The battle against cheaters is unfortunately one that will seemingly never end, but Activision’s Team RICOCHET continues to come up with inventive ways to combat these ne’er-do-wells, including punishing them in-game by stripping them of all their weapons.
Team RICOCHET detailed its latest progress in taking the fight to cheaters in a blog and it revealed more of how it continues to work to make Call of Duty: Vanguard and Warzone a better experience for all.
It began by discussing how “anti-cheat solutions work like anti-virus software.” There is no simple fix to take down cheaters, as they are constantly working on new ways to outsmart those trying to stop them.
Fortunately, the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat has continued to learn and evolve and is getting better at “the speed at which we can recognize when players are doing things they shouldn’t be doing.”
When one of these “bad actors” is detected, they are hit with one or all of the tools from the team’s “mitigation toolbox.” This not only proves to be a nuisance to cheaters, but it also helps the team gather data to stop them in the future.
One of these tools is Damage Shield, which enhances player protection against cheaters. This allows players to realize they are being shot at and it gives them a better chance to enact revenge on the cheater.
Cloaking is another mitigation technique that makes a cheater’s victim turn invisible when they are hit, making it impossible for them to see them anymore.
Disarm is the latest tactic being implemented and, when cheaters are detected, RICOCHET Anti-Cheat simply takes away their weapons and prevents them from even punching using their fists.
Mitigations are meant to keep cheaters in the game long enough to gather data that will help Team RICOCHET stop them in the future while “reducing their ability to impact a legitimate player’s experience.”
Mitigations are great and all, but bans remain the “biggest deterrent to cheating,” and Team RICOCHET has banned over 180,000 cheaters since its last update in February 2022.
Those looking forward to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and/or Warzone 2.0 will be happy to know RICOCHET Anti-Cheat will be active on day one for both games.
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
