To try and combat the rampant cheating that follows along behind any giant game, Epic Games is taking a harsh tack against those who do so in its latest hit, Fortnite. It's now announced that it's filing civil suits against a pair of Fortnite cheaters who repeatedly open new accounts - in the case of one player, nine times - in order to continue cheating and stream sniping in the game after they've been banned.
Perhaps the more aggressive response is because of the more aggressive stance these cheaters have on it. They actually pay money for a botting service from Addicted Cheats. Costing a few dollars a month, the cheating service offers aimbotting and other hacks, as well as a customer support system that helps identify servers with streamers playing so that they can stream snipe.
Epic claims that using a service like Addicted Cheats' is a higher level of cheating, as it involves manipulating the source code of the game to offer outcomes not possible with traditional hacks and cheats. In its civil suit, it claims that this means the cheat is in breach of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Epic Games said in a statement (via Kotaku), "When cheaters use aimbots or other cheat technologies to gain an unfair advantage, they ruin games for people who are playing fairly. We take cheating seriously, and we’ll pursue all available options to make sure our games are fun, fair, and competitive for players."
This doesn't appear to have perturbed the cheaters though. They claim that it's fun to stream snipe and to cheat, even when you're paying for the privilege and they have no plans to stop.
Perhaps it will take being taken to court to change that.
