punkbuster

[Clay Pigeon]

Is this game going to use punkbuster?

[unknown]

yeah, a couple days ago on reddit i also read the fine print of the agreement for it too. They can take pictures of what your doing, check your harddrives for programs, and see what hardware you have. i dont like that

[Clay Pigeon]

yeah, a couple days ago on reddit i also read the fine print of the agreement for it too. They can take pictures of what your doing, check your harddrives for programs, and see what hardware you have. i dont like that

Really? Do not want.

[Jesus_Faction]

yeah, a couple days ago on reddit i also read the fine print of the agreement for it too. They can take pictures of what your doing, check your harddrives for programs, and see what hardware you have. i dont like that

pretty sure that's nothing new for pb. how else will they check for cheats?

[Boss Llama]

The usual non-invasive way of checking such things is to monitor your interactions with the server, and take action when you attempt ones that aren't legitimate. HDD scans, screenshots, and involuntary hardware checks are all unnecessarily invasive, possibly illegal, and given PB's past, not exactly useful.

[frostdillicus]

Unfortunately, it's probably buired somewhere in the EULA that you agree to all scans etc. done by Punkbuster. I'm sure we could argue about the legality of the EULA itself next, but I don't think it really matters.

However, Al is right. There are plenty of ways to catch cheaters without resorting to scanning their computer. One of the best ways? A good squad of admins like we have here.

[unknown]

this is it

[frostdillicus]

Yep, was pretty sure it was going to be the case. One day EULAs are going to be ruled illegal and life will be so much better.

[Plinko]

EULA's are already more or less non-binding in case law as I understand it. I would think Clay would know more, though.

[Boss Llama]

Indeed.

Yet another another reinforcement of my decision not to purchase EA products, nor give even a second thought to their Origins system.

[Zork Nemesis]

I love that: "Licensee agrees that the invasive nature of Punkbuster software is nessicary to meet this purpose or goal. Licensee agrees that any harm resulting from the installation and use of Punkbuster software is not as valuable to Licensee as the potential to play interactive online games with benefits afforded by using Punkbuster software."

Sometimes these fine print things make me laugh, what part of those two sentences isn't saying "Please compromise my computer to hackers"?

Then again, a thought occurs, how does Valve Anti-Cheat do their thing? I don't think i've ever acctually found a clear answer as to how VAC works; they don't seem too keen on releasing that info.

[unknown]

probably so people don't bypass it.

[BigBiker05]

I know for ABP original launch they used Punkbuster and it was doing that screenshot thing. They never did get it to NOT lag and it is, in-part, what ruined that game. For ABP:R they just turned that feature off.

[bullet4o1]

I have nothing to hide(Don't mind the 3TB's of Movies) that is cheat related!

All my important stuff in encrypted so I have no issues with punkbuster scanning my stuff.