You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 443

The struggle between cheating and anti-cheating is a long one. Since the day when online games were born, cheating has been an indelible nightmare. The devil is one foot high and the road is ten feet higher, and it has been a nightmare until now.

In the early stages of online game development, R&D companies mainly relied on passive defense to combat plug-ins.

Online game developers mark popular plug-ins on the market with a characteristic code, and then use this characteristic code to detect them.

If the user uses plug-ins, the signature code will be identified and the corresponding processing will be carried out.

Including but not limited to pop-up warnings, forced account offline, temporary and permanent account suspension, etc.

In the early days of the development of the domestic online game market, plug-ins were extremely rampant, and basically every online game was harassed by plug-ins.

Early online games had many loopholes due to the lack of technical ability and experience of R&D personnel, which could be easily exploited by plug-in makers to develop corresponding plug-ins.

Some online games don’t even require special plug-ins and can be modified directly using a stand-alone cheating tool such as “Kingsoft Gamer”.

In 2011, there was an incident in League of Legends where a player used a ce-type modifier similar to "Kingsoft Ranger" to find the CD reduction keyword about talents in the client data, and then broke the upper limit of the CD reduction of talents, making all summoner skills have no CD.

In just three days, the vulnerability spread from China to North America and Europe.

Players discovered that a similar method could be used to modify the selling price of character skins, and the official then urgently updated to correct the bug.

This is caused by lack of experience, and the BUG was exploited.

Some online games, such as Korean online games, are the kind that are known to have problems but no changes are made.

South Korea has laws against the production and use of plug-ins. Even the use of plug-ins is illegal, so this makes it extremely difficult for black industries such as private servers and plug-ins to survive in South Korea.

On the other hand, in order to save server resources (in simple terms, to save money), Korean online games place a lot of data on the client side.

As a result, Korean game teams do not pay enough attention to security protection when developing games, and generally pay more attention to aspects such as picture performance and smoothness.

From the perspective of game development, most Korean game producers are planners or artists, and the team does not pay enough attention to programming, which leads to the inherent weakness of Korean online games in terms of security.

As soon as Korean online games leave Korea, this almost defenseless state is immediately distorted by plug-ins and turned beyond recognition.

Players in China who have played Korean online games have experienced harassment by players who use cheats.

From the earliest Legend, Offline City and Warriors, Tower of Cheats, Cross Fire, to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Korean online games have become synonymous with the rampant use of cheats.

The rapid decline of Korean online games is not only due to the rapid rise of Chinese online games, but also has a lot to do with their own complacency and short-sightedness in research and development.

Chinese online games have also experienced harassment and attacks from plug-ins, but domestic R&D personnel will actively respond, constantly patching loopholes and improving protection technology.

Through continuous updates, iterations and experience accumulation, a lot of security measures have been taken against plug-ins during online game development.

Except for FPS games, plug-ins are rarely seen in other online games.

As early as the early stages of the development of "Warring States OL", Qin Shaoyan specifically discussed the issue of plug-ins with Fan Xiaoqian.

Although Qin Shaoyan is not a technical programmer, he has learned a lot from what he has seen and heard. At least he knows where negligence and loopholes may occur.

What types of plug-ins will the other party use and how the R&D personnel respond.

He shared all his experience and knowledge from fighting plug-ins in his previous life with others, just to help programmers avoid taking detours.

After all, the price paid for every bug and operational error in online games is real money.

Fan Xiaoqian had already formulated response strategies for various plug-in situations and quickly figured out the feature code.

"In 20 minutes, that is, at 10 o'clock, the server will be updated. All departments should be prepared." Fan Xiaoqian said loudly, "Are there any bugs you missed? Is the operation and maintenance department ready?"

The head of the operation and maintenance department nodded and made an OK gesture. Fan Xiaoqian looked at the operation department and said, "The operation department is going to issue an announcement to provide compensation to all players."

"Manager Zhou, there will be a large number of account bans after the update, and you must also prepare for the response."

Zhou Yuan was very calm. "We have already issued a notice to warn players that using cheats will result in their accounts being stolen or banned. If they are banned, they will file an appeal themselves."

"That's good." Fan Xiaoqian looked at Qin Shaoyan again, "Then I'll get started."

"Then let's do it!" Qin Shaoyan said with a smile, "Let the players see our determination to combat cheating."

Then Qin Shaoyan turned to Zhou Yuan and said, "We will unblock those VIP players who were mistakenly blocked one by one according to their recharge amount."

"I see, Mr. Qin." Zhou Yuan replied immediately, "Our customer service staff have already completed the relevant training and will appease VIP customers."

"It's not enough to appease them. We also need to warn them not to think that they can do whatever they want just because they have paid money." Qin Shaoyan said seriously, "If they dare to come back again, I will ban them during the battle for supremacy in the Imperial City. Even banning them for just one day will be enough for them."

Zhou Yuan laughed, "They will understand. After all, the final right of interpretation lies with us."

At exactly ten o'clock, all online players of "Warring States OL" suddenly found themselves disconnected.

However, they didn't care. The network was not good these days, and disconnection, lag, and high network latency were all normal phenomena. Moreover, they quickly logged into the game again, so no one cared.

As soon as they returned to the game, they received an official notification from the game, "Due to fluctuations in the network of the computer room where the server is located, some players were disconnected. The official decided to issue certain rewards as compensation. Please understand."

The players were even happier when they saw that there were compensation rewards. They had encountered disconnections several times in recent years, and no one had asked for compensation. However, it was different when the game officials took the initiative to give it.

Moreover, the official was very generous and gave some props and 1.5 times the experience pills. Players wished that the network fluctuations would come more often.

But some players can't be happy anymore because their accounts have been banned.

Soon, a player posted a complaint in the "Warring States OL" forum, saying that the official had blocked his account without any investigation.

The authorities responded quickly and immediately issued an announcement, "Announcement on the crackdown on illegal third-party software."

"We have detected through technical means that some players use illegal software, which affects the balance and security of the game. For the legitimate rights and interests of the majority of players, we have banned the following game accounts."

"We will not show any mercy in our official crackdown on cheating. Anyone found using cheating will be dealt with immediately. Please cherish your account."

“We would like to advise all players again that using illegal software is extremely risky and you should not let criminals take advantage of you and cause your account to be lost.”

Players are accustomed to this kind of thing. Nowadays, which online game doesn’t have plug-ins? There is no sympathy for players who are banned for using plug-ins, and they just stand by and watch.

Some VIP users who made recharges cursed a lot, but they also knew they were in the wrong. Their only request to customer service was to unblock them and promise not to use plug-ins anymore.

The original storm of account suspension will pass quickly, after all, this situation is very common.

But soon the forum became lively again because "Warring States OL" released an announcement here.

《About the update notice of built-in auxiliary devices in the game》

"After thorough investigation and research, the game authorities found that there are many cheats on the market, most of which are implanted with Trojans, posing a great threat to the security of players' accounts."

“In order to protect players from harm and to enhance their gaming experience, the R&D team developed an internal assistance system.”

"The system includes functions such as automatic idle combat, automatic ring running tasks, automatic medicine drinking, and automatic pickup."

“The internal assistance system will be available after tomorrow’s update. Welcome everyone to try it out. We will open more convenient functions in the future, so stay tuned.”

As soon as the announcement came out, all the players were shocked and stunned.

Why do the functions in the internal assistance system look so familiar?

If you think about it carefully, isn't this an auxiliary plug-in?
In other words, the official of "Warring States OL" has released something similar to an auxiliary plug-in.

Players also claim to be knowledgeable, but online game manufacturers make plug-ins for themselves... No, this thing should be called internal plug-in. I have never seen such a scene before.

Shi Yuzhu was also stunned for a long time when he saw the advertisement. He immediately called He Jinrui over and asked him face to face: "Do you know this internal auxiliary system?" "I know a little bit." He Jinrui quickly replied, "I heard about it from others before I left."

"Boss Qin...Shaoyan Qin said that instead of letting others make plug-ins, it would be better for us to make one ourselves. This way, players who need it can use it under our control."

Shi Yuzhu was a little confused, "Just give it to players like this?"

"This plug-in actually adds some convenient small functions. It plays a supporting role at most and has little impact on the balance of the game." He Jinrui replied, "And this plug-in requires payment to use, so not everyone can use it."

"It is most likely that it will be free for everyone to use for a while in the early stage, and then charged later."

Shi Yuzhu frowned, "He's doing this just to combat auxiliary cheats?"

"That's what he said." He Jinrui thought about it and hesitated, "But I think Mr. Qin has different ideas from others. He may have other purposes for doing this."

Shi Yuzhu immediately asked back: "How do you understand it?"

He Jinrui was stunned. How should I understand it?

Mr. Qin never told me about this, so how would I know what he was thinking?
He Jinrui felt sweat on his forehead. After thinking for a while, an idea suddenly occurred to him. "Boss Qin once said that online games will develop into fast food. Maybe this is his attempt."

"Online games are fast food?" Shi Yuzhu immediately became interested. "Tell me in detail what is the fast food of online games?"

"I don't understand this very well." He Jinrui was a little embarrassed. "Boss Qin means that in the past, paid online games tried every means to get players to spend more time in the game, while the model of free online games is to spend money to buy time."

"The more paying players spend, the longer the life of the game will be overdrawn, so the life of online games will be shorter than those paid online games. That's why a fast-food theory was proposed to squeeze out the life of online games in the shortest possible time."

He Jinrui only had a vague understanding of what he said, and Shi Yuzhu was also confused.

However, although he did not understand what fast food meant, he also found that this internal plug-in would indeed hit the auxiliary external plug-in.

Since I’m spending the same amount of money, why don’t I choose the officially recommended auxiliary system, but instead buy your auxiliary plug-in with Trojans?

In terms of charging and security, the official one is more reliable.

Shi Yuzhu discovered that the plug-in might not pose much of a threat, and he couldn't help but feel secretly shocked. Qin Shaoyan looked young, but his actions were really unexpected.

Could it be that this guy is really a genius in gaming?
After sending He Jinrui away, Shi Yuzhu called Wu Lian over.

A few minutes later, Wu Lian, covered in dust, left in a hurry.

……

Fan Xiaoqian rubbed her eyes tiredly and put her glasses back on. "Thank you both for your help."

As he spoke, he shook hands tightly with the two foreign players.

The server was attacked again just now, causing several servers to be paralyzed and the game had to be temporarily shut down for maintenance.

The two operation and maintenance technicians from NetEase were a little apprehensive. "Mr. Fan, you are too kind. We didn't help much."

Zhou Yuan immediately said, "Thank you for coming over. Let's not just stand there. Let's go eat something first."

"No, no, no, this is embarrassing."

"The food is already served. It will be a waste if you don't eat it. Let's go." Zhou Yuan said as he dragged the people away.

Fan Xiaoqian sighed, feeling a little angry. It was a hacker attack, one thing, but they had just received an email from someone who was blackmailing them.

The other party said that they had discovered a loophole in the game and demanded that the official pay 600,000 yuan, otherwise they would spread the loophole.

Of course, the price of 600,000 is not out of negotiation. You just need to give 60,000 yuan and the matter will be settled.

Fan Xiaoqian was so angry that she laughed when she saw those blackmail emails. Who are you talking to? Let alone 60,000 yuan, I won’t even give you 6 yuan.

There is no compromise on blackmail.

Fan Xiaoqian was full of complaints but didn't know how to vent them.

Qin Shaoyan comforted the rock singer again and called Xiong Jiajia who was far away in the United States in front of him.

"Can you guys please hurry up? My server is being hacked every day."

Xiong Jiajia also complained: "It's not that we don't want to hurry up, doesn't the FBI also need connections? I find that the United States is no different from China. If you don't spend money to find connections, they won't do anything for you."

Zhang Pingyi retorted to Xiong Jiajia, "Stop talking and get down to business."

"Why don't you tell me?" Xiong Jiajia was a little dissatisfied, but he still reported the situation honestly, "We have made some progress here."

"Zhang Tianshi posted a bounty for hackers in Silicon Valley, and someone contacted us right away, saying that he had a vulnerability in our server and offered to sell it to us for $200,000."

"We thought about buying the vulnerability first, but the FBI discovered through monitoring his emails that we were not the only buyers."

"This guy has a boss who is even better than him, and he is paid to find loopholes."

"He sells the same thing to two different companies."

Qin Shaoyan was overjoyed when he heard this. "So he has someone behind the scenes. That's great. Is the person behind the scenes in China?"

Xiong Jiajia replied: "Probably from China."

"That would be even better!" Qin Shaoyan was also a little anxious, "Can they be caught? When can they be caught?"

"Just wait for the news. The FBI here doesn't know how to arrange it yet." Xiong Jiajia complained, "What the hell is this FBI? They're so slow."

After hanging up the phone, Xiong Jiajia still complained, "Master Zhang, you said the FBI is awesome, but why do we do things just like old women?"

Zhang Pingyi sneered, "That's just advertising, please refer to the actual product for details."

"Fuck, I was looking forward to it before I came here, but it's not that good." Xiong Jiajia cursed, "How dare they take my money?"

"It's good enough that I can do something for you. There are so many people who want to spend money but don't have the means to do so." Zhang Pingyi said calmly.

It cannot be said that Davis was not working hard. He found the FBI through his connections, and the other party agreed to handle the case, but the prerequisite was that he had to pay more money.

Zhang Pingyi paid a total of $500,000 before the FBI began to cooperate and found a hacker through a reward.

The two parties quickly contacted each other via email and determined the transaction date and method.

Xiong Jiajia and Zhang Pingyi can only wait now. Xiong Jiajia is a little annoyed. "This guy is quite cautious and insists on cash. Has he watched too many movies?"

"Cash can be used to evade taxes. Otherwise, if you have extra money in the bank, it's easy for the IRS to target you," Zhang Pingyi explained. "Tax evasion in the United States is very dangerous. Two hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money."

"Hey, here it comes." Xiong Jiajia's mobile phone soon received a text message from the hacker, who asked him to put his pockets full of cash into a temporary storage cabinet at a station.

After communicating with the FBI, Zhang Pingyi and Xiong Jiajia stuffed the money into a bag and put it at a designated location.

Less than twenty minutes later, the FBI, who had been waiting for the opportunity, rushed forward and pinned the person who came to withdraw the money to the ground.

The hacker who was caught confessed very readily and gave out all his financial backers.

Qin Shaoyan was so happy when he got the news that the hacker was caught that he grinned. He wished the FBI would fly over immediately to negotiate, but he knew that was impossible.

It takes a long time to coordinate between different departments, not to mention that it involves multiple countries.

What he needs to consider next is how to expand the impact of this matter.

(End of this chapter)