The secret of war lies in the communications.

 Napoleon

Tactical realism is a genre of gaming in first-person shooters where realistic settings are simulated by the game engine to the best of its ability and players use authentic military tactics to accomplish goals in the game. Tactical realism usually requires enforcement through a combination of in-game rules, game server settings and, often, game modification.

Tactical gaming is a bit slower than the typical headless chicken running and gunning method of game play.

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It’s all about the game Call Of Duty.
We like it easy, fast and efficient.
Lets start the journey…

 
On our Website you will find useful advices to play better Call of Duty in realism mod. We will talk about hardware, software and skills. We will not forget the fun factor, because at the end this is only a game.

We play the game uncorrupted. 

Always with fair play and fun.

The reason to play a game is the fun factor.

New Assassination gametype where players in the attacking team need to protect and escort the VIP to an extraction zone while the other team tries to eliminate him.

Attackers: A player in the attacking team will be switched to VIP once the pre-match period ends. The attacing team needs to protect the VIP from being killed and escort the VIP out of the combat zone to the extraction zone marked as a blue square in the game. Attackers can only win the round by extracting the VIP or eliminating all the defenders.

Defenders: They need to prevent the VIP from reaching the extraction zone. They can accomplish this by defending the extraction zone or by just killing the VIP. Defending team can only win the round by killing the VIP or by holding the VIP from reaching the extraction zone in the allocated time.

OpenWarfare Video

The first person shooter has since been traced as far back as Maze War, development of which began in 1973, and 1974′s Spasim. 1987′s MIDI Maze for the Atari ST was one of the first network multiplayer action games and also saw release on game consoles. The genre coalesced with 1992′s Wolfenstein 3D, which is generally credited with redefining the genre and the basic archetype upon which subsequent titles were based. One such title, and the progenitor of the genre’s wider mainstream acceptance and popularity was Doom, released the following year and perhaps the most influential first-person shooter. Half-Life, released in 1998, enhanced the narrative and puzzle elements, and along with its 2004 sequel Half-Life 2, showcases the considerable development of the genre’s potential. GoldenEye 007 (1997) was the first landmark first-person shooter for home consoles, with the Halo series heightening the console’s commercial and critical appeal as a platform for first-person shooter titles. In the 21st century, the first-person shooter is one of the most widely played and fastest growing video game genres.

Definition
First-person shooters are a type of 3D shooter game, featuring a first person point of view with which the player sees the action through the eyes of the player character. The primary design element is combat, mainly involving firearms. First person shooters may be considered a distinct genre in itself, or a type of shooter game, in turn a subgenre of the wider action game genre. Following the release of the influential Doom in 1993, games in this style were commonly termed “Doom clones”;in time this term has largely been replaced by “first person shooter”.Wolfenstein 3D, released in 1992, the year before Doom, is generally credited with inventing the genre, but critics have since identified similar though less advanced games completed as far back as 1974. There is sometimes disagreement regarding exactly what design elements constitute a first-person shooter: for example, Deus Ex is sometimes considered a first person shooter, but may also be considered a role-playing game as it borrows from this genre extensively. Some commentators may extend the definition obliquely to include combat flight simulators, as opposed to characters on foot.

Game design
Like most shooter games, first person shooters involve an avatar, one or more ranged weapons, and a varying number of enemies. Because they take place in a 3D environment, these games tend to be somewhat more realistic than 2D shooter games, and have more accurate representations of gravity, lighting, sound and collisions. First person shooters played on personal computers are controlled with a combination of a keyboard and mouse. This system is often considered superior to that found in console games, which frequently use two analog sticks, one used for running and sidestepping, the other for looking and aiming. It is common to display the character’s hands and weaponry in the main view, with a head up display showing health, ammunition and location details. Often, it is possible to overlay a map of the surrounding area.

Combat and power-ups
First person shooters often feature graphic, gory violence.

First person shooters often focus on action gameplay, with fast-paced and bloody firefights, though some place a greater emphasis on narrative, problem-solving and logic puzzles. In addition to shooting, melee combat may still be used extensively. In some games, melee weapons are especially powerful, a reward for the risk the player must take in maneuvering his character into close proximity to the enemy. In other situations, a melee weapon may be less effective, but necessary as a last resort. Tactical shooters,” are more realistic, and require teamwork and strategy to succeed; the player often commands a squad of characters, which may be controlled by the game or by human teammates.

These games typically give players a choice of weapons, which have a large impact on how the player will play the game. Some have highly realistic models of real weapons, including their rate of fire, size of ammunition, and accuracy. However, they may allow players to carry many of them at the same time, with no reduction in speed or mobility. Thus, the standards of realism varies between design elements. The protagonist can generally be healed and re-armed by means of items such as first aid kits, simply by walking over them. Some games allow players to accumulate experience points similar to those found in role-playing games, which can unlock new weapons and abilities.

Level design
First person shooters may be structurally comprised of levels, or use the technique of a continuous narrative in which the game never leaves the first person perspective. Others feature large sandbox environments, which are not divided into levels and can be explored freely. In first person shooters, protagonists interact with the environment to varying degrees, from basics such as using doors, to problem solving puzzles based on a variety of interactive objects. The environment can be damaged, also to varying degrees: one common device is the use of barrels containing explosive material which the player can shoot, destroying them and harming nearby enemies. Other games feature environments which are extensively destructible, allowing for additional visual effects. The game world will often make use of science fiction, historic (particularly World War II) or modern military themes, with such antagonists as aliens, monsters, terrorists and soldiers of various types. Games feature multiple difficulty settings; in harder modes, enemies are tougher, more aggressive and do more damage, and power-ups are limited. In easier modes, the player can succeed through reaction times alone; on more difficult settings, it is necessary to memorize the levels through trial and error.

Later first person shooters utilize the internet for multiplayer features, but local area networks were more commonly used in early games.

Multiplayer
First person shooters may feature a multiplayer mode, taking place on specialized levels. Some games are designed specifically for multiplayer gaming, and have very limited single player modes in which the player competes against game-controlled characters termed “bots”. Massively multiplayer online first-person shooters allow thousands of players to compete at once in a persistent world. Large scale multiplayer games allow multiple squads, with leaders issuing commands and a commander controlling the team’s overall strategy. Multiplayer games have a variety of different styles of match. The classic types are the deathmatch (there is also a team-based version) in which players score points by killing other players’ characters, and capture the flag, in which teams attempt to penetrate the opposing base, capture a flag and return it to their own base whilst preventing the other team from doing the same. Other game modes may involve attempting to capture enemy bases or areas of the map, attempting to take hold of an object for as long as possible while evading other players, or deathmatch variations involving limited lives or in which players fight over a particularly potent power-up. These match types may also be customizable, allowing the players to vary weapons, health and power-ups found on the map, as well as victory criteria. Games may allow players to choose between various classes, each with its own strengths, weaknesses, equipment and roles within a team.

History
Early first person shooters: 1970s and 1980s
Before the popularity of first person shooters, the first person viewpoint was used in vehicle simulation games such as Battlezone.

The earliest two documented first-person shooters were Maze War and Spasim. Maze War features on-foot gameplay that evokes modern first-person shooter games. Development of the game began in 1973 and its exact date of completion, as well as release details, are unknown. Spasim had a documented debut at the University of Illinois in 1974. The game was a rudimentary space flight simulator, which featured a first-person perspective. Spasim led to more detailed combat flight simulators and eventually to a tank simulator, developed for the U.S. army, in the later 1970s. These games were not available to consumers and it was not until 1980 that a tank game, Battlezone, was released in arcades. A version was released in 1983 for home computers, the first successful mass-market game featuring a first-person viewpoint and 3D graphics.

MIDI Maze was an early first-person shooter released in 1987 for the Atari ST. It was unique in featuring network multiplayer through the MIDI interface long before mainstream Ethernet and Internet play became commonplace. It is considered the first multiplayer 3D shooter on a mainstream system and the first major network multiplayer action game, with support for as many as 16 players. It was followed up by ports to various platforms in 1991 under the title Faceball 2000, including the Game Boy and Super NES, making it possibly the first handheld and multiplatform first-person shooter and an early console example of the genre.

Id Software released Hovertank 3D in 1991, which pioneered ray casting technology to enable faster gameplay than 1980s vehicle simulators. Later developers added texture mapping with Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (by Looking Glass Technologies), a role-playing game featuring a first person viewpoint and an advanced graphics engine, released in 1992. During development, this led to Catacomb 3-D which was actually released first, in late 1991, and introduced the display of the protagonist’s hand and weapon (magical spells) on the screen.

Rise in popularity: 1992–1995
Wolfenstein 3D (created by id Software and released in 1992) was an instant success and is generally credited with inventing the first person shooter genre proper. It built on the ray casting technology pioneered in earlier games to create a revolutionary template for shooter game design, which first person shooters are still based upon today. Despite the violent themes, it largely escaped the controversy generated by the later Doom, although it was banned in Germany due to the use of Nazi iconography; the Nintendo version replaced the enemy attack dogs with giant rats. Apogee Software, the publisher of Wolfenstein 3D, followed up its success with Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold in 1993. The game was initially well received but sales rapidly declined in the wake of the success of id’s Doom, released a week later.
Although it was not the earliest shooter game with a first person perspective, Wolfenstein 3D is often credited with establishing the first-person shooter genre.

Doom, released as shareware in 1993, refined Wolfenstein 3D’s template by adding improved textures, variations in height (such as stairs the player’s character could climb) and lighting effects such as flickering lights and patches of total darkness, creating a more believable 3D environment than Wolfensteins 3D’s repetitive levels. Doom allowed competitive matches between multiple players, termed “deathmatches”, and the game was responsible for the word’s subsequent entry into the video gaming lexicon. The game become so popular that its multiplayer features began to cause problems for companies whose networks were used to play the game. Doom has been considered the most important first person shooter ever made: it was highly influential not only on subsequent shooter games but on video gaming in general, and has been available on almost every video gaming system since. Multiplayer gaming, which is now integral to the first person shooter genre, was first achieved successfully on a large scale with Doom. While its combination of gory violence, dark humor and hellish imagery garnered acclaim from critics, these attributes also generated controversy from religious groups, with other commentators labelling the game a “murder simulator.” There was further controversy when it emerged that the perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre were fans of the game; the families of several victims later unsuccessfully attempted to sue id Software, among numerous other video game companies, claiming they inspired the massacre.

Star Wars: Dark Forces was released in 1995 after LucasArts decided Star Wars would make appropriate material for a game in the style of Doom; however, Star Wars: Dark Forces added several technical features that Doom lacked, such as the ability to crouch or look up and down. Descent, (released by Parallax Software in 1995) a game in which the player pilots a spacecraft around caves and factory ducts, was the first truly three dimensional first person shooter. It abandoned sprites and ray casting and introduced polygons and six degrees of freedom. Apogee’s Duke Nukem 3D, released in 1996, was the last successful sprite-based first person shooter, winning acclaim for its humor based around stylised machismo as well as its gameplay; however some found the game’s (and later the whole series’) treatment of women to be derogatory and tasteless.

Arrival of 3D graphics: 1996–1999
Shortly after the release of Duke Nukem 3D, id Software released the much anticipated Quake, which used 3D polygons instead of sprites. Like Doom, Quake was influential and genre-defining, featuring fast paced, gory gameplay. It was centered around online gaming and featured multiple match types still found in first person shooter games today. It was the first game to have a following of clans, attracted increased modification and expanded the market for video card hardware.

Console first person shooters can be traced to MIDI Maze for SNES (1992) as well as the SNES port of Wolfenstein 3D (1993), but the graphics were notably lacking according to the power of the platform. The first landmark, best-selling console first-person shooter was Rare’s GoldenEye 007, based on the James Bond film and released on the Nintendo 64 in 1997. Highly acclaimed for its atmospheric single-player levels and well designed multiplayer maps, it featured the ability to aim at a precise spot on the screen, a sniper rifle, the ability to perform headshots, and the incorporation of stealth elements.

Released in 1998, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six started a popular trend of tactical first person shooters, though it was not the first of its kind. It featured a team-based, realistic design and themes based around counter-terrorism, requiring missions to be planned before execution and in it, a single hit was enough to kill a character. 1999s well designed Medal of Honor started a long running proliferation of first person shooters set during World War II.

Valve’s Half-Life was released in 1998. Initially met with only mild anticipation, it went on to become an unprecedented commercial success. While previous first person shooters had focused on visceral gameplay with comparatively weak plots, Half-Life had a strong narrative; the game featured no cut scenes but remained in the first person perspective at all times. It featured innovations such as non-enemy characters but did not employ power-ups. Half-Life was acclaimed for its artificial intelligence, set of weapons and attention to detail and, along with its sequel Half-Life 2 (released in 2004), is consistently reviewed as one of finest examples of the genre.

Starsiege: Tribes, also released in 1998, was a multiplayer online shooter allowing more than 32 players in a single match. It featured team-based gameplay with a variety of specialized roles, and an unusual jet pack feature. The game was highly popular and later imitated by games such as the Battlefield series. Id’s Quake III Arena and Epic’s Unreal Tournament, both released in 1999, were popular for their frenetic and accessible online multiplayer modes; both featured very limited single player gameplay. Counter-Strike was also released in 1999, a Half-Life modification with a counter-terrorism theme. The game and later versions (the latest being Counter Strike: Source, released in 2004) went on to become by far the most popular multiplayer first person shooters.

Recent milestones: 2000–present
At the E3 game show in 1999, Bungie unveiled a real-time strategy game called Halo; at the following E3, an overhauled 3rd person shooter version was displayed. Later in 2000 Bungie was bought by Microsoft, and Halo was revamped and released as a first person shooter, one of the launch titles for the Xbox console. It was a runaway critical and commercial success, and is considered a premier console first person shooter. It featured narrative and level design inspired by Half-Life and also received acclaim for its characters, both the protagonist, Master Chief and its alien antagonists. The sequel, Halo 2 (2004), brought the popularity of online-gaming to the console market through the medium of Xbox Live, on which it was the most played game for almost two years. Deus Ex, released by Ion Storm in 2000, featured a levelling system similar to that found in role-playing games; it also had multiple narratives depending on how the player completed missions and won acclaim for its serious, artistic style. Metroid Prime, released in 2002 for the Nintendo GameCube, another highly praised console first person shooter, incorporated action adventure elements such as jumping puzzles and built on the Metroid series of 2D platformers.

Battlefield 1942, a World War II shooter released in 2002, featured large scale battles and allowed players to use vehicles such as airplanes and tanks. Released the following year, Planetside allowed hundreds of players at once to compete in a persistent world, and was promoted as the world’s first massively multiplayer online first person shooter. Doom 3, released in 2004, placed a greater emphasis on horror and frightening the player than previous games in the series and was a critically acclaimed best seller, though some commentators felt it lacked gameplay substance and innovation, putting too much emphasis on impressive graphics. In 2005, a film based on Doom emulated the viewpoint and action of a first person shooter, but was critically derided as deliberately unintelligent and gratuitously violent. Bioshock was acclaimed by some commentators as the best game of 2007 for its artistry, narrative and innovation. Crysis (2007) and Far Cry 2 (2008) broke new ground in terms of graphics and large, open-ended level design, whereas Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007), Resistance: Fall of Man (2006) and its sequel Resistance 2 (2008) presented increasingly refined linear levels and narratives. As of 2006, in terms of revenue for publishers, the first person shooter was one of the biggest and fastest growing video game genres.

Sources: Wikipedia Modified by UTS

History
Tony Ray founded Even Balance to develop PunkBuster after his experience with cheaters on Team Fortress.
The first beta of PunkBuster was announced on September 21, 2000 for Half-Life. Valve Software was at the time fighting a hard battle against cheating, which had been going on since the release of the game. The first game in which PunkBuster was integrated was id Software’s Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

Features
Published features
· Real-time scanning of memory, a feature also prominent in many spyware programs, by PunkBuster Client on players’ computers searching for known hacks/cheats using a built-in database.
· Throttled two-tiered background auto-update system using multiple Internet Master Servers to provide end-user security ensuring that no false or corrupted updates can be installed on players’ computers.
· Frequent status reports (encrypted) are sent to the PunkBuster Server by all players. When necessary, the PunkBuster Server raises a violation which (depending upon settings) will cause the offending player to be removed from the game and all other players to be informed of the violation.
· PunkBuster Admins can also manually remove players from the game for a specified number of minutes or permanently ban if desired.
· PunkBuster Servers can optionally be configured to randomly check player settings looking for known exploits of the game engine.
· PunkBuster Servers can be configured to instruct clients to calculate partial MD5 hashes of files inside the game installation directory. The results are compared against a set configuration and differences logged, and optionally, the client removed from the server.
· PunkBuster Admins can request actual screenshot samples from specific players and/or can configure the PB Server to randomly grab screenshot samples from players during gameplay.
· An optional “bad name” facility is provided so that PunkBuster Admins can prevent players from using offensive player names containing unwanted profanity or racial slurs.
· Search functions are provided for PunkBuster Admins who wish to search player’s keybindings and scripts for anything that may be known to exploit the game.
· The PunkBuster Player Power facility can be configured to allow players to self-administer game servers when the Server Administrator is not present entirely without the need for passwords, in which the players can call votes to have a player removed from the server for a certain amount of time.
· PunkBuster Servers have an optional built-in mini HTTP web server interface that allows the game server to be remotely administered via a web browser from anywhere over the Internet.
· PunkBuster Admins can stream their server logs in real time to another location. Non-profit organizations like Anti-Cheat Inc., Airdale Ops Network , PunksBusted , PBBans and AASA are examples of groups that use this feature to create shared banlists for their members.
· PunkBuster has initiated Punkbuster Hardware Bans, that bans hardware components upon detection of cheats that disrupt or circumvent PunkBuster’s normal operation.

Unpublished features
· PunkBuster scans for unknown exports (APIs) in sensitive software such as graphics libraries. Upon finding an undocumented export a violation is raised and the client removed from the game.
· PunkBuster does not allow Windows users without administrative accounts to connect to any games. Upon connecting to a game, the user will be immediately kicked for having insufficient OS privileges. Starting with PB client v1.700, a windows service with full administrative rights is used in complement with the ingame PunkBuster client, allowing updates without user rights elevation.However, some games might still require administrative rights before PunkBuster will function correctly.

Incompatibilities
People using overclocking or tweaking programs have complained of instabilities with PunkBuster. For example, both ATI Tool and Rivatuner have incompatibilities. However in newer versions of Rivatuner there is an optional countermeasure.
Some games (like Crysis) do not have a 64-bit version of PunkBuster. For this reason, 64 bit clients will not be able to play in PunkBuster enabled servers, unless they run the 32-bit client of the game.

Enforcement
Global GUID bans and Hardware bans
PunkBuster incorporates a system called global banning. Either the GUID (generated from the CD key) or parts of the computer hardware are banned from PunkBuster enabled servers. Most cheats simply will get a detection, but cheats that interfere with PunkBuster’s software could get a global GUID ban. This will disallow access to PunkBuster enabled servers for that particular game. Cheats which are even more interfering could end up getting the user banned from all PunkBuster enabled games by a hardware ban.

As of June 30, 2004, Even Balance has incorporated the usage of unique hardware identifiers to permanently ban players from all PunkBuster enabled servers who raise a violation that corresponds to hacking or interfering with PunkBuster’s normal operation and therefore violating the EULA.

Even Balance uses multiple private one-way hashes so that no serial number information for individual computers can be determined by admins or anyone else who may try to obtain this information from a hardware GUID.

PunkBuster only gives a hardware ban if memory scans show that a cheat that is known to circumvent or disrupt PunkBuster’s normal operation or its facilities is activated.

As with previous PunkBuster GUID global bans, the new hardware GUID bans are permanent and will not be lifted. Even Balance has not disclosed which hardware parts are used to ban players, but trial and error has shown that the hardware GUID is based on the serial numbers of all available hard drives and the MAC addresses (which can be changed with a simple fix in the Windows registry) of all available network interfaces.

According to their EULA, Even Balance has the final say in matters of banning.

Attacks on PunkBuster
PunkBuster usually searches for known cheat program signatures as opposed to relying on a more heuristic approach. On March 23, 2008, hackers published and implemented a proof of concept exploit of PunkBuster’s indiscriminate memory scanning. Because PunkBuster scans all of a machine’s virtual memory, malicious users were able to cause mass false positives by transmitting text fragments from known cheat programs onto a high population IRC channel. When PunkBuster detected the text within user’s IRC client text buffers, the users were banned. On March 25, 2008, Even Balance confirmed the existence of this exploit, and advised users not to run any other programs at the same time as PunkBuster protected games. However, this advice was insufficient, as crackers started embedding binary strings in their avatar pictures and signatures on legitimate forums, causing people who browsed the forums to be kicked, even after the browser was closed.

Sources: Wikipedia Modified by UTS

History
The first known examples of massively multi-player real time games based around real time networking were developed on the PLATO system starting around 1973. Important multiuser games developed on this system included Empire from 1973 and Spasim from 1974. The latter was a pioneering first-person shooter.

The first large scale serial sessions based around a single computer were STAR (based on the series Star Trek), OCEAN (a battle of ships, submarines and helicopters with multiple players divided up between the two combating cities) and CAVE (based on Dungeons and Dragons), created by Christopher Caldwell (with art work and suggestions by Roger Long and some assembly coding by Robert Kenny) in 1975 on the University of New Hampshire’s DECsystem-1090. The University’s computer system had hundreds of terminals connected via serial lines through cluster PDP-11s for student, teacher and staff access. The games worked by having one instance of the program running on each terminal (for each player), sharing a segment of shared memory (known as the “High segment” in the OS TOPS-10).

Due to their popularity, the games were frequently banned by the University’s Computer Services since they could easily take up all available RAM and cycles.

STAR was based on the original single-user turn oriented BASIC program STAR written by Michael O’Shaughnessy at UNH in 1974.

Digital Equipment Corporation soon distributed another multi-user version of Star Trek called Decwars though not featuring real-time screen updating. Decwars was widely distributed to universities with DECsystem-10s.

MIDI Maze was an early first-person shooter released in 1987 for the Atari ST. It was unique in featuring network multiplayer through the MIDI interface long before mainstream Ethernet and Internet play became commonplace. It is considered the first multiplayer 3D shooter on a mainstream system and the first major network multiplayer action game, with support for as many as 16 players. It was followed up by ports to various platforms in 1991 under the title Faceball 2000, including the Game Boy and Super NES, making it possibly the first handheld and multiplatform first-person shooter and an early console example of the genre.

Networking
In modern computer games, the word multiplayer usually implies that the players play together by connecting multiple computers via a network, usually either a LAN or the Internet. This form of multiplayer is sometimes called “netplay” to refine the meaning. The first popular videogaming title to release a LAN version was Doom in 1993, when the first network version of the game allowed a total of four simultaneous gamers. Playing networked multiplayer games via LAN often eliminates problems common in Internet play, such as lag and anonymity of players. As a result, multiplayer games usually are the focus of LAN parties. Play-by-email games are multiplayer games that use email as the method of communication between computers. Other turn-based variations which do not require players to be online at the same time are Play-by-post gaming and Play-by-Internet. Some online games are “massively multiplayer” games, which means that a large number of players participate simultaneously. The two major genres are MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) such as World of Warcraft or EverQuest and MMORTS (massively multiplayer online real-time strategy).

Some networked multiplayer games do not even feature a single-player mode. For example, MUDs and massively multiplayer online games, such as RuneScape are multiplayer games by definition. First-person shooters have become very popular multiplayer games and games like Battlefield 1942 and Counter-Strike gained their fame despite not featuring extensive (or any) single-player plot or gameplay. The biggest MMOG in the world is Lineage out of South Korea with 14 million registered gamers which is played in several mostly Asian countries. The biggest Western MMOG in 2008 is World of Warcraft with over 10 million registered gamers worldwide. This category of games currently requires multiple machines to connect to each other over the Internet, but before the Internet became popular, MUDs were played on time-sharing computer systems, and games such as Doom were played on a LAN.

Gamers often refer to latency by the term ping, which measures round-trip network communication delays (by the use of ICMP packets). For example, a player on a DSL connection with a 50 ms “ping” will be able to react faster to game events than a modem user with 350 ms average latency. Another popular complaint is packet loss and choke, which can render a player unable to “register” their actions with the server. In first-person shooters, this problem usually manifests itself in the problem of bullets appearing to hit the enemy, but the enemy taking no damage. Note that the player’s connection is not the only factor; the entire network path to the server is relevant, and some servers are slower than others. While latency is frequently complained about, many players believe a lack of finesse and decent tactics is more damaging than a slow connection in most games. Major and frequent variations in latency, however, can be another story; these can make it very difficult to properly play the game.

Starting with Sega Dreamcast in 2000, game consoles have also begun to support network gaming, over both the internet and LANs. Many mobile phones and handheld consoles also offer wireless gaming through Bluetooth or similar technologies.

Online cheating
As in all games, some players choose to cheat and gain an unfair advantage in online multiplayer games. This is often done by exploiting bugs, glitches or design limitations in the software. Games companies try to prevent cheating in a number of ways. Technologically, they use software such as PunkBuster or RSVP First which continually verifies that the game being played is unaltered. Games companies can also demand a subscription fee for access to the game network which is non-refundable, so they can effectively fine cheaters for cheating. They may also issue “patches” to the users of a certain game (usually via internet download) that effectively fix glitches in the code that cheaters often exploit to their advantage.

Even with the use of anti-cheat software, the FPS games are notorious for having the most cheats, which can sometimes turn people away from that type of game. This may be due in part because both clients and servers are run on private systems instead of on company owned servers. One of the most infamously hacked games is the original Diablo, a role-playing game with an online component. Another game is Aliens versus Predator 2 where hackers change memory variables to alter the game’s programming.

Also another common method of cheating is in RTS games, where players are able to unlock game database files, and edit variables in them which often provide infinite amounts of a certain resource, unit, etc. For example, in Age of Mythology, which also suffers from the ajax hack, in which case players spawn the Ajax from the SPC campaign, it is not uncommon to find people exploiting the ESO game system to give them unlimited resources, then attacking before any other player is ready.

Sources: Wikipedia Modified by UTS

Team death match (TDM)
Team death match is the same as death match except there are 2 teams and the frags are combined.
The game ends when the time limit or team frag limit has been reached.
Tactic factor = tbd
Strategy factor = tbd
Fun factor = tbd
Skill factor = tbd

Domination (DOM)
In Domination the player’s team must capture and hold as many flags as possible by standing near the flag.
The game is won when a team captures all teh flags or the time limit is reached.
Tactic factor = tbd
Strategy factor = tbd
Fun factor = tbd
Skill factor = tbd

Sabotage (SAB)
In Sabatoge each team has an object they need to protect from the enemy and must also plant a bomb on their object. There is only one bomb and this player is marked for everyone to see.
Sabatoge is won when your team plants and defends the bomb against the enemy.
Tactic factor = tbd
Strategy factor = tbd
Fun factor = tbd
Skill factor = tbd

Search and Destroy (SD)
In Search and Destroy the attackers carry a bomb(s) to two plant points and must defend against the enemy. The defenders must stop the attackers.
Search and Destroy is won when the attackers are eliminated or the attackers detonate the bomb.
Tactic factor = tbd
Strategy factor = tbd
Fun factor = tbd
Skill factor = tbd

War (WAR)
War is similar to Domination but only one flag can be contested at a time as each team pushes into the enemy base.
War is won when a team has captured all the flags.
Tactic factor = tbd
Strategy factor = tbd
Fun factor = tbd
Skill factor = tbd

King of the Hill / Headquarte (KOTH)
King of the Hill has both teams scrambling to hold a radio that is randomly placed around the map.
KOTH is won when a team has reached the score limit, points are added for length of time radio is held.
Tactic factor = tbd
Strategy factor = tbd
Fun factor = tbd
Skill factor = tbd

Capture the Flag (CTF)
Capture the Flag has both teams defending their flag and trying to capture the enemy’s flag.
The game is won when a team has reached the capture limit.
Tactic factor = tbd
Strategy factor = tbd
Fun factor = tbd
Skill factor = tbd

Sources: Wikipedia Modified by UTS

]]> http://www.codtactic.com/gametypes/feed/ 0 http://www.codtactic.com/cheating/ http://www.codtactic.com/cheating/#comments Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:52:03 +0000 Fanterazzi http://www.codtactic.com/?p=1046 Cheating in online games are activities that modify the game experience to give one player an advantage over another player(s); depending on the game, different activities constitute cheating and it is often a matter of consensus opinion as to which particular activity or activities actually constitute cheating. Clive Thompson writes that “Johann Huizinga, one of the first big philosophers of ludology — the study of play — defined cheating as when you pretend to obey the rules of the game but secretly subvert them to gain advantage over another player.”
Cheating reportedly exists in all multiplayer online games but is difficult to prove. The Internet provides players opportunity, means and methodology — through anonymity and resources — necessary to cheat in online games; however, darknets also provide access to cheat tools and methods.

Types of cheats

Lagging
By attaching a physical device (called a lag switch) to a standard Ethernet cable, a player is able to disrupt updates/communication from the server with the intent of tricking the game server into continuing to accept client-side updates (which remain unimpeded). The goal is to gain advantage over another player without reciprocation; opponents slow down or stop moving, allowing the lag switch user to easily out-maneuver them. From the opponent-perspective, the player using the device may appear to be teleporting, invincible, have delayed animations or fast-forwarded game play (delivered in bursts), or simply find themselves losing to an invisible opponent. Some gaming communities refer to this method as tapping.
In the peer-to-peer gaming model, lagging refers to a player with a faster connection flooding an opponent(s) using a basic denial-of-service attack outside the game structure.

User settings
Typically, a player can change settings within a game to suit his or her preference, play-style and/or system; these alterations are considered cheating in certain circumstances. For example, changing the keyboard layout to make it easier to use is an accepted practice and not considered cheating; however, changing player models and/or textures, increasing the field-of-view, turning off or limiting particle effects, modifying the brightness and/or gamma are considered cheating when set to extremes.

Exploits
Exploiting is the application of an unintended use or bug that gives the player an advantage. Not all gamers view exploits as cheating, some view it as another skill because certain exploits take a significant amount of time to find and/or dexterity/timing to use. Example dexterity/timing exploits include bunny hopping and texture-climbing in Quake. Even an official part of the series such as “skiing” in Tribes is considered an exploit by some. However, exploits are considered cheating when they have an unbalancing effect, are used in an unintended manner or not intended to be feature.

Ghosting
Most games allow other participants to observe the game as it is played from a variety of perspectives; depending on the game, perspectives allow an observer a map overview or attach a “camera” to the movement of a specific player. In doing so, the observer can communicate with an accomplice using a secondary communication methodology (in-game private message, 3rd-party or even off-line) to inform friendly players of traps or the position of opponents; an observer can be an active player, using a separate computer, connection and account.

Some systems prevent inactive players from observing the game if they are on the same IP address as an active player on the grounds that they are probably in close physical proximity; when all players from a single IP address are no longer active participants, they are all allowed to observe.

Binding
Binding involves reassigning a key to the mouse wheel or any other key (CAPS-LOCK) or combination of keys that allows a player to issue commands at a faster rate than the expected physical limitation of the player pressing the default key configuration sequentially. For example, assigning the “fire” command to the mouse wheel allows a player to shoot faster (generally with weapons that fire at the same rate at which the user clicks) when compared to the default “fire” key configuration. This is a subset of the user setting cheat.

Aimbotting and Triggerbot
An aimbot (sometimes called “auto-aim”, not to be confused with the built in auto aim in Metal Gear Online, which allows the user to only get body shots) is a type of computer game bot used in multiplayer first-person shooter games to provide varying levels of target acquisition assistance to the player. While most common in first person shooter games, they exist in other game types and are often used in combination with a TriggerBot, which shoots automatically when an opponent appears within the field-of-view of the player. Some TriggerBots are blatant while others attempt to hide the fact they are being used through a number of methods.

Wallhacking
Wallhacking allows a player to see through solid or opaque objects and/or manipulate or remove textures; when used in conjunction with an aimbot certain wallhacks allow the player to shoot through solid objects. A subset known as WhiteWalls removes the color/texture from objects in the surrounding environment, providing distinct contrast to opposition character models, which remain colored/textured. (See ESP for an evolution of the WallHack.)

Skin Cheats
Chameleon skins, cham-hacks or chams, replace player model textures with brightly colored skins, often neon red/yellow or blue/green, that change color depending on whether the model is visible. For instance, an exposed part of an opponent would be shown in a different color, giving a cham-hack user an advantage over non-hack users, especially in games in which camouflage techniques (provided by in-game mechanics, objects or player models) are negated. While cham-hacks are accomplished using a wallhack subset, historically, user settings (in Quakeworld, for example) or exploits in many older games allowed replacing skins arbitrarily with varying degrees of success–from pseudo-camouflage in dark areas of a map (prior to specular and other advanced lighting techniques) when using a “shadow skin”; to completely disappearing while the skin change propagated to other players; to forcing a plain-white skin on all opponents.

ESP
Extrasensory perception (ESP) in video games displays contextual information such as the health, name, equipment, position and/or orientation of other participants as navigation/directional markers. In military parlance, this is known as Battlefield Visualization and part of a larger trend toward Information Dominance.

Sharing
Sharing is when multiple people play using a singular character — mainly in MMORPGs — to gain an advantage by having higher online times and/or being able to apply more manpower toward game activities such as leveling or gaining experience. In some MMOs this is not seen as cheating although others such as Maplestory, Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft or Jagex’s Runescape specifically forbid it.

Spinbots
Spinbots alter the game so that play occurs on a rotated screen — upside down, sideways, diagonal, etc. Spinbots that cause the player to have more difficulty playing are rare; spinbots that present the user a normal view are more common but may still cause the player in-game model to spin extremely fast, disrupting the character model’s hitbox and distracting other players.

Disconnecting
In games where wins and losses are recorded on a player’s account, a player may disconnect when he or she has lost in order to prevent the loss from being recorded. A similar phenomenon is when a server operator boots an opponent or players who they do not support. Disconnecting is considered immoral, as the opponent may not have his or her “win” recorded. Some games implement a disconnection penalty, usually by recording the disconnect as a loss, or a loss of experience points as in Halo 3.

Custom Kicking
In games where a player rather than a server hosts the game, custom kick software allows the host to selectively block connections to/from particular players. The intent is to prevent malicious players from ruining the game for others, but when abused, it is used to remove opponents so the host, partner(s) or preferred side gain an advantage. A firewall on the host itself or upstream (between the host and connecting players) can easily be co-opted into performing this function when the game itself doesn’t provide a built-in mechanism. This is a subset or extension of stacking abstracted to the network level, rather than based on the direct social order/preference associated with stacking and related sport-based drafts.

Stacking
Stacking involves altering game settings or team lineups to give one or more teams an unfair advantage over the other(s). One example includes pitting a team composed of skilled or known players against a team with members of lesser skill. Although a valid and accepted tactic and practice—especially in real-life sports —stacking upsets less-skilled players who feel that they aren’t being given a fair chance. Less ethical rigging involves weighting the game by providing a player or team an advantage by outfitting them with better (or more familiar) weapons or equipment or creating a play field that caters to a certain player, team and/or playing style

Farming
In games where achievements are available via defeating a number of a particular class, players may arrange to win/lose against one another in order to obtain the achievements without having to play the game linearly. This is also known as stat-padding or swapping, but is not considered cheating by most. The term farming also refers to the practice of garnering achievements and/or virtual property for the purpose of real-money-trading, with rare exception this has no direct effect on the gaming experience of other players; instead, it is a violation of most EULAs and could devalue the virtual property being farmed.

Implementation of cheats
In the client-server model, the server is responsible for sending a client only necessary information and maintaining game continuity. (See “Efficiency versus security” below for drawbacks.) In the peer-to-peer gaming model, clients run equal code but are still subject to most of the same type of cheats found in the client-server multiplayer model; however, the peer-to-peer multiplayer model has depreciated in favor of the client-server model with the wider adoption of high-speed networks.

“Never trust the client” is a maxim among game developers that summarizes opinion regarding the client-server gaming model; it argues that information sent to the client will be known regardless of whether or not the player should know that information. For example, a server might notify a client that another player is behind an object and cannot be seen; however, a wallhack would reveal the other player. Conversely, data from the client might indicate that a player has instantaneously moved from one position to another without playing linearly through required intermediary parts, indicating manipulation of game or positional data.

Game Code Modification
Many cheats are implemented by modifying game software, despite EULAs which forbid modification. While game software distributed in binary-only versions makes it harder to modify code, reverse engineering is possible. Also game data files can be edited separately from the main program and thereby circumvent protections implemented in software.

Wallhacks and maphacks often function by modifying the software. Other cheats analyze or change the game state in memory, such as some aimbots and programs that give infinite ammo or health (often called trainers). Additionally, software with legitimate use during non-gaming computer operation can fulfil the role of a cheat when used inside a game, examples include program accelerators and an auto clicker.

System Software Modification
Rather than modifying the game code (which the game itself or a 3rd-party protection system may detect), cheats choose to modify underlying system components. An example of this is graphics driver modifications that ignore depth checking and draw all objects on the screen — a primitive wallhack; the advantage of system or driver modification is that it is harder to detect, as there are a large number of system drivers.

Packet Interception, Tampering & Manipulation
The security of game software can be circumvented by intercepting and/or manipulating data in real-time while in transit from the client to the server or vice versa. Interception can be passive (see Ghosting and ESP) or result in active manipulation (see wallhacks); either methodology can be performed on the client machine itself or via an external communication proxy — some aimbots incorporate this methodology. Newer games encrypt network data at the expense of client computing resources that could be directed to make a faster, more immersive gaming experience.

Comparison
There are many facets of cheating in online games which make the creation of a system to stop cheating very difficult; however, game developers and third party software developers have created or are developing technologies that attempt to prevent cheating. Anti-cheat software is commonly used in popular games such as Half-Life, Quake, or World of Warcraft. A few examples of anti-cheat software are DMW Anticheat, GameGuard, PunkBuster, VAC, ProtectEnviron or Warden.

Exploits of bugs are usually resolved/removed via a patch to the game; however, not all companies force the patches/updates on users, leaving the actual resolution to individual users.

Availability versus usability
Generally, the more game code run on the server, the fewer cheats possible in the game, since the server operator maintains control over what is allowed. However, a game server has limited resources (storage, bandwidth and computational capacity), which makes it necessary to distribute code to clients causing a trade-off between availability of cheats versus usability.

Efficiency versus security
Server-side game code makes a trade-off between calculating and sending results for display on a just-in-time basis or trusting the client to calculate and display the results in appropriate sequence as a player progresses. It can do this by sending the parts of the world state needed for immediate display, which can result in client lag under bandwidth constraints, or sending the player the entire world state, which results in faster display for the player under the same bandwidth constraints, but exposes that data to interception or manipulation — a trade-off between security and efficiency.

Ramifications
Some companies and leagues ban suspected cheaters by blacklisting specific installation/serial keys or user registrations; the player is effectively prevented from playing the game online. While game publishers are known to ban players employing cheats, the actual number of players banned is usually not revealed.

Sources: Wikipedia Modified by UTS

Traditionally, wargames have been played either with miniatures, using physical models of detailed terrain and miniature representations of people and equipment to depict the game state; or on a board, which commonly uses cardboard counters on a hex map.

Popular miniature wargames include Warhammer 40,000 or its fantasy counterpart Warhammer Fantasy. Popular strategic board wargames include Axis and Allies and Diplomacy. Advanced Squad Leader is a successful tactical scale wargame.

Wargames are a subgenre of strategy video games that emphasize strategic or tactical warfare on a map. Computer wargames are generally classified based on whether they are, a) turn-based or real-time, and b) whether their focus is upon military strategy or tactics. These distinctions divide computer wargames into four categories: real-time strategy, real-time tactics, turn-based strategy, and turn-based tactics.

The primary gameplay mode in a wargame is usually tactical: fighting battles. Wargames sometimes have a strategic mode where players may plan their battle or choose an area to conquer, but players typically spend much less time in this mode and more time actually fighting. Because it is difficult to provide an intelligent way to delegate tasks to a subordinate, war games typically keep the number of units down to hundreds rather than hundreds of thousands.

Units are usually scaled to be disproportionately large compared to the landscape, in order to promote effective gameplay. These games usually use a much faster time line than reality, and thus wargames do not model night time or sleep periods.

History

The computer gaming industry generally evolved with minimal reference to board games, so the term “wargame” is not traditionally used in the context of computer games. However, the wargaming community saw the possibilities of computer gaming early and made attempts to break into the market, notably Avalon Hill’s Microcomputer Games line, which lasted from 1980 to 1987 and covered a variety of topics, including simple adaptations of some of their wargames.
The popular direction of the current market is towards real-time strategy games exemplified by Starcraft and others. It should be noted that these games are “strategic” in the gaming sense, but “tactical” in the military sense. These are generally high-action games that include a number of conveniences that enhance gameplay, but ignore reality.

Sources: Wikipedia Modified by UTS