Chapter 452: Something No Game Company Has Ever Dared to Do
On the official websites of *Overwatch*, *Wolf Soul*, and *Blazing Assault*, announcements were released immediately to reassure players, explaining the rampant cheating issue and the solutions being implemented, with all efforts focused on banning accounts. However, the impact of this storm continued to spread.
Among these, *Overwatch* suffered the most severe cheating problem.
At its core, this came down to the monetization model. The other two games each cost over a thousand yuan to purchase. Once a cheater’s account was banned, they’d need to spend another thousand-plus to play again, effectively raising the cost of cheating. Moreover, with a smaller player base, the number of cheaters naturally decreased.
*Overwatch*, on the other hand, adopted a free-to-play model. More players meant more cheaters. And after an account was banned, all it took was a new set of ID information to register again, drastically lowering the cost of cheating.
On the *Overwatch* forums, many players were voicing their complaints.
“Can you guys get it together? Why hasn’t the cheater I reported this morning been banned yet?”
“Damn, this is ridiculous. Chen Mo’s a bit slow to react this time, isn’t he?”
“Hey, the announcement said it, didn’t it? The Game Committee is still looking into it, and even Imperial Dynasty and Zen Intent are stumped. What do you expect Chen Mo to do?”
“Yeah, we just have to wait for the tech guys to fix it.”
“But it’s so frustrating. Running into a cheater just ruins your whole day! And who knows if reporting even does anything!”
“Ugh, I thought the free-to-play model for *Overwatch* was great at first, but now I’d rather pay a few hundred yuan as a barrier, at least to cut down on those cheaters!”
“Eh, it wouldn’t help much. Look at *Wolf Soul* and *Blazing Assault*—aren’t they full of cheaters too?”
“Guess we just have to wait. I’ll stop playing for a couple of days and see how things go.”
While many players were deeply dissatisfied, they understood that the core issue was technical. It required the relevant tech personnel to solve it. Aside from stepping up scrutiny, Chen Mo didn’t have many other options.
However, just as many assumed Chen Mo would pin all his hopes on the Game Committee, like Imperial Dynasty Entertainment and Zen Intent Entertainment, he posted a long Weibo update.
And the content of that post left players utterly stunned.
“Regarding the recent cheating incidents: It’s still uncertain when the Game Committee’s technical staff can update the in-game detection system. Until then, the game’s own detection mechanisms cannot automatically identify and ban cheating accounts.”
“But that doesn’t mean we’ll do nothing. We are currently screening abnormal accounts with sharp rises in in-game data and hidden MMR. Relevant staff are manually reviewing these suspected cheating accounts, and once confirmed, they will be frozen.”
“Additionally, at noon tomorrow, we will release a version update for the game. The update includes the following:”
“*Overwatch* will introduce a detection program that will thoroughly scan players’ VR game pods and all external devices connected to them. In other words, all VR game pods must grant Thunder Game Platform full administrative access to run *Overwatch* normally.”
“During gameplay, this detection program will continuously monitor the state of the VR game pod and all external devices. Apart from external devices on a whitelist, any detection of unverified external devices will cause *Overwatch* to interrupt.”
“Furthermore, we encourage players to report suspected cheaters. Once a player is confirmed to have cheated, we will give a small gift to the first 30 players who reported them.”
“Of course, each player has a limit of 20 reports per day. Please use your reports wisely and avoid abuse or malicious reporting.”
“Additionally, if a player is confirmed as a cheater, the accounts of those who queued with them will also be temporarily frozen. If it’s found to be a case of ‘cheating to carry paying customers,’ even if the carried player didn’t cheat themselves, they will receive a permanent ban.”
“A fair and just competitive environment requires everyone’s effort. Please trust that Thunder Interactive will not let any cheater off the hook!”
As soon as this long post was published, it caused an uproar among the player base!
“What the hell? A detection program?”
“This… feels like antivirus software?”
“But demanding full administrative access to the VR game pod? That’s way too invasive, isn’t it?”
“That’s going too far!”
“Has Chen Mo lost his mind? What game company would dare ask for that kind of permission! And you can’t play without it?”
The other measures were fine, but the “detection program” in this version update rubbed many players the wrong way.
Because after installing this program, players had to fully open up their VR game pod’s highest-level permissions to play the game.
It was like buying an oven to bake sweet potatoes, but the oven demanded free access to every room in your house. Obviously, any sane owner would find that highly inappropriate.
A VR game pod, like a PC, contains personal information. Who knows if fully granting all permissions might lead to a data leak?
Clearly, what Chen Mo was trying to do wasn’t complicated in principle. He wanted to create a detection program to check whether a player’s VR game pod had any unverified programs or external devices. If so, the game wouldn’t launch. Simple as that.
Other game companies weren’t stupid—why didn’t they do it?
Simple: because doing so would invite criticism!
A game company isn’t an antivirus software company. Asking players for full administrative access is already overstepping. Moreover, could players trust it? What if the company secretly tampered with the VR game pod or stole data?
In Chen Mo’s previous life, Penguin Games was the biggest game company in the country. But if they said they needed full administrative access to players’ PCs to check everything and even modify data? They’d be drowned in spit.
In this parallel world, even giants like Imperial Dynasty Entertainment and Zen Intent Entertainment wouldn’t dare do it.
But clearly, others wouldn’t dare, but Chen Mo would!
Many players were sharing and commenting. While most cheered the move, many also raised concerns about the detection program.
“Full administrative access? I’ve never heard of a game being this arrogant!”
“So, if I don’t grant this permission, I can’t play *Overwatch*?”
“Are you this cocky? Does the Game Committee know?”
“If my personal info gets leaked, who’s responsible?”
Chen Mo responded bluntly.
“Yes, if you don’t grant this permission, you can’t play *Overwatch*. If you’re unhappy, you can choose not to play.”
“If you don’t want to continue playing and have made purchases in the game, contact customer service. I’ll ban your account and give you a full refund.”
“This matter has been discussed with the Game Committee. I can guarantee to all players that Thunder Interactive will never access any data in your game pod. Aside from detecting suspicious external devices, there will be no overstepping. Thunder Interactive is willing to take full responsibility for this!”
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