Gameguard – To Protect or to Spy?

One of the most controversial topics around Aion revolves around the GameGuard software. I stumbled upon this topic today for the first time but it appears to be a serious concern for some players. It may not be of utmost importance, but I think it’s serious enough to write about it.

nProtect GameGuard is an anti-cheating software, developed by INCA Internet Corporation from Korea. Never heard of it? Neither did I, and a whole bunch of other people for that matter. Gameguard’s goal is to protect us from trojans, keyloggers, malware and similar unwanted software, as well as protect certain games (including Aion, obviously) from people who use bots or any other kind of automation software or cheats. On paper I’m sure it sounds like a great little tool, but after a little research, you might even think twice about installing Aion Online on your PC.

According to this wikipedia page (and confirmed from many other sources), GameGuard actually does the following:

GameGuard hides the game application process, monitors the entire memory range, terminates applications defined by the game vendor and INCA Internet to be cheats (QIP for example), blocks certain calls to DirectX functions and Windows APIs, and auto-updates itself to change as new threats surface.

If this doesn’t make much sense to you or if you’re still not concerned, I’ll try to explain it further. First of all, this software installs a device driver, which can not be fully uninstalled even if you remove the game from your system. Second, sometimes the software keeps running after you exit Aion, and still injects code into various system processes (including antiviruses), which means even IF it doesn’t do anything, it still uses some system resources.

Furthermore it blocks certain applications from running, some of which are completely legitimate, like Deamon Tools, NetLimiter, Razer mouse drivers, Core Media Player, and best of all: Google Chrome! Now to be honest I really don’t know much about programming or cheating, but how on earth can a browser be used to cheat in MMORPG games?

The biggest concern though is the fact GameGuard monitors the entire memory range, meaning if some Korean dude decides to read your MSN chat logs, see what websites you visit or find out what you bought from ebay last week, he can do it. I may be wrong, but from what I read it’s entirely doable.

GameGuard is not only used in Aion, but also in a large number of other games: The Chronicles of Spellborn, Ragnarok Online, Counter Strike Online (a remake targeted at Asia market), Gunbound, Lineage II, Silkroad Online to name a few. You might notice most of those are in fact Korean games or developers.

Worst of all, botting is still a very real and common issue in most of these games, including Aion. I’ve read threads stating it’s a huge issue on Korean Aion servers at the moment, despite the GameGuard. It can clearly be bypassed by someone who knows what he’s doing, and according to the wiki page linked above, people bypass it within hours of GameGuard’s update.

So what’s the point in using it: is it really to protect us gamers from cheaters and farmers? GameGuard doesn’t appear to be doing much good, but rather causes headaches to legit players who often have issues with the app; for example, it shuts down some needed Windows processes only because they are often targeted by computer viruses. It should be fairly obvious that you can not stop cheaters no matter what, and installing a software which looks and even works like spyware without users permission is not really going to help (note: it’s usually mentioned in the EULA you have to accept before playing but who the heck reads that really).

Now to be fair, I know for a fact Blizzard uses a similar tool for World of Warcraft. It’s been discussed over and over, and even though I don’t like it I tend to put a bit more faith in Blizzard than NCsoft or some shady Korean firm. Punkbuster is another popular anti-cheating software which I’m sure you heard about, and also works in a similar way.

Imagine for a moment if such software expanded to more than just games: imagine if it scanned your PC for cracked applications or checked if you downloaded any illegal music, or perhaps see what kind of porn you’re into. Internet users are exposed to all kinds of privacy issues these days, and I for one would like to keep my porn to myself!

Perhaps sometime in a distant future, we’ll have our own Terms of Use and EULA’s, and game developers will have to agree to it before they sell us their spyware-infested games. You shall not install spyware on my machine. You shall not be able to scan my hard drive and read my files. You shall never get my collection of Monica Bellucci pics. But, that’s too much info for this post. Until then, the decision is simple: either live with it or play singleplayer.

Disclaimer: this rant is not aimed against NCsoft, Aion or really anyone else, but rather the gaming industry and their often ethically questionable decisions. I don’t really have a collection of Monica’s pics. I’ll play Aion despite GameGuard. I hate cheaters as much as the next guy, perhaps even a bit more.

6 Responses to “Gameguard – To Protect or to Spy?”

1. Shane says:

   July 15, 2009 at 4:05 am

   When are game developers going to learn, that if you want to catch cheaters you need to monitor their in game actions as opposed to their game machine.

   Gold farmers can not be hard to spot can they, I mean all you need to look for is someone that has a huge amount of gold that regularly sends it to other accounts. Who kills the same MOB a millions times or any other typical behavior that a gold farmer does.
2. Artean says:

   July 15, 2009 at 10:02 am

   I am on your side with this one… Granted I don’t think its necessarily “legal” for the gaming company to search your entire computer for porn and illegal items on it, but it is entirely possible as stated. I put too much faith in gaming companies to not screw people over with the stuff they make you download. I just look at it this way, if the company is legit and well known, trust em (since you have to…). Punkbuster, Azeroth Security Adviser and this Gameguard mumbojumbo all “seem” legit but honestly all three of these well known watchers are violating their customers privacy. In my honest opinion, programs like this should be required BUT they should ONLY scan .dll files and any files regarding the game such as their own files, files with same/similar name, and any file running an outside program into the game world. This would more then stop cheating (not farmers/bots most likely but the actual cheaters) and make game play more fun. Doing it this way would keep the privacy of the games users just what it should be, private. Also the EULA is a bunch of bull, 30000 pages of stuff no one in the history of gaming has ever read. These programs should literally pop up AFTER the EULA is signed and ask you if it is alright to watch your porn and call the FBI for all your illegally downloaded files. EULA is another way (as stated in the WoW discussion) to sign the devils contract. I think that unless you are dealing with the devil, you shouldn’t be signing contracts with his name on it…
3. Ryan says:

   August 24, 2009 at 8:15 pm

   What you are saying, is right. HOWEVER, it seems that you just want to cheat on the game. Here is the thing, you said that game guard wont be closed even the game is closed; however, it just happens SOMETIMES when the game program is not turned off properly.
   Moreover, Game Guard ppl, they are professional. Those who make the games IS NOT professional on blocking cheats, hacks, or crakings. Do you guys think that someone who makes games can make Anti-Virus program?
   I mean, Those Norton Anti Virus team could make WOW? or Star Craft?
   • frank says:

     August 24, 2009 at 8:29 pm

     Do you guys think that someone who makes games can make Anti-Virus program?

     Blizzard’s Warden is (as far as I know) not used in any other game except WoW, so yeah I guess it’s definitely possible. I’m sure Ncsoft can afford a few programmers to do the job properly.

     And no, we’re not “just trying to cheat the game”. Anti-cheating should be transparent and not cause any problems, which is clearly not the case with Gameguard. And those who are trying to cheat can easily bypass GG’s security.
4. Jeffrey says:

   November 27, 2009 at 8:14 pm

   I generally keep away from dvr equipment with too much setup
5. Cody says:

   February 24, 2010 at 3:51 am

   Umm, you know what i find funny? youre freaking out about your security, and somewhere in there you say you use google chrome… Everytime you enter a url into google chrome, it sends that url straight to google itself, where they document it. Gameguard should be the least of your worries… even though it is a pile of shit that uses far too much resources, and is easily bypassed…

   Why put more faith in blizzard than ncsoft? ncsoft makes higher quality games, and yet blizzard brings in more income, and more players. why is that? because theyve most likely used some spyware and surveying of their very own, to find out what will succeed.