/r/ffxivdiscussion Reddit Poll: Do you want anti-cheat in FFXIV?

[Aword3213]

I’ve yet to see any anti cheat that works for all these years.

The best it can do is block amateur CE script written by a guy who just watched a 5 minute tutorial on YouTube.

[Aneshda]

I don't know why so many Players are against some Anti Cheat Software, but let's face reality ... in 7 Days, SE starts the Stress Test for the Cloud Data Center.
SE says it is to expand Space for the next Expansion, but I think that there is more to the Story. A Cloud Data Center will be more secured as the 0815 Servers we have now. I have the feeling that SE can implement security Software on the Cloud Data Centers that none would notice.
Truth to be told, I hope they implement some Anti Cheat Software. My Gameplay is massive disturbed through Market Board Bots and Cheaters. Everything I liked in this Game, is now just sad. Every day, I play less and less, because I am so damn tired of checking the Market Board and what was a few hours ago something worth is now nothing worth anymore. Every few minutes, the Bots undercut, till there is nothing more to undercut. Frontline has so many cheater and so many Players who are running around, doing less than 100000 damage or idle somewhere in the Map for the Rewards and Exp. If someone is saying something to those Players, most will joke around. It is like talking to idiots. All I do since weeks is: wait for Server Reset, do the Weekly Raid, 12 Custom Deliveries, check my Island once per Week and grabbing at the End of the Week my Rewards. Friday's Fashion Report and when Khloes Book has no Frontlines in it, I just trash it. Because I can't get enough energy to do Daily Roulette or Duties. I don't care even for Novice Network anymore, always the same Power trip Players in it.

[Reap00]

while reddit polls make me laugh and the ffxiv subreddit is a joke at best. the best solution is to end the wrist slaps that SE does and just flat out perma ban people that cheat simple as that.

All of reddit is a joke. A place where people hide behind overbearing modding so their feelings are salvaged. I spend most of my time on reddit seeing how much negative karma I can accumulate.

[Alaray]

I think, for me, it's difficult to commit to a proposed solution from other players without a more extensive idea for implementation and consideration to the other impacts that implementation would have. Since, anti-cheat won't solve cheating and, for its implementation, can cause a plethora of other issues from:

- False positives (GW2's implementation of an anti-cheat, that was ultimately removed, caused a lot of false positive flags of accounts and summarily banned them. I do recall this happening in Lost Ark, as well, which uses Easy Anti-Cheat).

Even if the software was perfect, implemented without issue, it'd still flag and suspend/ban anyone (potentially) using some extremely common tools (QOL, Damage Meter, Aesthetic modifications, etc...) which will absolutely cause a shit storm.

- There's always going to be cheating, and some games that utilize anti-cheat software still have a large issue with the prevalence of it (Destiny 2, Escape from Tarkov, Warzone) and games that have generally more successful anti-cheats still have problems with cheaters existing (this includes Valorant). (These Anti-Cheats being: BattleEye, Riccochet, and then for OW there's Warden, and for Valorant there's Vanguard).

And there are, at times, issues with Anti-Cheat programs and performance problems (like early on with Elden Ring) and there's also issues of Anti-Cheat programs also picking up on programs unrelated to the game but aren't whitelisted (as Vanguard used to pick up on system temp monitoring software frequently, for example).

For the most part, I don't really feel the efficacy of an anti-cheat would be worth the things given up just to have one. We would still likely have the same cheating issue, and developers of those tools will learn workarounds, and in exchange you're giving up a lot of things people take for granted. As well as potentially introducing new issues.

I don't really think it's a panacea that'll really fix cheating problems in enough of a way for the cost to be worth them, from my point of view.

However, I can't say I know what a solution truly is. I know there's a STF team of five people (Per EW credits), but I don't know what that looks like or what processes they use, or if they require approval to terminate accounts, etc... I don't know if they receive adequate resources, nor do I know if five people (again) is enough for the workload. I also can't say I know what the review process looks like from their end, either.

I do feel that consequences for cheating should be harsher, for things that fall under whatever SE'd consider as damaging to gameplay integrity. As, generally, risk of account forfeiture is likely enough of a deterrent for most people. But if there is a feeling that there is no risk of being actioned, then people will cheat more frequently.

I don't have a third solution to provide, but I can really just outline the problems I do have when it comes to specifically anti-cheat programs. Now, if SE implemented one and let it go ham, I wouldn't really be affected by it, but I don't know if the fallout would be... something that's... I guess, recoverable? At this stage. Or whether what you actually get is worth what you lose.

[Sindele]

I don't know why so many Players are against some Anti Cheat Software, but let's face reality ... in 7 Days, SE starts the Stress Test for the Cloud Data Center.
SE says it is to expand Space for the next Expansion, but I think that there is more to the Story. A Cloud Data Center will be more secured as the 0815 Servers we have now. I have the feeling that SE can implement security Software on the Cloud Data Centers that none would notice.

Cloud realistically provides nothing for game security that they couldn't already do.

[localareanetwork]

Hey Howdy, I was the person who supplied the stats on how many people use Auto-Markers in that thread, but I'll post my 2 cents here.

I am someone who does not use plugins, and I raid with a group of people who are like-minded in that regard. Generally, it does not bother me if people use plugins if everyone they are playing with are O.K. with it. After all, if everyone you're playing with are fine with it, who am I an unrelated person, to yell at you. Obviously when plugins present a problem in a game like FFXIV, it is often when people do it in scenarios where there isn't that collective consent (e.g. cheating in fall guys competitively, or secretly using things in PF without the other players knowing).

That being said, as someone who doesn't use plugins, if they added an anti-cheat tomorrow that worked perfectly with no issues (heck even if that anti cheat somehow magically only targeted the "worst" plugins) it's not like it would magically improve my experience in the game whatsoever.

To that end, I would much rather that they spend the resources identifying *why* people use these plugins and addressing the underlying frustrations and issues that drive people to use them.

Auto-Markers, for example, aren't used for every mechanic in the game or fights they are in, they aren't even used in every Ultimate. They are used because in 3 of the Ultimates there are particularly Janky/Frustrating mechanics that both have incredibly high variance due to things like snapshots and ping and are designed in a way to be frustrating for Party Finder. Often these mechanics, such as Titan Gaols, aren't even the hardest or most interesting mechanics in the fight, they are simply the most janky and frustrating. I would much rather they go in and *change* Titan Gaols to make it better for *everyone* rather than just implement an Anti-Cheat.

We see this phenomenon with a lot of other plugins as well. Some other recent examples I can think of: NoClippy/XIVAlexander rose in popularity after they released an update that made ninja a lot more frustrating to play for a week or two for players who had high enough pings. GShade VFX Filters/EasyEyes had an explosion in popularity (to the point of being mentioned in PF) after fights like Pandemonium 3 were released that were incredibly frustrating to do if you were red color blind.

To that end, rather than spending whatever limited resources they have implementing an Anti Cheat that would just anger a lot of the people using plugins to make their cat faces more yass-ified or w/e, I would rather see them actually adjust content after its released in response to how players play it.

So mechanics being frustrating means that instead of getting better, people should cheat? Why not just git gud?

[ThaCa]

A lot of stuff that anti cheat would solve, could be solved with more GMs.

[RitsukoSonoda]

Well since this thread is about implementation of anti-cheat measures being added to the game. Doing so would require SE to take a stance similar to something Capcom said during a presentation of the new version of their RE engine they plan to use on titles going forward. During that presentation they noted that for purposes of the engine all mods are considered cheats. This had nothing to do with devs not liking people using mods and more to do with a business standpoint and that for any kind of anti-cheat software to have a chance at being effective it will have to treat any modification to files or code as a cheat. Also I suppose there is also the issue of possible things happening like having someone show up with like a nude mod in a Street Fighter tournament...

[Bellsong]

Why would they remove their free pool of QOL ideas and unpaid work force putting hats and extra hairs on viera/hroth?

[Saraide]

Solving cheating isnt a one and done thing by just installing EAC and calling it a day. It's an arm's race with questionable results. The third party tools it will hit first is going to be low to the ground stuff that ranges from benign to beneficial, some of which have only been implemented into the game because a cheating "scandal" caused a big ruckus. The actual paid for cheats like pvp ones usually adapt fairly well or just get replaced by less detectable ones. All the while the user experience for many if not most other players would decrease. All for trying to combat market bots or pvp cheaters in a game where neither is really relevant. Anti cheat is an arm's race that is not winnable with automated programs and the actual goal is just the illusion of preventing cheating.

A no from me, it's not worth it.