti cheat ability in Battlefield 4 and according to their website:
“Fairfight uses two overlapping and mutually supportive approaches to identify cheaters: algorithmic analysis of player statistics and server-side cheat detection. FairFight uses algorithmic models to evaluate gameplay against multiple statistical markers to identify cheating as it occurs. FairFight crosschecks these indicators using objective server-side reporting tools. It takes action when both approaches correlate to cheating — and because you establish FairFight’s tolerances and the in-game actions to be taken against the hacker, you are in control of your game like never before. ”
And now Respawn have revealed they are going to start using it to ban players who have been caught by the system. So how do you know that you’ve been tagged as a cheater? Well when you load into a lobby you will see the following screen
The most obvious sign is the red text stating “FairFight: Cheat Detected”, I see the challenges are locked but that is because the user is too low a level to activate them yet. However I’d be surprised if you would still be allowed to complete challenges while being tagged as a cheater.
So you get caught and can’t play anymore right? No actually you can continue playing but the catch is that you can only play against other gamers who have also been tagged as cheaters. I’m actually interested to see how a game made up entirely of cheaters actually plays out. Since you know everyone will continue to cheat.
So you’ve been caught and you want to atone for your sins and have your cheater tag removed, how do you go about that?
Well Respawn has simply stated that if you don’t believe you cheated then email them on anticheat@respawn.com which appears to imply that if you are a cheater then you have no way to go back and have that tag removed. It’s a permanent scar on your gamertag and since FairFight is used across multiple games your cheater tag may sit with you forever.
So play nice.
Last Updated: March 27, 2014
Jedi JJ
March 27, 2014 at 07:52
Battlefield 3 needed this
Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!
March 27, 2014 at 08:02
What bugs me most is that many “cheaters” are often caught “cheating” due to software like MSI Afterburner and OSD programs that hook the game calls to read FPS and all that. I hope they’ve worked that in to the system to detect whether it’s a legit OSD or some other hook call to the games dll files
Jedi JJ
March 27, 2014 at 08:04
Quite true
Umar hearts Grandia
March 27, 2014 at 08:03
I love companies are just throwing the word algorithm around. Isn’t MS using some other super algorithm to rate xlive players. Algorithms everywhere
Weanerdog
March 27, 2014 at 09:14
Hey Umar, psst … would you like to by an algorithm.
Umar hearts Grandia
March 27, 2014 at 09:29
ROFLOL!
Hey, psst, I got this new batch of Algorithms that you won’t find any where else on the market, they’re sure to make you trip bytes!
Unavengedavo(aka. Bilbo)
March 27, 2014 at 09:48
Will I be all up in the clouds?
Weanerdog
March 27, 2014 at 11:06
No for that you wanna be hitting the PHP.
Jaded_Reprobate
March 27, 2014 at 08:04
do they take your ping time into account in this algorithm? i know playing on my 2mb line, as soon as i end up in an overseas lobby, i’m pretty much screwed… but i do a hell of a lot better against local boys… it would be a bitch if this was seen as cheating
Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!
March 27, 2014 at 08:06
Especially since they didn’t launch the game officially in SA…. That… That may be a problem….
Mark Vincer
March 27, 2014 at 08:09
I remember I had a controller for my Golden China Family Entertainment System which had two “turbo switches”. You flicked them on and it basically locked the turbo buttons down, so you could shoot continuously or whatever.
Alien Emperor Trevor
March 27, 2014 at 08:10
This Q&A absolutely killed me:
Q.) So what happens if I get banned?
A.) Great news: you get to keep playing Titanfall! Less-great news: you only get to play with other cheaters. You can play with other banned players in something that will resemble the Wimbledon of aimbot contests. Hopefully the aimbot cheat you paid for really is the best, or these all-cheater matches could be frustrating for you. Good luck.
Admiral Chief of Auraxis
March 27, 2014 at 08:10
LOOOOOOOL
Kensei Seraph
March 27, 2014 at 08:18
Epic. 😀
Admiral Chief of Auraxis
March 27, 2014 at 08:10
Filthy cheaterses
Admiral Chief of Auraxis
March 27, 2014 at 08:11
(this was for yesterday’s Oculus Rift thing)
http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/ab5EYRE_460sa.gif
TiMsTeR1033
March 27, 2014 at 08:21
You made poor Jimmy cry!
Kensei Seraph
March 27, 2014 at 08:17
I wouldn’t mind spectating one of those all cheater games.
Umar hearts Grandia
March 27, 2014 at 08:18
Always thought these systems were so lame. Can’t we get a camera crew up in this joint?? One gamer complains of another cheating. Camera crew follows them around everywhere even to their Grade 6 classroom (In the case of CoD cheaters ) until they catch them red handed. and ends with two gamers confronting each other.
“I swear, it’s not what it seems! I tripped and accidentally activated this cheat. It means nothing to me, I swear, it was a one time thing”
TiMsTeR1033
March 27, 2014 at 08:23
What happened to the good old days like this?
Admiral Chief of Auraxis
March 27, 2014 at 08:29
Hah, forgot about that
Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!
March 27, 2014 at 08:32
That machine was worth $2000??? Man how times have changed. That wouldn’t cost $50 anymore lol.
Kromas
March 27, 2014 at 08:29
BF4 + anti-cheat = error.
Admiral Chief of Auraxis
March 27, 2014 at 08:30
http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/a09wY4X_460sa.gif
Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!
March 27, 2014 at 08:33
Bwhahahahahahahahahhaha
Kensei Seraph
March 27, 2014 at 08:39
Double kill!
Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!
March 27, 2014 at 08:40
HEADSHOT
DOUBLE KILL
Player A ended his own killing spree
Johan du Preez
March 27, 2014 at 09:10
Hahahaha whahahaha this is funny shit the same fairfight that lets all the hackers hack away in battlefield 4.
FoxOneZA
March 27, 2014 at 09:44
Cloud servers make it so easy to identify a cheatah.
Robert Hart
March 27, 2014 at 09:59
This is no different from BF and so on. When you are banned in BF, you can only join unranked servers that dont run PB. Likewise the same for games like CSGO.
Seems these guys are taking advantage of the journalists a bit, by making something normal sound like a feature.