A Simple way to detect a spoofer account,

13

Comments

  • EngrishEngrish ✭✭✭✭

    There's no reason to have hidden stats anymore. The guardian badge is gone, that was literally the only reason for stats to be private.

  • jontebulajontebula ✭✭✭✭✭

    If we report Niantic have all tools and not see everything even if agents look stats to private.

  • kiloecholimakiloecholima ✭✭✭✭✭

    Keeping stats private was the norm in my community. Guardian was a reason, but certainly not the only reason. Longest running portal is still important to some people even though guardian is retired. Aside from that, mainly it is to hide your stats from the other faction, and the insights they can glean (and exploit) from looking at your weekly or monthly stats on an ongoing basis. Some of those insights have already been mentioned here, such as how much you're farming or how much you're traveling to unique areas. I know the "now" tab has also been used to try to zero out portals owned by agents who become targeted.

    I keep my stats private most of the time. Occasionally I open them up to give others a snapshot in time and then make them private again. I'm not ashamed of my stats at all, quite the opposite. I'm proud of my stats and share them frequently with my own faction.

    As for how the topic relates to spoofers, I've found that stats are not typically of much importance when it comes to detecting spoofers. Odd behavior from new accounts, impossible travel times, being in inaccessible places after hours stand out more as red flags to me.

  • SSSputnikSSSputnik ✭✭✭✭✭

    There is really no valid reason to hide stats.

  • I hide my stats because I don’t want RES seeing my current MU control. I however would be fine with having stats public to my own team. But, you can only hide to all or none.

  • HosetteHosette ✭✭✭✭✭

    One reason to hide stats: It prevents an opponent from figuring out whose drone they just sent home.

  • kiloecholimakiloecholima ✭✭✭✭✭

    Another reason I liked hiding my stats was because I liked being as much of a mystery as possible to my opponents. Also why I was always pretty tight-lipped on comms as well, unless there was an advantage in saying something. I'll concede that after 7 years of playing and all the xfac events I've attended that I'm not as much of a mystery anymore, but I still like to keep them guessing. But open stats is like giving the opponent free intel. It can also give away actions that are being taken that don't show up on Intel. Resonators deployed and mods deployed stat going up even though there's nothing on Intel? That means portals are being upgraded and possibly a farm is being built. But I guess no matter how many reasons we mention, it won't stop people who didn't read the thread or consider other views from making blanket statements that there's no valid reasons.

  • kiloecholimakiloecholima ✭✭✭✭✭

    I actually really like the idea of being able to control who can see your stats. Unfortunately if you do that by faction, it would encourage opponents to make alts so they can see your stats. Basically the same reasons why faction comms aren't secure. But if you could customize which specific agents can see your stats, I'd be all for that.

  • HosetteHosette ✭✭✭✭✭

    @kiloecholima If I want a specific agent to see my stats then I'll just use the function that takes a screenshot of my stats and send it to them directly.

    Oh, wait, we lost that functionality. I miss it constantly.

  • EngrishEngrish ✭✭✭✭

    I've never hid my stats in all my years of ingress, still won't and I'm still functioning just fine. But that's just me. Got my gp multiple times and still to this day, I don't care how people think they can count gear acquisition. They don't know how many qcaps I got, unless I show them my inventory no one really knows. As for farming, usually it's too easy to tell where I'm at, so I honestly don't care.

  • TheKingEngineTheKingEngine ✭✭✭✭✭

    "Perhaps the people behind the best software are the ones you'd least expect."

    Brilliant saying.

  • GrogyanGrogyan ✭✭✭✭✭

    Interesting that there is a job opening for this

    https://careers.nianticlabs.com/openings/product-manager-anti-cheat/

  • HosetteHosette ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Grogyan Interesting! I would enjoy that job, but I don't think Niantic can afford to hire me. I learned my lesson a long time ago about working for companies that I'm too passionate about, so I have a big "tax" on my salary requirements if I ever work take a job like that again. ($100K USD above the average of my last three years of income.) Even in the SF bay area that would price me out of the job, which is basically the intent of having that tax.

  • KhatreKhatre ✭✭✭✭✭

    hiding hack/glyphs pt so the enemy don't know if you are farming or being dropped

  • MirthmakerMirthmaker ✭✭✭✭

    I take the opposite tack. Hiders are trying to play games, and likely spoofer/mule/multi games.

    If your open I'm far more comfortable merely going "ok, you may be a pain," when you send Fritz the Robber Baron to take out a portal I have resos on, "but you're real."

    Not a spoofer/mule/multi which feels like a ripoff when they are out pulling shenanigans.

  • kiloecholimakiloecholima ✭✭✭✭✭

    Some are cheating, sure. Some with open stats cheat too (I've reported in both cases). A number of legitimate reasons for keeping stats private have been discussed in this thread, yet this keeps circling back to sweeping generalizations. Keeping stats private doesn't make you inherently bad.

  • HosetteHosette ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Mirthmaker I've had my stats hidden for years.

    I can remember a couple of cases where a newer player on the opposing faction thought that I was cheating and their teammates set them straight about me. I've taken a lot of proof-no-spoof photos in my lifetime and I don't remember being asked for one. I was also one of the first L16 players in the world and I have over a quarter billion AP. That's not the profile of a spoofer, mule, or multi.

    Your position is overly simplistic.

  • TrerroTrerro ✭✭✭

    I recently switched my stats back to public, shortly after I started really playing again, and had only made them private in the first place because of the whole Broker's Guild fiasco, but the Guardian badge wasn't the only reason to hide stats. Enemy agents can do things like watch your "Now" tab to see how active you currently are, and gauge based on that how likely your stuff is to be vulnerable. Or if they see something like an abnormally low walking distance for your agent level, they know you're highly unlikely to challenge portals that can't be reached by car. That sort of thing. Is it anything major? Not really. Is it enough for some to care. Absolutely. It's an option for a reason, and assuming someone is cheating because they use an account option that you personally don't see the value of is silly.

  • GoblinGranateGoblinGranate ✭✭✭✭✭

    It's just political agenda, they finger point just to bait you into making them public and picking up updated info.

    Is not silly, is lack of decency.

  • To the contrary, stats is a very easy way to spot if someone is heavily reliant on donations from other players

    Looking at the oppositions statistics can and will give you an indication of their activity, thereby giving you an indication if it's 'worth' an extra trip to a location to disrupt an active player or someone that farm items to give away to other more offensive-minded players,

    A very easy example to show the effectiveness of viewing someones stats:

    If I wanted to disrupt player A, who keep attacking my farms and key portals with high-level bombs but has a low glyphhack score I would look for nearby players with a high glyphhack score and relatively low activity on the battlefield and disrupt this player B as it's likely a supplier of gear to player A

  • AgentX1976AgentX1976 ✭✭✭

    If Niantic extended their friends list to Ingress that might be possible. It's amazing how many of my PoGo friends wear Ingress shirts (and I know they play both games)

  • Are there more ways bc there is weird stuff in my ...area. like one account attacking all of my portals at the same time...


  • There are people who will become predatory out of spite. I'm experiencing it now. Like a small group of people looking at my profile bc I started playing again and am playing the game. As in.... Hacking and attacking portals. Especially large fields.


    I've hidden mine and blocked the people I suspect are harassing. One account I can't block... and it so happens that this account also is ale to attack allot of my portals at once. Which makes zero sense.

  • mortuusmortuus ✭✭✭✭✭

    if u suspect not legit gameplay u need send in support ticket and report all agents with any proof evidence to backup your claims.

  • SSSputnikSSSputnik ✭✭✭✭✭

    Hiding stats... I've yet to see a good reason for it other than "I like it, it messes with my opponents heads" etc.

    To me it smells like potential cheating and leads to suspicion. Sure thats on me and I fully realise most aren't cheating but some are.

    Fully open to all seems the least harmful option.

  • MirthmakerMirthmaker ✭✭✭✭

    Overly simplistic?

    Let's get the low hanging fruit first. The easy spoofers are one thing. It's the more sophisticated, subtle ones are the real problem.

    That is what I think most players get annoyed and show special ire towards.

  • Bryan8916Bryan8916 ✭✭
    edited May 2022

    There are plenty of legit reasons to hide stats. Harassment and comments from the opposing faction about low/high stats is probably the most common one. That's why I changed mine to hidden a few months after I started playing, My trekker medal was low compared to my AP. Trekker doesn't count when driving between clusters of portals. Stats hidden and the rude comments stopped.

  • I looked up all those portals. They're all close enough together a level 8 burster would get them all. Your second screenshot of 6:09pm attacks, those portals all on the same corner of the intersection. Furthest two are about a block apart. If standing in the middle of the park there, you would hit them all. If he's driving, it's easy to drive half a block in under a minute firing bursters. They all say "under attack", not destroyed. Some of those could have taken only just enough damage to send the notification.

  • Thanks. No I saw him. I just wasn't sure if all portals say attacked if one is being attacked. I'm aware of the burster. Capturing them also.


    I'm asking for other ways to spot a spoofer.

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