Deadlock now hovers at around 140,000 players as more and more players flock to Valve's early-access hero shooter. Unfortunately, a bigger player population inevitably attracts undesirables.
Cheaters are beginning to appear in Deadlock matches, evidenced by the numerous videos uploaded by players, showcasing the mindless actions of the world's saddest individuals. As with all online shooters, the usual cheats are cropping up in Deadlock - auto-aim and wall hacks.
A video on the Steam subreddit showcases some of these cheats. The uploader spectated someone he suspected of being a cheater and sure enough, the player's mouse snapped to a player hidden behind a wall and they began pre-firing.
This won't come as a surprise to players of Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2 whose public lobbies have been historically plagued by cheaters. According to the top comment on the aforementioned thread, Valve has been issuing hardware bans to those caught cheating, an anti-cheat method that's becoming more popular.
"What kind of sad existence must someone have to cheat in a public alpha playtest," one comment reads. "There aren't even any stakes right now. No leaderboards, no ranks etc."
On the bright side, an alpha is a...