The video games industry reached a revenue of US$455.27 billion in 2024 [6], with Multiplayer Online Games (MOGs) as the figurehead. However, this industry, which depends on user satisfaction, is threatened by cheating actions degrading the gaming experience. Cheaters can exploit the distributed nature of MOGs with network flow disruption attacks, manipulating the network to disrupt game synchronization. Detecting those attacks is challenging due to the difficulty of distinguishing between instabilities and latency inherent in the network and artificial manipulations. This paper proposes a framework that game developers can integrate into their games to generate data that helps understand whether it is possible to differentiate between honest and cheating behaviors. The framework enables developers to automate the execution of network flow disruption cheats in their MOG environment and incorporates a logging mechanism to record both cheating and honest behaviors. The framework is implemented within the game engine, making it generic to different MOGs. Early results of the generated data are presented, highlighting the effects of network flow disruption attacks on MOGs.

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A Framework to Enable Cheating Detection in Multiplayer Online Games

  • Salman Shaikh,
  • Hugo Bertin,
  • Marc Dacier,
  • Yérom-David Bromberg

摘要

The video games industry reached a revenue of US$455.27 billion in 2024 [6], with Multiplayer Online Games (MOGs) as the figurehead. However, this industry, which depends on user satisfaction, is threatened by cheating actions degrading the gaming experience. Cheaters can exploit the distributed nature of MOGs with network flow disruption attacks, manipulating the network to disrupt game synchronization. Detecting those attacks is challenging due to the difficulty of distinguishing between instabilities and latency inherent in the network and artificial manipulations. This paper proposes a framework that game developers can integrate into their games to generate data that helps understand whether it is possible to differentiate between honest and cheating behaviors. The framework enables developers to automate the execution of network flow disruption cheats in their MOG environment and incorporates a logging mechanism to record both cheating and honest behaviors. The framework is implemented within the game engine, making it generic to different MOGs. Early results of the generated data are presented, highlighting the effects of network flow disruption attacks on MOGs.