Skilled Battlefield 1 players appear to be clashing with the game’s anti-cheating measure. What exactly are they getting banned for? Being too good at the game.
FairFight is a real time cheat detection that has been used in all Battlefield games since Battlefield 3. It uses a function called Algorithmic Analysis of Player Statistics (AAPS) to compare real time players stats to the average level of skill. But some players seem to be playing so well that the system is flagging them as cheaters and banning them from the game.
kL-Spazmo is a dedicated Battlefield player who got banned banned after FairFight marked him and his friend as cheaters. The two were kicked from the game during a match on Amiens where they were playing well. An avid player with over 2800 hours in FairFight-enabled titles, Spazmo had played all that time without a ban.
“They were good stats, not like holy shit, that guy is cheating!” he says in the video after receiving his ban.
This is not the first time that highly skilled players have been punished for perceived cheating. Minidoracat is a high ranking player, placing fourth in global leaderboards. He received a temporary ban in December. SpartanHoplite reached a 202-8 kill to death ratio during a match using a bomber. He was permanently banned from the game.
In addition to analysing player statistics against the global average, FairFight also scan for events “which are not possible (or that are exceedingly improbable) to achieve without the use of hacks”. This includes incredibly long distance shots and massive kill streaks.
When the system detects gameplay that is statistically unlikely, it checks for events it deems improbable. If it detects this, the player in question is banned. The system’s FAQ page claims this prevents top players from being banned. But it seems that the system just can’t account for the absolutely Herculean accomplishments of some hardcore players.
There’s usually not much hope for players after getting banned. Spazmo managed to get in touch with DICE producer Ali Hasoon to talk privately about the ban. There may be hope yet that he gets to play the game again. Other players permanently banned may not be so lucky.
Kotaku reached out to EA for comment, but had not received a response at time of writing. For now, if you’re a Battlefield badarse, you might want to tone it down a bit.
Comments
12 responses to “Battlefield 1 Players Are Getting Banned For Playing Too Well”
Yeah that’s why I’m always crap at battlefield, don’t want to get banned
Yeah, the way I play, doubt I’ll have to worry about this 😉
I’m Mr Average myself but I’ve had some pretty incredible rounds back in BF3 that I feel would have gotten me banned if this form of anti cheating software was active.
Back in my day, it wasn’t bots kicking you, it was overzealous server admins. Had a one-in-a-million encounter in CS1.5 on de_aztec where I encountered the whole (5 or 6) T team at the double doors and headshotted every single one with one long, panicked spray of a TMP. “hax!”, they cried, “You have been kicked by admin”, the server said.
Oh man CS1.6 where you were always kicked by Admin as hackers just because the admin sucked arse… those were the days lol
Meh, sounds like it would do some of these guys some good to take a break for a while anyway 😛
That’s just EA covering their arse. The game actually crashes but its easier to pretend they were being kicked :p
That being said, I’ve had the same thing happen to me when I’m like 60-0, but again that was probably just a crash
I don’t understand, how do you know that they were not cheating?
The fact they said they don’t cheat.
202-8
Wow – the enemy team mustn’t know how to use AA emplacements/planes very well….
I (on average) place within the top 3 or 5 most conquest matches but nowhere near those numbers, I think around 70 kills
70 kills for top 5… Hey look, another guy who doesn’t really play the objective or sits in a tank all game
I’ll clarify as after re-reading my post I fear I didn’t explain it well…
70 kills has been the most in one round (average around 30-40) – I mostly end up in the top 5 because I play the objective constantly as that’s the only way to get them points!