Big Brother is watching…

[Zippy]

Big Brother is watching…

For anyone who doesn’t routinely follow official Electronic Arts / Ultima Online news; EA announced Monday that it is going to test and probably implement EvenBalance software’s “PunkBuster” into the Ultima Online client. This software package is included in many popular First Person Shooter games, but this would mark the first major MMOG to include it. The software is designed to block third party “cheat” programs in order to keep those games fair. I’m sure most of us can agree cheating is bad, and cheat programs are usually bad. The problem comes in when you try to define a “cheat” program… more on that later.

The underlying problem with the software is, obviously, the complete and total invasion of privacy associated with it. Not only does the software continuously scan for processing running on the system to search for potential cheats, but the software can take screenshots and forward them to the server. When used only for the purpose of game enforcement, such gratuitous invasions of privacy are mostly harmless. But everyone should be wary of the even those with the best intentions. The license agreement for the software clearly states (emphasis added):

Originally Posted by PunkBuster License Agreement

Licensee understands and agrees that the information that may be inspected and reported by PunkBuster software includes, but is not limited to, devices and any files residing on the hard-drive and in the memory of the computer on which PunkBuster software is installed. Further, Licensee consents to allow PunkBuster software to transfer actual screenshots taken of Licensee’s computer during the operation of PunkBuster software for possible publication.

The license does not limit Electronic Art’s capabilities at all. They promise in their PunkBuster FAQ to only take screenshots of the game screen. Great, I’m sure we should all trust them to keep their word. Even if we all do trust them, can we trust them to keep any information they collect safe? We can’t forget there is at least one instance of lost or stolen customer data reported weekly for every company and type of data from Graduate student’s social security numbers to information about thousands of U.S. Military veterans and active servicemen. PunkBuster is no model of safety, as can been seen on their website’s front page.

By now you’re probably thinking, “That’s all well and good Zippy… but… conflict of interest? Don’t you write an ‘illegal third party program’?”
Yes. I do. And yeah, my opinion may be a weee bit biased. But you shouldn’t take my opinion at face value any more than you should take the promises of benignity from Electronic Arts.

Which brings us to the whole issue of third party programs. What is an “illegal third party program” anyways? Doesn’t Electronic Arts have approved third party programs? Yes, they do. In (date unknown... probably Spring 1999) Origin implemented the UO Pro program to certify third party programs as “allowed” on official servers. UOAssist took advantage of this program, and owes most of its success and its rumored hundreds of thounds of dollars profit to the program. The program was suspended in June 1999. Thus sealing the fate of any potential future tool and sealing the monopoly of UOAssist over the entire game. So what constitutes an illegal third party program? The short answer is anything made after 1999. The long answer is of course very subjective. Plenty of people consider Razor a cheat program, and plenty more don’t. Some consider PlayUO to be “cheating”--but some don’t. Would Razor or any of the other currently existing “programs written in this millennium” have gotten UOPro approval? Maybe, maybe not… we’ll never know for sure.

So what does PunkBuster mean for Razor or RunUO? There’s really no telling right now. Until patches come out there is no telling how PunkBuster will work. I can tell you I and the rest of the Dev Team will be here, trying to figure things out. Until then, it’s anyone’s guess.

Just some stuff for you to think about.

[Anti-Basic]

I personally consider it a form of spyware. whether or not is legal, its still an invasion of privacy and therefore unethical.

Anyone remeber the trouble GAIN caused? Legal spyware is still spyware.

[FingersMcSteal]

Sounds like the same thing when Sony decided to dump a root kit on a music CD and cause a storm in a tea cup.

Basically it sent your details to sonys marketing people to track what people were listening to, which could have given them an edge on music CD sales based on spying on you.

I've had 'one of those' type of thing hit me before and they are a pain in the ass to get rid of, thats if you know its there in the first place tho (which sony forgot to mention i think) which got them into hot water.

Gone are the days of people writing good code to do a job without all the crap that comes with them now. Just try surfing the net now without seeing an advert within 5 seconds of opening a web page.

I think everyone who plays UO knows razor's the better program for doing the extra tasks (macro's etc etc) than some of the others out there, probably too much of a contract's & £££$$$$'s issue for these bigger firms now to get out of now (maybe).

I know i sound cynical about this type of thing but i'm from the era (80's) of programmers who used to sit at home and create some of the greatest games we ever saw. Just a shame big companys took over it all.

[New Dawns]

I've seen mass players leave EA's production shards many times since I started there right after beta for various reasons from the introduction to Tram to to ugly damn 3D graphics in 3rd Dawn and the Diablo/ EQ crap they call AoS. I have a feeling this is gonna drive off alot of thier dwindling player base.

[Fixxxer]

the official UO servers are just money hungery scams, I have played UO for many years and every year it only got worse, I wouldnt even want to add up the amount of money I have spent on that crap. Its no surprise to me that this is their next step, and I am pretty sure they will find a way to charge you for taking screenshots of your computer or checking out your harddrive for "UO cheats".

If they go through with this though what will happen with the update patches?? They know we use them patches so they are probably thinking of a way to screw them up so we cant use them anymore, or they will just charge us 10.00 for updates hehe. cheap *@*$#^er's

[Montac]

Couldnt you just set your firewall to let this PunkBuster run, but not have access to the internet?

[Anti-Basic]

Originally Posted by Montac

Couldnt you just set your firewall to let this PunkBuster run, but not have access to the internet?

But if it wasnt able to send its report to EA...they would kinda know you had blocked it...

[Montac]

Yes because EA are going to take the time to chase it up... they can't even take the time to give you a decent answer to a help page...

But your probabbly right... but that brings up the question of packet loss... if your a bit laggy and have a dodgy connection, you might lose a few packets, that could make the screen shots and things un readable... would EA assume you've blocked it or changed it and ban you?

[Kin-Kran]

Thanks for the info Zippy, matters like this are very important. It is definitely something i will be more aware of.

[TMSTKSBK]

or we could just all stop updating...

(we could!)
Oh...right...OSI...I keep forgetting about the "official" servers...

[Courageous]

Has there been anything interesting on the official UO servers in years? When I play around with a RunUO server, I use Krrios' client. Frankly, I find it better than the official client. And really. Who cares if RunUO is even protocol-compatible with EaUO? I don't.

Here's what I think. Krrios should drop all the "cheaty" things from the client, and keep those things to himself. Put forward a stable, fast UO-replacement client. Break free from EA altogether.

C//

[TMSTKSBK]

Courageous.
For once in my life, I agree. +karma for you. (except I've given out too much, so you gotta wait until tomorrow)

[Courageous]

I think it's twice now, actually. *wink* *wink*.

C//

[TMSTKSBK]

Meh. Who's counting? (you obviously...nm stupidquestion >_<). Still, it's rather rare...

[silverwolfe]

hmmm what a shame I suppose I will have to stop paying for the 3 accounts i have maintained for the last 7 years.... note I said paying for not actually playing lol.......

[Ryan]

Great News.

Fuck Cheaters.

I Hope To God We Can Block Easyuo For Life.

[silverwolfe]

Originally Posted by Ryan

Great News.

Fuck Cheaters.

I Hope To God We Can Block Easyuo For Life.

please tell me that this is something that is in the works....

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by silverwolfe

please tell me that this is something that is in the works....

Punkbuster will def disallow that tbh, it can see outside programs that change the clients memory and disallow it.

[jack trades]

Originally Posted by Zippy

The underlying problem with the software is, obviously, the complete and total invasion of privacy associated with it.

The only privacy violated is your ability to cheat. PunkBuster does not relay personal information other then system metrics, cheat detection alerts, and screenshots back to the server.

[Anti-Basic]

Originally Posted by Ryan

Great News.

Fuck Cheaters.

I Hope To God We Can Block Easyuo For Life.

Agreed. UMing killed the game, imo. *dodges CEO's reaction*

[RoninGT]

Anyone else smell some bullshit on ea's part?
Thanks for the heads up Zippy.

Ronin

PS. Dont get me wrong cheaters suck. But Razor is not a "Cheat" program and you know its in the crosshairs. Plus i dont like anything thats going to screen shot me. In game or not.

[zardd]

Originally Posted by Montac

Couldnt you just set your firewall to let this PunkBuster run, but not have access to the internet?

Depending on hows it implemented they will either:
a) include the umm.. cheat definition files (Punkbuster updates) with official patches.
b) Updates released will be released by PB as it is now on FPS games and your PB client updates when theres a new definition while you are playing.

Either way i think you wont be able to block PB from the internet as if it is blocked you wont be able to play because the server will see its blocked and kick you.
Experiement on FPS games that have it intergrated if PB aint up to date you get kick within 1 minute.
RTCW: Enemy territory is probably the simplest as its 100% free and you can chuck it on and check out how PB works i spose?

OH... and if you have EVER been hardware banned from any FPS game for using hacks/cheats you can bet your life that PB will block you on UO when its implemented as it has a global hardware banning feature.

I think it works like this:
When you run PB you get given a unique number that is generated from your motherboard, graphics card, CPU and so on.
Thats how there global hardware ban system works and how it associates whos who.. i beleive.. well, from what i have read anyway.

PB is also very umm harsh...
No warnings..
If it detects a 'cheat program' your basically banned..

A good step forward in controlling cheats but it will be interesting to see the impact on the Emulation community.

*EDIT
Mind you every PB intergrated game i have played DOES have a 'Enable' toggle for PunkBuster..
This could be something to hope for, for those that have concerns..

[RunUO2874]

Warden Client, anyone?


And note that these things are not indestructable. There are usually ways to work around them, if you've got time. If it tries to shoot Razor down, I'm sure we can find time.

[Ravenal]

Originally Posted by Ryan

Great News.

Fuck Cheaters.

I Hope To God We Can Block Easyuo For Life.

I have never and i mean never liked EasyUO, it was just a tool that is 100% purely false, purely cheater tool...

RAZOR 100% ALL The way baby! Oh duh that reminds me i need to enable it on my server *chuckles*....

Plus not to mention...

Screenshoting me... man I feel like some "Public Restruant" will screenshot me taking my public SHIT... Damn I got an idea... somehow upload a custom gump with a guy or something with his ass saying... Eat this EA! :P LOL

[Kamuflaro]

So anyone got an idea what happened, if I used Razor on a freeshard? Will punkbuster ban me?
Getting banned by punkbuster means getting banned on all punkbuster secured games. That would really annoy me.

Furthermore: Will I get banned for having an application running named like a common hacking tool, i.e. TSearch or Razor? I doubt that, because it checks the memory too.

Last but not least screenshots. Will it send screenshots of anything on my desktop, if I got the game running in the background and work on my latest report on "how much EA sux"?

I really don't like the idea of having screenshots taken, I want my money back. Oh wait - I didn't pay a buck. Looks like I will not be able to patch feeling save for a long time now.
Having the ability to spy on me like that is indeed frightening me.

Edit

Originally Posted by EA

As for the screenshots, it will only take shots of the actual game screen window, not anything else on your desktop. And, it does that only rarely. This feature of PunkBuster is mostly used to verify cheats that turn walls invisible or somehow alter the battleground to the cheater's advantage

That answeres the screenshot question I think, but it's still a bit vague.