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Fortnite developer Epic Games has announced it is taking steps to ensure the integrity of tournaments and is "ramping up legal action against both players who cheat and cheat sellers."
For as long as there have been games there have been cheaters. From hiding an ace up your sleeve in a card game to buying a cheat online so you can shoot kids through walls in Call of Duty, cheating is rampant and developers spend a lot of time cracking down on it.
It seems like Epic has had enough, and it's restructured its tournaments to try and guarantee cheaters and their friends are punished. One of the new rules states "Anyone found teaming up with a cheater in a tournament will face a minimum 28-day competitive ban, which will increase in duration with every subsequent violation. Know your teammates well to avoid penalties."
If you're playing duos, trios, or quads, even having one cheater on your team gives your whole squad a huge advantage. It's all well and good to slap the cheater with a ban, but when multiple people benefit from their shenanigans, it's easy to see why Epic is opting for this collective punishment. This does seem like a harsh rule, but it should inspire more internal policing within the Fortnite community, as no one will want to risk their own games because their buddy is playing unfairly.
In addition, players who are banned won't be able to compete in FNCS tournaments during the season they're banned or any season that overlaps with their ban. So, if someone gets caught cheating just before the season is over, they'll miss two finals.
Epic hasn't given any more information on the legal side of things other than writing "We’re also ramping up legal action against both players who cheat and cheat sellers," so make of that what you will.
If you want to learn about the other rule changes, you can read Epic's post here.
It may all seem harsh, but cheating and hacking can ruin a game's experience for many others. I remember playing the original Modern Warfare 2 back in the day, and some hacked lobby gave me all the unlocks and sent me straight to tenth prestige. I know some people sought them out, but I preferred unlocking things at my own pace—it gave me a sense of achievement. Some cheaters even accidentally install malware on their machines.
