Maybe change it so you suspend a player for multiple reports of team-killing and other offences then ban if they keep doing it.
We don't need a better report system, we need SOE/PS2's "ban enforcement team" to actually give a crap about players using exploits and cheats. We've got numerous BR100s still in game who were flat out caught with cheats and/or using bots/dummy accounts for massive stat-padding and who were let off with a "warning" because they're in the cool kids club apparently. I've seen the forums on hack sites where hackers post the emails they get from the SOE ban team, informing them they're being given "second chances" and only temporary suspensions after being caught using hacks because they've spent a few SC on the game and the people on these forums have literally laughed at them and then went straight back to hacking. SOE's "sophisticated cheat detection algorithm" is a running joke in hack circles. Crap games like Combat Arms have better hack detection than PS2, whose "sophisticated" protection solely consists of the crash reporter listing what processes you're running when the game crashes. Yes, in order to catch cheaters SOE's hack detection relies on the game client being such a piece of crap that it crashes constantly. The crash reporter can easily be disabled and not only that the people that sell these hacks aren't dumb enough to name them PS2Haxxx.exe anyway. Instead, these hacks are run through java, web services or attached to system services. This is coming from the company that Smedley insisted is taking a hardline stance against hackers. Their hardline stance basically consists of being able to catch only a bare fraction of the most dumbest and obvious cheaters...and even when they do catch them they only give them temporary suspensions! To be honest, It's not even worth getting spun up about it because SOE has made it obvious how little they care about policing PS2 through their actions and their repeated cases of letting "celebrity" players off the hook as long as they like...totally promise not to do it again.
..... Most of those game hacking programs have back doors in them, so ultimately, they are the ones getting hacked.
Crappy, free public hacks either have viruses or are simply released by hack developers to identify detection vulnerabilities by using cheap pub gamers to see what gets them banned and use the information gained to develop their private hacks. The people selling hacks/hack subscription services aren't interested in "backdooring" or hacking their customer's crappy PS2 accounts. One of the most popular PS2 all-in-one hack sites has over 4000 members as well so it's not like it's "just a few."
They need someone who watches players who have many team kills and with KD of 99/1 This is not rocket science.
If you run their program on your PC then they *could be* getting access to a lot more than your "crappy PS2 account". If they want to they will 100% pwn your machine and all your data are belong to them. So it really depends how much you trust a bunch of admitted cheaters.
That's what you'd think, at first. But when you load a third party program, it has access to *everything* on your computer, not just your PS2 account. It could be pilfering passwords, financial data, browsing habits, and much more. And, you'd think it was secure because you're paying for it, but it's easy enough to use nefarious payment systems to get people to buy this stuff while you remain anonymous or use fake personas, and what not. A good example of how programs that seem to have nothing wrong with it can be nefarious was one of the most popular 3rd Party Clients for Second Life called Emerald, it was so well known and popular it was even supported by some of the devs of Second Life. However, underneath the hood, Emerald was being used to launch DDoS attacks against targets... unbeknownst to the tens of thousands of people using it. And of the tens of thousands people using it until one of the targets of the attack managed to trace it back to one of the sources and discovered the hidden evil within the program. Just because you think a program is doing one thing... doesn't mean it isn't doing another without you knowing it.
This is the main reason I cancelled my year membership and stopped buying SC. I supported this game with hundreds of dollars because they said they were taking cheating serious and would not allow it. That was a lie and a slap in the face of every true gamer. It's also a major slap in the face to all honest gamers to just suspend a cheater for a few days or let them off with just a slap on the wrist. I love the game but I can't stand a liar or a company who does not support the honest gamer and supports the cheaters. Do I still play? Yes I do until the cheaters start showing up, then I sign off. Will I quit the game? Maybe if the cheaters are allowed to keep taking over.
What's the point? It's not like anyone reads the reports. If they did, they'd at least post something to stem the embarrassing PR that the lack of effectiveness of the entire report paradigm has generated.
