PLAYER PROTECTION UPDATE – OCTOBER 2024

Today we'll be sharing updates on some of the developments we're making on our Anti-Cheat systems. We've also got updates covering Anti-Toxicity, including some info on changes that we've already rolled out.

IN THIS UPDATE

ANTI-CHEAT

• Current Status
• Encryption - Binary Hardening
• MouseTrap
  • Detection Performance
  • MouseTrap PC Matchmaking
• QB System
• Ban Data

ANTI-TOXICITY

• Reputation System Refresh Update
  • How It Will Work
• Automated Text Chat Moderation
• Unfair Abandonment Penalties
• Teamkill Kick Deactivation
• DBNO RFF Deactivation
• Privacy Mode Nickname Acceptance
• Next Steps

CURRENT STATUS

The topic of cheating remains at the forefront for us here on the Rainbow Six Siege team. We're aware that cheating continues to affect high ranked players in most cases, however with the launch of Y9S3 seeing a decrease in cheating overall compared to S2, we know that we're finding the results needed to provide safer matches, more often. Below, we have updates on some of the topics we're working on, but not all; it's crucial that we're not giving any information away that could benefit cheaters.

ENCRYPTION - BINARY HARDENING

• Reminder: Binary hardening is the act of using encryption and hardening techniques to update the game code base and enhance security, and we've continued to deploy these updates to the game with each patch.

The launch of Y9S3 was a step forward in our efforts against cheating, with cheats being down for nearly an entire week. We can see that this was also felt by players, as we measured a stark decrease in cheater reports being submitted. Cheats are adapted over time however, and so while this was temporary, it does demonstrate that our hardening measures are having a meaningful impact in delaying the return of cheats. Previously, we also saw success in Season 2, when a security update resulted in a shorter delay to cheats coming back online.

While this is an ongoing challenge, the delays we've seen are encouraging and to this end we've implemented further security fixes ready for Siege Cup, to help us maintain a fair and competitive environment, which is a top priority for us. We will keep pushing hardening updates throughout Y9S3 and of course, beyond. As we progress further, we'll continue to share our findings with you.

MOUSETRAP - MOUSE & KEYBOARD DETECTION ON CONSOLE

• Reminder: MouseTrap is our console Anti-Cheat which works to detect devices that enable the use of mouse and keyboard.

MOUSETRAP - DETECTION PERFORMANCE

We've recently released an update to MouseTrap which has resulted in both an increase in detection performance and a reduction in false positives. As well as this, we're now completing tests for devices that aren't yet being recognized.

MOUSETRAP - PC MATCHMAKING

Since spoofing devices and controllers can be matched together, it's clear that frustration has remained. While working to release PC-Console Crossplay, which is coming in Y9S4, we've also been on track with its implementation into MouseTrap, which will force confirmed MnK users into PC matchmaking while automatically switching to the PC recoil values. We'll share more on this during the Season 4 reveal.

QB SYSTEM

• Reminder: The QB System is one of our custom-built Anti-Cheat solutions designed to reinforce hardening by distributing different game executables to players while preventing tempering.

Our top priority is ensuring the QB System stays robust in the fight against cheaters and cheat developers. Right now, our team is testing the next QB System Expansion prototype, and we'll provide more details soon about how this will impact players.

BANS - DATA BANS + BATTLEYE

BAN NUMBERS

Before moving to Anti-Toxicity below, here's an updated view on our 2024 ban data, including new data for July, August, and September:

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REPUTATION SYSTEM REFRESH - UPDATE

We are actively working on the refreshed Reputation System for Y9S4 and are in the balancing stages right now, ensuring that the actions we're tracking have a meaningful and fair impact. The focus of this system is to fulfil and stay true to our core pillars: transparency, understandability, and clarity. We know the system is already very complex, and we want to be sure to control its fairness before adding additional parameters, and so our mindset for this refresh is to "do less but do better", resulting in a system that's easier to understand and interact with.

HOW IT WILL WORK

This new system will feel different from the one you know, as we will be watching for negativity first, then positivity. Toxicity on its own will lead to a negative Standing, and positive behavior with minimal negativity will lead to a Standing of Exemplary. It's only in cases where a player is highly toxic over a number of matches that drastic Standing drops should be seen. Below are some extra details on the parameters, for full transparency of how the system will work:

• ACTIVE PLAYLISTS: Ranked, Standard and Quick Match (leaving a Quick Match will not impact Standing).
• REPORTS: Unverified reports will NOT have an effect on your Standing, only YOUR actions will.
• PENALTIES: Reverse Friendly Fire (RFF) and Abandonment Penalties will continue to be handled in the same way.
• COMMUNICATION: Negative communication-related actions will cause a player to be automatically muted for a predetermined number of matches.
• UI: We are redesigning the Reputation Center to further provide all information related to Standings and any problematic behaviors.
• STANDING IMPACTS: Impacts based on your Standing alone will only go live once the Reputation System leaves BETA.

WHEN WILL THE SYSTEM LEAVE BETA?

We have no estimated time for this, but it will only happen after Y9S4.

AUTOMATED TEXT CHAT MODERATION

In Y9S4, your in-game messages could be flagged or removed according to our acceptance threshold and we are currently balancing the automated detection to make it as fair as possible.

What will the threshold be? If you're unsure, ask yourself, "is this something I'd feel comfortable saying in a room with 9 other people that I don't know?". If it's something that's going to clash with that, then the chances are it could be flagged or removed. Remember though, your messages can also have a positive impact, so you can affect your Standing this way too!

UNFAIR ABANDONMENT PENALTIES

Receiving an abandonment penalty due to a game crash or disconnection can be frustrating, and so we've been working on the way we detect abandonments and game crashes, so that players in these situations receive fewer penalties overall. Detecting the difference between a real game crash and or an intended disconnection (a player purposefully forcing the game to close or lose connection) is a complex technical challenge, and we're constantly making improvements in this area. Of course, we're aware that these systems can often be used for abuse and so such changes are deployed tentatively. We are finding success in helping players however, as we were able to reduce the number of unfair abandonment penalties by two thirds with our latest update.

TEAMKILL KICK DEACTIVATION

Getting kicked from a match when multiple teamkills occur was deactivated in Y9S2, due to the feature being exploited. The deactivation worked as planned; we monitored teamkilling rates after this change and we've listened to your feedback throughout.

If you were concerned about a teamkilling increase: since the auto kick was deactivated, we've observed the following:

• Quick match: +0.6% of rounds impacted by at least one teamkill.
• Standard: +0.5% of rounds impacted by at least one teamkill.
• Ranked: +0.3% of rounds impacted by at least one teamkill.

To summarise, since the change was made, we've only seen a minor increase in teamkilling. It is still an increase though, and so we're not resting on these stats. We have future initiatives which are focused on decreasing these numbers.

DOWN BUT NOT OUT (DBNO) REVERSE FRIENDLY FIRE (RFF) DEACTIVATION:

This season, we deactivated a trigger which would result in the removal of RFF after reviving a teammate who was DBNO. As with the Teamkill Kick Deactivation, this removal comes after a clear pattern of abuse, where players were intentionally downing a teammate with the aim of reviving them right after. The RFF activation box is now triggered for the teammate when you down them.

PRIVACY MODE: NICKNAME ACCEPTANCE

We know that many of you love Privacy Mode, but we're also aware that some players use this feature as a tool for abuse, using offensive and unacceptable names. At the beginning of Y9S3, we updated our validation of nicknames making it much more robust, and this resulted in 12% of all nicknames in use at the time being removed from the game and reset to "Recruit". We'll be providing more updates to our validation in the future as necessary.

NEXT STEPS

We'll continue to provide updates on Anti-Toxicity and the Reputation System as we move forward. At this stage we're confident that our upcoming updates and features are going to improve the experience for a lot of players, but your feedback remains crucial. We can't wait to get many of our updates to you in-game, next season.