Cyber purge: fines for cheating in games to be introduced in Russia
Russia is taking the first active steps towards legislative regulation of the fight against cheating in esports. Government agencies and experts emphasize the importance of introducing administrative liability for the use of prohibited programs, which should strengthen confidence in the new industry, attracting investors, sponsors and a wide audience. Together with technical and organizational measures, this will help create a transparent and fair gaming environment. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Law and Regulations — a new chapter in the fight against cheating
The Ministry of Sports supports the fight against unfair play in esports. They want to impose penalties for using banned cheats and special programs at tournaments, the State Duma told Izvestia. State Duma deputies propose fines for such violations. According to experts, about 80% of gamers now use cheating software, which harms the reputation of esports. The State Duma proposes to impose administrative fines of up to 30,000 rubles and to use technical means to prevent cheating.
Esports is a rapidly growing industry, and in it, as in classical sports, the factor of fair play becomes decisive. Senator Artyom Sheikin recalls that esports used to be perceived only as entertainment, but today it is a full-fledged industry with millions of active participants and large businesses.
— Trust is a key element: viewers need to be sure that the winner is the one with the best strategy and reaction, not the one who used cheats. Therefore, the introduction of fines is a natural step, similar to the control of doping in traditional sports," he says.
However, the fines imposed are only part of the mechanism. The parliamentarian notes that for fairness, clear, uniform rules are needed, including the procedure for fixing violations, conducting inspections, protecting athletes' rights and the possibility of filing appeals.
— The rules of fair play should be formed by the participants in the process: the Ministry of Sports, federations, organizers, teams, players and sponsors. Without such a comprehensive approach, sanctions will not inspire confidence," the senator continues.
Alexander Orlov, Associate Professor of the Department of Sports Law at the Kutafin Moscow State Law University and a member of the Russian Bar Association, noted that the proposed option is at an early stage of discussion and does not yet cover all participants in the sports process. According to him, the document does not take into account, for example, the role of special judges who evaluate equipment and inventory, although they are not directly involved in the competition.
In addition, the expert stressed that the criteria by which "cheating" programs will be defined and normalized remain unclear, so that standard technical means used in sports, such as equipment for weighing participants or for timing competitions, do not fall under this definition. It has also not yet been decided which government agency will be authorized to draw up protocols on administrative violations in such cases.
Technical arsenal and organizational control
Experts emphasize that legislation should be complemented by technical solutions. Artem Klozenikin, a senior lecturer at the Russian University of Sports GTSOLIFK, says that fixed fines and specifying violations will help resolve controversial issues during tournaments.
— But fines alone are not enough. Online competitions require a set of technical measures: anti-cheat systems, server validation, record control, standardization of procedures for checking equipment and identifying players," he notes.
In his opinion, with the advent of clear rules and responsibilities, the trust of the audience and partners will increase, which will reduce the risk of reputational losses.
"For the participants, this will be a signal of the maturation of the industry and an approach to the standards of traditional sports,— adds Slodenikin.
Director of the Association for the Development of Esports Infrastructure (ARKI) Pavel Golubev draws attention to the subtleties.
— It is important to determine exactly what counts as cheats. For example, programs to stabilize ping in the gray area, as well as circumventing disqualifications due to the lack of a common player registry.
He believes that computer clubs with technical capabilities could create a "sterile" environment where the use of cheats and modified devices is prohibited.
— The cheat market is a heavily invested business that is constantly being updated. Game developers are often late in this race. Watching thousands of online matches is physically impossible without technology and organization," says Golubev.
Cryptography and artificial intelligence — the Future of control
Digital technologies promise to take the fight against fraud to a new level. Dmitry Alexandrov, Head of the Immersive Technologies Committee of the ARPP, Head of GR at Atlantis, compares cheating control with anti-doping practices in traditional sports. Professionals, he notes, have already become accustomed to doping tests, and now we need to adapt this experience to the digital environment.
The expert notes that today not only classical anti-cheat systems are used, but also cryptographic methods: electronic signatures for verifying the software environment, verifying code based on the blockchain, secure telemetry channels and cryptographic logging to exclude substitution of match data.
"This will make fraud economically and technically meaningless and strengthen trust," the expert states.
In addition to cheating, it is important to control betting and match—fixing, a global problem that has spread to the entire global sports space. Alexandrov adds that artificial intelligence could effectively detect anomalies in the behavior of players during matches.
Practical problems and challenges of implementing measures
Alexander Shishenin, CEO of the Jeyjoy company, is confident that it is technically impossible to completely solve the problem of cheating.
— There are no 100% algorithms, the fight against hacking is a balance between efficiency and playability. Heuristic algorithms catch 80% of hackers, but this is not a panacea," he states.
The expert also notes the difficulty of introducing administrative responsibility due to the workload of law enforcement agencies and the question of who will investigate violations.
"The introduction of anti-cheat programs in online tournaments is not always commercially justified, and offline finals remain the most reliable way to eliminate the use of cheats," says the expert.
Ivan Ryabov, a leading engineer at Gazinformservice, shares successful examples of technical control on the Faceit platform for Counter-Strike 2.
"For example, we use secure client software and server analytics that detect anomalies, as well as we organize account verification using documents and facial recognition," he says.
Izvestia's interlocutor considers organizational measures to be equally important — the sanctions system should include not only fines, but also suspensions, up to a lifetime ban, which will become a powerful deterrent.
Legislative initiative and its prospects
The chief expert of UserGate uFactor, Ildar Sadykov, notes that now we are talking about creating an initiative to supplement the Administrative Code with an article on administrative responsibility for the use of prohibited programs at official esports tournaments.
Classic cheats, macros, and AI assistants fall under this definition. Fines of up to 30,000 rubles are being discussed, with the possibility of confiscation of equipment. But at the same time, the possibility of spreading criminal liability for fraud in esports based on the article of the Criminal Code on manipulation of competition results is being considered, he emphasizes.
"The government is trying to equate esports with traditional sports, equating cheating with doping," the expert notes.
Sergey Tingaev, manager of the practice of State and Social Initiatives at Reksoft Consulting, describes the "gold standard" of dealing with cheats through offline LAN tournaments with full equipment control and judicial supervision.
"Online tournaments can be brought closer to this level with the help of anti—cheat systems and monitoring, but it is expensive and difficult," he points out.
In addition, the expert emphasizes that the introduction of fines will increase the legal risk for players and will become an additional level of discipline protection.
— For beginners and semi-professional players, the prospect of facing the law will be a "cold shower" that will stop attempts at cheating for the sake of experiment.
In his opinion, the fight against cheating should be accompanied by monitoring betting and preventing match-fixing, which remain one of the biggest problems of the industry.
The press services of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation and the Russian Computer Sports Federation have not yet responded to Izvestia's requests.
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