If you’ve played Bungie’s Destiny 2 on the PC within the past few months, I’m sure you’ve noticed the number of cheaters ruining the game for many. I’ve had my fair share of encounters with hackers, which had put me off playing the game for a while. Things have gotten worse once Bungie brought back the often asked about “Trials”, and I’m sure Bungie has been paying attention to our complaints about all the cheating going on.
Thankfully, in today’s TWAB (This Week at Bungie), the company has made an announcement in regards to their plans for combatting the rampant cheating. Before we get to that, they released some interesting insights into how bad things have gotten and have mentioned they’re banning an average of 656 players a week and that was before Trials. Once Trials was available, it tripled to 2133 a week That’s a lot and gives you an idea of how bad it is out there.
They’ve mentioned they’re working on ways to counter the aim botters and wallhacks, but for obvious reasons, they aren’t explaining that process. They’re also boosting the number of people to help police the cheater reports and the anti-cheater system, which is good news for all. There’s more going on at the TWAB that you can read about over there. However, I am really excited about the last bit of news. In a nutshell, if you find yourself teamed up with a cheater and you don’t report them and leave the team, you will also be punished along with them.
We’re changing a key policy – fireteammates of cheaters are no longer innocent. We now reserve the right to restrict or ban any player who has benefitted from cheating, even if they didn’t cheat themselves. This includes scenarios where players group up with or provide account information to a guide or carry service, which then cheats on their behalf. We want you to find new friends out there, but be sure they have your trust before you go. If you LFG your way into a fireteam with a cheater, get out and report them. If you ride them to a flawless, the Banhammer will come for you as well.
Yep, guilty by association is going into effect. No more “Oh I didn’t know they were cheating” and getting a free pass to a flawless. Which has been happening more than you may think it has. It’s one of the reasons why I and countless others have avoided Trials in the first place. So I’m glad to see this happening.
Of course, the cat and mouse game of rooting out cheaters is complicated and it won’t be solved overnight. Otherwise, it would have already been over, so I applaud Bungie for sticking to their guns and hopefully thinning out this mess sooner than later. But honestly, the fact that we’re all now responsible for reporting cheaters is going to go a long way. Especially if you’re already playing with someone who you know has been known to cheat. It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out, especially over in Reddit and Twitter. But I’m sure that’s what Bungie is counting on.
Be sure to read the entire TWAB, there’s a lot of interesting stuff in it this week. What do you think about Bungie holder players accountable for others’ actions? Do you think they’re in the right or wrong? Let us know in the comments.
