I am not sure what the user above is thinking, but to play devil’s advocate:
One thing that modern AI does well is pattern recognition. An AI trained on player behavior, from beginner level all the way up to professional play, would be able to acquire a thorough understanding of what human performance looks like (which is something that games have been developing for a long time now, to try to have bots more accurately simulate player behavior).
I remember someone setting up their own litmus test using cheats in Tarkov where their main goal was just to observe the patterns of other players who are cheating. There are a lot of tells, a big one being reacting to other players who are obscured by walls. Another one could be the way in which aimbots immediately snap and lock on to headshots.
It could be possible to implement a system designed to flag players whose behavior is seen as too unlike normal humans, maybe cross-referencing with other metadata (account age/region/sudden performance anomalies/etc) to make a more educated determination about whether or not someone is likely cheating, without having to go into kernel-level spying or other privacy-invasive methods.
But then…this method runs the risk of eventually being outmatched by the model facilitating it: an AI trained on professional human behavior that can accurately simulate human input and behave like a high performing player, without requiring the same tools a human needs to cheat.
I don’t think that’s a bad thing, though. It’s not like I’d be bothered if someone with a GPU 5 years older than mine is able to play the same game on PC.
This is what consoles just should be. No longer locking games to specific generations, letting newer hardware run older titles better, and letting developers continue developing for lower hardware targets to include more people.
The issue though is that Chinese companies have the ability to tap into the massive domestic market in China in addition to international markets, while non-Chinese companies are locked out of the Chinese market unless their Chinese competitors get a cut. So the Chinese developers who get that additional profit from domestic Chinese players end up with a lot more financial weight to throw around than non-Chinese developers, who easily end up getting bought out or pushed out.
£30m is basically pocket change to Amazon and Microsoft, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they drain the fund anyways before closing the studios the funds were intended for.
Honestly, I’m not even a fan of this take. This essentially boils down to “I don’t care if a company has shitty business practices as long as only people dumber than me fall for them.”
Cosmetic and P2W MTX needs to go in all cases. The only thing people should be asked to pay for is additional game content (actual gameplay content, not just cosmetics) developed after launch.
As someone who never has much time to play games these days, honestly just seeing your posts has helped keep the passion alive. I love seeing all of these games I enjoy still being appreciated today. Thank you!
In the US at least, they actually do, in many cases. If you are in a drought region, your water utilities can be shut off if you’re wasting it all on watering a lawn or filling a swimming pool, for example. ISPs cut people off all the time for torrenting, sometimes even if it’s not pirated content (though it was ruled not long ago that ISPs aren’t utilities anyways).
They’re saying that is the reverse argument, not the state of things today. As in, the only solution to the above would be to force payment processors to do business with anyone and everyone.
Night and day difference between game Bill and show Bill, too. Both characters are interesting explorations of attachment vs isolation in their own ways.