Counter-Strike Co-Creator Says Cheating Is an Epidemic Today, Unlike 20 Years Ago
In a recent interview with Jake Lucky from Gaming World Media, Minh Le, one of the co-creators of Counter-Strike, spoke about a serious problem for today’s multiplayer game players: the huge number of cheaters. Minh Le called the situation “an epidemic.”
Minh Le’s Words on Cheaters in Multiplayer Games
Le explained, “It’s an epidemic, because 20 years ago, when Counter-Strike was first out, cheating was a bit of an issue, but it never reached the levels that it is right now.”
He added, “Back when I was working on Counter-Strike, I would play game, I would probably encounter a cheater maybe 5 percent of the time, maybe 10 percent. But these days, when I’m jumping on a multiplayer game, it’s like maybe 40 percent or 50 percent of the time I’m running into some dubious (stuff) going on.”
“As a player, you don’t want to play games that have that — and as a developer, you don’t want to make a game that’s being ruined by this. It’s a really big challenge, and it’s a challenge that we’ve been trying to address for 20 years.”
He also said that when he worked at Valve 20 years ago, the company hired “a lot of intelligent and great people” to fight cheating, but it was always like playing a game of catch-up.
He explained that game developers are constantly trying to catch and stop people who create cheating software, but it’s a very hard battle. Every time they shut down one cheat maker, another one quickly takes its place, making it feel like an endless struggle against many different threats at once.
How Different Countries Deal with Cheating
Minh Le explained that in countries like South Korea, cheating is punished more strictly. Players must verify their identity before playing multiplayer games. If caught cheating, they get placed on a universal blacklist. Le said, “If you get caught cheating in Korea, it’s a big deal.”
