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Expected Date (Sep 1, 2006)

When can we expect Punkbuster?

Aaron “Darkscribe” Cohen, Producer: We are working hard to launch the public beta in September, taking care of some remaining polish issues. We don’t want to launch even the beta version until we feel it’s ready. As soon as we have a beta launch date, we will announce on www.uo.com.

PunkBuster Testing - ETA (August 4, 2006)

How is the Punkbuster testing coming? Do you have an ETA on when we could expect to be able to try it out?

Darkscribe: PunkBuster public beta testing should begin in August. We are almost set to go. We’ve been testing it in-house and have made some improvements that should make it extremely easy to install and use. Keep in mind, as I’ve promised, if it doesn’t work as well as we’d like, or if it causes problems for regular, honest players, we will delay its full launch or not use it at all.

Going After Cheating (w/o PunkBuster) (July 7, 2006)

Grats on the 15 Trillion gold. Besides PunkBuster, do you have more plans to combat cheating in UO along these lines?

Darkscribe: Yes. PunkBuster is obviously our most public effort to combat cheating. There will also be a couple efforts you won’t hear about until after they are complete, much like this recent operation. Our goal is to make sure players who play by the rules are rewarded for their hard work.

Internal PunkBuster Testing (July 7, 2006)

How are things going with internal PB testing?

Darkscribe: Very well. We should be able to announce beta dates soon. We’ve made a few changes to how the client interface will work, to make it even more clear that PunkBuster is an optional install. Overall performance is looking good across a variety of different configurations and bandwidths.

PunkBuster and Screenshots (June 30, 2006)

Why does PunkBuster need to reserve the right to publish screenshots of the UO game window? What would this be used for?

Tony Ray, Founder of PunkBuster: Screenshots are requested by server admins and are returned to the server that the player joined. Each server admin can decide if he/she wants to request screenshots and also what to do with any that are returned. The screenshots taken by PunkBuster are only of the game window, not the user’s desktop or other programs running. Our comments about this activity are to inform players that the server admin makes decisions regarding captured screenshots so that they can avoid servers that take screenshots if they so desire.

Screenshots never come to Even Balance directly. We do not use screenshots for banning purposes, etc. But some server admins use screenshots to catch cheaters who use visually based hacks (i.e. where evidence of a hack shows up on the screen while it is running). If the UO team decides to request screenshots via PB, they will also decide what to do with those screenshots. Those decisions are completely out of our hands.

Some admins publish screenshots to a website as a form of shaming punks who were caught cheating on their servers. Also admin community groups such as punksbusted.com publish screenshots among their membership when they catch punks cheating on their servers.

Note from the UO Team: We have no intention of publishing screenshots taken with PunkBuster. However, we currently can monitor what happens in UO, and have the right to publish screenshots we take already, so PunkBuster doesn’t really change anything here. Also, we currently do not plan to use the screenshot function at this time.

PunkBuster, EULA, Privacy (June 30, 2006)

The PunkBuster EULA sounds very broad reaching in terms of what it allows Even Balance to do with a user’s computer. However, the privacy policy is narrower in scope and spells out that full hard drive scans won’t take place and that private data isn’t transmitted to the PunkBuster server. What is the reasoning behind the difference between the two, and is the privacy policy legally binding? (e.g., could PunkBuster one day decide to start uploading my financial records and reading them because of what’s in the EULA?)

Tony Ray, Founder of PunkBuster: Our EULA spells out in no uncertain terms exactly what PunkBuster is permitted to do from a contractual standpoint. In no case would it protect against breaking U.S. or Texas laws (which I believe the example question about financial records pertains to). The reason the EULA has to be so broad is that PB must be permitted to look at anything and everything on the computer. Otherwise, cheat/hack authors would design and write their hacks to avoid detection by masquerading as “private data” or whatever PunkBuster is designed to not look at.

Running any software program involves a level of trust whether or not the end-user acknowledges that to be the case. Contrast our EULA with licenses of other software that people download and run all the time - you never really know what a program or operating system is going to do until it happens, if even then. Our goal is to be up front and explain exactly what measures PB may take in order to provide as level a playing field as possible for all participants who desire to compete in a cheat free environment.

On the other hand, our Privacy Policy was written as more of a plain language expression of our intents and purposes (as opposed to a legal agreement). We follow our Privacy Policy as a matter of business integrity and to maintain our treasured reputation among end-users and our clients. It is the standard against which we believe all anti-cheat software should be measured. I couldn’t really speak to whether it is legally binding from a technical standpoint as I have no background in judicial training, but we consider it to be so in practice. Its main purpose is more to answer questions about how PunkBuster actually operates in the real world rather than to define legal liability.

PunkBuster and the non-PunkBuster shard (June 23, 2006)

What if I play on the non-PunkBuster shard and want to play on a shard that has PunkBuster (or vice versa)? Will we have some way to transfer for a limited time?

MrTact: We are actively discussing this issue. Our thinking right now is that we would provide a way for players to transfer their characters in order to play on the PunkBuster-enabled or -disabled ruleset of their choice. There are obviously some complications with that scenario involving Siege and Mugen, but we have plenty of time to work out those details.

Non-PunkBuster shard (aka “Devil’s Island”) (June 23, 2006)

You said that a possible “Devil’s Island” shard might allow scripting? What about other cheat programs? Does that mean it would be a “free for all” shard with no rules?

MrTact: We have considered making it almost complete anarchy, and writing new Term of Service to allow for at least one shard with fewer rules about third-party programs and other currently restricted gameplay behaviors. However, we haven’t made any firm decisions yet.

PunkBuster and Cheating (June 23, 2006)

I heard that PunkBuster is not very effective against cheats?

Wilki: While there isn’t a method that can guarantee a 100% cheat-free environment, PunkBuster is a tool that will help us eliminate most cheating in the game. Most cheaters in UO download their cheats from public websites on the internet. PunkBuster will prevent these types of cheaters from being able to cheat in UO. While there will be a small number of sophisticated cheaters that will be able to fly under the radar for awhile before they’re found, with the vast majority of cheaters removed from the game, they will be much easier to track down.