BF2 stat-padders stopped

By Ellie Gibson Published 2 September, 2005

By a very cross EA.

Electronic Arts is taking a stand against naughty Battlefield 2 players who've been using shady tactics to improve their stats.

The rascals have been establishing ranked servers with rules that see players only using knives and pistols, and reviving each other without taking flags.

This means the game saves stats more quickly than normal and players rise through the ranks at a speedier rate - giving them fast access to extra weapons and more chance of beating other would-be commanders to the role.

Battlefield 2 primary tester Colin Clarke sent an email out to ranked servers earlier this week which read: "We have noticed an increase in behaviour where leased servers are being used by clans solely to pad players' stats - even to the extent where clans are institutionalising rules that forbid normal play."

The result is an unlevel playing field, argued Clarke, and therefore such behaviour contravenes the game's terms of service.

EA has said it will take no prisoners - anyone found playing on one of the servers in question will have their stats deleted, and other accounts with the same clan tag will be investigated to see if their owners have also been up to no good. You have been warned...

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • Kingsadist #1 7 years ago

    Great. So, if anyone accidentally joins one of these servers, not intent on stad-padding, they get their stats deleted? Nice and rubbish, EA...

  • Machiavel #2 7 years ago

    This reminds me that one of the sports of Xbox360 watching will be what ingenious ways people try to pad/cheat and glitch their way to 'impressive' stats on their 'blades'...

  • kangarootoo #3 7 years ago

    Oh come on Kingsadist, they aren't going to bloody do that are they? I'm sure they will apply some degree of comon sense and fairness. And I thought I was bad for making grumpy posts without reason.

    I know its EA, and I'm no particular fan of theirs, but they don't set out to annoy gamers you know. That wouldn't be good business sense.

  • Hunam85 #4 7 years ago

    Do what i do, play on offical EA servers, there paying for them to be there so you might aswell use them, get your monies worth off EA

  • jumpdeveraux #5 7 years ago

    There is no stat system that is unexploitable, someone will always find a way to exploit the underlying stat mechanics.

    In BF2 I only look at my personal stats. The damage has been done for BF2's leaderboards which have been meaningless since a few days after launch.

    As EA with their ranking scheme are likely to roll the ranks into future products (given how many points required to reach highest ranks - without exploiting) the problem isn't going to go away.

    Agree with Machiavel that it will be interesting watching how quickly the 360 leaderboards get trashed.

  • glaeken #6 7 years ago

    The biggest stat exploit is the having no life exploit ;) Any game is susceptible to this exploit. Just look at the top guys on the BF2 leader board and the hours they play per day to get to that position.

    Ok playing 10 hours a day is not strictly speaking an exploit but any stats system on a game that ranks players will attract players that do exactly this which means for the causal gamer ranking in games is meaningless.

  • Psi #7 7 years ago

    oh bloody hell EA stop being so wet :p "it's my ball and im taking it home!"

    who cares if someone gains their level's quicker

  • kangarootoo #8 7 years ago

    "who cares if someone gains their level's quicker"

    Errr.... the other players that they then shoot with the upgraded weapons? I don't play BF2 so I mnight be misunderstanding, but isn't that how it works?

  • Darkedge #9 7 years ago

    been on a sever like this - all is does is point out that they FUCKED UP the scoring system.

  • Kingsadist #10 7 years ago

    @kangarootoo(great name!):

    Well, I'm sure they'll 'investigate' people's stats first, but seeing as the stat-system is totally out of line anyway, they will probably punish loads of people unfairly anyway. Take my stats, for example; I've barely been playing for a week (due to the fact that I had to get a new card), and it says I've spent over a hundred hours playing, while I've played scarcely an hour or two each day. Apparently, I've spent over 123 hours on the US side. Which is utter rubbish.

    Add to that one promotion (on my first day, even) and a couple of awards, and perhaps they will think that I 'exploited' the game in some way. Meaning, gone are all the points and everything that I worked rather hard for (and that while I mostly play as a Medic, a class designed to HELP PEOPLE! \end drama\).

  • glaeken #11 7 years ago

    Kingsadist you sure you have not just got that strange issue where your stats go all weird for a day or two? A few times I have logged in and had something like a billion points but it goes back to normal the next day. When that happens it does not display your player name from the stats page so the whole thing is screwed but it does go back to normal.

    As to the unlock weapons in general they don't give much of an advantage. They tend to just be different to the defaults and so require different techniques rather than being out right better.

  • Psi #12 7 years ago

    yeah kangarootoo but the kind of people that will be doing this are the same type of power gamers that will put hours in every night and reach max level in no time anyway. To casual gamers etc i don't really see this as a big deal. Put in a cheat to give them all the weapons and they'll stop doing it.

  • Yama #13 7 years ago

    That's just a glitch in reading the stats server. It gets gibberish and displays it, but has no impact on your actual stats, so don't worry about it when it happens.

    Also, the unlockable weapons are slightly better than the regular ones, but not by a significant factor. The reward of an unlocked weapon is that it's another option that may perform better in certain situations, rather than an across-the-board boost in power (ie. I unlocked the PKM medium machine gun, and it does far more damage than the light machine guns, but it's rate of fire is 50% slower. So I can now put lots of big holes in unarmoured vehicles, but my effectiveness against infantry hasn't really improved).

  • PearOfAnguish #14 7 years ago

    The idea of ranks and unlocks was flawed from the start. The moment you offer incentives like that you're inviting competitive players and hackers who will do anything just to get those stripes or a different weapon, while casual players feel like their missing out and may be tempted to cheat just to get ahead. Track stats, that's a good idea, but why bother with the ranking?
    It's also screwed up the servers. Go take a look at unranked servers and see how many people are playing them. Nobody plays unranked anymore, which means it's pointless spending money on anything but a ranked server. Except then you're paying a lot more for the privilage and you have less control. No silly gravity or extreme servers with BF2.

    "Errr.... the other players that they then shoot with the upgraded weapons? I don't play BF2 so I mnight be misunderstanding, but isn't that how it works?"

    The unlocks aren't better, just different.

  • davyuk #15 7 years ago

    EA has said it will take no prisoners

    Maybe they should. That'll stop them.

  • zErOb_cOOl #16 7 years ago

    Its good to see after a company (even EA, bloody hell!) releases a game, they still offer support to players, frankly.

    I mean it wouldn't be that unreasonable if a games company just said "How is it our fault if people are cheating? Its nothing to do with us." So this action which, at the end of the day, will cost EA money one way or another, is actually commendable.
    Edited by zErOb_cOOl at 02/09/05 @ 15:22

  • kangarootoo #17 7 years ago

    @Kingsadist

    Ah, I didn't realise there were issues like that with their scoring system. So I understand your fears that the person doing the checking may not take current glitches into account. Unlocking stuff is always cool, whatever the game, so I guess the risk of that happening is something to be jumpy about.

    @Psi

    Good point. Like I said, I haven't played BF2 so I am just kind of winging it here ;)

    @davyuk

    lol, nice one.

  • Kingsadist #18 7 years ago

    Let me say, first and foremost, that I am grateful, somewhat, that EA is at least doing SOMETHING. No, I dont think they are the Most Evil Company On Earth(tm), but I do consider them a bunch of cash-in nancy's (whatever that means).

    In my case, my stats have appeared to be wrong from the start. I started noticing these things (the excessive over-playing it registered, among others) a few days after I started playing, and they are still there. I play almost exclusively as a medic (switching to AT every now and then) but it registers me as have played dozens of hours as an AT-soldier. The whole thing is about 20% WRONG, plain and simple, and I dread the thought of being punished for a mistake I did not make (following, perhaps, one I did make, like not understanding the stats-system or entering the wrong server).

    As for ranking, the idea basically is not wrong, but the community's reaction mostly always is. Unlocking stuff is cool; the content does not sway the gentle balance of the different factions and being rewarded for hard work is always fine.
    But whatever, as long as I can still PLAY the game, I'll be fine.

    Now where's my Prozac?
    Edited by Kingsadist at 02/09/05 @ 15:53

  • Furbs #19 7 years ago

    /wouldnt touch a ranked server with yours

    (yours being anyone reading, not a specific individual)

  • Tiger_Walts #20 7 years ago

    Wow, EA taking a leaf out of Blizzard's book.

  • Pablo2k5 #21 7 years ago

    PearOfAnguish said... "The unlocks aren't better, just different"

    Are you seriously telling me the locked sniper weapon isn't better than the standard??? LOL
    I've played with two of the locked weapons and they are both FAR more powerful! FACT.

  • Stu #22 7 years ago

    The sun's shining outside, y'know. Do these people not having anything better to do?

  • Macross #23 7 years ago

    no

  • Xerx3s #24 7 years ago

    "This reminds me that one of the sports of Xbox360 watching will be what ingenious ways people try to pad/cheat and glitch their way to 'impressive' stats on their 'blades'... " - *CO-halo2statboostingcheat-UGH*

  • asphaltcowboy #25 7 years ago

    "Great. So, if anyone accidentally joins one of these servers, not intent on stad-padding, they get their stats deleted? Nice and rubbish, EA..."

    Well, I think it means that if you notice a lot of people stad-padding on the server you're on, you should leave. Pretty common sense. And a good idea too... it'll mean they don't get decent use of their server by other players outside the clan and it'll be all the more noticable to EA that they're cheating. Win-win I say.

  • Tiger_Walts #26 7 years ago

    Really, the IP of the offending server shoul be blocked from updating stats for a month or something.

  • kangarootoo #27 7 years ago

    "people with relatively low ranks and stats are kicking my ass left and right. to me it seems they all cheat, but the truth is, i simply suck"

    I hear you brother :)

  • olesfar #28 3 years ago

    i really dont see the problem, so people pads a bit to get their weaponunlocks and so what.??? it will not make them better players anyway, now they are just on even foot whith other players weaponwise...they still have to learn how to use tactics, tvg, jets, and so on the hard way...thats just my apenion ;o)