Looks like we arent the only cheaters.

[rekonstruct]

http://cgi.gaming-age.com/gaming/news/news.pl?y=2001&m=3&nid=1-2.db

[Ambrai]

---Reposted---
According to Sega of Japan, Phantasy Star Online has had a few issues with cheating recently. As a result, they have released an official statement to explain the situation. Apparently, some Japanese gamers have found a way to hack the character VMU files, and basically max their characters, items, weapons, etc. The Japanese servers have been shut down several times (which would explain why Japanese players are flooding certain US servers), in order to find a way to combat the hacks. Sega does not want these hackers ruining the game for the rest of the PSO players, by "illegally changing character data".
This problem goes way beyond the usage of simple cheat devices, and Sega is busy tracking (and eliminating) the cheaters. We will keep you up to date.
---Reposted---

All I have to say is this doesnt worry me much. Since I started playing I rarely played with someone who wasnt from this board and all of my games have been cheat free =).

[Sylvette]

Don't believe everything you read, I'd say. I'm not sure Sega legally can ban/eliminate cheaters since there's no license you must agree to stating that you may not cheat. They'd basically be denying you a service you've paid for, even though they never told you anywhere that you may not cheat. The only time they could do this is if you did something that's actually illegal, like hacking their server. The VMU and save files don't belong to them, so there's no law broken.

[SeQrEt_1]

i would have to disagree as here we don't pay for the use of the servers in japan they do. there fore I imaging they would have to sign some sort of thing to in order to get an ID and pass to use.

they may be breaking some sort of contract. and who's to say that they can't u dont' own the servers using it is a privilage of sorts.. there is nothing stopping sega from bringin them down and keeping them down.

[Sylvette]

What's stopping them is the advertising they've done (including on the packaging) stating that it supports online play. At least here in the US, bringing the servers down permanently or banning a user sets them up for a fat lawsuit. No server, no online play. If Japanese users had to sign a contract, that's a different story.

Besides, don't you get sick of everybody lying about cheaters getting banned, already? It's not helping.

[Sylvette]

The original statement from Sega makes it sound like whatever cheat these people were using causes actual problems with the server. This is probably illegal (DOS) and if that's the case, then they probably could get banned. Maybe hacked character data causes crashes on the server or something, who knows. Otherwise, they're SOL on this, especially if they tried to ban people in the US.

[Jaiden]

Cheating effects the quality of service for other players and can also cause problems with the PSO server.

These are definately grounds for getting banned. I wouldn't even make it to court.

Now, if honest users were accidentally identified as hackers and banned, thats a completely different story!

[AdeptArms]

^^^^^^

I totally agree...

[Sylvette]

The quality of service thing is not even an issue. I don't like the fact that people who started after I did got to level 100 in half the time (when they discovered the cheats) but hey, I bet it was fun for them, even if it's not for me. Some people like having duped items and cheats, it's more fun for them to have things instantly. The quality of the game is not something you can pin down to just the "honest" users... I'll bet at least half the people online either cheat or don't mind that people cheat, so the quality of the game for them is improved or unchanged by cheating. I've noticed a lot of people are terribly closed-minded about this... the way THEY like the game is the way it must be for everyone.

Messing with the servers is a completely different story, as this affects everyone in a bad way... and this could be grounds for being banned.

[Sylvette]

Another thing to note is that Sega is not allowed to retrieve data from you other than the serial number and access key, and the data you send voluntarily. There is no magic signal sent that says "Look at me, I'm a cheater!" so they can't figure out who's cheating and who's not unless it is a hack which affects the server, which falls into the "illegal" category. That means it's unlikely that a legitimate user can be mistaken for one of these cheaters.

[Defend]

Cheating I don't mind, just as long as they don't lie about it, which they probably would. But if they don't, then anyone who is happy to play with those who've cheated to 100 won't be annoyed, and those that don't want to can join another game.

Personally I don't see the point in it if you have time for the game. The point is enjoying the levelling up, not reaching the goal of level 100. "Happiness is the journey, not a destination".. but then again, those with busy lives might just wanna get to the good stuff pronto, play it for a while, then get back to whatever else they were doing. That's one good thing, most cheaters will find the game short-lived... they shouldn't be around the online community too long.

[ArcticZero]

First thing is the game does say it supports online play, but it does not say it does it for free. If these cheaters are going damage to the servers and sega can not find a simple way to stop it they will make you pay to play. If they have to hire someone or use there employees to watch the servers day and night you can bet they are not going to pocket this cost. Second devices like the game shark do not alter the game they use programming to work with the game. If you hack a vmu you are changeing the software which is a copyright infringement hince it is illegal.

[Socrates]

First off, as I said in another post, there's no legal problem for Sega to police it's own servers. At the Help Desk at each Lobby, there's a menu option to read the server messages (including one already there reminding people that to refrain from innapropriate behavior). Any warning messages could and would be put there. It's the player's responsibility to keep tabs of stuff like that, anyway.

Regardless, even beyond that, they'd probably simply drop a mail message in each characters box so that they would get it when they logged on.

And yes, Sega could easily remove or ban players with hacked items. Such hacked data, by definition, violates the integrity of the game code. As such, Sega can easily make the argument that such altered data can corrupt server-side operations, and that's all the justification they need.

Not to mention the simple justification that hacked items and characters are not supposed to be in the game to begin with, so, as creators of it, they are well within their rights to set what should and should not be allowed in it.

[Aberu]

All i have to say is the people that deny that sega is out to get cheaters either personally know cheaters or have no problem with them. As Socrates jus said on the last post, it messes with the integrity of the code, and that means there are different programs being used online. They have encountered this problem with Command and Conquer way back, one person had the hacks on and the other did not and they had server conflicts. Well to fix this they released a new, practically unhackable version of Command and Conquer, and why do so many people complain about the problems. this is the first time any japanese company has made a Massively-Multiplayer Console Action RPG (i know its a long description but it is the technical genre) and well they have to get used to how it works. I say good job sega, get those cheaters! for they mess up the servers and cause conflicts with other players i have experienced one of these conflicts. I was in the room with a cheater and i didnt know he was until he attacked an enemy once, and he wasnt strong (but he was at lev 100 as most cheaters are) and his weapon sucked and well i killed the enemy, i saw two seperate exp. numbers appear (due to the major exp. code) well right after that the BSOD happened "coincedentally" and i couldnt sign on for another 10 min. If this isnt proof of a cheating conflict i dont know what else there is. Good for sega, keep those cheaters off of our PSO! Oh yeah and if you try to say they could jus change their IP, they cant cuz you cant change the IP of the DC, unlike a computer in which you can (but it is rather complicated). Well thank you whoever you are that jus read this and sorry about the extremely long post. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/icon_razz.gif

[Sylvette]

You do change the IP, yes... your IP is dependent on your ISP, not your Dreamcast. However they will most likely use the serial number and access key to keep track of people, if they do so at all.

Sega doesn't say the online play is free, but how many people would drop off or not buy the game at all because they would have to pay to play online? Bad move for Sega, and even going to court will cost them a lot of money if they deny service to people. It doesn't make sense to charge for the service, especially after starting it off free with no notification of charges... the manual itself says you only pay your ISP and phone charges.

The only cheaters they will be able to ban are the ones who disrupt the servers... those who dupe items through backups and those who use their gameshark offline are completely invisible to Sega, since they can't collect any info which shows these people cheated... there is nothing in the save which is different from a legitimate character except time played, which they can't see, and Sega can't see the various hints a player can pick up on from playing with a cheater. IF they do anything at all about this, it will only rid the servers of a few cheaters.