Kunshan police partenered with Tencent in order to crack down a cheat enabler group, who are mostly dedicated to providing cheats in the game Valorant. It is the greatest anti-cheat operation ever, according to the Chinese Police. The operation reportedly earned as much as $10,000 daily, with calculations estimating that the total profits could be around $750 million dollars during the organization’s lifetime.

Among the assets seized, valued at 46 million dollars, were high end sports cars.

The Chinese police known as Kunshan police were working with Tencent Games to take down the biggest Cheat provider based in China they were Jailed and around $46m in assets were Seized this is the BIGGEST GAME Cheating provider bust ever

Cheaters never prosper what a big win pic.twitter.com/WBfkjNiP2g

— Anti-Cheat Police Department 🕵️ (@AntiCheatPD) March 28, 2021

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Source (Portuguese)

 

[leon315]

You said it is a hardcore hacking team, might even by typing on green text terminals they are that hardcore. Raking in the profits from it and that such things were illegal as fuck.

I said is it really illegal (China will just make up something to have it stick if it bothers the wrong people) and if it is should it be? What does it matter if it is such as above, or some skiddie that just learned about memory viewing and comparing on their gameshark?
Ban them and their clients by all means but sending in the filth to kick down doors, slap cuffs on people and steal all their stuff... that is harder to justify.

honestly with amount of matches ruined in WARZONE and in Hunted showdown cauz of cheaters, i hope all nations could criminalize those who code cheats and sell them as profit, like Chinese police did.
But i don't recall anything political as you said related this operation, as excuse to crack down any company, why you guys always have such "fantasy" to associate China with politics? remember that Tencent is just a entertainment company maybe the intention was truly genuine and wants to protect its customers from online cheaters?

 

[FAST6191]

honestly with amount of matches ruined in WARZONE and in Hunted showdown cauz of cheaters, i hope all nations could criminalize those who code cheats and sell them as profit, like Chinese police did.
But i don't recall anything political as you said related this operation, as excuse to crack down any company, why you guys always have such "fantasy" to associate China with politics? remember that Tencent is just a entertainment company maybe the intention was truly genuine and wants to protect its customers from online cheaters?

You can hope if you wish. I reckon it goes rather against the "my device, my rules" notion that underpins this entire site (fits rather nicely with "my service, my rules" the companies will in turn use to ban them in turn as well) and most laws in most of the world.

As far as Tencent goes. A) Big business in China is inherently tied to the government. Nobody that does not pay their dues, fork over data and otherwise basically be an arm of it will be allowed to be a big business in China. Tencent is also far more than a simple little entertainment company. Likewise if they were so gentle and benevolent then they would not have sent the police in as much as just continued to ban people, and maybe also code it properly such that cheaters find it hard (modern devices playing an online game have more than enough programming power to make cheats exceptionally difficult if they wanted to).

 

[leon315]

You can hope if you wish. I reckon it goes rather against the "my device, my rules" notion that underpins this entire site (fits rather nicely with "my service, my rules" the companies will in turn use to ban them in turn as well) and most laws in most of the world.

As far as Tencent goes. A) Big business in China is inherently tied to the government. Nobody that does not pay their dues, fork over data and otherwise basically be an arm of it will be allowed to be a big business in China. Tencent is also far more than a simple little entertainment company. Likewise if they were so gentle and benevolent then they would not have sent the police in as much as just continued to ban people, and maybe also code it properly such that cheaters find it hard (modern devices playing an online game have more than enough programming power to make cheats exceptionally difficult if they wanted to).

THAT'S NOT a very capitalistic way to resolve the online cheating issues: if you DO criminalize online cheating, just like many other asian countries like SK or japan, yes, they indeed have same laws too, which forbids coding and selling cheats for online games.

IMO such tencent intentions to crack down those pros specialized in selling cheats the only purpose to ruin other people's online experience for profit, served as a clear message to nationwide cheaters: stop cheating or cops will visit at ur home and drag u to Gulag hahahaha like good ol fable.

 

[FAST6191]

THAT'S NOT a very capitalistic way to resolve the online cheating issues: if you DO criminalize online cheating, just like many other asian countries like SK or japan, yes, they indeed have same laws too, which forbids coding and selling cheats for online games.

IMO such tencent intentions to crack down those pros specialized in selling cheats the only purpose to ruin other people's online experience for profit, served as a clear message to nationwide cheaters: stop cheating or cops will visit at ur home and drag u to Gulag hahahaha like good ol fable.

I would not particularly view this as a capitalistic approaches or not discussion, though better tech* is usually the answer there as well. This I would view as a personal liberty discussion. Ban all the cheaters you want, sending the filth after them however or getting the courts involved just does not sit right with me.


That said if my messing around with cheats and ROM hacks sees the filth sent to my house I think I would ponder a line from an old favourite song

When they kick at your front door how you gonna come? With your hands on your head or on the trigger of your gun?

*I say better tech but at time of launch having the server send a bit of random shared data (probably less than the data needed to send a high score table), and said data being the reference locations for all the bits of data a cheater might use along with location hopping inverted and encrypted/salted data, maybe a few server challenges lots of random noise and the like would not frustrate the efforts of a cheat maker to the point where it is near impossible, especially if said random data is actually closer to daily updates that retool things along with having multiple versions out there. At current computing power and coding styles then slowdown in code is imperceptible with that, and if they coded it vaguely well then nothing really extra to do.

 

[leon315]

That said if my messing around with cheats and ROM hacks sees the filth sent to my house I think I would ponder a line from an old favourite song

WHY you always messing rom hacking with selling online games cheats? those 2 things are not related and Rom hacking is neither mentioned in the news, perhaps you try to misleading the tempers?

 

[FAST6191]

WHY you always messing rom hacking with selling online games cheats? those 2 things are not related and Rom hacking is neither mentioned in the news, perhaps you try to misleading the tempers?

I don't consider them separately. Both rely on understanding how a game works and manipulating its internals in ways I am sure all the company lawyers would say we would rather you not do that.
If you want to think that maybe using a cheat online is worthy of seeing the full weight of the law come after you, or maybe just if you sell it, vs offline or otherwise fiddling then so it goes.

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

There is a difference between being banned from a service and having the filth tool up and kick down your front door before dragging you in front of a court and having it fine you.

Yes, the latter is better.
There is also a difference between security or police kicking out those who want to disturb a cinema or theater (e.g. Pussy Riot) and their being banned afterwards. The damage would have already been done and the victims don´t get their money or time back. So in both cases violence is better.

 

[FAST6191]

Yes, the latter is better.
There is also a difference between security or police kicking out those who want to disturb a cinema or theater (e.g. Pussy Riot) and their being banned afterwards. The damage would have already been done and the victims don´t get their money or time back. So in both cases violence is better.

I am not sure how that is analogous.

If they want to have proactive people checking stats, footage replays and the like in addition to passive security measures then good for them (there was a fairly amusing story some years back from xbox live doing such a thing). Might be expensive but hey.

There is still a marked difference between that and sending the law after someone.

 

[Deleted User]

Tencent is like the 50 cent of China, except 80% lesser.

 

[Ricken]

I can't help but think about my younger days where I'd give out hacked mons. I used to play lots of XYORAS and I'd have two Pokemon named "One sec" and "LemmeDupeIt" or something; then I'd just make a copy and trade off whatever somebody wanted from me. I knew/know it devalues Pokemon, especially event ones, but they're Pokemon people wouldn't get otherwise and it's definitely made a few people's days.

 

[Xzi]

I can't help but think about my younger days where I'd give out hacked mons. I used to play lots of XYORAS and I'd have two Pokemon named "One sec" and "LemmeDupeIt" or something; then I'd just make a copy and trade off whatever somebody wanted from me. I knew/know it devalues Pokemon, especially event ones, but they're Pokemon people wouldn't get otherwise and it's definitely made a few people's days.

Eh I wouldn't worry too much about it, Pokemon is primarily a single-player game whereas these guys were busted for selling cheats for online-only games. I remember going to a Nintendo-sponsored Pokemon tournament for Red/Blue, and almost everybody had three Mews and three Mewtwos in their team, all max level. This wasn't even that far out from launch, so it was obvious they were cheating, but none of the referees cared. If I had to guess, modern online battles are equally as rife with cheaters who've done just enough to make their Mons look legit.

 

[RedBlueGreen]

How is that illegal? I mean I guess maybe they were committing tax fraud?

Like @FAST6191 said, it's probably because somebody important didn't like it (whether that's a company there or a politics figure). Maybe it's because it might affect a high earning company like Tencent as well, or somebody whose pockets they're lining. I'm using Tencent as an example because they're huge and they're an involved party here. They wouldn't care if these people were just making cheats for games that China or Chinese companies didn't have a stake in, they only took action because Tencent (or a partner) is being affected. They'll just stick them with whatever charges they can even though said laws aren't actually about cheating in a video game. Not a lawyer, but stuff like damaging a service and improper access are more about harmful hacking and other malicious activities that either fully or partially render a sevice inoperable or illegal access (including hacking and stealing information), and were not made with cheating (like aimbots) at a video game in mind. Now actual hacking might fall under improper access or fraud if you were hacking the servers to give yourself V-Bucks or other items that would cost real money.

China as a state is insanely hypocritical. They don't care how their actions and the actions of the population affect others, but they'll bring down the hammer if someone does anything that negatively affects them (whether it's the proper communist government or a notable Chinese business like Tencent), even if they have to trump up charges. Let's not forget about the crap they pulled over the Meng Wanzhou extradition request.

The amount of people who seem fine with a human rights violation because they don't like cheaters in video games is disgusting.

Eh I wouldn't worry too much about it, Pokemon is primarily a single-player game whereas these guys were busted for selling cheats for online-only games. I remember going to a Nintendo-sponsored Pokemon tournament for Red/Blue, and almost everybody had three Mews and three Mewtwos in their team, all max level. This wasn't even that far out from launch, so it was obvious they were cheating, but none of the referees cared. If I had to guess, modern online battles are equally as rife with cheaters who've done just enough to make their Mons look legit.

Even the official tournaments have probable hackers, but the Pokémon are appear as legal as far as the games and written rules are concerned. Even Pokémon in an illegal ball (Ray Rizzo's Dream Ball Aegislash in X/Y) were given a pass because it didn't negatively impact the game.

Yes, the latter is better.
There is also a difference between security or police kicking out those who want to disturb a cinema or theater (e.g. Pussy Riot) and their being banned afterwards.

This isn't what's happened and you know it. These are actual criminal charges based on something that likely isn't prohibited or punishable by law. That's why in cases like this they have to use vaguely associate the "crimes" committed to a law that's not about these crimes and definitely didn't have them in mind when it was written, and it's only happening because it affects Tencent. You know what that would be in another country? Wrongful arrest. There's a reason why people are only sued over cheating in other countries, because it's not a criminal offense.

 

[Ricken]

Even the official tournaments have probable hackers, but the Pokémon are appear as legal as far as the games and written rules are concerned. Even Pokémon in an illegal ball (Ray Rizzo's Dream Ball Aegislash in X/Y) were given a pass because it didn't negatively impact the game.

I used to love watching competitive Pokemon back in Gen 6 and I remember somebody making a video about how some guy managed to get a second comp ready Salamence between tourney days with an illegal ball to boot. Good stuff

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

Let's not forget about the crap they pulled over the Meng Wanzhou extradition request.

So her being a political pawn and in a state of limbo for several years (and perhaps forever) is not a violation of human rights, I take it. Show me a case in which China forbid other countries to trade with e.g. Japan and then requested another country to detain an American in e.g. Vietnam.

The amount of people who seem fine with a human rights violation because they don't like cheaters in video games is disgusting.

As a guest of a restaurant, cinema (etc) my rights would be violated by Pussy Riots not being physically removed. The same applies for cheaters in online games. They ruin the fun for everyone. The online market in China is booming (with university degrees ranging from programming to gaming event managers) so it is natural they want to act.

 

[Deleted User]

... As far as International hypocrisy goes, you'd have a hard time arguing that the only country in the World to fire Nuclear Warheads controlling the narrative on who is a Nuclear Threat in a hypothetical Nuclear Enrichment Programme is remotely logical.

Similarly, the group of countries annually instigating Wars around the World in the name of Democracy calling countries that have not started any form of Military Invasion since the last World War as threats to the World is equally asinine.

Once we get that pissing contest out of the way, the question returns to, outside of ingrained xenophobia, how are Eastern efforts to trial people who have cheated a Gaming company out of their revenue, especially those that have reached the extent of purchasing multiple Sports Cars, any different than the usual barrage of lawsuits that pass through Western courts for lesser Game manipulations.

 

[RedBlueGreen]

As a guest of a restaurant, cinema (etc) my rights would be violated by Pussy Riots not being physically removed. The same applies for cheaters in online games. They ruin the fun for everyone. The online market in China is booming (with university degrees ranging from programming to gaming event managers) so it is natural they want to act.

Except that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about people being arrested for making game cheats because it affects a Chinese company that makes lots of money who are going to be charged with whatever vague as laws they can use because there probably isn't an actual law against what they're doing, and their having assests seized that likely have nothing to do with said cheats. They're seizing stuff like sports cars and other assets totalling like $40 million that probably weren't all purchased with money from the cheats. In another country this shit would be a wrongful arrest and wouldn't fly.

Once we get that pissing contest out of the way, the question returns to, outside of ingrained xenophobia, how are Eastern efforts to trial people who have cheated a Gaming company out of their revenue, especially those that have reached the extent of purchasing multiple Sports Cars, any different than the usual barrage of lawsuits that pass through Western courts for lesser Game manipulations.

So how exactly are these cheats causing a company to be cheated out of revenue, and what legitimate evidence is there that rhe seized assets were purchased with money from selling the cheats?

This is absolutely the commie government over there arbitrarily charging people who piss off them or their cash cows. The laws they'll be charged with violating likely have nothing to do with video game cheats and were written to keep services from being damaged by malicious activities like hacking (as in a cyber attack), and to stop people from illegal accessing information through data breaches.

 

[Deleted User]

So how exactly are these cheats causing a company to be cheated out of revenue, and what legitimate evidence is there that rhe seized assets were purchased with money from selling the cheats?

Eh; I was hoping for at least a better counter argument.

As simplest as I can put it, we have news reports about an event, recanted by several diverse sources that hold their own integrity at stake with each reporting they do.

I, for one, have no means to instantaneously scan the minds of all living beings on this planet but maybe I'm just an unfortunate minority.
You, on the other hand, might be privy to such powers and are arguing on that fact, based on your brain scan of the true intentions behind the Government cover-up of the secretive and pivotal world of Gaming for the species, at which point I'd implore you to elaborate upon this vast knowledge to the rest of the class ...

 

[RedBlueGreen]

Eh; I was hoping for at least a better counter argument.

As simplest as I can put it, we have news reports about an event, recanted by several diverse sources that hold their own integrity at stake with each reporting they do.

I, for one, have no means to instantaneously scan the minds of all living beings on this planet but maybe I'm just an unfortunate minority.
You, on the other hand, might be privy to such powers and are arguing on that fact, based on your brain scan of the true intentions behind the Government cover-up of the secretive and pivotal world of Gaming for the species, at which point I'd implore you to elaborate upon this vast knowledge to the rest of the class ...

Again, there's likely no law that actually forbids what they're doing. This means there's no legitimate reason for them to be arrested for it. They're not damaging Tencent by making cheats for games because it doesn't actually harm the game itself or the company. For somebody whose argument "the news said they did it" you're sure acting smug. You're also the one who claimed their actions are costing Tencent money. Care to provide proof, or will conjecture be all this evening?

Let's not forget its Tencent who worked with the police on this. I haven't heard many stories of Chinese cheaters and hackers who do things affecting Western companies being punished.

how are Eastern efforts to trial people who have cheated a Gaming company out of their revenue, especially those that have reached the extent of purchasing multiple Sports Cars,

 

[Deleted User]

Again, there's likely no law that actually forbids what they're doing. This means there's no legitimate reason for them to be arrested for it.

If this is an example of your logic, then I'm unsure how long we can keep a conversation going.

Care to provide proof, or will conjecture be all this evening?

Smug is an interesting way to describe pointing out the obvious.
Hilarious, too, since the whole sum of your arguments are conjecture, the latest example being my quote prior to this.

It is not my role to provide you proof when there's more than enough online; I'm not paid anything to handhold you to read nor search about, what's the word ... Sports Cars.

Anecdotally, contrary to your xenophobic ideal, there are statistically more good people in China than in your country Canada.
Canada has a paltry 38 Million people, roughly the size of a South East Asian Capital City Region.
China has over 1 Billion, so even if both countries have the improbable rates of 100% good Canadians and 4% good Chinese, they'd still have 2 Million more than you, roughly the size of Vancouver.

Now That's What I Call A Smug Canadian.

 

[BitMasterPlus]

If this is an example of your logic, then I'm unsure how long we can keep a conversation going.



Smug is an interesting way to describe pointing out the obvious.
Hilarious, too, since the whole sum of your arguments are conjecture, the latest example being my quote prior to this.

It is not my role to provide you proof when there's more than enough online; I'm not paid anything to handhold you to read nor search about, what's the word ... Sports Cars.

Anecdotally, contrary to your xenophobic ideal, there are statistically more good people in China than in your country Canada.
Canada has a paltry 38 Million people, roughly the size of a South East Asian Capital City Region.
China has over 1 Billion, so even if both countries have the improbable rates of 100% good Canadians and 4% good Chinese, they'd still have 2 Million more than you, roughly the size of Vancouver.

Now That's What I Call A Smug Canadian.

Scary part is I can believe there are more good Chinese than Canadians. Most Chinese peeps are oppressed and have to hide their good nature from the regime, while Canadians seem to not understand how good they have it and have taken it for granted.