In Japan, online game company Nexon is pressing charges against three gamers, ages 17 to 18, for obstruction of business. In short, the gamers were allegedly using in-game cheats for online FPS Sudden Attack. That, it seems, was hurting the game and Nexon.
Yomiuri Online, one of Japan’s largest newspapers, reports that this is the first time gamers have had criminal liability charged against them in Japan for allegedly using cheat programs.
One of the gamers is a university freshman, another is a 17-year-old vocational school student, and the last of the trio is a 17-year-old high school student.
In Nexon’s statement about the legal charges, the company explains that these three players allegedly used the cheat tools repeatedly in the game. IT Media reports that distribution of cheats was also allegedly involved.
For years now, cheaters, I mean players, have been using such tools in Sudden Attack. That doesn’t make it right. However, some of the Sudden Attack cheats, like the one you can see above, are pretty damn funny — though, probably less funny if you are playing against them.
Here, you can watch the full clip.
And here’s another interesting cheat.
Here, you can see another player, who is apparently not cheating, showing what looks to be a cheat, which looks to be a ghost-like character.
It’s unclear whether the three gamers that Nexon is going after allegedly used these particular cheats. Obviously, using such tools violates the game’s user agreement.
Cheating is wrong, but couldn’t Nexon simply ban these players? Maybe the company tried, but was unsuccessful. Or maybe Nexon should have tried harder to combat the cheats. But making them a crime?
「チート」でキャラ不正強化、３少年を書類送検 [Yomiuri]
Comments
10 responses to “Gamers Hit With Criminal Charges For Cheating Online”
One man’s fun is another man’s pain. I guess this IS obstruction of business – when players quit because of cheaters then everyone loses.
This is why I like the idea of leagues where cheaters are all lumped together. Let Em keep playing but make them play against other cheaters permanently. Hell if you are valve, you could make this happen across games: cheat in cs:go get put in a low priority queue in dota 2.
I’m with you. Put the cheaters together permanently and set up non “ranked” servers for people to play with mods and cheats.
Perma ban the players that use hacks/mods/cheats in ranked.
Hmmm…. you know I’d never thought of it that way….
Online gaming has come up from something which was run on dedicated servers, or amongst friends, and by those who were into PC gaming. We accepted the hackers as an annoying side effect, switch servers, and keep going.
But now, AAA games [and their devs/pubs] live and die off their multiplayer service. If there are hackers, I could definitely see a case against said hackers for obstruction of their business, and that they may be liable for damages. [remember those EULA’s we all ‘agree’ to? :p ]
My only concern would be if companies simply starting using the courts to stop ‘hackers’ instead of making code/systems more resilient [litigation over innovation!].
But hey, interesting nonetheless.
Wow, Bashcraft is writing about video games?!
Even with the hacks they’re still pretty terrible..
Isn’t this a bit over the top? I mean, you could have just banned them or something like that instead of getting the cops on them.
I’m pretty sure unauthorised use/access of a computer system is a crime. Since you are on their servers and all…
Good! hackers are scum of the earth. So many games are dead now thx to wankers like this.
100% agree.