Technical cheating prevention in location-based games

Online multiplayer game developers have plenty of motivation to prevent technical cheating in their games. In the case of location-based games (LBGs), in addition to the usual anti-cheat measures, developers need to be able to verify players’ location sensor data. This is a challenge, as mobile devices’ sensor data is easy to manipulate, and its verification goes beyond the permissions granted to individual applications such as LBGs. In this work we focus on the most popular LBG, Pokémon GO, and investigate via a technical analysis and gray literature search what countermeasures the game has implemented to prevent technical cheating. We obtain a large diverse set of data which we synthesize using the Gioia method into three main clusters: (1) preemptive measures; (2) ad hoc analysis; and (3) player communication. Our work demonstrates that a wide range of technical tools, both self-developed and 3rd party provided, are used to enhance the multi-layered cheating prevention of LBGs. Our findings can be considered an exemplar look into the industry leaders’ solutions to technical cheating issues that LBGs face.