Java Cubecraft Hackers & Anticheat

[xWalin]

CUBECRAFT HACKERS & ANTICHEAT

Maybe the community can help protect the game too.
​

Hey guys, hope you're doing very well.

This is Juan, a Software Developer mostly known as Walin.

Today I want to share a different perspective on the current hacker situation on CubeCraft Java.

THE SITUATION​

Let's be honest, CubeCraft is already investing in this problem.

Sentinel isn't some abandoned little plugin that nobody cares about. CubeCraft has previously invested heavily in anti-cheat development, and more recently they have confirmed that they added a developer specifically to work on Sentinel, with the possibility of adding another one as well. The team is also continuing to expand moderation.

So I'm not making this post to say:

"Just make Sentinel better."

That's already happening.

The problem is that anti-cheat development is a constant cat-and-mouse game. Cheat developers create bypasses, detections need to be improved, false positives have to be avoided, and everything takes time.

Meanwhile, the player experiencing the problem doesn't care whether the detection will be improved next week.

They're thinking:

"Why is this guy still in my game?"

And I think that's where the community could potentially help.

CubeCraft already has thousands of players online who can see exactly what's happening inside their own games. They can recognize when someone is blatantly cheating, and multiple players can independently reach the same conclusion.

So instead of asking the community to replace Sentinel, what if we simply gave them a very limited way to protect the game they're currently playing?

① VOTE KICK​

This is probably the simplest idea.

Imagine that you're playing FFA and someone starts blatantly flying, using obvious KillAura or hitting people from completely unreasonable distances.

Several different players report them.

Instead of waiting for a moderator or waiting for Sentinel to eventually punish them, the players could initiate a vote to remove that person from the current game.

That's it.

No ban. No permanent punishment. No decision about whether the player is actually a cheater.

They simply don't get to continue ruining that particular match.

Obviously, this would need protections against abuse. There could be a relatively high threshold, cooldowns, limits on how often someone can start a vote, and safeguards so that parties cannot simply gang up on random players.

But the important part is that this doesn't require CubeCraft to build an entirely new anti-cheat.

It's just giving the players a controlled emergency button.

② TRUST FACTOR​

Another interesting option would be something inspired by Counter-Strike's Trust Factor.

Instead of every player being treated exactly the same when matchmaking, CubeCraft could internally maintain some form of trust level based on things such as account history, previous punishments, suspicious behaviour and other signals.

The exact formula wouldn't need to be public.

A player with a long history of legitimate behaviour could naturally end up in the normal matchmaking pool, while accounts that repeatedly end up involved in cheating reports and punishments could gradually be moved towards a lower-trust pool.

This wouldn't need to mean "you're banned because your Trust Factor is low."

It could simply mean that CubeCraft has another way of separating normal players from accounts that repeatedly cause problems.

And again, the important part is that this could complement Sentinel rather than trying to replace it.

THE IDEA

I don't think CubeCraft needs to choose between Sentinel and the community.

They can work together.

Sentinel can continue doing the difficult job of detecting cheats and making proper punishments, while the community gets a very limited mechanism to reduce the damage caused by someone who is obviously ruining a game.

If Sentinel needs five minutes to properly identify someone, maybe the community shouldn't have to spend those five minutes playing against them.

Maybe the solution isn't always:

"How do we ban this hacker faster?"

Maybe sometimes it's simply:

"How do we stop this hacker from ruining this game right now?"

WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?

Would a controlled Vote Kick system actually work on CubeCraft?

Would something like a Trust Factor make sense?

Or do you think giving the community this kind of limited control would cause more problems than it solves?

I'd genuinely like to hear what you guys think.
​

 

[L1kii]

CUBECRAFT HACKERS & ANTICHEAT

Maybe the community can help protect the game too.
​

Hey guys, hope you're doing very well.

This is Juan, a Software Developer mostly known as Walin.

Today I want to share a different perspective on the current hacker situation on CubeCraft Java.

THE SITUATION​

Let's be honest, CubeCraft is already investing in this problem.

Sentinel isn't some abandoned little plugin that nobody cares about. CubeCraft has previously invested heavily in anti-cheat development, and more recently they have confirmed that they added a developer specifically to work on Sentinel, with the possibility of adding another one as well. The team is also continuing to expand moderation.

So I'm not making this post to say:

"Just make Sentinel better."

That's already happening.

The problem is that anti-cheat development is a constant cat-and-mouse game. Cheat developers create bypasses, detections need to be improved, false positives have to be avoided, and everything takes time.

Meanwhile, the player experiencing the problem doesn't care whether the detection will be improved next week.

They're thinking:

"Why is this guy still in my game?"

And I think that's where the community could potentially help.

CubeCraft already has thousands of players online who can see exactly what's happening inside their own games. They can recognize when someone is blatantly cheating, and multiple players can independently reach the same conclusion.

So instead of asking the community to replace Sentinel, what if we simply gave them a very limited way to protect the game they're currently playing?

① VOTE KICK​

This is probably the simplest idea.

Imagine that you're playing FFA and someone starts blatantly flying, using obvious KillAura or hitting people from completely unreasonable distances.

Several different players report them.

Instead of waiting for a moderator or waiting for Sentinel to eventually punish them, the players could initiate a vote to remove that person from the current game.

That's it.

No ban. No permanent punishment. No decision about whether the player is actually a cheater.

They simply don't get to continue ruining that particular match.

Obviously, this would need protections against abuse. There could be a relatively high threshold, cooldowns, limits on how often someone can start a vote, and safeguards so that parties cannot simply gang up on random players.

But the important part is that this doesn't require CubeCraft to build an entirely new anti-cheat.

It's just giving the players a controlled emergency button.

② TRUST FACTOR​

Another interesting option would be something inspired by Counter-Strike's Trust Factor.

Instead of every player being treated exactly the same when matchmaking, CubeCraft could internally maintain some form of trust level based on things such as account history, previous punishments, suspicious behaviour and other signals.

The exact formula wouldn't need to be public.

A player with a long history of legitimate behaviour could naturally end up in the normal matchmaking pool, while accounts that repeatedly end up involved in cheating reports and punishments could gradually be moved towards a lower-trust pool.

This wouldn't need to mean "you're banned because your Trust Factor is low."

It could simply mean that CubeCraft has another way of separating normal players from accounts that repeatedly cause problems.

And again, the important part is that this could complement Sentinel rather than trying to replace it.

THE IDEA

I don't think CubeCraft needs to choose between Sentinel and the community.

They can work together.

Sentinel can continue doing the difficult job of detecting cheats and making proper punishments, while the community gets a very limited mechanism to reduce the damage caused by someone who is obviously ruining a game.

If Sentinel needs five minutes to properly identify someone, maybe the community shouldn't have to spend those five minutes playing against them.

Maybe the solution isn't always:

"How do we ban this hacker faster?"

Maybe sometimes it's simply:

"How do we stop this hacker from ruining this game right now?"


WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?

Would a controlled Vote Kick system actually work on CubeCraft?

Would something like a Trust Factor make sense?

Or do you think giving the community this kind of limited control would cause more problems than it solves?

I'd genuinely like to hear what you guys t​

CUBECRAFT HACKERS & ANTICHEAT

Maybe the community can help protect the game too.
​

Hey guys, hope you're doing very well.

This is Juan, a Software Developer mostly known as Walin.

Today I want to share a different perspective on the current hacker situation on CubeCraft Java.

THE SITUATION​

Let's be honest, CubeCraft is already investing in this problem.

Sentinel isn't some abandoned little plugin that nobody cares about. CubeCraft has previously invested heavily in anti-cheat development, and more recently they have confirmed that they added a developer specifically to work on Sentinel, with the possibility of adding another one as well. The team is also continuing to expand moderation.

So I'm not making this post to say:

"Just make Sentinel better."

That's already happening.

The problem is that anti-cheat development is a constant cat-and-mouse game. Cheat developers create bypasses, detections need to be improved, false positives have to be avoided, and everything takes time.

Meanwhile, the player experiencing the problem doesn't care whether the detection will be improved next week.

They're thinking:

"Why is this guy still in my game?"

And I think that's where the community could potentially help.

CubeCraft already has thousands of players online who can see exactly what's happening inside their own games. They can recognize when someone is blatantly cheating, and multiple players can independently reach the same conclusion.

So instead of asking the community to replace Sentinel, what if we simply gave them a very limited way to protect the game they're currently playing?

① VOTE KICK​

This is probably the simplest idea.

Imagine that you're playing FFA and someone starts blatantly flying, using obvious KillAura or hitting people from completely unreasonable distances.

Several different players report them.

Instead of waiting for a moderator or waiting for Sentinel to eventually punish them, the players could initiate a vote to remove that person from the current game.

That's it.

No ban. No permanent punishment. No decision about whether the player is actually a cheater.

They simply don't get to continue ruining that particular match.

Obviously, this would need protections against abuse. There could be a relatively high threshold, cooldowns, limits on how often someone can start a vote, and safeguards so that parties cannot simply gang up on random players.

But the important part is that this doesn't require CubeCraft to build an entirely new anti-cheat.

It's just giving the players a controlled emergency button.

② TRUST FACTOR​

Another interesting option would be something inspired by Counter-Strike's Trust Factor.

Instead of every player being treated exactly the same when matchmaking, CubeCraft could internally maintain some form of trust level based on things such as account history, previous punishments, suspicious behaviour and other signals.

The exact formula wouldn't need to be public.

A player with a long history of legitimate behaviour could naturally end up in the normal matchmaking pool, while accounts that repeatedly end up involved in cheating reports and punishments could gradually be moved towards a lower-trust pool.

This wouldn't need to mean "you're banned because your Trust Factor is low."

It could simply mean that CubeCraft has another way of separating normal players from accounts that repeatedly cause problems.

And again, the important part is that this could complement Sentinel rather than trying to replace it.

THE IDEA

I don't think CubeCraft needs to choose between Sentinel and the community.

They can work together.

Sentinel can continue doing the difficult job of detecting cheats and making proper punishments, while the community gets a very limited mechanism to reduce the damage caused by someone who is obviously ruining a game.

If Sentinel needs five minutes to properly identify someone, maybe the community shouldn't have to spend those five minutes playing against them.

Maybe the solution isn't always:

"How do we ban this hacker faster?"

Maybe sometimes it's simply:

"How do we stop this hacker from ruining this game right now?"


WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?

Would a controlled Vote Kick system actually work on CubeCraft?

Would something like a Trust Factor make sense?

Or do you think giving the community this kind of limited control would cause more problems than it solves?

I'd genuinely like to hear what you guys think.
​

Would like to see it for bedrock edition aswell - amazing idea.

 

[Kaedee]

So some of these things have already been discussed within the team and suggested internally. I cannot go into too much detail, but things are in the works.

You are right that Sentinel cannot become perfect within 1 day. We have people working on it very hard and we just need the community to trust us and have some patience when it comes to that.

My honest opinion on your suggestions.. I really do not like the votekick system, also voiced this within the team. It can very easily be abused, even with a high threshold (think of clans all just targeting 1 person they dislike et cetera), as well as new players who will report/vote for anyone who kills them with some skill. I've noticed this in a Lucky Islands game where I was handling reports this morning: one player said someone was flying or cheating, and like 5 reports came in for that one player, when in fact they used the OP Lucky Block. It is not a fool proof method and I don't want to put that responsibility with the entire community.

I cannot say much about the trust factor matchmaking as I don't know how much time would go into creating and developing it, and if we have the resources for it. I'm also just keeping in mind, would it really be useful? It would create games where there are maybe 6 cheaters and 4 regular players that will not have a great time at all. I understand wanting to keep cheaters and rulebreakers off the network, but moving them to one place is not the solution. They just need to be removed entirely.

Coming back to what I said at first - we have ideas and agree that it cannot continue like this with the serial cheaters joining on 20 new accounts the second they get banned. Hopefully we can realize this plan soon and create a better playing experience for the community.

Until then, I would really suggest to just continue reporting rulebreakers with the commands, but preferably getting video evidence for a guaranteed ban. I know it takes time and effort, but it's the best way for now :/

 

[xWalin]

Hi! @Kaedee.

Thank you for your answer.

But how are these cheaters coming and coming?

I know Java network has anti-vpn and proxy protections.

Why when they get banned on 1 account they can keep joining the server? (Is there a no IP ban policy?)

 

[AmpleFawn7332]

sinon vous mettez une touche qui permet de revoir ses partis et quand quelqu'un veut signalée un tricheurs vous regarderais c'est dernière partis pour vois si c'est vrai