Spoofers destroy the game for legit players

2

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  • spoofers are now replacing the gps subsystem with their magisk modules (or whatever they use there). what will stop them from using another module to spoof the fingerprint subsystem, for example? and when creating a new account, substitute another fictitious fingerprint.

  • Without Niantic identifying them as spoofers, they get to claim "I'm innocent" and people will believe them over the claims of the other faction though.

  • PkmXPkmX ✭✭
    edited October 2020

    A lot of spoofers also seem to be quite content with playing with just himself with little to no connection to local communities, or in some rural areas they are pretty much the sole player in that town so there is no community/policing to speak of. Without Niantic doing their own part to enforce the rules, there is still no solution to the problem.


    My major gripe is Niantic's complete disregard of reports even with very clear evidence included, and it feels like those tickets are just auto-closed en masse without being looked at. We have been dealing with a player with >8 accounts himself and has been building his own L8 portal whenever he wants. We report him with the exact location/time (or rather, a list of times where he attempted to build L8 portals), along with screenshots of log from Intel map where he switches between each account to deploy resonators one by one. All these tickets are just closed with canned responses and nothing has been done for months. (In case anyone from NIA OPS is watching, it is #10123872, #10042695, #10017269, #9923319 and so on I'm talking about.)

    Post edited by PkmX on
  • mortuusmortuus ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2020

    I know of a player with 20 accounts maybe more now, plays 100% solo drives around no connection to local community and just laughs to ppl when they say its wrong and cheat and confronting upfront in car --- .... still no banned last time i heared anythign and yes its been mass reported to no help.... so spoofers/ multi accs win it seems even if reported with evidence and comm logs etc so ppl stop report anymore when nothing happens for months...

  • HydracyanHydracyan ✭✭✭✭✭

    One is best way to control cheaters, lie it or not, is to literally *&$@ everyone else, by limiting the access.

    With the subscription we can have something excusive for like:

    Flipcards, stronger weapons, certain lv, and others stuff being exclusive to subscribers, while free players got some nerfs like weaker weapons/range of weapons, limit on max AP gained trough some time, limited time to play per day, etc...

    May sound harsh, but newbies usually have a slow start and won't notice many of this, while a cheater would be forced to at least pay a subscription if he want a new kamikaze. And Niantic can start doing things like banning the credit card and owner, and checking this data to find it the real account of the cheater and punish it there.

  • HydracyanHydracyan ✭✭✭✭✭

    At least on mine, the local res open their arms to any spoofer on their side and protect them. But what to expect when even the "leaders" are cheaters? Confirmed and banned players are the admins of their groups. Spoofer account playing together with them, following the same patch, but in different times, when they can't leave home, making synchronized blocks with green or blue account while the ENL are making some OP. And they're all aggressive if questioned about something. The enl group quickly identify the cheaters of both sides and segregate them, of ignoring them for any team action, but the res never is clear about even the obvious pogoers cheat accounts, always protecting them.


    I'm in favor of the idea of randomly blocking the agent of further actions until he prove he is at the location, like taking a selfie next to a portal close of the location of the block with some sort of random hand gesture. The agent won't be banned if he dont do that, but instead just a block on his main actions that interfere with the game (that create comm logs),for that day at least. Those pictures can be stored on agent account to further investigation and checked with suspected multiaccounter, punishing both if confirmed.

  • And who would this agent have to prove their location to? Ops? How would Ops go about verifying this? They can't proactively monitor portal activity.

    And say for instance it's you at a low-signal portal, participating in a large Op. Would you be happy if Niantic blocked your actions until you have a chance to prove you were there, preventing you from completing your part of the Op?

  • HydracyanHydracyan ✭✭✭✭✭

    In that case the player should not be doing anything suspicious to trigger the checking algorithm.

    And it dont need to be reviewed in realtime, just an automated request. Player submit a simple checking request, to be stored for future review. Consecutive denies or fake data would lead to further blocks.

    There's isn't many ways to effectively combat cheaters without screwing honest players in the process.

  • So until that check-in request is verified, you can't do anything? This approach is really not effective.

  • I was talking to a man from your location. And he says that you and your friend are known whiny )))


    And it is also known that you use the program to track other players, while paying money for it. Thus you yourself are a cheater and tell us your sad stories here how difficult it is for you to play because of cheaters))))

  • In Singapore even ENL and RES try to reports spoofer but Niantic Support never take any action and it's obvious spoof activity! I also try to bring up this matters on discussion ,but not yet getting approved

  • ZeroHecksGivenZeroHecksGiven ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2021

    My only advice is to keep trying. The reports eventually do work. If you haven't, reach out to a vanguard for assistance.

    I feel your frustration though. There is nothing quick about the process for the most part and I'm sure people have bailed on the game for the lack of urgency shown by Niantic. I get there is a small team of people involved with this stuff, that doesn't change the real world realities of dealing with someone making a fun game, very unenjoyable.

    edit: I'll add that, out of respect for their time and commitment to helping us when we need it, please make sure you have the report numbers from Lambert ready to go, as well as other substantial proof. I wouldn't reach out to a vanguard because I think someone hopped a fence or is out past curfew. Bogging them down with accusations or opinions is only holding up other agents.

    Post edited by ZeroHecksGiven on
  • GoblinGranateGoblinGranate ✭✭✭✭✭

    Can someone indicate where to find the Vanguard list?

  • Has reported, Niantic Support Lambert come back with their standard reply again, we have provided all the necessary evidence, even with all the operational hours like Night Safari (Ankole Cattle) which is open only at night, but spoofer early morning already can going in. Forested area (Nature reserve) which at night impossible to going in, spoofer can going in at midnight or at night time and field from inside.

    The spoofer is trying to split into 2 territories and the players inside these 2 territories are low morale because players inside the fields are not able to play at all, we have small Ops to clear it, end up...the spoofer just flying over and field to blanket again.



  • TheKingEngineTheKingEngine ✭✭✭✭✭

    In conclusion: the spoofers did not receive any kind of ban. Am I reading this right?

  • NoSpringsNoSprings ✭✭✭

    I find it somewhat telling that you read a discussion about spoofing "ruining the game" for one group of players, and your reaction is:

    1. I asked some folks and they say you whine a lot
    2. The spoofers say you only caught them by using some kind of software
    3. Now YOU should defend YOURself!


    I mean, if #2 is true, that's not great, and should obviously be discussed (separately, since it's clearly out of scope for this discussion). But, you didn't even feel the slightest need to MAYBE include "0. The spoofers should be punished too?" along with saying the OP is "whining" about spoofers ruining the game?

    Not trying to accuse you of anything, it just seems super weird that you felt the need to pen a response (and apparently reach out, locate, contact, and discuss him/her with the spoofers they're talking about) -- just to to ridicule them for "whining" -- but even the slightest suggestion that the spoofers might be a BIT out of bounds for cheating...that doesn't even deserve a quick mention? Like, not even a little?


    Instead, we're just gonna go from zero to "full on victim blaming" in no seconds flat? Just like that? And even use testimony from the spoofers themselves as our "eyewitnesses"/basis for attacks on the OP? Really?


    Really?


    Not sure why I expected pro-spoofer comments to be cloaked in at least a TINY bit more subtlety than that. Guess it just shows how far out of touch I am these days. :/

  • GoblinGranateGoblinGranate ✭✭✭✭✭

    I'm afraid spoofing is just accepted these days. Those who still fight it are just sentenced to quit.

    Is an unpunished cheater cheating at all? How can anyone argue about fair play when it is not enforced?

  • WooormsWooorms ✭✭✭

    "Lol you whiney, can't even fight back" is an usual comment from cheaters. Not accusing anyone in this discussion, but I've heard that a lot, and it often turned out the people making this comment was in fact cheating. I guess this is to be expected from people accepting to cheat to get an unfair advantage on other players, with this advantage they gain confidence. It was the case in a lot of games before Ingress was born, and will still be seen in future games.

  • GoblinGranateGoblinGranate ✭✭✭✭✭

    Fully agree, but other games always have some sort of enforment or santioning system once cheating is identified.

    But Niantic does not invest time on in, that's why it is passively accepted.

    Also, as I see you have some gaming culture, I guess you also know the common fate of games when cheaters run free.

  • WooormsWooorms ✭✭✭

    I wouldn't say Niantic is not fighting it, we see some sanctions. They are not enough, that I agree.

  • MirthmakerMirthmaker ✭✭✭✭

    The issue is if it's detected 24-48 hour turnaround time from report to answer with transparency is what would dearly make the community be happy and confident again.

  • TheKingEngineTheKingEngine ✭✭✭✭✭


    Agree. By the way I see a lot of players complaning about the fact that Niantic could not detect spoofing within 24-48 hours and thus the spoofing cannot be stopped because the harm is already done.

    However I would see it as sayings from not familiar with spoofing reporting procedures and cheating cases. Actually, some spoofers, if not most of them, would not be detected even within 48 DAYS.

  • MirthmakerMirthmaker ✭✭✭✭

    If a hard ban ( player not just account(s)) doing illicit things for low hanging fruit doesn't get the job done then what will get the point across that spoofing will get you banned?

  • AzhreiaAzhreia ✭✭✭✭✭

    How do you propose a hard ban for the player be implemented and enforced?

  • WooormsWooorms ✭✭✭

    You find the player, go to their house, take their phones and their credit card to prevent them from buying a new one. 🙃

  • MirthmakerMirthmaker ✭✭✭✭

    Like the idea. I think it is more a case of player name address, and demographic stuff you give goes up against provided. If it matches one of several = further scrutiny.

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