AI-Powered Yet No Escape from Law: New Evolution and Legal Warnings of Game Cheat Crimes
- James Godefroy
- 6 hours ago
- 4 min read
You're trying to play your favourite competitive online multiplayer game on a Friday evening only to find that your server is full of hackers and you get headshot every few seconds at max range, through a wall. You report the cheaters but wish there would be more punishments coming their way.. .well now you may be delighted on the following legal developments in China regarding prosecution of game cheating crimes.
Amid the vigorous development of online multiplayer games, game cheats have always been a persistent problem undermining the industry ecosystem. Such cheating programs not only impair players' experience of fair competition but now have also been found to cross the legal red line. From traditional cheats to new - type ones empowered by AI, the modus operandi has been constantly upgraded, yet the essence of illegal and criminal acts remains unchanged.
Recently, the cyber security department of the public security bureau in Yingtan, Jiangxi, successfully solved a criminal case involving game cheats. Prior to this, the public security organs had continuously received reports from the operator of a certain game and a large number of players, reflecting the large - scale use of cheats on the platform, which seriously disrupted the fair order of the game. After in - depth investigation, the police quickly identified a criminal gang composed of Cheng, Liu and Long. The gang jointly developed a game cheating software. To expand sales, they openly promoted the cheating functions of the software through live streaming, and launched various paid products such as permanent cards, weekly cards and daily cards to attract players to buy. What was even more malicious was that the gang also publicly taught methods of illegally invading the game company's servers during the live streams.
During this period, they illegally tampered with the game data on the servers more than 900,000 times, and the maximum number of concurrent viewers in the live streams exceeded 2,000. This was found to have caused adverse impacts on the industry and brought direct economic losses of over 1.3 million CNY to the game company. After the case was solved, Cheng and Liu were sentenced in accordance with the law by the court, while Long was given an administrative penalty of 10 days of administrative detention and a fine of 500 CNY.
Artificial intelligence has become a household name since the skyrocketing popularity of Gen AI LLMs like DeepSeek at the end of 2024. However, as early as 2023, AI's efficient data processing and autonomous learning capabilities had attracted the attention of lawbreakers, giving rise to AI -powered game cheats. Mr. Yu, a senior player of (FPS) online shooting games, had his game account, which he had used for many years, banned for 10 years after using a so - called AI - empowered cheat. Overwhelmed with remorse, he chose to call the police, which also opened the curtain on the China's first "AI cheating" case.
After initial investigation upon receiving the report, the Cyber Security Brigade of Yujiang Branch of Yingtan Public Security Bureau confirmed that the cheat was suspected of criminal offenses. Investigation revealed that the criminal gang was centered on Wang, a former practitioner in the AI field. Seeing the profit potential of AI - powered cheats, Wang joined hands with Zhang, who was competent in writing cheat programs, to jointly develop an AI - powered cheat targeting mainstream shooting games.
Different from traditional cheats that modify game files, this cheat obtained the coordinates of enemies on the screen through an AI object detection algorithm to achieve functions such as precise automatic aiming, head - locking and target tracking. It was more concealed and had more prominent cheating effects, claiming to enable amateur players to outperform professional players. It also lured players with the gimmick of "no risk of account ban".
To increase profits, Wang built a multi - level sales network consisting of general agents, first - level agents and second - level agents, launched a variety of paid packages, and later even established a company and hired programmers to maintain and update the cheating program. The gang's sales network covered multiple online game platforms, with the total amount involved in the case reaching over 30 million CNY. The police launched a manhunt in Hangzhou City, Chongqing City and other places, successfully arresting 11 suspects. On the scene, 10 desktop computers, 7 laptops, 11 mobile phones used for criminal activities were seized, as well as a large number of cheat - generating programs, source codes and auxiliary hardware.
Both cases fell under the same charge - the Crime of Providing Programs or Tools for Invading or Illegally Controlling Computer Information Systems. Paragraph 3 of Article 285 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China clearly stipulates that whoever provides programs or tools specifically designed for invading or illegally controlling computer information systems, or provides such programs or tools to others while clearly knowing that they are engaged in relevant illegal or criminal activities, shall constitute this crime if the circumstances are serious. Both the traditional cheats and the AI - powered cheats are essentially cheating programs that sabotage computer information systems. They endanger the security of the computer systems of game operators, disrupt the market order and damage the legitimate rights and interests of players.
It is noteworthy that the empowerment of AI technology has not enabled such crimes to escape legal sanctions. For game industry practitioners, they must not covet short - term huge profits and exploit their professional skills to develop and sell game cheats. Even with the "new technology disguise" of AI, illegal and criminal acts will eventually be investigated and punished.
Safeguarding a green and fair gaming environment not only requires public security organs to continuously intensify the crackdown on various cheat - related crimes, but also calls for every industry participant and player to adhere to the legal bottom line, consciously resist cheats, and jointly protect the healthy development of the online game industry.
Author: Yuqing Zhang (Rouse Guangzhou), James Godefroy
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