Stop treating cheaters in online games as “the enemy”

SAN FRANCISCO—If you're a developer of an online game, you're probably used to treating cheaters like vermin that need to be exterminated in order to maintain the health of your game. But Clint Sereday and Nemanja Mulasmajic—Riot Games alumni and co-founders of anti-tamper company Byfron Technologies—argued in a GDC presentation that cheaters aren't always simply the enemy; they can often be some of a game's best players, customers, collectors, and content creators.

Attacking cheaters with a zero-tolerance, one-size-fits-all policy can be akin to attacking your game's community, the pair argued. "Cheating is born out of a love for the game a lot of times," Sereday said, and in those cases, seeking to reform or dissuade the cheaters can be more effective than trying to ban them.

In their talk, the co-founders broke down the motivations they see driving cheaters in online games. Each one requires a different approach to maintain the integrity of the game without destroying the community's trust in the process.