My letter to SEGA (concerning the cheating in GC PSO)

[2Xtreme]

I know you guys must be tired of my complaing about PSO cheating, so sorry I'm posting this. But, for those interested, here is an email I sent to SEGA about the beginning of the end of GC PSO:

"Hello. I am writing you to tell you of a big problem with PSO for GameCube and I am asking you to fix it. The problem is that there are several glitches which allow people to duplicate items. [...]I've played PSO since the first week after the North American release and never cheated. It has angered and saddened me to see two versions of PSO's online experience become litterally ruined by cheating. With version 2 for Dreamcast, Sega promissed to stop the destruction, but never came through. Now the slate is clean; you have a new chance to stop cheating in PSO. You may not consider an item duping glitch to be serious, but consider this:
1) Trading items is a very fun part of playing PSO online, but now the trading value of must items is nil because people could just get items free from a "duper".
2) The beginning of the end of PSO for Dreamcast was a duping glitch.

I think I speak for most PSO players when I beg you to do something about the cheating in PSO. If you don't, I'm not going to purchase Hunter's Licenses anymore. An online game full of cheaters is a crappy product, and most people don't buy crappy products. I sure won't.

PLEASE DON'T LET PSO BE RUINED AGAIN! Sonic team has created an amazingly deep, involving and exciting world with Phantasy Star Online, and it pains many of us to see it be wrecked the way it is."

Do you think sending them this will do anything?

RBF EDIT: No need to describe the cheating method.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: rbf2000 on 2002-12-29 17:12 ]</font>

[SnAPPUrU-nyan-ko]

Nah, but now I can duplicate all my stuff =^_^=

[2Xtreme]

*sigh*...

[VulpesMundi]

It's a nice dream, but don't expect Sega to do anything about cheating. There isn't much they can do, unfortunately. The programming was already compromised before they even released it. If they couldn't do anything about it then there's little chance they will now.

You're likely to get a carbon copy response something to the tune of...

"Thank you for your interest in Sega products. We appreciate your concerns and will look into the matter. Be sure to view our website at http://www.sega.com for the best in video gaming, tips, and news. -Sega representative"

[DJ_Monkey]

I hope that the Xbox version will be better, since Microsoft demands that there be few or no bugs that allow cheating. Add that to the instant ban of cheaters, and I think that the Xbox version will be more secure. In fact, I bet you that they are ironing out the bugs as we speak.

[Phobos-X]

sheesh!!! its a friggin DUPE, no one is getting NOL'ed or havin their chars being deleted by sum 12 year old on a pre adolecent power trip. if you see someone using sumthing you "think" might be a dupe, simply dont play with them!!! its not that damn hard...

[Alielle]

Thanks for telling everyone here how to dupe.

Anyway, I'm sure it'll get passed over like every other letter they get, but you never know.

[Riel]

Doing what you mentionned may cause your memory card to corrupt your character.....i know i'm not taking a chance of doing this just to have 2 of the same item and i'm sure lots of people don't want to take the chance.So far i don't think GC PSO is ruined like the DC version was because there's no Noling and the like and i rarely see duped items...why? because i play with people i know,on ships i know and good PSO players outnumber the "dupers" in a large number.

Your e-mail is fine and hopefully Sega can keep an eye out for the more armful "tricks" that would ruin PSO GC,the ones that alter your character's levels and the like.If it's stays at the duping level only,GC PSO will never be really ruined like it was on the DC.

[Sedyne]

SOnIC TeAm better fix this fast cuz its gonna lose alot of customersss stupid biznatchesss

[Richard]

One aspect of PSO that was realllly fun was looking for new, rare weapons... but such a thing doesn't exist anymore. Double Cannon, Partisan of Lightning, Twin Blaze, Black King Bar, Heaven Punisher, Rika's Claw... you'll find people using these in 30% of the games you join.

Duping has destroyed PSO, I will not be renewing my Hunter's License this month to play a game with nothing but dupes, I can play the old DC version for free and have just as much fun (or lack of).

[zyphaz]

thing is...the dupe method is an exploit of a loophole rather than a glitch. As long as the characters are saved client side there it's just a matter of having common sense in learning how to dupe.

[WraithAkaMrak]

I suppose we can hope that by the [i]next[i] iteration of PSO that Sonic Team finally gets smart and eliminates all possible cheating, by whatever means necessary.

Though duping may not be as harmful to the game as *SOD/NOL/etc, I still agree that it ruins one of the best parts of the game - finding, using, and trading items.

[TeK-DEL0REAN]

Duping is pussy to me, as well as accepting "free" rares that HAVE to be duped. Free black king bars? Double cannons? Heaven punishers everywhere? He's right I have to leave open games whenever some idiot wants to look LEET with duped weapons. it's ruining the game. Real Hunters EARN their rares. hopefully Sega releases a version 2 for Gcube that fixes the duping glitch.

[oxxjuniorxxo]

I would like to refer back to the PSO version 1 dayz for Dc, Sonic team was able to identify hacked items, and I am sure that there is some sort of way for them not to identify DUPED items, but to STOP all the glitches that cause the duping process. Of course tat would actually require more work than just sitting on thier asses like they have been doing in the past. But I know that it is possible to stop future duping.

[Cross689]

if duping bothers you wow i cant see why u play pso nothing can kill pso for me i used to be noled about 30 times a day and well i still had fun pso v2 only died for me because i had to cancel my 56k inter net and then i decided to get dsl if i can get my bba to work (btw im me on aim if you can help) ill play ep 1 and 2 regardless if they r duping or not.

[Tenko]

Sega may or may not read that - most corporations would get give you a generic message for a reply and do nothing, but in the past when I've written Sega, they've given me a helpful and well thought out response, so I'd say it can go either way.

On a side note - duping does not bother me that much - I get the most fun from PSO in developing my character and raising mags, so only the destructive cheats made me mad. So if someone uses some uber-rare weapon to kill everything? Provided it isn't a Spread Needle, (so that I don't get a chance to hit anything) I don't care; I like my Rippers +5 better anyway. Someone using the all too common (during Dreamcast v.2) Soniti? I much prefer my simple Garuda. If someone's duped a mag cell I get from them, I'm unconcerned, since I've raised the mag that's going to get it. So yeah, while I understand how duping does bother some players, I don't think it's a horrible blight that will completely ruin PSO. The only thing that ruined online Dreamcast PSO for me was quickly unplugging my VMU 3 times a day to keep my character from being NOLed, which is fortunately not in the GameCube version, and looks like it will never be.

[Tavia]

Of course tat would actually require more work than just sitting on thier asses like they have been doing in the past.

People really think PSO is all Sega asks SonicTeam to work on all day. That just amazes me.