Cheating in online games!

Horror

A few users have had questions about if cheating is allowed while streaming. The answer is complicated.

We do not enforce the rules of random games or companies, but at the same time, a lot of cheating could be deemed "harassment" which is very firmly against our rules.

Anyone cheating in a multiplayer game to gain some sort of advantage, is generally going to be asked to stop. Not only does it count as harassment to the people you are doing it against, but it is simply a community we do not want to support. If you are cheating in a single player game, such as enabling noclip in Half Life, it is perfectly fine!

Games like minecraft also have lots of hacked clients that allow you to do extra things. For a while, the only way to fly was to use these programs. Each server has their own rules, some allow it and some don't, so in this instance, it's something we can't properly police. If we find out what you are doing is in some way meant to be negative, we will make you stop. Using cheats on PVP servers for unfair advantage will make us ask you to stop, for example. For the record, griefing of any sort, in any game is considered harassment. 

This is not an easy policy to explain, so I'm open to any questions as always! Just keep in mind, if what you are doing could make the game less fun for someone else, you probably shouldn't stream it!

Fire

As such, programs like trainers for singleplayer games are also fine, as they affect noone but yourself.

razyrous

First of all, good work. I'm sure some people weren't certain about Twitch' policies about this.

The explanation seems pretty solid. We're able to hack/cheat as much as we want on a single player game/single player mode, while on multiplayer we have to stick with the game/server own rules.

 

Are you planning to add a "Cheating" report option to the channels or will this be under "other TOS violation"?

 

 

Fire

@razyrous at the moment it falls under other

ravitude

Overall - I don't think your Policies on harassment should reach to these people who have never agreed to it to begin with.  Most online games are Random players unless its organized community play, and I'd like a deeper explanation as to why you think you should protect people from harassment who never said you could? I mean, if they didn't agree to your terms of service they're not harassing anyone in your jurisdiction. Am I right? Or are you just trying to Big Brother everything you can? Its just like you said its "complicated" - too complicated to even try to waste your precious time to moderate.

bgeorge

@ravitude - Twitch isn't really protecting people from harassment. They are simply saying they will not allow harassment through cheating to be broadcast and promoted on the site. 

If you are referring to other forms of harassment then its outside the scope of this post.

ximgaming

Greetings,

I ask this because I am a concerned streamer who has dedicated several months into his channel so far. I am inquiring if my channel is deemed as "cheating" due to me "having an advantage over other players" as you have stated in your original post. I use a mouse and keyboard adapter for the console, and is controvercial (mainly why we were accepted into the partner program by Ernest Le, but waiting for the next line of product to begin the partner channel). Although there is a very large portion of gamers who realize the mouse and keyboard is naught but a peripheral as a steering wheel would be for a racing game, mice and keyboard is mostly ideal for FPS due to their accuracy and ease of performance. However the controversy occurs when the discussion arises when it is considered a cheating device. Please take into consideration that I do not use this device to have an "edge" over other players, but because it fits me and my background (and several others, we being PC gamers) much better than a controller would. I hope you take mercy on my channel as I've dedicated a lot of time and money into it. Thank you for your time.

Fire

@ximgaming it's not like a lag switch ( in fact, I've wanted a XIM3 for ages, but don't have the ability to get one ), and you're not hacking the game, so it's not cheating. It just a different form of control, like using a fight stick over a controller for fighting games.

ximgaming

Hmm, I don't see any reason why you cannot obtain a XIM3 :) They are shipped worldwide.

Fire

@ximgaming they're a bit too rich for my blood, that's why :p Tried to get ask for one to write a review on, but never got a response for that either.

ximgaming

Hmm.. Well, the new product, Xim Edge, which is much much cheaper than the XIM3 and works for both PS3 and xbox, will be released soon. :)

dazzmill

i think you guys shouldnt have to worry about cheating, the people streaming the game should know better, 

however mods etc on games like minecaft or custom maps are fine, cause they dont give a single player advantages,as its a server mod, and doesnt help them beat the game any easier

Itaku

i think you guys shouldnt have to worry about cheating, the people streaming the game should know better, 

however mods etc on games like minecaft or custom maps are fine, cause they dont give a single player advantages,as its a server mod, and doesnt help them beat the game any easier

If it was a perfect would we wouldn't have to worry about it. There are people though that ask if they can, and we'd rather them ask instead of finding out.

But yes, single player mods are perfectly fine.

zmissy

I used to stream not anymore because I'm banned. I was accused of cheating when i wasn't the one doing it or associated with the guy. I never got a warning: Horror says " Anyone cheating in a multiplayer game to gain some sort of advantage, is generally going to be asked to stop." (If I was warned I would of never been banned because i wasn't partied with him.)  I was just banned and never asked any questions which is ridiculous because I could of explained my situation that i was in. I was a dedicated streamer and didn't deserve this. Many people that were banned before have gotten their accounts back and given a second chance because they communicated with Admins. Since i was banned a year ago I didn't have that option to communicate with the Admin on what occurred. I'm not a bad person and hopefully i will be able to stream on Twitch soon and given another chance! That's all i ask, i wont let you down Twitch! Instead I will bring in more entertainment Twitch needs to expand into a bigger franchise. Please and Thanks. Missy 

bgeorge

I used to stream not anymore because I'm banned. I was accused of cheating when i wasn't the one doing it or associated with the guy. I never got a warning: Horror says " Anyone cheating in a multiplayer game to gain some sort of advantage, is generally going to be asked to stop." (If I was warned I would of never been banned because i wasn't partied with him.)  I was just banned and never asked any questions which is ridiculous because I could of explained my situation that i was in. I was a dedicated streamer and didn't deserve this. Many people that were banned before have gotten their accounts back and given a second chance because they communicated with Admins. Since i was banned a year ago I didn't have that option to communicate with the Admin on what occurred. I'm not a bad person and hopefully i will be able to stream on Twitch soon and given another chance! That's all i ask, i wont let you down Twitch! Instead I will bring in more entertainment Twitch needs to expand into a bigger franchise. Please and Thanks. Missy 

You can appeal the ban by emailing help@twitch.tv.

http://support.twitch.tv/discussion/3859/help-im-banned#latest

ed8020

I witnessed a situation that I would like an "official" opinion on.

Monday, Sept 3rd, approximately 3pm Pacific (if you can check logs, it was the last video I watched prior to logging out. I didn't log back in till after 6pm)

 I had been watching this guy play DayZ for about 5 minutes. He was hiding in a bush wearing a gillie suit on a hill above one of the towns sniping. All is fine so far. Then someone got his position and started firing at him, hitting him a couple times. He immediately aborted (alt f4) the game. He waited a few minutes then logged back in. This is blatant cheating, but that's not where the real issue is.

 I posted in chat (the first comment I made in his chat) "Are there no honorable players in this game?" There was some voice chatter from the guy about working hard to get his gear and how he thought he didn't deserve to lose it.

"The only legit reason for alt f4 is for hackers" (my second post)

The mod made some comment about being tired of hackers. I'm not sure he actually understood what I said. And someone made a comment in voice chat about "Someone is trolling your chat", while the streamer was going on in voice about what other people do, to which I said, "Honor is not about what the other guy does, it's about what you do". I got a quick thumbs up from one of the others in chat, I don't remember exactly what he said. I was immediately censored (message deleted) by the chat moderator. I typed in the word "coward", more directed at the moderator but applicable to both, then I logged out because I had to go.

When I got back home I made the mistake of logging back in and looking for that stream before checking my history, so I can not say with absolute certainty who it was, but I am 99% sure and I will be watching him. Not because I consider myself some kind of cop but simply because he pissed me off. I was ABSOLUTELY correct on every count and they were absolutely wrong on every count.

I'm not some kind of cheating Nazi. If I see someone cheating I simply don't watch them any more. I vote with my viewership, so to speak. I've even seen a couple of the people I follow cheat but typically it was some kind of reflex and if they know it was wrong, and exhibit actual remorse, I can respect that. But the blatant attempt to justify and then cover it up was over the line and worthy of an official complaint. There's got to be chat logs so most of it can be verified by a sys admin.