Leaderboard Issue

11-30-2010, 07:55 PM

I've noticed scores are being removed from the leaderboards.

A user named Ulind has submitted very high scores 3 times, all of them have been removed. There was another user about 3 million below him who was also deleted a few days ago.

I just want to know why that is happening. If you are deleting the scores because you think the player is cheating, perhaps you should contact that player and find out how they are getting those scores. It's in your best interest to find out how people are playing your game as it can not only reveal loopholes in your system, but also future meta-game ideas.

This is bad PR to be doing that without giving a reason to said player.

COREPLAY · 12-01-2010, 06:11 AM

There are different Trainer Cheat Programs out here, which hack into the memory to achieve a better score (they also carry trojans with them which shows the actual intention of the author).

We're using different mechanics to identify these uploads as invalid. Until now, we haven't reported these players to Valve, but we'll do this in future. To ban someone's Steam Account is a very hard decision because this person will lose any game he ever bought on Steam.

12-01-2010, 08:55 PM

You mentioned you are using different mechanics to determine legit uploads. I'm curious what sort of metrics you're gathering. Is it something like player deaths, number of mouse clicks, and such, (basically in-game parameters) or am I thinking completely off here?

COREPLAY · 12-02-2010, 04:03 AM

I don't want to go into details here, but the game sends various informations to non-public leaderboards. Among other things, these informations show irregular changes on score, number of lives, power-ups etc.

mriguy · 01-01-2011, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by COREPLAY

I don't want to go into details here, but the game sends various informations to non-public leaderboards. Among other things, these informations show irregular changes on score, number of lives, power-ups etc.

BRAVO - Brought the game because of this thread

I wish other indies would go through efforts to protect the leaderboards as well. With some titles you can simple look at the score and know it is impossible but no effort is made to clean the boards.

Bentusi · 03-10-2011, 10:17 AM

Such as Defense Grid for instance. There are literally hundreds of cheaters on the board there, more or less ruining the boards.

03-23-2011, 09:50 PM

Agree on Defense Grid. It is an amazing tower defense game, and those cheaters taken out all the re-playability from it.
Because of this anti-cheater protection, I may consider getting this game!

Phreeflo · 05-07-2011, 02:00 AM

woot, broke top 100 in campaign mode!

11-30-2010, 07:55 PM	#1
DarkYoshi83 Guest Posts: n/a	Leaderboard Issue I've noticed scores are being removed from the leaderboards. A user named Ulind has submitted very high scores 3 times, all of them have been removed. There was another user about 3 million below him who was also deleted a few days ago. I just want to know why that is happening. If you are deleting the scores because you think the player is cheating, perhaps you should contact that player and find out how they are getting those scores. It's in your best interest to find out how people are playing your game as it can not only reveal loopholes in your system, but also future meta-game ideas. This is bad PR to be doing that without giving a reason to said player.

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12-01-2010, 06:11 AM	#2
COREPLAY COREPLAY Join Date: Nov 2010 Reputation: 5 Posts: 26	There are different Trainer Cheat Programs out here, which hack into the memory to achieve a better score (they also carry trojans with them which shows the actual intention of the author). We're using different mechanics to identify these uploads as invalid. Until now, we haven't reported these players to Valve, but we'll do this in future. To ban someone's Steam Account is a very hard decision because this person will lose any game he ever bought on Steam.

12-01-2010, 08:55 PM	#3
DarkYoshi83 Guest Posts: n/a	You mentioned you are using different mechanics to determine legit uploads. I'm curious what sort of metrics you're gathering. Is it something like player deaths, number of mouse clicks, and such, (basically in-game parameters) or am I thinking completely off here?

12-02-2010, 04:03 AM	#4
COREPLAY COREPLAY Join Date: Nov 2010 Reputation: 5 Posts: 26	I don't want to go into details here, but the game sends various informations to non-public leaderboards. Among other things, these informations show irregular changes on score, number of lives, power-ups etc.

03-10-2011, 10:17 AM	#6
Bentusi Join Date: Mar 2011 Reputation: 11 Posts: 69	Such as Defense Grid for instance. There are literally hundreds of cheaters on the board there, more or less ruining the boards.

03-23-2011, 09:50 PM	#7
augusstus Guest Posts: n/a	Agree on Defense Grid. It is an amazing tower defense game, and those cheaters taken out all the re-playability from it. Because of this anti-cheater protection, I may consider getting this game!

05-07-2011, 02:00 AM	#8
Phreeflo Join Date: Feb 2011 Reputation: 217 Posts: 1,613	woot, broke top 100 in campaign mode!