Top cheats that destroy Ingress

GoblinGranateGoblinGranate ✭✭✭✭✭
edited September 2020 in General

It's always a nice thing and we are all always looking for it when Niantic releases new content for Ingress. It gets even more special when you get to know that the game is not generating too much benefits for Niantic.

But not being able to hold players within the game is and always was the main cause of low profit. Communities work very hard to keep the game alive and they do it for free, they always did. But is hard as hell to keep the game alive and legal (free of bad actors) if misbehaving has no punishment. Communities can and should keep bad actors outside to keep them safe and clean, but final punishment can only come from Niantic since just hoping for a cheater to quit because its playing alone is just too much to hope nowadays.

There is a need to make sactions effective. Is it really cheating if you get no punishment for it? Are you really a bad actor if your community does not outcast you for misbehaving?

But the system is not dead: bans do happen. But they happen in lower things, like trying to load an Ingress notification from a smartwatch, trying to open Ingress app from a rooted device or even using the wrong emoji in COMMs. Wonder how many players went away because of things like this.

Niantic gets actual work done yet Ingress shrinks instead of growing, so, to enlighten that massive ball of shadows we are playing in, here are the cheats that destroy the game balance:

-Spoofing. Always have been at the top of the list, yet Niantic seems unable to effectively cut it off and the longer it goes the stronger it gets. This cheat attacks the concept of AR itself and that is why it is so destructive.

-Multiaccounts. Backpacks always gave an insane advantage to softer cheaters over legal players that don't do backpacks, yet this issue seems to be ignored most of the time. It doesn't help at all teh fact that this seems to be a legit thing on the rest of their games.

-Modified clients. The use of unnoficial APKs or even modified clients is a very infrequent thing but gives some strong advantages as if you were a superagent. Niantic has implemented several ways to prevent it but was never able to effectively identify and erradicate it. But again, its low frequency makes it a rare cheat.

-Data scrapping. A very easy way to **** any player in the game since it allows you to get al sort of personal information about any player. They say its for the game, but who grants you they will not use that info to cause physical damage? How many car windows and house doors have been affected because of this? Data scrapping would not be possible if Niantic didn't publish the data in the first place.

-Black market. Being able to just purchase stuff (any stuff) has always been there. One could think that it's silly to just pay for things instead of playing to get them, and it actually is, but as in any other game, there is always people willing to take the fast way and also there is people that feels like it is their only chance to actually play if the opposing faction ovepopulates the area. Niantic seems to be fighting efficiently this one.

-Third party apps. This is considered a cheat since it gives an advantage, but most of the cases only give small advantages. Their use is discouraged at most and Niantic does not ban because of this anymore (they used to).


What I want to show with this post is that Niantic is not idle over the cheating aspect but is not focusing on the right target. There are a lot of post about each one of these and some more, I'm only trying to reveal the bigger picture. Because that's the only thing Niantic can handle: the bigger picture.

Thanks for your feedback and don't forget to hit that disagree button :)

Post edited by GoblinGranate on

Comments

  • mortuusmortuus ✭✭✭✭✭

    we were promised better anti-cheat systems before end of redacted.. it seems spoofers and cheaters can roam free and have multiple accounts doesnt seem to work report as niantic says its hard to prove multi accs so they can play and dont care......

  • What I want to show with this post is that Niantic is not idle over the cheating aspect but is not focusing on the right target.

    What do you think Niantic is focused on stopping, if not the list above?

  • Then the backpacks and multis would simply level up to a point of safety, and players who tried it once and could be lured back, would find a deleted account.

    It's easy enough to be an intermittent player to thwart that sort of check.

  • GoblinGranateGoblinGranate ✭✭✭✭✭

    No no, Niantic does work in some of the listed, but what I mean is that looks like they are worrying about watering the garden while the house is on fire. Cheats that cause the most damage should be given priority.

    Yes, I actually left that one apart because on PoGO (external) influence, but that is one major abuse too.

  • I have seen agents make a level 8 portal all by themselves with different profiles. Several here have at least 4 or 5 backpacks of both factions. Clear to see when agents never play except to add level 8 resonators and mods. They have been reported so many times but zero done. Thankfully most now play pogo, cause it is easier to cheat or so they say.

  • mortuusmortuus ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2020

    even if u see 1 agents with 5 phones in hand u cant take photo and send it to niantic because its against the rules so not much ucan do.. just report usually will result in nothing as multi accs according to niantic is very hard to prove.... but it sucks either way such players wont get banned...

    Multi-accounts is still an issue that needs to be taken care of somehow

    Spoofers/bots also a problem that has not been resolved

  • edited September 2020

    @GoblinGranate

     Cheats that cause the most damage should be given priority.

    What cheating do you think they're prioritizing instead of what you think they should?

    EDIT: Also, please use specific examples, not metaphors about gardening.

    Post edited by Perringaiden on
  • VenomousToadVenomousToad ✭✭✭✭✭

    Multi accounting has become normalized. So many people do it and even have accounts on both sides so they can play in any area. We boot people from our community for it but can't say the same for others. It's becoming the only people left playing anymore. The legit players are tired of playing against it. The lack of effort by niantic only emboldens them. You have to accept it and keep playing because niantic will never address it.

  • Spoofing with Multiaccounts,Thats a very horrible combination to destroy legit players. Making field with portal dificulty access, making link with another id and making field with main id. Again and again, if we want to destroy and making blok link for them. Firts time we must making plan and go to the portal for several hours but they can destroy all blok link under 10 minutes. If we report them, just dummy id get banned but main id is always save. The legit players are tired of playing against it, to many legit player stop to playing ingress about this and to many new player asking "We can using cheating app like PoGo? and can we use it" i'm really hate's if someone asking this.

  • mortuusmortuus ✭✭✭✭✭

    yes, but how are u supposed to deal with them then? niantic dont ban active players with multi accs.. they make legit players stop play,..... not ok

  • ZeroHecksGivenZeroHecksGiven ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2020

    Ive heard that. I’ve heard multi-accounting is against TOS and that doesn’t seem to stop people either, along with the lengthy list posted at the top of this thread 🤷🏼‍♂️

    Post edited by ZeroHecksGiven on

  • There was a Reddit thread last month about an entire family getting banned and then getting their accounts reinstated by support. Many questions remain unanswered as to why they never received a warning or what triggered the ban. The point is players are getting banned, some justly and some due to an imperfect system.

    I can relate to your frustration. Have you tried reaching out to a local vanguard or trusted reporter who is able to escalate your case?

  • MirthmakerMirthmaker ✭✭✭✭

    And that stinks because everyone knows several agents who pull this ****. When is Niantic going to do something about this? It will go poorly if the locals decide they have to.

  • DSktrDSktr ✭✭✭✭

    This is not pokego. Have U seen any ipa/apk mod for at least half year?

  • edited September 2020

    So many issues with this comment. First, no personal accountability for own actions.. deflecting on to an unrelated issue.

    Let's skip the part about taking photos and videos of people without their permission, and acting as judge and jury and invading somebody's digital privacy.

     One should ask if they are part of the problem or the solution. 

    Personally following other players around to video and take photos of them is creepy, and is what gave this game a bad rap when it started, besides being against the game's terms of service.

  • Two wrongs don't make a right.

    However, I still haven't heard from @GoblinGranate what they think Niantic is doing instead of the list above being the actual priority list. Spoofing is the primary focus for cheat detection because it's had a significant uptick since the pandemic hit. Most of the other things like modified clients and third party apps are simply to support those spoofing efforts.

    So I still haven't heard what they need to stop focusing on in order to focus on the thing that is their primary focus.

  • ZeroHecksGivenZeroHecksGiven ✭✭✭✭✭

    I didn’t say it made them right. Though, technically, taking photos of people in public places isn’t “wrong”, in this country. And he should know this. I’ll share a screenshot from comms where he explains this to a Res agent.


  • Though, technically, taking photos of people in public places isn’t “wrong”, in this country. 

    It's got nothing to do with the country's laws. It's a part of the Ingress TOS.

    Guidelines, Section 1:

    • Never take photos or videos of other players unless you have their explicit permission.
  • ZeroHecksGivenZeroHecksGiven ✭✭✭✭✭

    I understand the TOS. Regardless, I haven’t taken photos of this enl agent.

  • GoblinGranateGoblinGranate ✭✭✭✭✭

    The answers you seek lie within original post. And it will have to be all metaphores and such since it appears that whenever I name names some mod comes by and removes the comment.

    About the spoofing supporters, those apps are not to support it since they got its own use. If spoofers employ them to get extra cheat support is a different topic.

    Oh, idk, have you? :)

    When Redacted went away, some guy posted in Reddit a very detailed interview about some other guy witha modified client and he was never detected. The claim was he did it for fun, to see if he could crack the clinet and he achieved it, not very interested in the game itself (perhaps the reason why he went undetected). That post was posted in this forum but not possible to find it anymore (surprise surprise).

    Pictures or videos are of no use to Niantic anyways. How do they know that person? I recently catched some spoofers acting right on the portal I was, out of urban area, and there was no one around. Even a video record of the empty area would not be of use to Niantic.


    There are many ways to cheat in this game and they are not able to detect the most destructive ones. Same way they changed the game to fit their needs, they could change their system to allow this detections. We all know priority number one is money, but what real money are you going to make from a game which population goes down instead of up?

  • @GoblinGranate

    And it will have to be all metaphores and such since it appears that whenever I name names some mod comes by and removes the comment.

    Hahahahaha

    "I can't tell you because the government will erase me and mind control you".

    We really need **** to be a word we can use here.

  • GoblinGranateGoblinGranate ✭✭✭✭✭

    I can only guess what you mean, but luckily in this case we don't need anyone to name names as the answers you request with such insistence are in original post. Niantic has been working to get that assortment of online shops and services I call "Black Market" at bay.

    Remember when anomaly badges required a code to redeem and get pushed to the scanner? Some of those were so expensive in black market months later that it was just cheaper to take the trip an attend the event instead! Items are now eaiser to get, fewer people buy them. Guardian badge is over, no hunting services making money from it anymore. They do work, but spoofing causes more damage to communities than black market, so obviously Niantic is just defending their interest and communities are not among them. And that may be the main reason why Ingress does not grow.

    Now, since we are colliding in several other posts, I think I'll quit answering your comments since it just looks like you are looking for a fight. Peace.

  • edited September 2020

    Again, I will repeat it.

    What do you think Niantic has been prioritizing instead of your supposed list, given that at least half of what's on their list is their top priority?

    You can claim you can't "name names" but in truth, you can't name names. Not because "the man" won't let you, but because you simply don't have them, don't know, and don't care to understand that they don't exist.

    The only reason we are "colliding in several other posts" is that three accounts have begun spewing crazy across all the active threads.

    They could all be the same account for all the discernible difference.

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