Competitive Fortnite recently found itself rocked by a cheating scandal as a known player was apparently caught doing so in a big tournament. Now, the game’s most popular player has chimed in. Tyler “Ninja” Blevins has offered Epic Games with a possible solution to stop cheaters in Fortnite.
Ninja made a suggestion on how to prevent a type of cheating Fortnite players call “teaming.” This involves two or more players teaming up while playing a solo game in Fortnite. It’s a form of cheating that recently got into the spotlight again after one known professional player was apparently caught teaming up with another player during the recent Fortnite Solo Cash Cup.
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Chiming in on the incident the Fortnite star didn’t state anything against the accused players, rather he used the opportunity to propose a way for Epic to stop players trying to team up on solo games. His solution is simple — Epic should make it so that it would be harder for cheaters to find their “teammates” in solo mode, by forcing “anonymous mode.”
Dear epic games!
Force everyone in competitive fortnite to have random skins (to others) and force anon mode. Maybe even change the time of day for different people to prevent teaming! Should mitigate some of the teaming scenarios.
— Ninja (@Ninja) August 29, 2019
Epic introduced anonymous mode into Fortnite as a way to help protect streamers online. The feature was originally designed to stop another form of cheating called “stream sniping.” Erstwhile stream snipers would use a known streamers own livestream to find out where they were in the game and then take then out to gain notoriety.
Of course, while forcing anonymous mode alongside random skins could help curb teaming, it might not stop those who’re dead set on doing it. Veteran players likely know enough of the map, and can combine that with various forms of communication outside the game to still be able to coordinate with each other. Ew0k, a professional player playing for FaZe Clan player replied to Ninja stating as much. “The map and number of players are literally the only thing we need to know if we are in the same game,” explained Ew0k. “Changing skins and time of day won’t help much.”
The responses to Ew0k’s own response seem to be split. Some are agreeing with them that players who want to cheat, will continue to do so. Other however state that the point of Ninja’s suggestion is to make cheating harder (not impossible) to at least deter some players.
Interestingly enough, it was another FaZe Clan player who’s supposed cheating started the whole discussion in the first place. FaZe’s Sway was apparently caught teaming up with a player named Wistles, to take out another player named Sour. Sour later shared a video of the incident on Twitter.
Just got teamed on by @FaZeSway and @Wistles_ in the Cash Cup. Is this acceptable in competitive? This sort of thing really puts me off. @JTonYouTube @The_FortniteGuy pic.twitter.com/UySfSGbXAN
— sour (@MildySour_) August 29, 2019
While the video doesn’t conclusively show Sway and Wistles teaming, it has raised eyebrows within the competitive Fortnite community. Fans are already comparing Sway to Xxif, a player who’s been involved in multiple incidents of cheating, including a recent one during the Fortnite World Cup Online Opens.
Sway has since addressed the accusation against him, claiming that he was not teaming with Wistles, but rather chose to leave when he found out it was the latter. “I was on a call with friends while playing and after realizing it was Wistles fighting I chose to leave,” stated Sway. “I shouldn’t have changed what I was doing because it was a friend. I never had an intention to team up on anybody so I wanted to clear the air. I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to do anything wrong but will accept whatever repercussions come my way.”
Wistles on the other hand did not make a statement about the incident. They instead simply retweeted Sway’s message. As for Epic Games, the studio has yet to respond to either the accusations against Sway and Wistles, nor to Ninja’s suggestion.
