AI features are coming to almost every piece of hardware you can think of, but when it gives you this much of an advantage wouldn't it be considered…cheating?
But it’s your hardware doing this? Are 3D-headphones illegal then, because of the massive benefit to aurally locating your enemy? Are hall-effect analogue keyboards illegal, due to the configurable much much shorter actuation distance? Etc, etc. Once it’s in hardware, it is a really interesting discussion where you place the cut-off.
You can’t even go "Once it has to actually know which game you’re playing, as profiles already work similar in gaming drivers, plus importantly most 3D audio is per-game optimized.
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And come to think of it, DLSS or FSR are also AI-powered frame-per-frame image analysis to add output to the existing image.
I think the difference is that hardware, like a 144 hz monitor, isn’t really making you better at the game, it’s just that what you had before was making you worse. If you get a 144 hz monitor and your aiming gets better, that’s not because the monitor made you better but because the 60 hz monitor, you had before, was holding you down.
There really isn’t a complicated discussion to be had unless you needlessly complicate things. There’s a big difference between having, say, better monitor or headphones in terms of resolution or sound quality vs having a monitor or headphones that add extra features.
It’s like saying that AR glasses that visualize a ball’s trajectory should be allowed in tennis or football because players can already invest in better rackets or shoes.
The detection problem is not unsolvable. First, you can forbid people that are using that monitor from matchmaking. You can find your monitor’s model number using software so that would be trivial. For a more nuanced approach, you can examine players’ reaction times and ban people that got too good too fast.
There are plenty of EDID blockers and emulators already on the market. Unfortunately, no, “find[ing] […] the monitor’s model number” is not as trivial as you may think, if somebody really wants to evade. It is quite trivial nowadays to spoof the EDID in hardware, without the software able to do anything.
But it’s your hardware doing this? Are 3D-headphones illegal then, because of the massive benefit to aurally locating your enemy? Are hall-effect analogue keyboards illegal, due to the configurable much much shorter actuation distance? Etc, etc. Once it’s in hardware, it is a really interesting discussion where you place the cut-off.
You can’t even go "Once it has to actually know which game you’re playing, as profiles already work similar in gaming drivers, plus importantly most 3D audio is per-game optimized.
(edit)
And come to think of it, DLSS or FSR are also AI-powered frame-per-frame image analysis to add output to the existing image.
Why would it matter if the cheat is from hardware or software?
I think the difference is that hardware, like a 144 hz monitor, isn’t really making you better at the game, it’s just that what you had before was making you worse. If you get a 144 hz monitor and your aiming gets better, that’s not because the monitor made you better but because the 60 hz monitor, you had before, was holding you down.
There really isn’t a complicated discussion to be had unless you needlessly complicate things. There’s a big difference between having, say, better monitor or headphones in terms of resolution or sound quality vs having a monitor or headphones that add extra features.
It’s like saying that AR glasses that visualize a ball’s trajectory should be allowed in tennis or football because players can already invest in better rackets or shoes.
The detection problem is not unsolvable. First, you can forbid people that are using that monitor from matchmaking. You can find your monitor’s model number using software so that would be trivial. For a more nuanced approach, you can examine players’ reaction times and ban people that got too good too fast.
There are plenty of EDID blockers and emulators already on the market. Unfortunately, no, “find[ing] […] the monitor’s model number” is not as trivial as you may think, if somebody really wants to evade. It is quite trivial nowadays to spoof the EDID in hardware, without the software able to do anything.
Analog kbs are causing quite a lot of debate in some games rn with what should and shouldn’t be allowed
I’m curious what the trackmania rulings are gonna be.