Cheat-Proof Playout for Centralized and Peer-to-Peer Gaming

Abstract

We explore exploits possible for cheating in real-time, multiplayer games for both client-server and serverless architectures. We offer the first formalization of cheating in online games and propose an initial set of strong solutions. We propose a protocol that has provable anti-cheating guarantees, is provably safe and live, but suffers a performance penalty. We then develop an extended version of this protocol, called asynchronous synchronization, which avoids the penalty, is serverless, offers provable anti-cheating guarantees, is robust in the presence of packet loss, and provides for significantly increased communication performance. This technique is applicable to common game features as well as clustering and cell-based techniques for massively multiplayer games. Specifically, we provide a zero-knowledge proof protocol so that players are within a specific range of each other, and otherwise have no notion of their distance. Our performance claims are backed by analysis using a simulation based on real game traces