Heavy Cheating on Windows PC platform

[Agent_L]

Take a look at this at 0 level come on really, just took this pic tonight

It's not 0 level, it's just a profile that can't load, hence the "Please wait" name.

 

[Bob1977]

Yes, it's just a glitch. There was a period when Rankings were full of such ones.
I've made an attempt to bring down 3 more cheaters including the famous Yuzu.
It takes several days to receive a reply from TC, waiting.

 

[Phil G]

It's not 0 level, it's just a profile that can't load, hence the "Please wait" name.

No this player has changed his template [Game] with a cheat engine iv seen it before, he has whizzed up the ratings in many destinations. Has been reported to GI will get the results back soon. he has called his game please wait, if you look on windows pc he is in several destinations same name

 

[Phil G]

No this player has changed his template [Game] with a cheat engine iv seen it before, he has whizzed up the ratings in many destinations. Has been reported to GI will get the results back soon. he has called his game please wait, if you look on windows pc he is in several destinations same name

i apologize i was wrong this gamer isnt cheating, very strange, just had a reply from GI

 

[Agent_L]

First of all, we need to keep in mind that this is OFFLINE game. It only reports some things to the server, like number of flights completed. This is why cheating is so easy to perform (you can cheat by simply closing the game in right moment: right after reporting your flights but before information that it's reported is saved locally. So you can report same flights over and over, and server will simply add them up.) And that's also why cheating is so difficult to detect - because GI doesn't have constant insight into your hard drive! They can only be sure of actions that player took on the server, eg buying greens and then try to guesstimate if what his game reports back to the server is reasonable or not.
The example of mr Cow-reborn shows they don't even forward such information to other departments, hence one dept grants the guy hundreds of thousands of greens and the other one only sees a lvl 10 guy who suddenly sent out 1000 planes to one destination and bans him.

So, they can't really act unless cheating is undeniable.

This isn't facebook anymore. The game is not on their servers for them to inspect or restore at any given time. The game happens on your hard drive, that's why when there is a problem then you have a PROBLEM.

@Phil G a cheat engine that announces it's operation by changing name would be a very bad one : )

Disclaimer: the way of cheating I described is only hypothetical one, and it would be extremely difficult to employ manually. You have no way of knowing when exactly it happens and the window of opportunity is only fraction of a second. Nevertheless, I'm sure there are cheat engines designed to do exactly that.

 

[Bob1977]

Although partial but still another success! AeroCondor is down!

Mary Heiden Today at 14:40
Thank you for bringing our attention to this matter.
I would like to inform you that player AeroCondor was banned thanks to your report. As for player Yuzu we haven't found any suspicious activity on his profile just yet but we will keep an eye on this player.
Thank you for helping us improve the game!

That's a pity yuzu will keep playing. I'm solid sure he's a cheater, been watching him among others since autumn.

 

[Bob1977]

Ahaha! That was a miss at the target. AeroCondor is well and active. Just kicked my butt in the Green Ranking.
I've opened another ticket about him.

 

[Agent_L]

@Bob1977 it may take several days for his flights to stop registering.

 

[Husam]

ALL-Nipon-Air, mourani, FRA, username, AeroCondor
All above they are cheating their name in different countries.
@Bob1977 me too i open ticket for the same name 2 weeks back.
They told its banned then again after 2 days the same users but changing in letter or adding thats the way they do.
I think its one or tow person only they using many names but you know them in last 2 or 3 days they make flying a lot to be in the first place.
I send Gi screen shot and i was in first place within 2 hours ALL-Nipon-Air make more than 200 flight .

From that time i did not try to get place its really hard and lucky who get first place with this cheaters.

 

[Husam]

@Agent_L
Agree with you 100%
(This isn't facebook anymore. The game is not on their servers for them to inspect or restore at any given time. The game happens on your hard drive, that's why when there is a problem then you have a PROBLEM.)

 

[Bob1977]

I got the reply about AeroCondor:
"I would like to inform you that the AeroCondor player is actually banned and he will disappear from the rankings list with the end of the week."
I find it strange that banning isn't instant but, of course, it's better than nothing. Let's wait and see.

 

[Agent_L]

I got the reply about AeroCondor:
"I would like to inform you that the AeroCondor player is actually banned and he will disappear from the rankings list with the end of the week."
I find it strange that banning isn't instant but, of course, it's better than nothing. Let's wait and see.

They don't "ban" the player, this is offline game and they will always be able to keep playing.
They just set their server so it stops registering flights that cheater reports.
So yeah, he'll keep his score but he won't get a single point more from now on.

Retroactively removing points that are already registered would require much more operations that could go wrong, and I think it's good GI settled on safer solution.

 

[GiftXchange]

I got the reply about AeroCondor:
"I would like to inform you that the AeroCondor player is actually banned and he will disappear from the rankings list with the end of the week."
I find it strange that banning isn't instant but, of course, it's better than nothing. Let's wait and see.

Good job!

 

[Bob1977]

I think that even 2 cheaters down is good.
That's a pity that yuzu is "undetectable" for them.

 

[Bob1977]

After the 2nd try by GI AeroCondor hadn't gone down as promised, magic player indeed, and I reported him 3rd time.
They promised to ban him for sure. Again.

 

[Akims]

Why bother?

 

[greensmith]

Why bother?

We bother because in order to succeed in this game, there has to be a level playing field. The game isn't fun when you see others obviously cheating and getting away with it.
In the good old days of Airport City -- before the World Rankings and the Alliance Game -- neighbors helped other neighbors ... not competed with them. It made my heart feel good when I saw a new player on the forum getting advice and needed gifts from other, more experienced players.
I remember a few years ago (yes, I'm old) using the first Quantum Leap bonus with Bali Hi and Suresh. The Quantum Leap was brand new and a bit unknown and we were determined to try it out to show others how it was done. After 24 hours, when we finally completed it, I was happy to sleep for more than two hours straight. And Airport City had hooked me on good neighbors. I was in California, Bali Hi in Indonesia and Suresh in India ... and we had accomplished something that was, for me at least, terribly exciting.
It's not as much fun nowadays because of the neighbor versus neighbor mentality that GI/404 has brought to the game. But I'm still hooked. And I still have hope that they will fix what's wrong.
Cheers,
Tom

 

[Bob1977]

Extremely well said!

 

[Agent_L]

Why bother?

When someone hacks into #1 then you can't take #1, can you?
Cheating is bad for any competition.

 

[Agent_L]

In the good old days of Airport City -- before the World Rankings and the Alliance Game -- neighbors helped other neighbors ... not competed with them.

I don't agree with you here. You need to cooperate in groups to compete with another groups. This only gives incentive to help others more. I play to win and to help others win.
If you don't like ranking, then just don't look there. There is nothing inherently bad in it.