Gears already riddled with cheaters
by Richard Mitchell 
{ Nov 13th 2006 at 12:30PM }
Emergence Day was supposed to be a celebration. A celebration of chainsaws, headshots, and curb stomping. It looks like it was a celebration of something else entirely: cheating. Remember the hubbub about not having friends in ranked matches of Gears? It looks like it was all for naught, as getting into ranked matches with your friends is easy as hell. All you have to do is host a game and your friends find your name in the host list. So, in pursuit of points and prizes, there were plenty of stacked teams yesterday. Gamer Andy tells of a particularly nefarious exploit using 5 people. "But GOW uses teams of four," you say, and right you are. The fifth person is actually on the opposite team, a saboteur for whatever clan is trying to rise to the top of the leaderboards. That not cheatery enough for you? How about the fact that the host has the power to start the match at any time, whether all members have clicked "Ready" or not? This makes it easy to stack games with uneven teams of 4v3 or even 4v2. Easy, ranked pickings for anyone.
But wait, there's more. Another nasty exploit can be employed during execution matches. In execution, players can only be killed via curb stomp or execution. After a predetermined amount of "bleed out" time, a downed player will simply revive. So, cheaters start by stacking a 4v3 game, execute 2 opposing players, and leave a third alive. The third player is then shot down, but not executed. Why? Because downing a player is worth more points than executing them. Once the player revives, cheaters shoot him down again, wait for him to revive, rinse, repeat. This continues for the duration of the round. This also leaves the victims with an unfortunate choice: quit a ranked match and risk negative feedback from cheaters, or stay and endure fruitless minutes of death and rebirth.
We'd like to believe that all this cheating was merely for the sake of winning some of the Emergence Day prizes, but we know better. Sure, cheaters may have hoped for a prize, but they would have cheated regardless. The unfortunate truth is that some people are just jerks (especially Pod 6).
A lot of these problems could be solved simply by tweaking the lobby system -- not displaying host names, not letting hosts force start matches, etc. Hopefully, this will be addressed in the upcoming patch. Has anyone experienced these exploits online?
[Via Inner Angst]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
NEO1X @ Nov 13th 2006 12:37PM
I am not surprized at all they need to fix the lobby system give us clan support so that we take on teams of four instead of just random people that don't ever speak or don't have mics.
BG916 @ Nov 13th 2006 12:37PM
This game is buggy as hell online. I have seen some crazy shit like people getting chainsawed from like 10 feet away and then not dying. Fix it Epic, or I will be forced to play Viva Pinata!
for HIS glory @ Nov 13th 2006 12:42PM
Very disappointing given the amount of boasting of the TrueSkill ranking system. Have we learned nothing from the obvious team stacking problems in GRAW? Why can't other games see the strengths of a Halo2 style matchmaking system?
LunarDuality @ Nov 13th 2006 12:42PM
I already got a patch of some sort yesterday in the evevening but that was the first time I played the game. There's another one coming out already? Well, at least Epic is on top of things.
And BG916...I'll be playing Viva Pinata regardless of the patch situation. Why choose only one game when you can play two?
Les Doodis @ Nov 13th 2006 12:48PM
It's unfortunate that this stuff has to happen. Personally, I prefer the player matches. I know my rank is never going to be very high anyway, and the games/people in player matches just seem much more relaxed. Makes for a better online experience.
I do hope they fix the match entry problem. I can only connect about one out of every five tries.
drunkenshaolin @ Nov 13th 2006 12:55PM
no offence... but this game not even out in europe yet so shame on you!!! people in the states..where ever u go there will be cheaters. just have to be honest and play fair. its a shame but there u go!!
they will get there karma!!
juicebytim @ Nov 13th 2006 12:59PM
It's obvious the fix should be to not allow chosing of ranked games from a list (or at least hide the host's name), not to let games begin with out even teams, get rid of the ready button, and develop a party system where the max is 4 players to a party and are only aloud to be on the same team in ranked matches.
So basically, the way Halo 2 worked, because that's the only game that has gotten ranked console matches right.
ThweeSiddy @ Nov 13th 2006 2:01PM
all of these are simple exploits that can be patched up easily and avoided by not playing with random jerks. let's hope they dont hack the console enough that people are able to have wallhacks/aimbots/etc.
Franky Digital @ Nov 13th 2006 1:06PM
Frankly, I'm not really opposed to people playing with their clan-mates in a ranked match: if four friends or clan-members want to join into a ranked match, they should be able to - that kind of functionality should not be considered "cheating".
However, the team stacking and revive-whoring is definately not pleasant. Force-starting can't really be removed, but a ranked match should simply require 8 players rather than 6 - I've yet to see any 3-on-3 matches actually pan out. That's an easy fix.
But really, the solution that could have ended all this was to make the achievements unlockable in player matches. I gaurentee the main reason perpetuating this cheating is achievement-whoring (well, and the event last night - but that was a one-shot deal).
Did @ Nov 13th 2006 1:20PM
I hate those jerks in Pod 6, I heard they were getting cake again today. Why do we even have a Pod 6? Where is the pro shop?
Grant @ Nov 13th 2006 1:21PM
I've noticed these and absolutly HATE the cheaters...they dont even try to hide it...we were in a lobby and a group of friends were hanging out talking about what they were doing, but its so hard to not get bounced from a game due to "connection lost" that it wasn't even worth trying to find a different game.
Ragtime Pianist @ Nov 13th 2006 4:56PM
I hate those jerks in Pod 6, especially Eggers.
I think the best fix is to just allow friends to play together in ranked matches, and add in clan support.
Halo 2 is the number one Xbox Live game for a reason.
KingOfGods @ Nov 13th 2006 1:50PM
Give your 360 a static IP,add it to the DMZ on your router and that should fix your connection problems.
DrunkPenguin @ Nov 13th 2006 1:52PM
As soon as I hear the other team referring to each other by their real names or I see two gamertags that start with xXx| or some such nonsense, I leave the game before it even starts. Either allow parties of 4 outright or get rid of the host's name.
That should be an easy fix... right?
Jeff @ Nov 13th 2006 1:53PM
Halo 2 anyone? Not excatly the same problems, but lets not beat around the bush. Epic better come through or there will be a lot of pissed off people.
ThweeSiddy @ Nov 13th 2006 2:08PM
another thing. the idea of the ranking system is to match you up with people that are at the same skill level as you. so these people cheating and beefing up their ranking are only screwing themselves when they want to play a legit game. also let them cheat so much into uber status they i dont have to even deal with them in my slightly better-than-average status.
Dark Tuba @ Nov 13th 2006 2:23PM
Every next-gen game should use the halo 2 lobby system as a model. The lobby system was not only about playing with friends or other players that you meet along the way, but it also kept the action pretty seemless. The system found games for you to play automatically and was pretty easy to use. With GOW, a player has to leave games, go back into the multiplayer menu, search through games and hope they find one that doesn't "lose the connection". I really enjoy GOW, but these little things are keeping it from becoming the next Halo.
NotOfThisEarth @ Nov 13th 2006 2:30PM
MS needs to crack down on this shit HARD. As in, get caught doing this, Live account, gamer score, and all achivements ERASED, gone, history. how to do it? I don't know but take away what cheaters covet most, and it'll stop soon enough. Goddamn game's not even a week old yet and I've already run into this crap which sadly means, once SP is finished, Gears of War goes into the the "to be traded in" pile. Worst part is that none of them think it's cheating, They call it strategy because "if it's in the game, then it means they want you to use it." Oh well, I'd at least hoped for a couple of months enjoyment from it, but I guess not 3 days is all we're gonna get. I wonder how idiots like this fare in life, not real good I'd imagine.
Richard DeV @ Nov 13th 2006 2:39PM
Almost EVERY DAMN GAME I joined online yesterday of a ranked match I would get kicked or forced to move teams for some assclown and his pals. Emergence day was miserable. I played one or two fun games out of like 15. Hosting a game for just me and my friends only is a blast though.
Scott @ Nov 13th 2006 2:48PM
I agree Tuba. The lobby in Halo 2 makes it much more enjoyable to get into a game. How does truskill have any effect if I am allowed to select the server I want to play on anyway???
And seriously why show the host's name on the server list? or even let players select their teams in ranked matches??? Any idiot can see that people will exploit this as much as they can.
I don't really care about the ranked matches anyway, but they should at least implement a party system like halo 2 for the player matches.... Its hard as hell to get a group of 3 of your friends playing together against different people all night.
Epic: I want to get three of my buddies together in a lobby and then jump from match to match. All without any kind of displayed rank or leaderboards. Just use the HIDDEN truskill system to match us up. I just want to play the damn game with my friends!!!!
Mikeawesome @ Nov 13th 2006 2:55PM
I'm going to be completely honest, I used the Host Lobby system exploit, but not for cheating, but, rather, to avoid it.
Early in Emergence Day I found a great party where the host had set the match to 13 rounds (to allow for a lot of points to be allotted) and whose teams were pretty evenly matched, and we had a solid group even when people who weren't with us originally would join and then leave after 5-6 matches.
I think that some of these "exploits" can also be used to make the online more fun for the players and still allow for ranked matches. I don't know about you, but when I'm in matches against my friends, we can get pretty competitive, so why should that be weeded out in the Ranked matches? We aren't trying to stack our teams, we are simply trying to get points in a, still, competitive manner.
I will say, however, there are a lot of inconsistencies in the game that should be addressed, most notably the Chainsaw-lock and Curbstomp/Chainsaw animations. The Chainsaw lock is absolutely too loose, roughly a .2 second time frame for you to react and defend yourself (the easiest I find to be is to stick them with a grenade) however, even if you use that time to dodge a lot of times they still lock on to you and you see the blood and gore shoot from their chainsaw while you're 10 feet away rolling into an explosion of body parts. Unacceptable. The Curbstomp/Chainsaw animations, while easily exploitable if you want to kill someone in the open, also presents a problem, you really can't save a downed player without reviving them if there's an enemy near by. I should be able to place a headshot on that guy while he's trying to crush my buddy's skull, or pick off that guy chainsawing my friend from half way across the map.
Another problem I have is that the chainsaw charge seems to be longer/shorter for certain people, and I've seen some VERY strange things happen in these times, such as getting charged at with a charging chainsaw and hear a split second chainsaw sound before exploding. Also, I've seen people run up to a team mate with a 1 second charge on their chainsaw, and still lock on to them. I'm sure a lot of this could be attributed to lag, but I know other people spectating saw it as well. So I'm not sure what to think.
Either way, a patch is welcomed, especially if it adresses some of these issues.
Lou @ Nov 13th 2006 3:04PM
The dumbest thing it does is let you look at a list of games by HOST. Why would it matter who is hosting a ranked game. If should only be by map and game type. Then I think it would be nearly impossible to find a ranked game with your clan mates.
Second, why in the world does this game not automatically re-sort players. I have been in a couple 4v1 games. It started 4v3 and then when our team started losing, people all dropped out. It doesn't make the teams even again. So when it drops to 4v2, it should immediately go to 3v3.
Third, how does TrueSkill work if you can pick your ranked game. I know it is supposed to match people up, but this isn't automatic. It should try to even out teams once people are in the side selection before a match.
Tim @ Nov 13th 2006 3:19PM
Yes, please all future developers, use Halo 2's system. It is waaaay to easy to exploit getting points. Heck another way I just thought of would be get 7 pals together. Start up a ranked match that you all join for execution and have one side down players over and over and the other side revive over and over. You'd get mad mad points.
8dot3 @ Nov 13th 2006 3:27PM
I played a few ranked matches last night and got my butt whopped or got yelled at for not doing exactly what whoever the asashat of the moment wanted me to do. It sucked.
I then hosted a player match with two friends and other people joined and it was incredibly awesome. Screw the achievements, I will take the fun.
Pat Bateman @ Nov 13th 2006 3:49PM
damn those cheaters moved so quickly! There's a number of issues they need to fix in multiplayer, but what I feel they need to fix the most is the grenade tagging going on. if you pick up some frag grenades, melee an enemy with the grenade equipped from 10 feet away, you can take down a whole team in 10 seconds, if they are bunched together.
Shaggy Goat @ Nov 13th 2006 4:21PM
All cheaters should be shot. They ruin gaming for us all.
KiySeph @ Nov 13th 2006 3:59PM
#18
EXACT SAME THING FOR ME! People would yell over their mic for me to move to the other team or leave to make room for their friends. WTF, I can understand wanting to play games with your friends, but don't be an friggin asshole about it.
Hosting player matches with friends is a blast though.
ICEPICC @ Nov 17th 2006 6:44AM
IMO:
They can never stop cheating in any game.
Private chat in a game is the worst feature yet. Cheaters tell their friends on the other team whats going on.
Dead teammates should not be able to talk to the other team. Private chat should be off.
Some people need/want to play with their team in a ranked game others dont. we need the option not a clan feature!
The host needs to force a start when people refuse to join a team. The game shouldnt start when uneven unless everyone readys up first.
Curbstomp & shooting is all part of the game. Just play a diff game if you don't like it. Maybe they should only allow you to revive 2 or 3 times?
How do you stop people cheating when they are in the same room yet they are on 2 diff teams?
Capital Dread @ Nov 13th 2006 5:03PM
Does anyone notice that the same comment is being repeated by each of you. I'm starting to think that half of you haven't even played the game. I can see that there's exploits, but i wouldn't consider the game riddled with cheaters.
I find the lack of a blatant Halo 2 ripoff an annoyance, but that's all. Gears could have a better online and I will admit that a patch would be embraced by all. That being said, multiplayer is NOT broken, it's an unbelievable experience with a few bugs.
Sh0cka @ Nov 13th 2006 4:59PM
There are a few glitchs in the game. one is that when you stick a person with a nade and they are then shot down they are not killed. Also if your teammate is being chainsawd and you are 1 foot from the guy I have loaded 4 shot gun shots pointblack adn then the guy rolls away or even has time to turn around and chain me. I knwo it takes away pretty much all of his life but he should atleast be downed and not have anough life in him to roll away. Also many times with the sniper is goes RIGHT THREW there head when they are behind certain cover spots and it's really annoying. A few other things i could mention that is wrong but i will leave those alone.
I also think that halo2 matchmaking is the best and all games should be modeled after it. It is much harder to boost with matchmaking like that.
And i think trueskill is flawed. it's based off time and not really true skills even if you suck you get points and if you play a lot you get more points. I guess you do climb faster if you are better but you climb none the less even if you sucka dn play a lot. And what is the point of having a Ranking system if you aren't matched up agained better people and people just join your room regardless of what skill you or they are.
Pod @ Nov 13th 2006 5:21PM
Yikes, "Pod" is my gamertag (had it since day 1 of live). The sixth of the bunch must be a bad apple. I am a good witch!
SeNiLe911 @ Nov 13th 2006 5:38PM
Plane and Simple, HALO 2 Matchmaking System! All games should use it, PERIOD!
That way you can join a match with your friends, cheaters won't be able to have 5 or more players in a match when they should only have 4, and finding a game would be quick and painless.
If it’s keep the way it is now, I don’t mind being able to find the host and joining your friends in ranked matchmaking. Who wants to join a ranked match by them self’s and try to achieve all the achievements, especially the 10,000 kill achievement as a loner? That would be boring!!! To play to win you have to be able to communicate (that brings up another problem, not being able to hear everybody in a room sometimes or they can’t hear you) and have a plan of attack. How do you do that if each match you join you know nobody in the room? It’s a mess, especial when someone joins your team that does not talk nor has a headset.
If they would implement the HALO 2 system and made it where if 1 high ranked person with 3 very low ranked people are on one team, they would be matched up against a team with very high ranking to keep them from exploiting the cheat known in HALO 2.
Cheaters should be banned not just from a game they where cheating in but from Xbox live period, once a cheater always a cheater no matter what game comes out, they will figure a way to cheat. But then the cheater could setup another account. Microsoft has to come up with a way to stop them. Maybe they could make it where you have to enter your SS # or cell phone number to setup an account. If they get banned they can’t use that SS# or cell phone number to make another account. Something has got to be done to stop them.
A link to this post should be sent to everyone at EPIC and Microsoft Xbox every hour on the hour till they patch this!
Jeramy @ Nov 13th 2006 6:42PM
damn eggers and pod 6.
Ted @ Nov 13th 2006 7:38PM
Awesome Pod 6 reference! Murphy-Murph fans unite against those jerks!
360247.co.uk @ Nov 14th 2006 8:26AM
This is exactly the reason 360247.co.uk was setup. I only ever play with people from there now and Live is a much more pleasurable experience for it. No cheats, no kids, just mature gamers relaxing and having a laugh.
Brian @ Nov 14th 2006 2:57PM
You hit the issues right on the spot except that the game is not a True Skill Matchmaking system its a basic point system that whoever plays the most get the most points.
david @ Nov 14th 2006 7:38PM
thats why i usually dont bother with ranked matches...who really cares about a rank anyways? WTF does that get me in real life?..nuthin. Playing a game with friends in a non ranked room is way more fun to me, and its better practice for the live (WSVG) tournaments that are bound to happen with cash prizes.
I blame Dar @ Nov 18th 2006 12:55AM
The worst part about the people who by-pass the trueskill system is that they expect others to be complacent in their shenanigans.
To wit, I was playing against a "team" of 4 people, whose leader was named "Revolver 420". My usual routine for dealing with these teams is to just spam mash my stick to their side and hope to interupt them from getting all 4 friends on a side. Of course, when I do this, they begin to berate me and tell me to move to Locust.
I used this tactic with Revolver 420's crew and just pretended to not have a mic the first time. Then, I rejoined for a second match, because, well, we had won the first match! This time, they were not willing to play with me on their team. In addition to Revolver using every imaginable derogatory term to describe me and my behavior, he explained to me that he had 100 friends on xBox live and he would have them all report me to xbox live so I would be banned.
Easy enough to fix, I sent a quick e-mail to customer service explaining the situation, the verbal harassment I experienced, as well as the threats -- and I've not seen Revolver 420 online since the incident. Good riddance.