Why is cheating in online games not illegal?

[MARS-03]

There is no reason for it to remain legal, all it does is break license agreements and ruin other's experience with a product that they paid for. Getting killed by cheaters in games like Escape From Tarkov makes you lose time, because you have to spend more time getting back gear, which reduces productivity in real life, and 'enslaves' you to spend more time on a game.
I would suggest that cheating in online games on servers which you do not own be illegal, and could lead to a $2000 fine (some cheaters make money off cheating).

[GobboKirk]

In an ideal world sure, but no way there would be funding put aside for it.

[@Wachiko]

It is in Asian countries. Wish places like the USA/EU/etc would adopt the same but sadly that is unlikely as our internet is unmonitored unlike theres.

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by Armed defender:

There is no reason for it to remain legal, all it does is break license agreements and ruin other's experience with a product that they paid for. Getting killed by cheaters in games like Escape From Tarkov makes you lose time, because you have to spend more time getting back gear, which reduces productivity in real life, and 'enslaves' you to spend more time on a game.
I would suggest that cheating in online games on servers which you do not own be illegal, and could lead to a $2000 fine (some cheaters make money off cheating).

You're forgetting one important part: a law has to be realistically enforceable.

[✨Saint✨]

Make war illegal too...
If we all start avoiding games where people cheat, maybe, just maybe one day, people will care enough to do something about it in a way that really works.
In the mean time, we gotta rock the boat with what we have.

[JVC]

Originally posted by Armed defender:

There is no reason for it to remain legal, all it does is break license agreements and ruin other's experience with a product that they paid for. Getting killed by cheaters in games like Escape From Tarkov makes you lose time, because you have to spend more time getting back gear, which reduces productivity in real life, and 'enslaves' you to spend more time on a game.
I would suggest that cheating in online games on servers which you do not own be illegal, and could lead to a $2000 fine (some cheaters make money off cheating).

There's no reason why *I* or any other should pay for enforcement of a law that's unenforceable and has no practical significance. If you want to set up an FBI equivalent for that purpose and pay for its entire operations with your own cash. Fine. But don't squander my tax money.

[GobboKirk]

Originally posted by Saint:

Make war illegal too...
If we all start avoiding games where people cheat, maybe, just maybe one day, people will care enough to do something about it in a way that really works.
In the mean time, we gotta rock the boat with what we have.

:saint:

That would mean avoiding every popular online game....
Though if someone makes a foolproof anticheat they'd make a fortune, so go go nerds :)

[✨Saint✨]

Originally posted by GobboKirk:

Originally posted by Saint:

Make war illegal too...
If we all start avoiding games where people cheat, maybe, just maybe one day, people will care enough to do something about it in a way that really works.
In the mean time, we gotta rock the boat with what we have.

That would mean avoiding every popular online game....
Though if someone makes a foolproof anticheat they'd make a fortune, so go go nerds :)

Since there is not really a solution, avoiding those game is the only viable solution.
I do not know if people know, if anything will be done about it in the future, it is the consumer that will pay for it as usual. lol.

[JellyPuff]

Making cheating in an online game illegal would be a ridiculous idea. It's a videogame. It's not that big of a deal.

A dev/pub can make the argument of copyright infringement to shut down the developers of cheats and send cease&desists down their way, but this is slippery slope and could result in collaterals and a decline of even harmless game modifications, due to modders being too afraid.

A good example was when Take2, in a hamfisted attempt to get rid of cheaters in GTA V, tried to shut down the GTA mod "OpenIV", even though most cheaters weren't even using that (idk if people even used this mod to cheat in the first place). The resulting backlash was huge and Take2 took back the cease&desist. The general consensus was, to rather tolerate cheaters than to have no GTA mods anymore.

[Kargor]

And what's next? The lawmakers doing game design?

[Voss]

problem is there is no real punishment for cheaters, banning is pointless but still shouldn't be removed. weak players need the cheating in order to cope with legit players and those that are toxic that use cheats just to ruin it for others as seen in gta online pretty obvious.

I really doubt there will be a 100% anti cheat unless you can perma ban the player from the game forever, hut then there is cash. Banning a player forces them to often get a new account/buy game. The problem is complicated, main issue is people.

/tho i find it good that some that makes the cheats endup in jail)

[Gus the Crocodile]

"Hello is this the fun police? I'm not having as much fun as I'd hoped, and I was wondering if you could arrest someone for me to fix that. Thank you, yes I'll hold."

[sfnhltb]

So the owners of third party game servers could just flag non-cheaters they don't like as cheaters to get them fined? And law enforcers in the US are going to be able to recover a fine on some kid in Cambodia? And when Nigeria creates a similar law and claims hundreds of thousands of US citiizens have been cheating in online games on servers located in their country, they will be able to get those fines paid?

[wuddih]

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

Making cheating in an online game illegal would be a ridiculous idea. It's a videogame. It's not that big of a deal.

in the professional environment it is a multi-million dollar business.
f.e. german (e)sports club Schalke 04 sold their LoL LEC license for $30 million to someone else. imagine there would be some form of cheating in the chain of evidence leading to this event. this could totally end in people getting behind bars.

anyway... cheating is already criminalized, especially in Korea, where eSport is more accepted than many physical sports. if you get caught cheating there, you can literally ruin the rest of your life.
what for sure is criminalized is the commercialization of cheat programs. for that people already went to "jail"/ got probation charges from official courts.

[Brian9824]

It's already technically illegal, its a violation of the SSA and can be enforced in court usually civilly. The problem is the cost of enforcing it in court when many of the cheat creators don't live in the US make it hard to prosecute. It does happen though

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56579449
https://thepatchnotes.com/2018/05/09/fines-and-jail-time-for-hackers-show-video-games-have-finally-made-it/
https://kotaku.com/14-year-old-video-game-cheater-sued-mom-defends-him-1820752579

[MARS-03]

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

Making cheating in an online game illegal would be a ridiculous idea. It's a videogame. It's not that big of a deal.

A dev/pub can make the argument of copyright infringement to shut down the developers of cheats and send cease&desists down their way, but this is slippery slope and could result in collaterals and a decline of even harmless game modifications, due to modders being too afraid.

A good example was when Take2, in a hamfisted attempt to get rid of cheaters in GTA V, tried to shut down the GTA mod "OpenIV", even though most cheaters weren't even using that (idk if people even used this mod to cheat in the first place). The resulting backlash was huge and Take2 took back the cease&desist. The general consensus was, to rather tolerate cheaters than to have no GTA mods anymore.

Actually it is a pretty big deal, the cheat industry is worth billions.