EA Patent Could Ban Players for Teaming Up With Opponents

We are back with another one of EA’s patents…

In recent times, EA Games has been working on and even patenting, technologies that will remove from the game any players who don’t follow the rules. Although the company believes that its patented system should not be used in online games, it will punish gamers who team up with their rivals. What a serious issue, right?

In a patent titled “DETECTING COLLUSION IN ONLINE GAMES,” EA proposes a method to determine if members of different teams are working together. The patent will prevent players from competing teams from working together to gain an unfair advantage. The seriousness of an offense may dictate the type of punishment imposed. Players that are secretly working together with opposing teams to achieve a common goal will be found out and finally punished for their actions. 

For helping your enemies, you may lose in-game progress, be excluded from the game, be suspended, or even be banned. It has not been decided whether or not the system will be implemented. However, the first place we’ll see this technology, if ever, is in EA’s first-person shooter titles.

Whether or not it is adopted, we may expect to see this technology spread to titles, other than EA’s Apex and Battlefield. It is possible that next multiplayer first-person shooter games from EA may include more intense and strategic competition if the company implements the technology it has proposed for use in such games. In other words, the patent, while extremely useful, has the potential to eliminate all of the fun that may be had from first-person shooter games.

The public’s reaction varied as the news spread, but it was mainly negative. The majority of them enjoy the game more because of the inclusion of such devious tactics. Their argument is that EA’s attention should be directed toward the anti-cheat engine first. Let us know what you think of this in the comments down below.