Hi Mopar man -Sorry, I'm not sure what a k/d ratio is. Killing enemies to Dying yourself?
BF2 did calm down after they added Punkbuster and cleaned up the hacked weapons and armor.
That was one thing Atari didn't bother with with Test Drive Unlimited 2. They stopped any future hacks by making the 'trainers' not work. Unfortunately the existing file hacks on the CommunityRacing Center player created challenges remain. There, you pay an entry fee to try a player created challenge. If you hold the best time or speed when the challenge ends -each has a set time it is active for from a few hours to days or weeks- you win the posted payout. If nobody wins, the creator gets 10% of the money others paid as entry fees to try the challenge. The hack is when you beat a challenge and then a few seconds before the time runs out where you are supposed to win the reward money, the cheaters go in and change the times to reclaim the top slot remain. They don't even re-rece the event, just change the times in the file. The event times out, you don't get a prize and you can't try again while the cheater gets a big payday. A variation is the cheaters run a course to create an event with a hacked car that can't spin out and/or has insane top end. It costs to try the race and once you pay you can't get your fee back after you figure out the course is impossible to run in a legit car. It's pretty obvious when it was a hacked car that created it.
Many other hacks already operational in the game stayed- the hacked cars, the mega multi-million dollar bank accounts, the records, and all that the cheating gained are still there. The most in your face thing is Atari never cleaned off any of the challenge leader boards so all of them have the first couple hundred or more fastest times as all zeros from a hack that stopped the timer in any timed event. The game ranking leader boards are a monum,ant to cheaters as well. Players win an event, many with hacked cars, or set a top time and claim the top spot in the list. But, they never go back online under that account so nobody can challenge them. Since there is no time limit for holding a top or any position, it's forever. You don't have to re-establishing yourself and you will never lose that ranking because you have to be beaten in a challenge by another player. If you are never there to be challenged, you can't ever lose!
The rest of what I wrote about is simply players in the club part of the game showing poor sportsmanship. You have to start a club to advance in the game. You have to raise money, challenge other clubs to events, etc. Many clubs have a street gang mentality and cheating and dirty tricks are the norm. Cutting across infields to regain the lead, other club members obstructing other racers by blocking cars behind them by staying still when the race starts are all common. By the time you get around them you lose 15 or 20 seconds which is very hard to get back. Competitors clubs will have members who will intentionally wreck the opposition. There are clubs where every single car is hacked. It's an ugly scene.
It does seem like every game I have played online that requires interaction between human players has had some bad experiences for me. Even going back to Rainbow 6 I remember a couple teams where the people would ask in other people to get enough to make the full team. Then as soon as the game started a couple of them would immediately kill everyone else on the team and play out the game by themselves.They did that to me twice after which i refused to play with them
I worked with a guy who was into playing some kind of war shooter where kills would earn rank and rank would open up new weapons and armor and enhance skills. He had this thing worked out with another player where they would take opposite sides and take turns killing each other with different weapons and tactics so each was able to max their levels in a few game sessions. No doubt he was cheating himself more than other players but it still made me wonder how many others were doing it as well. Gold farming wouldn't be an issue if there weren't players willing to take the easy way.
I remember reading an article some time ago in a gaming magazine where a high school teacher asked his students who played what constituted a good video game. The main response was the ease with which you could hack it or use cheats to gain an advantage. When asked if they didn't feel it was unfair to those who didn't cheat the response was "too bad for them". The answer to what was the most enjoyable part of playing the response was exactly what I have seen- screwing with other players and making it difficult if not impossible to play ultimately ruining their enjoyment of the game.
Don't even get me started on GTAIV! Talk about non-stop chaos! In multiplayer on that game no matter what map or what purpose the room or whatever has, it's a total free for all everywhere. GTAIV is also hands down the game with the most racial slurs and racist comments of ANY on line game I have ever seen. I think it's that way because despite its rating there are a lot of young males on it.
l'm still trying to decide between BF3 and Modern Warfare 3 when it comes out. So far it seems like BF3 has the better graphics and engine. People say MW3 is more of the same old stuff from previous CoD games. I have heard both having story lines that were kind of sloppy and and difficult to understand at times. I heard the single player part of BF3 wasn't too bad but I have heard very little about MW3 other than the beta stuff and what was shown at various shows. I expected BF3 was going to have server issues and they did, but it's supposedly sorted out now.
I think I may just fight the urge to buy either one now and wait to see how they stack up against each other after both have been in service for a couple months. I'm sure somebody will do a detailed comparison.
What are your thoughts on BF3 so far?