SCBI & Cheating

[SteveSmith6969]

OK, it may be hard to track down people who use a few cheats at the end to win. But this kind of stuff should be easy and we are running into it constantly now.

[lesorsier]

Hello everybody,

Anybody from developers and support actually play the game?

Situation with cheaters has changed past few months. Before it was quite easy to spot them. Maxed out cards, low city levels, low war rank, small cities, when you hit them they repair instantly, etc....

Now you have cities that looks pretty legit, large, developed, with high city level. But they hit you with 100 magnets. Right?

The thing that is happening is that hackers converts legit players into cheaters by giving them war items for free. So they go shopping with some satellite city they can afford to lose, between wars, in some inactive clubs that nobody reports.

So, 100 magnets players you report over and over, are not hacked cities actually. Are they cheating? apparently yes.

I really hope that activity logs exist on the server. In that case it would be pretty easy track them down by checking where they go and from whom they buy.

If not, I don't know... report process take some time to fill out everything, and not everybody is doing it. So you may reconsider that name and shame policy and encourage people to do exactly the opposite. I saw on several places here, complains that this forum protects cheaters, which has not much logic for me. On the other hand, big majority of players doesn't approve what some people in their clubs started to do. If you name them, people will just move away from them. It will be much easier to track them down if they are not among legit players...

Anyway, we upload all our stats and result on our site, cheaters, non cheaters, everything...it was for our internal use, but anybody can see it. Won't post any link here. If someone think that it could be useful for his club to see, just PM me.  

[EECM19]

Why, are u (EA)  better than Pres. Trump, he always name and shame all the time LoL

[PinnacleValley]

@EECM19  Although I readily agree that the namIng and shaming policy is counter productive in resolving the cheating issue, calling out a CM by name is not a good plan... These guys are just trying to do a thankless job as best they can within the guidelines they’re given.

[gil1999215]

does ea ban hackers?

i was reporting club before the war even started..they respone before the war start..but they did not ban them..they ask me for screenshots and i send them..then the war start and they ask me for the team leader screen..and i send and they are gone..no respone..

last war my club fight with hackers and i report them then war again and again hackers..war cost to much moeny points for the club..war simol..and boosters.

i spend moeny on this game,but now i just want to quit.

[gil1999215]

this is the war..

[cricket4103]

They do ban them but it seems that is very rare. Simcity is primarily a city building game and, I believe imho, that war hacking is not a huge concern for EA. It is serious, ongoing problem.

[BlackjackWidow]

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@gil1999215 wrote:

does ea ban hackers?

i was reporting club before the war even started..they respone before the war start..but they did not ban them..they ask me for screenshots and i send them..then the war start and they ask me for the team leader screen..and i send and they are gone..no respone..

last war my club fight with hackers and i report them then war again and again hackers..war cost to much moeny points for the club..war simol..and boosters.

i spend moeny on this game,but now i just want to quit.

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Hi @gil1999215 - Thank you so much for reporting suspected cheaters! I think the fact that support asked you for screenshots and then again for the team leader screen is proof that they're investigating. When you do these reports, it definitely helps the SCBI team to follow what they're doing. The team will do their investigation in the background, but they do not respond to your reports or tell you what they found. There are a few reasons for this, and it's not just this game, it's standard policy for all EA games. I understand it's frustrating, but hopefully your reports - in real-time - gave the team an opportunity to do their internal investigation while it was happening.

I'm moving your posts to the main thread on this issue. There are some great posts that explain a lot about the reporting process in the accepted solution here: https://answers.ea.com/t5/SimCity-BuildIt-General/SCBI-amp-Cheating/m-p/8987932#M14643 Give the links a read-through, I think it explains the system a lot better than I.

Please also pay attention to the rule: Do NOT Name & Shame! That means don't post pictures or name teams or players that you suspect are cheating. It's against the forum rules, can lead to harassment of players and can get you a timeout on the forum. Please DO KEEP REPORTING! Your help in identifying cheaters is obviously listened to, and the SCBI team is investigating these reports to make the game better for all legitimate players like you. 

[gil1999215]

i did not read the rules so im srry for that..

anyway i fight 2 wars with hackers i did report for this 2 before the war is over..

they did respon but what about everything we lost cus of this?

we lose a lot in 2 wars..you said there is a reason for not let us know how they investigation..i really dont care about this..but i do care about the time i play on this game..i do care about tthe cash i spending on this game..i play for a long time to know if someone is hacking..

lvl 30 city and lvl 54 war rank..is this real??how much time they need to stop this war?

[DanielKR74]

Thank you EA for small changes over the years that has improved the play experience against cheating clubs.

First, the detail you can look up about each city’s attacks. If I see level 15 attacks on mag & movie monster while most attacks aren’t even unlocked, I know they are cheating. Don’t play their game. Save your boosters for the next war. Get a few points for a rewards chest or two, collect your gold keys and move on. Gather war materials for a future war. Don’t waste your time and effort and just get frustrated.

Second, the difference between winning and losing is only war coins and platinum instead of gold keys. I frankly would love to be able to trade in my platinum keys for gold ones. It takes so many gold keys to upgrade attacks, I’m always sitting on one or two I can’t yet pay for. Don’t let the idiots out there ruin your fun. They aren’t getting any prizes for cheating in club wars.

The limit on trading war materials is not a good change however. The cheating clubs are simply buying all their mats from the war store EA added not too long ago. Somehow, it needs to remain easy to share or trade war mats with the club