Am I being overly paranoid or am I just focusing too much on negativity?

[Reaper]

I'm speaking in general terms, but honestly, it's getting to the point I log into Steam, stare at my library for half an hour, then just go do something else. I can't bring myself to play anything anymore because I'm either paranoid or just frustrated.

On two separate occasions recently, I've seen people I know get banned in two separate games for things they couldn't control or hadn't known about. Elden Ring is the most recent example. It's now so unsafe to pick up any item that other players drop just because it could be a cheated item that will cause your account to be flagged. People used to trade weapon drops all the time, but now I've seen multiple examples of people being "nice" to drop modded weapons that cause the server to flag your profile and ban you for 180 days for "tampering". GTA5 is another example. Back when I played, I saw so many instances of hackers joining public games to just shower people with money or edit peoples levels which gets flagged in the system as cheating.

People who used cheats in FPS games used to be an annoyance that you felt just came with the territory of multiplayer. Now I feel like it's a threat because they've reached a point where they can directly cause harm to your own account. Anyone remember the RCE vulnerability in Dark Souls games a couple years back?

Ever since Steam added the whole "game ban" notification to profiles, I thought it wasn't well designed, but lately, I'm feeling more uncomfortable playing any multiplayer game because I'm worried about getting banned for something I can't stop. A developer is only going to know what their data tells them and manipulation of that can negatively effect regular players accounts. The VAC notification is different because it's an automated system that isn't going to target an individual player like a cheater will. The fact griefers have reached the level they can actively damage other players saves makes me worried when GTA6 comes out, I'm going to join a game, have my stats edited, then get banned by Rockstar and unless I record 100% of my gameplay, I can't prove otherwise.

[Crazy Tiger]

Both, you are paranoid because you overly focus on negativity.

The problem with the internet is that niche stories get turned into "major stories" by social media drama queens and influencers. It gives of the impression that all that fake rage is somehow "widespread".
Same with your cheating and banning questions.

Don't overthink things. You'll see problems, and enemies, everywhere.

Just look at the state of the forums. That's also the result of people being paranoid and focussing on the negativity.

[-OrLoK- Слава Україн]

you won't get banned, only cheats do.

(the reality is slightly more complex than this but I'm 99.999999pc right)

I rarely play MP PvP games due to others cheating but coop stuff is fine and less angsty

[sfnhltb]

If a person dies to a shark attack that makes the news.

If a person dies in a car accident, falling over in the shower, to cancer, or eating too many burgers that doesn't make the news.

So, if something makes the news that means it almost never happens, and isn't something to concern yourself with as you are more likely to win a lottery than have a newsworthy bad thing happen to you.

Things that are real threats and problems almost never make the news (unless it happens to a celebrity normally) but are recorded in government statistics and the like, so if you really want to find out things to be concerned about, that is where to look, not the news or what is hot on TikXTube or whatever channel you chose that make money off selling fake fear to you.

[wesnef]

Single player games ftw.

[RPG Gamer Man]

Step away from the pc when you get too negative. Go watch tv or a movie. Then come back to pc. This is what i do when negativity gets too bad. I also do a puzzle in real life which helps me cool off too.

[RPG Gamer Man]

Origineel geplaatst door Reaper:

I'm speaking in general terms, but honestly, it's getting to the point I log into Steam, stare at my library for half an hour, then just go do something else. I can't bring myself to play anything anymore because I'm either paranoid or just frustrated.

On two separate occasions recently, I've seen people I know get banned in two separate games for things they couldn't control or hadn't known about. Elden Ring is the most recent example. It's now so unsafe to pick up any item that other players drop just because it could be a cheated item that will cause your account to be flagged. People used to trade weapon drops all the time, but now I've seen multiple examples of people being "nice" to drop modded weapons that cause the server to flag your profile and ban you for 180 days for "tampering". GTA5 is another example. Back when I played, I saw so many instances of hackers joining public games to just shower people with money or edit peoples levels which gets flagged in the system as cheating.

People who used cheats in FPS games used to be an annoyance that you felt just came with the territory of multiplayer. Now I feel like it's a threat because they've reached a point where they can directly cause harm to your own account. Anyone remember the RCE vulnerability in Dark Souls games a couple years back?

Ever since Steam added the whole "game ban" notification to profiles, I thought it wasn't well designed, but lately, I'm feeling more uncomfortable playing any multiplayer game because I'm worried about getting banned for something I can't stop. A developer is only going to know what their data tells them and manipulation of that can negatively effect regular players accounts. The VAC notification is different because it's an automated system that isn't going to target an individual player like a cheater will. The fact griefers have reached the level they can actively damage other players saves makes me worried when GTA6 comes out, I'm going to join a game, have my stats edited, then get banned by Rockstar and unless I record 100% of my gameplay, I can't prove otherwise.

Have you every played RD Online? Hackers drop chests and if someone picks them up, they get banned by Rockstar as it is considered cheating. New players may not know about this. Yes, this is how our online society is. Do not trust anyone, or you may get burned. This is one reason why i stopped playing multiplayer games too.

I now exclusively mostly play single player games, with some exceptions. Until new improvements are done to anti cheating programs, i will avoid online games. I have read that using AI may help, but it also will help the people hacking the games too. So it is a double edged sword.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uIyRQ7oPjQ


This kind of behavior in video games will get worse before it gets better. If your really worried OP, just avoid playing online games.

[RPG Gamer Man]

Origineel geplaatst door wesnef:

Single player games ftw.

I agree 100%. OP needs to go single player only.

[skOsH♥]

I still love CS. I am addicted to it, and figure it's probably the game to play as I want to get off of this medication that affects my entire nervous system and I need to make sure my motor skills I developed playing CS don't get all messed up. So...if it's giving me extremely dangerous and disorienting withdrawals I won't play any online multiplayer. I play CS matches only on faceit and very rarely (or its casual and idc if others are cheating if its not blatant and theyre ruining everyones ability to play). I started noticing that performance in that game is highly dependent on stuff like being hydrated, which I am bad at....because my body is broken. It's complicated so I won't go into why. It's ironic though

Maybe cheaters would diminish if they knew they were ruining the experiences of people who are almost out of them... but probably not. Idk if they feel shame. Mostly I have just adjusted the hours I game and I avoid most cheaters. There's still a lot of smurfs

I haven't noticed any cheats or abilities for people in CS to mess with my game. The only thing I notice is my mental state changes and I do better or worse

As for other games, I'll play co-op 2 player games with my best friend, or I'll get lost in a single player game for hours and hours....like some games I'll play rdr2 start to finish with like 5 hours of sleep between each session.

[RPG Gamer Man]

Origineel geplaatst door skOsH:

I still love CS. I am addicted to it, and figure it's probably the game to play as I want to get off of this medication that affects my entire nervous system and I need to make sure my motor skills I developed playing CS don't get all messed up. So...if it's giving me extremely dangerous and disorienting withdrawals I won't play any online multiplayer. I play CS matches only on faceit and very rarely (or its casual and idc if others are cheating if its not blatant and theyre ruining everyones ability to play). I started noticing that performance in that game is highly dependent on stuff like being hydrated, which I am bad at....because my body is broken. It's complicated so I won't go into why. It's ironic though

Maybe cheaters would diminish if they knew they were ruining the experiences of people who are almost out of them... but probably not. Idk if they feel shame. Mostly I have just adjusted the hours I game and I avoid most cheaters. There's still a lot of smurfs

I haven't noticed any cheats or abilities for people in CS to mess with my game. The only thing I notice is my mental state changes and I do better or worse

As for other games, I'll play co-op 2 player games with my best friend, or I'll get lost in a single player game for hours and hours....like some games I'll play rdr2 start to finish with like 5 hours of sleep between each session.

Cheaters are aware they are ruining it for other people, or are little kids known as "scriptkids". Im sure some hackers are aware they are ruining the game for others on purpose. Remember when Red Dead Redemption 1 got hacked? The hacker came out later and apologized for doing it after seeing the damage. Yes, they basically ruined it with their hacks for it. That is why i quit after i got dynamited in the starting place which is non-pk zone, and got killed by another player, or when i got teleported into the sky and got shot by another player. This will only stop when either the world learns not to do it, or better anti cheat software is made. Read my above post about AI anti cheat stuff.

With the loss of morality and morals in the world, cheating will continue to become worst and worst. Just watch in the next 10 years how bad it will be. This is my opinion and yes, i think lack of morals with people and loss of faith is also contributing to this issue too.

I once read this test these people did about how honest people were in the world. This test was done in the 2000's era like in 2000-2010. They put a wallet in the street with 20 dollars in it, and then recorded how many tried to return it to the close lost and found versus people who took it and stole it. Suprisingly, there was more people who stole it versus who returned it. This same test was done in the 1950's too, and in that test more people returned the wallet versus stealing it. What does this test tell us? Think about it yourself and make your own conclusion about it.

If you want to look up the above test, i believe the book i read it in was called the Good samaritan test.