Helldivers 2 is a great game, with one problem: its anti-cheat system

The anti-cheat system of Helldivers 2 is being controversial, but what we didn’t expect is that it would be problematic for people with disabilities.

Helldivers 2 is one of the most popular games of this year. No matter what other games come out during the rest of 2024, it is impossible for any amount of games to overshadow its success. It has performed great in sales, critics have praised it, and it doesn’t seem like interest in it will fade away in the near future. However, that doesn’t mean the game doesn’t have some flaws. Aspects that don’t excite the community as much. One of them, its anti-cheat system.

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For Helldivers 2 at Arrowhead Game Studios, the studio behind the game’s development, they have used an anti-cheat system called nProtect GameGuard. This is a system created by INCA, a South Korean company that has been offering computer security products since 2000. In addition to being the company that holds 70% of the security information in the stock market and 90% of the security portals for video games in Korea, it has a strong presence in China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Europe.

What is then the problem with nProtect GameGuard? It is a system that runs at kernel level, being particularly restrictive and capable of manipulating our computer at its core. Something that makes players feel insecure, as it is theoretically possible to manipulate their computer without their knowledge. But the most problematic thing is that this system is interfering with the ability to play, at all, for some people.

Steven Spohn, director of the charity organization AbleGamers that aims to bring video games to people with disabilities, recently commented on his Twitter that Helldivers 2 was impossible for him to play. Due to his disability, Spohn needs to use various programs and hardcore equipment to manipulate the game, something that the anti-cheat protocols of nProtect GameGuard identify as cheats. Due to their functioning, what they do is that, upon entering the game, they block Spohn’s assistive technology, making it impossible for him to play at all.

This is not something new for Spohn or other players with disabilities. Games like Escape from Tarkov or Fortnite often give false positives with assistive technology, which can lead to a ban on the accounts of the people who use them. This can usually be resolved by contacting technical support and explaining their case. It becomes more complex with a kernel-based anticheat like nProtect GameGuard.

The reason why it is more difficult is because if the system allows access to assistive technology, hackers could pass their cheats as assistive technology and bypass their traps. Something that makes the situation more complex, precisely because of the nature of the system.

In any case, this should not prevent people like Spohn, or other people with disabilities, from being able to play video games. It is unfair and not right. That is why, although the biggest fear of players with nProtect GameGuard is that by having kernel access they can take control of their computers, the problem lies more in how it is always the most vulnerable who pay the price.

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Were you going to buy Helldivers 2? Be careful, there are scammers on Steam

Helldivers 2 is being a success, something that some unscrupulous individuals are taking advantage of to try to scam people who want to play it.

Helldivers 2 has been a monumental success. Despite no one betting on it, Arrowhead Games Studios have managed to create a game that is already one of the big hits of the year. Even using a graphics engine that has been unsupported for many years. A feat that no one expected, probably not even the people at the studio themselves. This has led to some unscrupulous individuals trying to take advantage of its success.

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For a few hours, on August 29, 2024, it seemed like Helldivers 2 had a 75% off offer. And another one for 50%. And also the game at its base price, 39.99 euros. That is, for a few hours there were three different entries of Helldivers 2 on Steam, causing some users to feel very confused about it. As noted by the well-known influencer Wario64 on Twitter, this was an attempt to scam and take advantage of the game’s success. Because the two Helldivers 2 with an associated offer were, in reality, other games pretending to be Arrowhead’s in order to scam users.

Modifying metadata on the Steam page is very easy, as long as the game is already approved. Reviewing the information on Steamdb, it is possible to see that these two entries were for games called DO NOT SMILE and Figurality. Despite the name change, it is possible to see their original names and the changes made over time, both coinciding with the fraud.

Figurality modified all its data to copy Helldivers 2 at 3:53 in the morning on Thursday, February 29th, while DO NOT SMILE would do it at 4:45 on the same day. Although we do not know if it was a coordinated scam, or if the developers of DO NOT SMILE saw what Figurality did and decided to take advantage of the situation, Steam would take approximately four hours to remove both pages from the store.

While this type of scams is not common, they could happen again in the future. The best ways to avoid them are to use common sense. If an offer is too good to be true, it is important to check the developer’s social media to see if they mention anything about an ongoing offer. If not, we should check if there are multiple entries for the same game in the search engine; if there are, it is likely to be a scam, but not necessarily. Finally, for complete security, we can check the Steamdb record, where changes cannot go unnoticed. This is the 100% safe way to avoid being deceived.

While it is true that Steam took care of both quickly, that doesn’t mean it’s not important to keep in mind that these things happen. They could happen again. And the best way to avoid them is to have the tools to be able to identify them and let the platform know so they can intervene.

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