eSportsology - "Biometrics: Ringer Detection"
By Staff Writer - CEVO|Ferguson

Using a ringer, which is typically a higher skilled stand-in pretending to be someone on a team.s roster, is among the most common and hardest to catch forms of cheating. Anti-Cheat software and review teams have proven good at recognizing hacks, but catching ringers is much harder. The only ways of catching ringers are imprecise, since player accounts can be borrowed and many IP addresses change for legitimate reasons. Currently, there is no good way to catch a ringer playing from the same computer and connection of the supposed roster member.


Fortunately, biometric technology could eliminate all ringers with near perfect accuracy! You know biometrics, you.ve seen them in the movies. Biometric technology scans features of the human body in order to identify individuals, such as with fingerprint and retina (eye) scanners.

You might be thinking that this technology is only for James Bond and top-secret government agencies, but then you would be wrong. Demand from businesses seeking to protect access to confidential information has brought some cheap, easy-to-use, accurate and secure biometrics to the consumer market.

It is convenient that the most widespread biometric device for consumers is also the perfect one for catching ringers . the biometric mouse. There are several kinds of biometric mice, but the best one for our purposes utilizes a built in fingerprint scanner on the side. This scanner ensures that only the certified individual is using it.

Performance concerns for the general public are already well addressed. The latest biometric mice are quick and easy . simply load up the login software, place your thumb on the scanner, and within seconds you are authenticated. Biometric mouse manufacturer Biolink, boasts a 1 in a billion false acceptance rate and 2% false rejection rate (which usually properly scans on the second try). Manufacturers are also very careful about security as they use advanced encryption technology and special data protection algorithms.


So let.s all go to the store and buy biometric mice! Well, lets not be too hasty, there.s a few problems to solve before biometric mice can be used in online gaming. As probably expected, price is an issue. Good quality biometric mice still cost in the range of $100 to $150, but are steadily dropping year by year. Large demand from the competitive gaming market could help reduce prices further. Another problem is performance. Current biometric mice do not meet the performance demands of a gamer, though a new product line could easily fix this. A special gamer line would also require a new authentication system, one that scans during game play instead of just once at the beginning. Otherwise, you could have the roster person authenticate and then have the ringer proceed from there. Lastly, are we ready to trust leagues and tournaments with our private fingerprint information? Even if we can trust them, can we be sure that the databases are protected from others such as Internet hackers? Perhaps the biggest problem of all is not technologically related, but simply an issue of trust.

Looking to the future, biometric mice have amazing potential to completely rid eSports of one of the major ways of cheating. In order to achieve this end however, we require several major steps. A mouse manufacturer needs to create an affordable series of biometric mice designed for gamers. The community needs to respond with majority support and then actually purchase these mice. Lastly, a major league or tournament must be the first to trustfully require biometric mice for their events. These may be difficult tasks, but as a community, biometric mice could greatly improve eSports for us all.


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