Reports are spreading within the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare community of multiplayer cheats going unpunished. A player named Straiyan is said to have been “plaguing Australian Ground War servers for weeks” according to a highly upvoted post on Reddit. The post includes a recording of Straiyan in action, with what appears to be clear evidence of an aimbot type of cheat. Modern Warfare players are asking how someone who they claim is very clearly cheating has not been banned yet.
The clip in question shows an inarguable example of cheating. The player recording the clip is killed by an unseen foe, with the deathcam showing how Straiyan’s cheat works. Straiyan is shown simply having their reticle jump instantly from target to target across the map. This includes enemies fully 180 degrees behind where the player is currently aiming. A later death even shows the player running in the opposite direction, only to turn and instantly kill the player as soon as they become targetable.
A second clip was then shared by another player showing another cheater who had yet to be banned using the exact same cheat. The cheater in question has a different name, Sniffles in this case, but employs the same strategy of finding a high position on a Ground War map and letting the cheat do the work. It targets enemies as soon at they become targetable, killing them near instantly.
Modern Warfare utilizes both automated and hands-on banning systems. The vast majority of bans are handled via automation, with accounts either instantly banned when they try to use third-party cheat software or through player reports triggering automatic bans. Alternatively, reports can also presumably be viewed by moderators and banned manually. Somehow this new third-party cheat software isn’t flagging an automatic ban and the players’ reports aren’t being seen as genuine.
Obviously, both players should be banned. There’s little doubt of that fact given the evidence at hand. Somehow the cheat both players are using has bypassed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s automated anti-cheat systems. Whether that’s evidence of the quality of the anti-cheat system or of the cheats, it’s unclear. Regardless, many Modern Warfare players don’t view these players as being unbanned as acceptable. Hopefully, Infinity Ward will respond quickly and ensure these new cheats result in instant bans going forward.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
