An Investigation of Cheating in Online Games

  • Authors:
  • Jeff Yan;Brian Randell

  • Affiliations:
  • Newcastle University;Newcastle University

  • Venue:
  • IEEE Security and Privacy
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

Cheating is rampant in current gameplay on the Internet. However, it isn't as well understood as we might expect. The authors summarize the various known methods of cheating and define a taxonomy of online game cheating with respect to the underlying vulnerability, consequence, and cheating principal. This taxonomy provides a systematic introduction to the characteristics of cheats in online games and how they can arise. Although cheating in online games is largely due to various security failures, the four traditional aspects of security—confidentiality, integrity, availability, and authenticity—are insufficient to explain it. Instead, fairness becomes a vital additional aspect, and its enforcement provides a convincing perspective for understanding security techniques' role in developing and operating online games.