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Concept
Before the nineteenth century, many military tactics were confined to battlefield concerns, such as how to best maneuver units during combat in open terrain. In current military thought, tactics are the lowest level of planning, involving small units ranging from a few dozen to a few hundred men. Units are organized into formations, comprising a higher level of planning known as the operational use of forces. The third tier of military planning is strategic, which is concerned with the overall means and plan for achieving a long-term outcome. Operational warfare is thus an intermediate level in which the aim is to convert the strategy (highest level) into tactics (lowest level of planning).

Some basic tactical manoeuvres.

Specialized tactics exist for many situations, ranging from securing a room or individual building, to large-scale operations such as establishing air superiority over a region. Today, military tactics are employed at all levels of command, from individual and group, up to entire armed forces. Indeed, the units used in warfare have always been a reflection of current military tactics, and their size and composition have varied accordingly.

Most people, including some people who are otherwise well-acquainted with military vocabulary, incorrectly use the words “strategy” and “tactics” more or less interchangeably.

German World War I observation post disguised as a tree.

Military tactics are at once both a science and an art. There are basic principles which — if followed — at least lend competency, ‘battle drills’ which try to promote automatic responses to given situations, and dozens of guides and instructions that have been written over the centuries. For some, tactics are instinctive. Sometimes they can be taught. At its heart, tactics is a shifting amalgam of psychology, physics, and statistics.

Some practices have not changed since the dawn of warfare: Ambushes, seeking and turning flanks, maintaining reconnaissance, creating and using obstacles and defences, etc. Using ground to best advantage has not changed much either. Heights, rivers, swamps, passes, choke points, and natural cover, can all be used in multiple ways.

What does change constantly is the technological dimension, as well as the sociology of combatants. One might wish to reflect on the differences in the technology and society that produced such different types of soldier or warrior as the Roman Legionary, Mongol Horse Archer, the Chinese Crossbowman, the British Redcoat, or an Air Cavalry trooper. Each, constrained by his weaponry, logistics and his social conditioning, would use a battlefield differently, but would usually seek the same outcomes from their use of tactics.

US Army definition
The United States Army Field Manual 3-0 offers the following definition of tactics: “Tactics – (Department Of Defense) 1. The employment of units in combat. 2. The ordered arrangement and maneuver of units in relation to each other and/or to the enemy in order to use their full potentialities. (Army) The employment of units in combat. It includes the ordered arrangement and maneuver of units in relation to each other, the terrain, and the enemy in order to translate potential combat power into victorious battles and engagements. (FM 3-0).”

The US military generally defines three levels of war: 1. the strategic level, which includes both the National level and the Combat Command (theater) level, 2. the operational level, which extends from the level of a joint task force including the combined forces of naval and air power with amphibious and ground operation to the maneuver brigade echelon, and 3. the tactical echelon, that extends from the maneuver brigade to the lowest fighting elements including individual soldiers.

Sources: Wikipedia Modified by UTS

• Military camouflage
  Stealth technology
  Disinformation
  Feint or diversionary attacks
  Electronic warfare
  Force multiplication

Use of surprise

• Parthian shot
  Hit-and-run tactics
  Irregular warfare

Sources: Wikipedia Modified by UTS

• Defence in depth
  Mutual Support (e.g. by crossfire)
  All round defence

Fighting withdrawal

• Reserved demolitions
  Scorched earth
  Booby traps
   - Minefields
  Trench warfare

Counter attack

• Counter battery fire
  Rapid reaction force

Delaying Defence

• Break contact

Hedgehog defence

• military bottleneck

Sources: Wikipedia Modified by UTS

• Blitzkrieg
  Carpet bombing
  Human wave attack
  Shock and Awe
  Swarming (Military)

Planned attack

• Use of Supporting Fire
  Indirect Fire Support
  Base of fire
  Flying wedge (used by Alexander the Great)
  the “refuse” (cavalry formation)
  Frontal assault
  Holding attack – to hold the enemy in position while other offensive or defensive activity takes place
  Penetration or infiltration
  Pincer movement
  Flanking maneuver
  Attrition warfare

Interdiction – Severing or disrupting lines of communication and supply

• Air interdiction

Control MSR (Main supply routes)
Envelopment tactics

• Circumvallation
  Finnish motti tactics
  Siege
  Vertical envelopment
  - Airborne Forces
  - Air Mobile Forces

Rapid deployment

• Capturing key points
  Airborne operations
  Air Mobile operations
  Amphibious operations
  Motorized operations
  Tank desant
  Mechanized operations
  Armored operations
  Raiding

Preemptive Strike
Disrupting Communications

• Electronic countermeasures
  Radar Jamming
  Radio Jamming
  Divide and Conquer

Sources: Wikipedia Modified by UTS

• Fire and movement or “pepperpotting”
  Basic Drill
  Contact Drill
  Immediate Ambush Drill
  Counter Ambush Drill

Hull-down (in armoured warfare)

• Shoot-and-scoot
  Fire and Movement
  Four Fs
  Overwatch
  Bounding Overwatch
  Center Peel

Patrolling

• Reconnaissance Patrol
  Fighting Patrol
  Standing Patrol (OP/LP)
  Saturation patrol

Ambush

• Linear Ambush
  ‘L’ Ambush
  Area Ambush

Guerrilla

Sources: Wikipedia Modified by UTS

]]> http://www.codtactic.com/list-of-small-unit-tactics/feed/ 0 http://www.codtactic.com/list-of-military-tactics/ http://www.codtactic.com/list-of-military-tactics/#comments Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:56:39 +0000 Fanterazzi http://www.codtactic.com/?p=1085 List of military tactics

Principles

• Identification of objectives: Also referred to as ‘Selection and Maintenance of the Aim’; Tactics should be directed to achieve a particular outcome such as the capture of a hill, a successful disengagement from an advancing enemy, or merely causing a greater proportional loss to the enemy than to your own force (attrition). Once an aim is identified, time, resources and effort are expended to achieve it; therefore, these are wasted if the aim is frequently changed. By way of an operational/strategic level of example, consider Hitler’s frequent shift of focus in 1941 in the invasion of the Soviet Union; constantly shifting resources from one operation to another; when he might have done better to remain focused on the capture of Moscow first.

• Force concentration A blade is edged so that it lands with more energy per square centimeter than an equally sized blunt object. Concentration of effort is a fighting force’s edge. Once an aim is identified, earmark enough resources to achieve it and focus them on the task.
• Exploiting prevailing weather. This is not one of the stated principles of war, but is a good habit. Most of the most successful attacks in the First World War: Vimy Ridge, Amiens or the opening of the German March offensive of 1918 began – mostly coincidentally – in fog or a snow storm. The Japanese carrier groups sent to attack Pearl Harbor and Midway advanced whenever possible behind a storm front, as the bad weather cut down on the chance of detection.
• Exploiting night: Again, this is not a principle of war, but a temporary advantage of technology in the last 40 years. Western troops, in particular, have been well-equipped with night vision equipment.

• Maintenance of reserves: Again, in many national armies’ “Principles of War”, this is not listed, except perhaps generally under the heading of ‘Flexibility’. The maintenance of a reserve force allows a tactician to exploit new opportunities, or react quickly to reverses and unexpected developments. Typically, most commanders keep about a quarter of the forces back in reserve for this function – a battalion might keep a company back, the brigade might keep a battalion back, etc.
• Economy of force: A common principle of war; the attentive commander knows that his troops, equipment and supplies must be husbanded and used carefully, only if there is a good chance of success.
• Force protection: Another component is the principle of security. A military unit or formation must always have sentries or reconnaissance deployed, specialized weapons against specific attacks – such as anti-aircraft defences today – must always be carefully sited and available, even if halted for only a short period, defensive measures should be taken.
  • Force dispersal: This is not a principle of war, but is a very necessary practice in modern circumstances where contemporary firepower is so overwhelming. It is interesting to consider that in a kilometre wide battlefield, the Classic Greeks or Romans might have stuffed over 8,000 men in a front line formation, Wellington would consider half that number crowded; a World War One Army would deploy 1,000 men, and today’s forces might use less than a 100.
  • Military camouflage: Camouflage is an ancient measure designed to deceive opponents and protect one’s forces. Outlines have to be broken up, textures disguised, and reflective surfaces dulled. An example of this is the ghillie suit. Camouflage techniques also extend beyond the visible spectra that the human eye normally uses, as the same principles now need to work in infrared light, against starlight scopes and radar frequencies.
  • Deception: Sun Tzu said that all war is based on deception back in the 4th century BC; a wise commander takes measures to let his opponent only react to the wrong circumstances. Diversionary attacks, feints, decoys; there are thousands of tricks that have successfully used, and still have a role in the future.
    • Perfidy: Soldiers tend to have assumptions and ideas of rules and fair practices in combat, but those combatants who raise surrender flags to lure their attackers in the open, or who act as stretcher bearers to deceive their targets tend to be especially disliked.
    • False flag: An ancient ruse de guerre – in the days of sail, it was permissible for a warship to fly the flag of an enemy, so long as it properly hoisted its true colors before attacking. Wearing enemy uniforms and using enemy equipment to infiltrate or achieve surprise is possible.
  • Electronic countermeasures
    • Electronic counter-counter-measures
    • Radio silence
• Fortification
  • Fieldworks (entrenchments)
    • Over Head Protection
    • Revetting
    • Sangars: In areas where the ground is too rocky for troops to dig in, they construct bullet resistant fighting positions by stacking stones.
    • Shell scrapes
    • Foxholes
  • Strongpoints
• Use and improvement of terrain
  • High ground
  • Protection
  • Natural barriers – e.g. rivers
  • Obstacles and barriers – man made
    • Barbed wire
    • Anti-vehicle ditches
    • Anti-vehicle berms (knife edges)
• Multiple Axis of Movement
• Reconnaissance
• Fire Attacks: Reconnaissance by fire is used by apprehensive soldiers when they suspect the enemy is lurking nearby. Basically, fire into likely enemy positions and see if anyone returns fire.

Sources: Wikipedia Modified by UTS

]]> http://www.codtactic.com/list-of-military-tactics/feed/ 0 http://www.codtactic.com/first-person-shooter-fps/ http://www.codtactic.com/first-person-shooter-fps/#comments Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:15:29 +0000 Fanterazzi http://www.codtactic.com/?p=1053 First-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre which centers the gameplay around gun- or projectile weapon-based combat through the first person perspective; i.e., the action is seen through the eyes of a protagonist, and thus the player. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other shooter games, which in turn fall under the heading action game. From the genre’s inception, advanced 3D or pseudo-3D graphics elements have challenged hardware development, and multiplayer gaming has been integral.

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