STEPN, a popular move-to-earn crypto game, recently recognized that cheating had become a “prominent problem,” admitting that the company had to devote nearly half of its resources to develop an anti-cheating system dubbed SMAC.
In play-to-earn games where the real money is involved, cheating becomes a serious issue, STEPN said, citing the example of Axie Infinity, which provided living wages for many Southeast Asian gamers but also attracted a significant population of bad actors.
“Those who cheat in STEPN to milk the game of money are hurting the platform’s tokenomics. This comes in the form of affecting the liquidity of GST and the value of GMT, since cheating actions artificially inflate and then deflate token value,” STEPN clarified on the impact of cheating.
The AI by STEPN is trained to detect anomalies in GPS tracking, motion sensor, and health data that may raise suspicions that the user may be draining money from the game. The anti-cheating system utilizes autoencoders that are incredibly efficient in identifying anomalies and variables that have caused them. SMAC also detects any form of bots and can distinguish between cheating activity and moonwalking.
“A high level of investment in anti-cheating infrastructure is to be expected. This is to ensure fair and equitable gameplay for users and to prevent cheaters from throwing the game off balance for the entire community,” STEPN concludes.
