In this video, Loud Guns discusses Cloud Imperium Games’ recent response to increased cheating, exploiting, and duping in Star Citizen, highlighting their new stricter anti-cheat measures and bans despite some community frustrations. He emphasizes that while cheating is unacceptable at any stage, CIG should also address player concerns like progress loss to help reduce the temptation to exploit, advocating for a balanced approach to maintain game integrity and community health.
In this video, Loud Guns provides a follow-up discussion on the recent cheating, exploiting, and duping issues affecting Star Citizen, prompted by a clear and well-reasoned response from Cloud Imperium Games (CIG). He highlights a recent statement from CIG acknowledging a spike in cheating and exploits, explaining that while they had previously taken a relaxed approach to third-party tools to encourage community creativity, the growing player base has led to increased abuse. CIG is now tightening anti-cheat measures, issuing bans, and emphasizing that exploiting is against their terms of service regardless of intent, with potential consequences including permanent account closure.
Loud Guns touches on the recent wave of hacking that has severely impacted gameplay, including software that allows hackers to steal player gear and kill entire servers’ worth of NPCs. He expresses relief that CIG is actively addressing these severe hacks, even though some players who relied on previous workarounds for VR or Linux systems may be disappointed. He frames hacking and cheating as an inevitable challenge for any successful game and hopes this situation serves as a wake-up call for CIG to strengthen game integrity protections.
The video also explores the debate around whether exploits and duping should be a concern during the alpha stage of development. Loud Guns references another content creator, Hawks Gaming, who argued that since Star Citizen is technically in alpha, players are more like testers, and exploits should only matter in a full live release. Loud Guns disagrees with this view, emphasizing that CIG markets the game as a live service inviting players to engage now, and therefore, exploiting is clearly against the rules at all times. He warns that the recent wave of bans could affect not only hackers but also dupers, urging players to consider the risks carefully.
Loud Guns acknowledges the frustration many players feel due to lost progress and items after patches, which has driven some to justify duping as a way to recover lost gear. He empathizes with this pain point and suggests that CIG should address it more effectively, perhaps by making high-end components and ships more accessible in the short term to reduce the temptation to cheat. He advocates for better database stability to prevent progress loss during updates and encourages CIG to listen to player concerns and adjust game mechanics accordingly while maintaining a firm stance against cheating.
In conclusion, Loud Guns calls for a balanced approach—recognizing the challenges both players and developers face in a complex, evolving game environment. He reiterates that cheating is unacceptable but also stresses the importance of addressing legitimate player frustrations to foster a healthier game community. He thanks viewers for watching and invites them to subscribe for more content, signaling ongoing engagement with the Star Citizen community.