Apex Legends now names and shames cheaters in the kill feed
Electronic ArtsApex Legends has received a feature that publicly names and shames cheaters and hackers in the kill feed.
Shaming cheaters in games is nothing new, with many players having long taken pride in exposing those who break the rules. A few developers now actively participate in the practice, as well.
Earlier this year, for example, the Escape from Tarkov studio shared Google sheets filled with the handles of thousands of players who were caught using exploits.
Notably, cheaters in Call of Duty can no longer rely on the discretion of the franchise’s anti-cheat system, Ricochet. Thanks to an update, the software will flag cheaters/hackers by displaying the Ricochet logo next to the culprit’s name in the kill feed. Yet another major multiplayer title has since joined the name and shame club.
Apex Legends’ kill feed now exposes cheaters
On August 7, Apex Legends security developer and Twitter user Red Spider shared a glimpse of the shooter’s “new kill feed callout.”
The accompanying screenshot showed the Apex kill feed, with a warning symbol and the following text: “Red Spider was removed from the match.” Respawn officially added the feature to Apex Legends on August 8 alongside the Season 18: Resurrection update.
Clearly, this marks Respawn’s attempt at publicly flagging those who don’t play fairly. The security developer noted in a subsequent post, however, that the feature “respect[s] the users’ anonymous mode setting.” As such, if someone has the anonymous mode enabled, the kill feed will merely display player1234.
Again, the feature targeting Apex Legends cheaters went live earlier this week on August 8, so players should be able to identify those who’ve misbehaved.
Whether or not Respawn’s efforts on the hacking front will end here remains to be seen. But at least fans frustrated by the cheating issues can rest assured the studio is taking steps to improve the experience.