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PUBG Shield, a community anti-cheat initiative, has banned 3,000 players so far

PUBG Shield is the next step in the game's battle against cheaters

PUBG has revealed the next step in its ongoing battle against cheaters – a community anti-cheat initiative now in open beta called PUBG Shield.

“Cheating is a problem that affects the entire PUBG community”, says a recent post on the game’s official site. “The problem itself is quite nuanced, so it requires a holistic solution of game design changes, automated systems, and player reporting to help alleviate and stop.”

Players from NA and EMEA regions can now submit reports of those who break PUBG’s rules of conduct via the game’s Discord. The report will then be looked over by other members of the server “to determine the validity of the submitted evidence.” Finally, the reports that have been voted on “by a majority of players” will then be checked by the developer before a decision is made on whether to ban the reported player.

It’s been pretty successful too. The closed beta for PUBG Shield resulted in over 3,000 bans with a “near perfect accuracy.” The new system is not intended to be a replacement for traditional in-game reporting, which “will always be the most efficient means to report players.” Instead, PUBG Shield is intended to catch those who successfully go unnoticed by the automated banning system and traditional reports.

Here is a list of reportable offences:

  • Cheating: Usage of unauthorized programs and hardware devices that promotes unfair gameplay
  • Teaming: Cooperation of players not on the same team in order to cheat or deceive other players
  • Discrimination: Disrespectful or use of offensive actions towards others based on their race, gender, nationality, etc.
  • Exploiting bugs: Users exploiting game errors and bugs for their own advantage
  • Inappropriate nicknames: Offensive nicknames or those that may provoke negative imagery
  • Teamkilling: Intentional/malicious teamkilling
  • Stream sniping/stalking: Using external information to follow or locate a streamer without any prior in-game knowledge
  • Verbal harassment: Use of profanity/offensive slang/toxic behavior
  • Statistics Manipulation: Intentionally exploiting game mechanics to manipulate in-game statistics

If you want to submit a report, you have to include the offending player’s in-game nickname, the time of the incident, the platform it happened on, and a link to evidence of the infraction, as well as a PUBG Lookup link to the match in question where necessary. A brief explanation of whatever happened and any additional notes can also be included.

To get involved, head on over to the official PUBG Discord server and jump into #pubg-shield.