Valorant, the latest multiplayer developed by Riot games has banned 8,873 gamers from playing this upcoming first-person shooter. The game is yet to be released and is still under beta testing. Only a few users have access to this version of the game by gathering Beta keys through Twitch streams. Riot Games have been meticulously fine-tuning the game to make it cheat-proof in every way.
How is Riot Games making Valorant anti-cheat?
Vanguard is Valorant’s anti-cheat system that has been highly criticized for taking stringent measures against suspicious users by shutting them down. Despite shutting off the game, Vanguard’s bootloader will still run in the background to keep a check on your activities. If you decide to disable Vanguard, you cannot play the game unless it is re-enabled.
You might find these methods severe, but with all the hacking and cheating involved in multiplayer games nowadays, every game company has to strictly set up a separate department to fight this menace. PUBG Mobile recently added a Points Protection System, in its 0.18.0 update, to fend off hackers and users engaging in foul play.
What does Riot have to say about this?
Riot’s anti-cheat department’s lead advisor Paul Chamberlain, took to the game’s official website to explain the reason for such measures. He said that anti-cheat is the necessity for a “serious competitive experience”, hence they aim at eliminating the major chunk of game-hackers and cheaters from this game. Philip Koskinas, Riot Game’s anti-cheat system designer went on to add a funny comment which described the state of hackers that were sniffed and thrown-off the game.
Even though this is just closed beta, we've promised that we're going to be heavily committed to anti-cheat. This banwave is still only the beginning. We're going to ensure the highest standard of competitive integrity in VALORANT. https://t.co/EjxuYG0JEE
— Riot Vanguard (@RiotVanguard) May 12, 2020
He also states that this is an ongoing process, Vanguard will not let its guard down at any point of time, and will constantly track the gameplay of every user, deciphering their techniques and rankings and comparing them to genuine gameplays. With this anti-cheat system, Riot can easily detect software hacking as well as cheating hardware like mouse and keyboard.
There is just a minor chunk of gamers out there, capable of producing cheats and hacks for such games. This makes it easier for Vanguard to keep track of their activities and are open to all the necessary legal avenues to keep them out of the system. Riot Games can be at the center of an uprising against hackers and gamers engaging in wrong practices in order to profit off from them, and it has become extremely necessary for other game developers to invest in anti-cheat systems as well.