Convo with an admitted aimbot user

[GRiPSViGiL]

So I added a cheater to let them know I got evidence and they gave no F's.  Said at least 30 times they had been reported by video and frankly the person doesn't care.  Selling wins.  That is what this person is doing.  I almost can't fault it because there is a market for this.  He has customers.  Who out there is buying this service?  Should Apex need to start banning all accounts in a premade if one is a hacker?

I had no clue there was a market for wins in a FPS game, that never donned on me.  I am not even actually mad at that reason.  I would equate the cheating streamers as scum for trying to pass off their gameplay as skill as scumbags over this any day.  I watched this hacker make $5 last night winning the game he mowed me down in.  

Interesting to say the least but it shows how rampant the problem is from a motivation I didn't really expect.  I get power leveling in MMORPGs but wow, I learned something new on this one.

[VisualfEX · Accepted solution]

I don't know about casuals but people pay for ranked matches all the time in every game. Mostly for cosmetics because every game end of season ranked has a reward system. Some people don't care enough about the actual ranking just want the rewards. I've also seen it multiple times on Apex,Overwatch,CSGO. They sell "boosts" and rank people up super quick in exchange for cash (No idea on pricing but that seems about average) 

Nothing new really some people may have not known but if you've been PC gaming for awhile you know boosts have been a thing whether from pro players or hackers so that you can easy climb and/or get rewards. This is all without the risk of being banned because it's impossible to prove your que'ing with someone on purpose to do it, I mean you can't even report your teammate for hacking anyway the only options that show up are harassment and meaningless report functions. I say meaningless because I don't think I'll ever hear a story of someone being banned for racism/homophobia/harassment it just doesn't happen on online FPS games or else no one would play because majority love to trash talk and half would be banned lol. Never understood why you can't report teammates for hacks.

But in short yeah this is pretty standard no idea why anyone would pay for a boost in casual where it has no bearing but as for ranked that's been going on since day 1.

[Jimmahwd]

@GRiPSViGiLWTF? People pay for Wins?
Why? It' stats on a game. In 10 years who is going to care let alone remember.
Man I'm getting old, if people pay for wins these days.

Also I'd like to ad he or she seemed like a bit of a D$%^.

Discourse is usable as a noun in that instance. 

[GRiPSViGiL]

@Jimmahwd LOL, Yeah I thought their ignorance was cute trying to school me on a word they didn't understand and oops I added a letter not being a very good typist. I didn't feel the need get in to that.

[DavidW74]

...

[GRiPSViGiL]

@DavidW74 I totally agree! See, I get the tween kid who just sucks and wants to be good so he starts using hacks to accomplish it. That is immaturity, insecurity and a lot of other things but future loser is definitely down the road for someone like that.

[VisualfEX · Accepted solution]

I don't know about casuals but people pay for ranked matches all the time in every game. Mostly for cosmetics because every game end of season ranked has a reward system. Some people don't care enough about the actual ranking just want the rewards. I've also seen it multiple times on Apex,Overwatch,CSGO. They sell "boosts" and rank people up super quick in exchange for cash (No idea on pricing but that seems about average) 

Nothing new really some people may have not known but if you've been PC gaming for awhile you know boosts have been a thing whether from pro players or hackers so that you can easy climb and/or get rewards. This is all without the risk of being banned because it's impossible to prove your que'ing with someone on purpose to do it, I mean you can't even report your teammate for hacking anyway the only options that show up are harassment and meaningless report functions. I say meaningless because I don't think I'll ever hear a story of someone being banned for racism/homophobia/harassment it just doesn't happen on online FPS games or else no one would play because majority love to trash talk and half would be banned lol. Never understood why you can't report teammates for hacks.

But in short yeah this is pretty standard no idea why anyone would pay for a boost in casual where it has no bearing but as for ranked that's been going on since day 1.

[GRiPSViGiL]

@VisualfEX "Boosting", yeah that is a term I am more familiar with. I am not a fluff kind of person where cosmetics even matter to me. Good point, so yeah people pay to ensure they can get to the end point for the exclusive rewards.

Gameplay is much more important to me than any cosmetic item is ever. Funny what this day and age of gamers values.

[7cyanide]

@GRiPSViGiL As I chew on this topic, waiting for the solution cause I just wanna play a proper ranked game; I am in the same place as you, every big streamer, and many others, Grips. I have had many conversations like this one with cheaters just to confirm my suspicions. I also like to make sure I'm going to report them for the right reasons. I have had a few people I've had a heart-to-heart with, and decided that they really weren't. So either they were great liars  or they really weren't.

I would say every opposed cheater says, "What? I don't cheat." first and foremost. They deflect and deny saying that they don't whether they were small ttv streamers and had perfect, no recoil aim, snapping headshots, also knowing where to go to find each enemy the entire game without gunfire, not obvious at all. I've seen those same players delete clips after I posted in their chat, go offline, etc. Most of them on ttv are over 30 so it's wild to me that they're cheating. They'll say, 'I've been playing fps games for most of my life, think I would cheat?' or .. 'I have 5000 kills, how could I be cheating?' like those things even matter. What is clear is the aim, the play style, and when they toggle for even a few seconds; I get to see their actual aim.

It can be entertaining to see a rat escaping a trap, but very sad.

[DoYaSeeMe]

Heh, I was about to start a topic, asking about some in-depth articles or interviews regarding the cheating topic in modern multiplayer games. I found this video that explains nicely some basics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQEAmpQScMk . 

Now, Apex is a unique kind of experience, I'd say. I think the huge number of cheaters is not because there's not enough effort to clean up. The complexity and fast pacing make this game feel very competitive and hard, I can't recall any other game I played over the last two decades to have such intensity. Wins, even kills are hard to get, I'd say the average kill / death ratio is well below 1, while top placement happens only once every 20-40 matches for a mid core / casual player. It's safe to assume that frustration gets really high, making a lot of players turn cheats to get their daily dose of reward.

My first few hours in Apex were horrible, I kept dying often before emptying the first magazine, sometimes not even knowing where the shots came from. I'm not afraid to say that even I got  tempted at one point to give a try to an aimbot, being curious of how much does a cheat alter the experience, but also because I felt the need to survive more, to learn some aspects of this game and do some damage. Luckily, I had a few great randoms that carried me to the win and explained to me how to approach things better, so I'm still here 380 hours after, with a horrible kill / death ratio, but enjoying the battles a lot more and feeling that my skills have improved significantly, which is arguably the greatest reward a game can offer.

[GRiPSViGiL]

@DoYaSeeMeI had a bit of a steep learning curve here adjusting to the TTK. Coming from BF series where TTK is within 3 to 6 rounds typically and a well placed HS can end someone real fast. I have been adjusting and my K/D is steadily rising and my frequency of wins is slightly increasing even as I just hit Gold. I have never been tempted to actually install a 3rd party bot though. I value my original account and gamer name tag that has served me for going over 20 years at this point.

The BR game style is definitely a niche I enjoy in the Apex format. PUBG, Fortnite and even BFs Firestorm were not compelling enough for me to really get into the niche. Apex however had the right formula and mechanics to get me though.

I know part of the problem for the influx and heavy population of cheaters is the newness of it. Any game gets flooded with hackers at release. Over time people move to the next new game and trash the gameplay with cheats then move to the next new thing and  I am sure this will go the same route. BF4 is is a really clean game since it's age and it is refreshing to stay behind the curve once hackers move to now BF1, you get the picture.

I think respawn is doing a good job addressing this issue and adding more people to combat hackers is the reason I still login. It is obvious they see they have the right formula for a game that can keep people interested for a long time.