cheat-prevention and -analysis in online virtual worlds
Virtual environments and online games are becoming a major market force. At the same time, the virtual property contained in these environments is being traded for real money and thus attains a real value. Although the legal issues involved with this virtual property have not yet been decided, they will have to be soon. To protect virtual property, virtual environment systems will have to conform to certain requirements. We analyze what these requirements are in order to either prevent cheating or at least prove a digital offense has transpired. Along with greater security, this will also reduce the cost of support, which is one of the major cost factors for online games.
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