PUBG Wants Your Help To Stop Cheaters With PUBG Shield
It’s no secret that PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) has a cheater problem. In an attempt to alleviate this problem, PUBG Staff have created the PUBG Shield program. PUBG Shield is unique in that it is a player-driven anti-cheat initiative. Instead of relying purely on PUBG Staff to deal with cheaters, the playerbase itself is able to directly help identify and report suspected crooks.
Nothing in gaming is worse than having your game ruined by a cheater. Usually, the best you can do is report the alleged cheater in-game and hope for the best. Ordinarily, you’ll have no idea if your report did anything or not.
With PUBG Shield, players can take the fight to the cheater and play a real role in getting them off the sftreets and making them pay for their crimes.
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Click to enlargeHow Does PUBG Shield Work?
Players that register for PUBG Shield will gain access to special tools, a direct line of communication to PUBG Staff, and a community of like-minded players all driven to stop cheaters.
PUBG Shield members can do more than just submit reports. PUBG Shield members are able to review evidence submitted by other members and decide for themselves whether the accused cheater is guilty or not. Together, PUBG Shield members vote on the validity of shared evidence. Cases that have been voted on by a majority of the community will then be elevated to PUBG Staff for further review.
During the closed beta, PUBG Staff and the PUBG Shield community banned over 3,000 cheaters and hackers with near-perfect accuracy. With the open beta currently in process, PUBG players can hop in right now and assist PUBG Staff in laying down the law.
What Types Of Cheating In PUBG Can Be Reported?
PUBG players can use PUBG Shield to report suspected cheaters for the following offences:
- Cheating
- Usage of unauthorised programs and hardware devices that promotes unfair gameplay
- Teaming
- Cooperation of players not on the same team in order to cheat or deceive other players
- Exploiting bugs
- Users exploiting game errors and bugs for their own advantage
- Statistics Manipulation
- Intentionally exploiting game mechanics to manipulate in-game statistics
Initially, players could report verbal harassment, inappropriate in-game name, discrimination, teamkilling, and stream sniping. However, PUBG Shield was created with the intent to rid the game of the most serious offenders. Additionally, offences such as verbal harassment and stream sniping are harder to prove. Therefore, PUBG Staff decided that it would be more efficient to limit the number of reportable offences.
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Click to enlargeWhat Information Is Required In A PUBG Shield Report?
PUBG Shield participants must provide the following information in each report:
- Infraction type
- In-game nickname
- Platform
- Link to evidence of infraction as well as a PUBG Lookup link to the match in question where required
- A brief explanation of infraction/additional notes
Is PUBG Shield A Replacement For In-Game Reporting?
PUBG Staff will continue to deal with cheaters and hackers on their own and through PUBG’s in-game reporting system. There are already built-in systems with machine learning algorithms in use. According to staff, in-game reporting will always be the most efficient means to reporting cheaters.
Still, automated machines are far from fool-proof. There’s no denying that cheaters and hackers slip through the cracks. This is where PUBG Shield comes in. PUBG Shield’s ultimate goal is to collaborate with the community to eradicate cheaters. With the community's help, PUBG Staff can identify cheaters that bypass their automated systems and deal with them appropriately.
What’s Stopping Players From Abusing The PUBG Shield System?
Your first thought may be that this system sounds ripe for abuse. After all, how can you trust the community to identify cheaters accurately? Surely some innocent players will be caught in the crossfire. Thankfully, PUBG Staff has implemented some precautionary measures to make sure no innocent players are wrongly banned.
PUBG Shield has multiple levels to the reporting process. It’s not as simple as banning anyone that the community reports. For example, the community is able to vote and review individual reports. Reports that don’t make the cut as cheating will be filtered out before even reaching the eyes of official PUBG Staff. This ensures that staff are not overloaded with faulty and inconclusive reports.
Once a report has met the thresholds of legitimacy, a member of the PUBG Staff will make the final call. No one will be banned without the approval of an official staff member.
The requirements to ban a player are rather strict. PUBG Staff would rather let a cheater go than ban an innocent player. PUBG Staff claim they may relax the evidence requirements over time, but they plan to keep them high initially to ensure top-quality reporting and fairness.
Click to enlargeWhat Do I Get For Participating In PUBG Shield?
Along with the joy of being a good samaritan and helping the community, active PUBG Shield members will receive exclusive rewards for their efforts. Additionally, there is a PUBG Shield leaderboard. The program’s most active users on both Steam and Console will be showcased on a Leaderboard page.
How Do I Join PUBG Shield?
Players interested in joining the PUBG Shield program can head to SHIELD.PUBG.COM to register for the open beta. Furthermore, players can join the official PUBG Discord channel to engage with the PUBG Shield community and provide feedback on the program.
It’s time to get out there and hunt down those pesky cheats. The plethora of hackers and cheaters in PUBG is one of the most common complaints heard from the community, and rightfully so. Now there’s something you can do about it.
Images via PUBG Corporation
