Rainbow Six Siege: Community Checkpoint #1

0:01 Hey everyone, welcome to our first ever community checkpoint here.

0:05 I am John Supanerius, community developer um on Rainbow 6,

0:09 and this is a new stream initiative that we're starting to provide you with more

0:12 frequent updates on the hot topics

0:13 and questions you might have within the community.

0:15 Today, we're specifically here to talk about player protection.

0:19 And joining me in this discussion are three wonderful devs.

0:22 I'll let them introduce themselves.

0:23 Hi, I'm Christopher Budgeon, uh live content director for Rainbow Six Siege.

0:27 I handle a lot of, you know, playlists, matchmaking,

0:29 progression systems, things that happen outside of the match.

0:32 I'm Metasola.

0:33 I am anti director on Rainbow Six Siege.

0:36 Hello, I'm Laji, game protection director on Siege,

0:39 dealing with anti-toxicity and game security.

0:42 And we also have Adrian.

0:43 He's in the shadows.

0:44 You won't see him, you won't hear him,

0:46 but that gameplay at the top is him playing with nine other

0:48 doves to show you guys how they choose to play a Siege.

0:52 So, and we'll be checking in with them a few times, guys.

0:54 So, keep an eye out for that.

0:55 Um before we get into our discussions for the day here,

1:00 we do have to tackle the elephant in the room

1:02 and that is the cyber attack that has impacted the game during Christmas.

1:06 Where are we at today?

1:09 Yeah.

1:09 Um so during Christmas,

1:11 uh Siege has faced a cyber attack leading to fake ban notifications.

1:16 So yes, it was fake.

1:17 Uh and items and critic granting on player inventory that should not be there.

1:22 Uh that forced us to shut down the game for 24

1:25 hours to do a roll back of player in inventories.

1:28 Um and by the way, this week the roll back has been officially done.

1:33 Uh we had some HK cases to deal with.

1:35 Um and I would like to to really

1:38 reassure everyone that we continue our investigations.

1:41 Um and as of today, there is no evidence of players personal data

1:46 or source of code that could have been compromised because of the incident.

1:50 And thank you.

1:51 Thank you to the community and to the players.

1:54 Um because as soon as we have reopened the game, uh you were here to play.

1:58 Um it's always a collaborative effort and and this one was a huge one.

2:03 So thank you and and today uh we have a lot

2:06 of important changes and and news to share with you about player protection.

2:11 So so thank you for staying with us.

2:13 All right.

2:13 Thank you, Lancelot.

2:14 And let's jump into those changes now.

2:15 Um let's start with R six shield guard here.

2:18 And of course at the start of the season we saw a lot of discussion on social

2:22 channels and elsewhere about cheaters impacting matches.

2:25 Can you walk us through what was going on?

2:27 Yes.

2:27 So at the beginning of season 3 we had a lot

2:29 of chatter online about players having cheaters in the match.

2:34 What we noticed was that hiring players

2:36 and content creator were between three to five

2:38 times more likely to have cheater in the match

2:40 versus the rest of the player base.

2:43 Actually for the rest of the player base it

2:45 was better than season 3 just a few weeks before.

2:48 Oh wow.

2:48 Okay.

2:48 And you talked about changes being made.

2:50 What specifically have you changed to improve it?

2:52 Yes, absolutely.

2:53 So the team has been growing.

2:54 Uh like shieldguard is a team that has done a tremendous job.

2:58 Actually the team is working super hard for this.

3:00 Improve the tooling, improve the processes.

3:03 I don't want to go too much into detail today,

3:05 but like all the features like QB,

3:07 mouse trap, uh our ML detection,

3:10 everything is uh online has been improved and we keep improving those.

3:14 Our goal really is to be our goal is

3:16 to be better at detecting cheater and also reacting faster.

3:21 I hope you see it in your games.

3:23 Yeah.

3:23 I mean, so yeah, you're essentially better equipped now

3:25 to adapt to the constantly shifting landscape of cheat software.

3:27 Correct.

3:28 Absolutely.

3:28 Uh so the the cheat landscape is changing all the time.

3:32 There are new threats that appear.

3:33 Uh right now we're in a good position.

3:35 We're at the lowest that we've been since the launch of Siege X.

3:39 We're really happy.

3:40 We're also very reactive.

3:41 when new things appear, we can react faster.

3:44 I just want to back up that point a little bit.

3:45 The the cheating landscape is is quite dynamic.

3:48 Uh when a new cheat provider comes in, it does force us to kind of, you know,

3:51 second guessess ourselves, look into our systems,

3:53 and start looking at new ways to fight against those new providers.

3:56 So sometimes, yes, new new providers do kind of shake some of our systems,

4:00 but we are equipped and better equipped

4:01 now than we've ever been to address that.

4:04 And you mentioned that cheaters impact different ranks in different ways.

4:07 How does that influence the actions you take to address these issues?

4:10 Yes.

4:11 So cheater try to reach the highest

4:12 ranks though they disrupt the most those ranks

4:15 and just a single cheater can totally shift

4:18 like and puts an unfair ecosystem change the ecosystem.

4:21 So we we want to to act at that at that level definitely.

4:25 Yeah.

4:25 Like um high ranked players are a target because they have charms backgrounds.

4:30 They have even the account history

4:33 Yeah.

4:33 has value on the gray market.

4:34 So ultimately high ranked players from those high

4:36 skill ranks those are the targets for for cheaters.

4:39 And so we need to make sure that we're protecting those players.

4:42 Okay.

4:42 I mean, we're talking about protecting the players

4:43 and and things are going better now in terms of anti-che.

4:46 I mean, are you trying to make it even better, trying to go even further?

4:50 Yeah.

4:50 So, actually with how those higher ranks are targeted

4:54 and with how secure boot has been used in other competitive shooters,

4:58 it's uh it's one thing that we want to to implement.

5:00 So, in year 11, we will implement

5:02 R six shieldguard secure platform uh into siege.

5:06 uh we will be deploying it first to a special playlist that will

5:10 be for the highest ranks that is called top of the ladder.

5:13 Yeah, like the secure boot is coming to Rainbow Six Siege in year 11.

5:17 We're absolutely bringing Secure Boot.

5:18 It's part of this new platform.

5:20 Um and it's another tool within our toolbox to help our fight against cheating.

5:25 And you mentioned it's coming to the top of the ladder.

5:27 How are you rolling this out?

5:28 What's the procedure?

5:29 So, we'll start with just a few players.

5:31 We'll do an alpha.

5:31 We want to test everything, make sure our communication is good, uh,

5:35 and make sure we understand like the all the tech

5:37 specificities and we we want this to roll out smoothly, right?

5:41 Yeah.

5:41 And after this alpha, we'll deploy to top of the ladder

5:44 that that playlist need to be safe from any cheater.

5:48 And I'm sure they're going to be really happy about that.

5:49 No question, you're strengthening that.

5:51 But I mean, the question becomes, what about the rest of the players?

5:54 What about the rest of the ranks that won't have it at this time?

5:56 Yes.

5:56 So, as Chris said, it's just another tool in our toolbox.

5:59 It doesn't mean that we'll shift all our focus from all the other things.

6:02 So ML detection, QB, uh, mousetrap and others.

6:06 We'll keep investing and improving those like it will get better.

6:11 And I think season 4 is a good example.

6:12 Like season 4, yeah, there was a big spike in cheating at the beginning.

6:15 We had a provider that targeted our release and we've been able to kind

6:19 of put things together and and now bring at cheating at a super low level,

6:22 the lowest that we've ever seen since Ejax's launch.

6:24 So, we're really happy with where we're at today, but the work remains, right?

6:29 Yeah.

6:30 Yeah.

6:30 Absolutely.

6:30 All right.

6:30 Um, by the way, reminder, guys, if you have any questions,

6:32 feel free to put them in the chat,

6:34 and we'll try our best to get to them at the end of the show,

6:36 but, uh, feel free to post them on there.

6:38 Now, let's check in with Adrian and see how things are going in the match.

6:42 Where are we at?

6:42 Oh, are we in the preparation phase here, guys?

6:44 What's going on?

6:45 Clubhouse, uh, spectating Ying trying to hold down.

6:48 See if you can clutch this.

6:50 Okay.

6:50 Oh, it's a 1v2.

6:52 Okay.

6:52 Yeah, it's a 1v2.

6:53 Nope.

6:54 a lost that [laughter] round.

6:56 Adrian needs to step it up.

6:58 Oh, we're 1-1 now.

6:59 All right, let's see where we go into the next uh next round.

7:01 Yeah, Adrian uh struggling a little bit.

7:03 He's already observing at that point.

7:04 So, we didn't get a chance to see him play,

7:05 but also like uh disclaimer, he's playing on 60 FPS cuz he has to.

7:09 So, if he be easy on him, folks, you know, he's usually better than this.

7:12 He assured us of that.

7:13 And he might be doing well.

7:14 We're not necessarily watching it.

7:16 You guys can tell us how well he's been playing.

7:18 Anyway, let's go back into the subjects here um and talk

7:21 about controller spoofing and recoil macro detection starting with spoofing.

7:26 Um you know, let's move on to this topic here

7:28 and could you give us a rundown of what it is?

7:31 So, uh uh controller spoofing is uh basically when you use a device to make

7:35 the game believe that you're using a controller

7:38 where actually you're using a mouse and keyboard.

7:40 And it's it's super unfair for controller players to be playing

7:43 against guys who have who are on a mouse and keyboard.

7:47 So, uh, that's something that we want

7:48 to we want definitely want to tackle this year.

7:51 And this is a big issue right now.

7:52 Yeah, absolutely.

7:52 It's a it's a big issue.

7:54 Um, and right now, so mouse trap is one of our systems to detect

7:57 whenever you're using mouse and keyboard uh

7:59 and you're playing in the controller pool.

8:01 Right now, what we're doing is when we detect you,

8:03 we move you to the PC pool so that you're playing against other PC players.

8:07 Starting in year 11,

8:08 what we want to do is that whenever you

8:10 come back to the controller pool, we will ban you.

8:13 We want to enforce this.

8:15 Okay.

8:14 Yeah.

8:14 We're we're going to be banning mousetrap players.

8:17 In addition to that, we're also going to be

8:18 investing in mousetrap and making it even stronger than before.

8:21 So, we know that there's ways that people

8:23 are bypassing mousetrap um on those physical devices.

8:26 You can actually download macros which are specifically

8:28 targeted by their community to bypass our mouseetrap systems.

8:32 Uh we'll be upgrading our systems to detect that.

8:34 Additionally, there's ways that you can tweak your settings,

8:37 your in-game settings to kind of lower your chances of being mousetapped.

8:40 We're also aware of how that's being done.

8:41 So, we'll be upgrading our mousetrap systems.

8:44 And yes, starting in year 11, when you get mousetrapped,

8:46 you will be banned from the game.

8:48 We're not going to put you in the PC pool anymore.

8:50 You're out of here.

8:51 All right.

8:51 So, just don't do that.

8:52 Yeah, guys, [laughter] if you're listening.

8:54 Yeah.

8:54 But also, um there's recoil script detection,

8:56 macro script detection we were talking about.

8:58 Um what steps are you taking for that?

9:00 Yes, we're also improving that so that we'll first deploy.

9:02 So, right now we're gathering data on players.

9:05 Uh we did some tests with Pro.

9:07 Uh but right right now we're improving that system to make sure that we

9:10 can detect when you have a recall tempering basically uh systems or macro.

9:15 Um we'll first deploy to PC and then we'll go to console.

9:19 And just jumping back into our our reload event that we had last year.

9:22 We actually partnered with eight pro teams that gave us

9:25 a lot of interesting recoil data that we're able to now see

9:28 highskll players how they control their recoil and be able

9:31 to compare that to other trends that we see by our players.

9:34 In addition to that, we've actually been

9:36 capturing recoil data for quite a while now.

9:38 All this season for sure.

9:40 And all of this gives us data that we're now starting

9:43 to prepare our defense against recoil macros in Rainbow Six Siege.

9:46 They'll come to the PC pool first and then after that consoles will be targeted.

9:50 All right.

9:50 Well, that sounds great.

9:51 I mean, let's jump back actually to the mouse and keyboard discussion here.

9:54 And I mean, there are people that just legitimately

9:56 want to play with mouse and keyboard on console.

9:58 What are we doing for them?

9:59 Yeah, even with the rise in PC cost,

10:01 like it's it's getting harder and harder to to get

10:03 into a PC and jump into the game.

10:05 So, we do want to bring official support for mouse and keyboard to consoles.

10:09 But how this works is that we actually have an official partnership

10:12 with the consoles where when you plug in a mouse or keyboard,

10:15 we get notified by them that an accepted device has

10:17 been plugged in and automatically switch you to the PC pool.

10:20 You're basically playing on a PC.

10:22 You're playing mouse and keyboard uh on on that console.

10:24 Now, of course, if you try to bypass those systems,

10:28 you will get mouse trapped and you will get banned.

10:31 Okay.

10:31 Well, you stole my next question, but it's okay.

10:33 But yeah, mouse and keyboard officially coming to console, folks.

10:36 Uh in year 11, support uh for that.

10:38 And of course, um you know,

10:40 it's just going to be if you're if you go

10:42 to use mouse and keyboard, it will be PC pool.

10:44 You're not going against the console player.

10:45 So, you won't have any advantage

10:47 um against those controller players, for example.

10:49 Right.

10:50 Yeah, that's right.

10:50 Well, people are using uh mouse and keyboard right now through those, you know,

10:53 systems that are design.

10:54 Mousetrap is designed to catch to get that competitive

10:57 advantage to rise the ranks and, you know,

11:00 they're basically cheating on console.

11:01 That's one of the main ways that people are cheating.

11:03 And so, yeah, mouseetrap we introduced in year 8,

11:06 we're going to continue to invest in mousetrap.

11:08 And what's true is that it'll now be an official

11:11 legitimate way to use mouse and keyboard on console.

11:14 So, if you want to just play mouse and keyboard on console,

11:16 plug it directly into the into the device itself, you have that option.

11:19 Cool.

11:20 Um, speaking of ways to cheat or take advantage of the system,

11:23 boosting, abuse, and smurfing.

11:26 So, for those who don't know,

11:27 boosting is when you have someone else or a cheater

11:29 that's going in and trying to get you higher ranked um,

11:31 illegitimately essentially.

11:33 So, are you looking to target players

11:34 who are intentionally queuing with a cheater?

11:36 Yes, absolutely.

11:37 So if you're playing with a cheater and for a boosting for example,

11:41 uh this is something that we're already doing,

11:43 but we will increase our efforts and our detection systems

11:46 to catch you faster and and to ban you, to sanction you.

11:50 So I think one question I'm sure on everyone's mind is

11:52 what if you don't know the person you're queued with is cheating?

11:56 Yes.

11:56 So it will happen like if you randomly play just a few matches with a cheater,

12:00 but if we detect a pattern,

12:01 if you're keep playing with cheaters and if we if we see that happening,

12:05 we will start sanctioning you.

12:06 will ban you.

12:07 Yeah.

12:07 And another issue which we already alluded

12:09 to is smurfing which is really impacting the onboarding

12:11 experience for new siege players and kind

12:13 of making it not as fun of an experience.

12:15 What are you guys doing to address that?

12:17 Yeah.

12:17 So smurfing when you create a new account

12:19 specifically to destroy lower lobbies will detect those.

12:22 And once again this is something that we already do but we'll increase

12:26 our efforts towards uh like banning them

12:28 and making sure that they cannot come back.

12:31 Yeah, just want to add when players are smurfing,

12:33 so very skilled players are jumping into low skill lobbies,

12:37 you risk triggering a lot of our anti-che

12:39 protections because it's kind of difficult

12:41 sometimes to detect is that actually a cheater or is it a smurf?

12:45 So, you're putting your your account at risk by smurfing.

12:47 We're asking you nicely, please do not do this.

12:49 Yeah, exactly.

12:50 And I mean, um, you know,

12:51 about account sharing and selling, that's another issue.

12:54 Of course, I think you kind of alluded to it already,

12:56 but is there anything be being done to help address this?

12:59 Um but just to to to reinforce our term of services uh buying, selling,

13:04 trading or sharing an account is forbidden

13:06 and it's forbidden for a good reason because if you buy an account on the gray

13:11 market somehow you are feeding the cheating ecosystem.

13:13 If we ban cheaters and they can just come back

13:16 by buying the account at some point we cannot win.

13:18 So it's very important that you use your own account

13:22 that you have played on and you have fun by yourself.

13:25 Speaking of account security and accounts for players,

13:28 let's move on to game security and account security now

13:30 and discuss you know new measures being taken to protect players accounts.

13:34 Um are there any new security measures?

13:37 Yes.

13:37 So during year 11 uh at some point we

13:40 are going to force uh two factor authentification by app

13:45 uh so using an application uh to secure rank

13:48 playlist or marketplace or other aspect of the game.

13:51 uh you can already do it as of today but we only force

13:55 you to use 2FA and it can be by email but it's not

13:58 enough and we need to protect better our our player uh from account

14:02 stealing uh or other type of of abuse from bad actor so at some

14:07 point it's going to arrive uh if you want you can do it

14:10 today uh so yeah 2FA by app is actually stronger than 2FA by email

14:16 so it's highly recommended that you use 2FA app by app but as mentioned

14:20 at some point it will be a require retirement for the ranked playlist.

14:22 And I'd like to jump back to one

14:24 point um specifically about account buying, account sharing.

14:28 Um a lot of people are buying accounts on the gray market.

14:31 Um and when that happens, they're buying a level 50 account that's rank ready,

14:35 even if they're a legitimate player playing on those accounts.

14:38 Those accounts have a very questionable history.

14:41 You don't know exactly what happened as they reach level 50.

14:44 A lot of them are being created through bot farms, through boosting methods.

14:48 Those are attached to you and your account.

14:50 So if you buy that account and start playing on that account,

14:53 even if you're playing legitimately,

14:55 you're now officially associated with that account because

14:57 we don't know the difference between that that ownership.

15:00 So you very much risk that account getting

15:02 everything that's been done before is applied to you and you only.

15:06 Absolutely.

15:06 Wow.

15:06 Be careful.

15:07 Yes.

15:07 Be very careful.

15:08 Uh yeah.

15:08 Let's jump back to uh the two factor as well now.

15:10 And I want to talk about the app.

15:12 You said the the app you can use that for uh to get authentication.

15:15 Is there a specific app that needs to be used

15:17 or are there multiple authentication apps that you can utilize?

15:20 Yeah, as of today we are supporting seven different app

15:23 at at Ubisoft level because you you are securing securing your Ubisoft account.

15:27 So, uh we are going to make sure that it's not a friction for players

15:30 to access the playlist uh or the marketplace or the game as a whole, of course.

15:34 And the goal is just to help you have

15:36 fun in game without thinking about all of this stuff.

15:39 Perfect.

15:39 Don't lots of options everyone.

15:41 Yeah.

15:41 Yeah.

15:41 We'll make sure that it's it's smooth and and Yeah.

15:44 Perfect.

15:45 All right.

15:45 Um with that being said,

15:47 let's check in with Adrian and see how things are going.

15:49 I see that they're about to do Are they selecting their location?

15:52 Yeah.

15:52 Okay.

15:53 What What are you going to go with, Adrian?

15:54 Which operator?

15:56 All right.

15:56 Let's see if you can kind of bring this to the fifth round here.

16:01 Uh Ayanna.

16:01 Ayanna's a good pick.

16:03 See exactly what he's he's going to rock.

16:06 Let's see.

16:06 With the Blitz, with the Jackal, the Bana, nice little load out.

16:11 There a million players.

16:12 Absolutely.

16:13 All right.

16:14 Well, unfortunately, we're not going to see more than that [laughter] right now.

16:16 We'll check in.

16:17 Do we have another check in?

16:18 We're going to check in again afterwards cuz I want to see some of the gameplay.

16:20 Either way, uh let's jump in to discuss one of the hottest topics right now,

16:26 I would say, in the marketplace.

16:28 And um you know, the community's been discussing this.

16:30 It's closed right now.

16:32 I think there's um you know,

16:33 a lot of questions and not many answers at this stage.

16:36 Can you provide any insight as to why it's

16:38 been closed and how it's related to account security?

16:42 So, since the incident during Christmas,

16:44 the marketplace has not be reopened yet.

16:47 Um, in order to reopen it,

16:49 we need as we said to secure better the account of the players

16:53 because at the end the marketplace has open another door uh

16:57 for the great market where some bad actors can offload credits items

17:02 and we need to make sure that we are controlling the economy.

17:06 So we need first to secure better uh the account.

17:09 Second thing is detecting fraud and acting on on the on it um for the fairness

17:15 of the marketplace for the players because

17:18 at the end if you are dropping a super

17:21 skin that you want to sell and you cannot sell it at a good price because

17:24 of abuses in the marketplace it's not fair for the economy and for you as well.

17:29 Um and the last part is really the content strategy

17:32 of what can be available in the marketplace at what time.

17:36 Um, just to make it clear, the marketplace, we want it to reopen.

17:40 It's a long-term strategy for Siege.

17:42 Uh, we want player to have fun in it.

17:44 We know that some players love it.

17:45 So, we are working as hard as possible to to reopen it.

17:49 I mean, it sounds like a lot of benefits will occur

17:51 once everything is is resolved and once you you get everything done.

17:54 Do you have any idea though of all uh when this will all be completed?

17:59 So, it won't reopen before several months.

18:02 Uh [clears throat] we are working on it as hard as as hard as possible.

18:07 We want it to reopen during year 11.

18:09 Uh stay tuned.

18:10 We'll let you know.

18:11 We know it can be frustrating but we are doing our best truly.

18:15 Is there I mean anything players will have to look forward to in terms

18:18 of new features on top of this as well once it reopens.

18:21 Yeah.

18:21 So the MVP the most valuable part or project

18:25 to reopen the marketplace is the security first.

18:28 Okay.

18:28 But in parallel, yes,

18:29 we are continue to we are continuing to improve the marketplace.

18:32 So when it's going to happen, you will have new stuff as well.

18:35 Perfect.

18:36 All right.

18:36 Um let's jump into another subject here.

18:38 And this is um particularly related to anti-toxicity

18:41 and your experience in the game itself.

18:43 And are you taking any steps to help improve and address

18:46 the overall player experience in Siege and to tackle toxicity and reduce it?

18:51 Yes, but if we take a step back uh for what happened during year 10.

18:56 So before year 10 we didn't have reputation system,

18:58 voice chat moderation, text moderation, privacy setting on console.

19:02 So uh year 10 was a very big

19:06 year for us in term of foundations for anti-toxicity.

19:08 And this improvement overall in game on average help

19:12 us to reduce the critical communication in game by 50%.

19:16 Uh and the exposition to toxicity by 25%.

19:20 So on average it was very strong features that we needed in the game

19:24 and yeah go ahead

19:25 and and just just to say so it was a good year for foundation but is it enough?

19:30 No.

19:31 And we are going to to invest in it uh for the next year.

19:34 I just I just heard Adrian maybe get a little upset.

19:37 [laughter] So I don't know something bad happened in game.

19:39 All right.

19:40 All right.

19:40 It's all right.

19:40 But uh how uh one thing I wanted to ask you of course is

19:44 are there any changes you're making in terms

19:46 of live moderation um and voice comms?

19:49 So we are going to capitalize on on on on year 10

19:52 and during year 11 we are going to improve uh voice chat moderation,

19:55 texture moderation to balance it way better uh

19:58 and and to make sure that it's aligning with everyone's

20:02 sensitivity around what they want to to be

20:05 able to to communicate in game and to hear.

20:09 And

20:09 one thing we're also wanting to bring is making

20:11 sure that players can provide feedback on that moderation.

20:14 So if they say, "Hey, this is, you know,

20:16 a false positive in terms of that moderation.

20:18 I should this should not have been filtered out."

20:21 Being able to let us know that and being

20:22 able to just do that directly from within the game and kind of flag that for us.

20:26 Um, that actually helps a lot of our tools.

20:28 We're able to to go through and and review uh what has been flagged.

20:32 But also, we do have in our in our abilities to look at the text

20:37 messages and the voice messages that have been sent within Rainbow Six Siege,

20:40 especially some of those that have been removed.

20:42 And there's some extreme stuff that's being said.

20:45 So, as Lol mentioned, like the sensitivities are still being adjusted and we

20:49 know that that people have different sensitivities overall.

20:52 Um, so we're looking at those lines, but there is a certain uh communication

20:56 that just doesn't really have a place in Siege.

20:58 Yeah.

20:58 And I think kind of tying in with that, it changes the reporting system,

21:01 right, and and how it's going to be done.

21:02 What improvements are you going to make?

21:04 Yeah.

21:04 So, starting in March in in during the first season of year 11,

21:08 we are adding 12 categories for reporting in the game.

21:11 So we are going from four to 16 categories

21:13 that that is going to help the whole player protection ecosystem,

21:16 anti-che, anti toxicity, game security to have a better granularity

21:21 and and visibility on the player perception.

21:24 Um and and it will help us to prioritize where we should put our effort on.

21:29 Yeah.

21:30 Okay.

21:30 And what about players who are like h it's a mature game.

21:32 We don't need to do any of this moderation.

21:34 Forget about it.

21:34 It's not important.

21:36 How do you respond to them?

21:37 That's true.

21:38 S it's a adult game, mature game, 18 plus game,

21:41 but it's not because we are adult that we want to hear everything or anything

21:45 that can be said and extremism at some point we need to deal with it.

21:50 Uh and and toxic communication.

21:52 Our main goal is to make sure that anyone based

21:55 on their own sensitivity can play Siege as they want.

21:58 Siege is a it's a super tactical game, hard to master.

22:02 The frustration is already there by by by by design.

22:05 So, we don't need another layer of frustration.

22:08 Uh, and this is what we want to to aim.

22:10 Cool.

22:10 All right.

22:11 Um, speaking of frustration, we heard it before.

22:13 Uh, let's check in with Adrian and see how things are going.

22:18 Oh, looks like he's alive this time.

22:19 So, that's a that's a step up.

22:20 I'm sorry.

22:20 I'm I'm being me.

22:22 [laughter] I hope you can hear me now.

22:24 Bringing Bravo, you know, helping some support on his team, right?

22:27 He's got his his AAG out.

22:28 You know, he's not droning as Bravo.

22:30 So, that's interesting.

22:31 He's got a couple drones in his pocket.

22:33 Yeah.

22:33 There.

22:34 Yeah.

22:35 So trying to enter into cash on on Clubhouse here.

22:39 Looking for the Oh, that was actually nice.

22:42 Got distracted from the front and then the side came in and attacked him.

22:44 That's tough.

22:45 That was tough.

22:47 Well, Adrian's uh unfortunately gone down again,

22:50 but his teammates may still be able to recover.

22:52 It is a 3v3 as it stands.

22:55 And well, you guys can keep watching.

22:57 Yeah, trying to reach that overtime.

22:58 Hopefully they can.

22:59 That'll be fun.

23:00 But let's jump back in towards our discussion here.

23:03 Um, and of course I wanted to mention that does wrap

23:05 up our segment of the player protection uh portion of this.

23:09 But we do have questions that I'm sure are coming in from you guys

23:12 and other questions that we've collected in advance

23:14 and we'll get to those at the end.

23:16 For now, we do have a bit of a bonus that we wanted to discuss

23:18 and that is testing grounds cuz we saw

23:21 a lot of questions from you guys on testing grounds.

23:23 You know what was going on.

23:24 We're going to show on your screen um some footage of it

23:26 because it's not available anymore and for those who missed it,

23:29 you can kind of understand what it was all about.

23:31 But essentially, could you just give us a quick explanation

23:34 of why this initiative was started and what purpose it will serve?

23:37 Yeah, absolutely.

23:38 Testing Grounds uh gives us the ability to test new prototypes,

23:42 new features, new ideas directly with the player.

23:44 It's a new playlist where players can test out this experimental gameplay.

23:48 There's a QR code, they can scan it,

23:50 send their qualitative feedback directly to us,

23:52 and that means we get a lot more information about that feature.

23:56 How do players see it on unfolding within the game?

23:58 Um, and where should we take it next?

24:01 Um and yeah, do you plan on directly implementing

24:03 features seen on the testing grounds such as you

24:06 know the armor type that we've seen here

24:08 or is just collecting data on players or both?

24:10 Yeah, so our la last one that we tested was armor and speed.

24:12 It was our first one that we we did was in uh year 10 season 4.

24:16 Um basically anything that we bring to the testing

24:18 grounds we're ready to to implement in the game.

24:21 But we also have some question marks, right?

24:22 So what a better way than to satisfy

24:25 those question marks by just working directly with the community.

24:28 So instead of just bringing into the game outright

24:30 now we bring it into this small testing area.

24:32 We get the feedback from players.

24:34 It opens up that discussion,

24:35 lets us know what players are thinking about

24:36 that and decide where we take that next.

24:39 And in terms of you know from excuse [clears throat] me

24:42 trying it out to actually using it in the live game.

24:44 How long is that process?

24:46 Uh it depends on the the overall the prototype that we're doing.

24:49 Um so say for example usually with the testing grounds we have an idea in mind.

24:53 we have a a problem that we're trying to solve

24:55 and we have a design that we think could satisfy that objective.

24:58 Uh so again it depends on ultimately where that that is but we want

25:02 to bring that to players so that way we can get the feedback directly from them.

25:05 And uh how frequently do you plan on running these testing grounds?

25:08 We're going to do at least one a year.

25:09 Um we actually have some uh information about our next one at the SI

25:13 and on and February 15th uh with our full year 11 reveal.

25:17 Um so we will be announcing what the next testing ground topic will be.

25:20 My questions keep getting stolen but it's okay.

25:23 Uh yeah [laughter] well I was going to ask is

25:25 there anything you know we can tease for SI but yeah

25:28 essentially we are going to announce the next testing grounds

25:31 at uh six invitational guys February 15th make sure you keep

25:34 an eye out for that but let's get back

25:36 to our discussion um in terms of collecting data from that first

25:40 one did you have a lot of users was there

25:42 a lot of useful data that you were able to get

25:44 yeah it was is extremely useful because a lot

25:46 of the time we'll get quantitative data what that means is just

25:49 the core numbers so how many players chose juggernaut

25:52 as an example couple as the when they their armor at speed.

25:55 What this does with the QR code and the the surveys and everything else,

25:58 it brings a lot of qualitative data.

26:00 So that helps kind of color between the lines,

26:02 we start to understand, okay, why were they choosing juggernaut?

26:05 Um, and that gives us a lot more context.

26:08 So that way when we go back and we start looking at that feature,

26:10 whether it's ready for live or whether it needs some more work,

26:13 it gives us a lot more feedback

26:14 to play with um both qualitative and quantitatively.

26:18 Now I think this was done with lab test server in the past, right?

26:22 What's different between these two implementations?

26:24 So, lab test server was similar to our our current test servers.

26:27 It was a different version of Rainbow Six Siege that you

26:30 had to download and it was on uh PC only.

26:32 So, our console players were left in the dark.

26:34 Uh bringing it directly into a playlist.

26:36 That means all players are able to test it.

26:38 Also, you don't have to have two versions of Rainbow Six Siege on your PC.

26:42 Um which also meant we had a lot more players participating

26:45 in it than what we used to get on the lab TS.

26:47 That's fantastic.

26:47 So just it's more accessible in general for anyone who just wants to jump

26:50 in as opposed to having to take multiple steps to get to that point, right?

26:53 Yeah, absolutely.

26:54 You can jump in our testing grounds,

26:55 play a few rounds, then jump back into ranked.

26:57 So grab your squad to switch.

27:00 Yeah, exactly.

27:02 Fantastic.

27:01 Um yeah, so I mean how over overall do

27:04 you see this play test evolving in the future?

27:06 Yeah, actually well we want to keep testing topics.

27:08 Uh we're still kind of figuring out is something too big,

27:11 too small to bring to to testing grounds,

27:13 but the best way is just testing, right?

27:15 just bring in the topics and then let work

27:17 on that with players and see what the feedback is.

27:19 All right, cool.

27:20 Um, all that being said, guys, that does wrap up our main topic.

27:24 So, now we're going to jump into your questions and answer what you have to say.

27:28 We have some pre-prepared questions,

27:30 then we're going to go through the questions

27:31 that you might have had in chat if any.

27:33 So, uh, kicking things off here and everyone

27:36 feel free to answer whatever question we have here.

27:38 So, what is the planned rollout on TPM 2.0, secure boot, IO, MMU, and VBS?

27:45 That's a mouthful.

27:46 Yes.

27:46 Uh so uh our six shield guard secure platform will include

27:50 uh some or all of those uh features of those systems

27:54 not necessarily at the start but we'll develop them and some

27:57 are already included for uh the top of the ladder playlist.

28:00 So pretty much everything is already being considered.

28:02 Yes, absolutely.

28:04 Cool.

28:04 Um and here's one for the marketplace.

28:06 For people that had buy orders in the marketplace,

28:09 such as a $60 credit buy order, is there a plan for the credits to be

28:12 returned as they're currently stuck in the marketplace?

28:15 It has been done this week.

28:16 So, as I said at the beginning, the roll back has been finished this week

28:21 because we had some edge cases to deal with.

28:24 It should be good now.

28:25 So, no one should be having this issue.

28:27 Okay, perfect.

28:27 Great.

28:28 There you go, guys.

28:29 Um, will this one's a good one.

28:30 Uh will the cap of selling an item

28:32 three times be overturned once the marketplace is stable?

28:37 Good question.

28:38 Um so as I said the goal of the marketplace is to have a freedom of market.

28:44 So we want to work and to secure the marketplace

28:47 as much as possible to get rid of this kind of limitations.

28:50 Uh so the goal is to remove this kind of limitation.

28:54 Okay.

28:54 I do have some questions from the chat here.

28:57 I feel like we already confirmed this, but is

28:59 native mouse and keyboard support coming to console?

29:02 I think that's kind of implied with what we said, right?

29:04 Yes, [laughter] native mouse and keyboard is coming to console in year 11.

29:08 Uh, once again, that brings a legitimate play

29:10 way to play mouse and keyboard on console,

29:13 but it will be restricted to the PC pool.

29:15 You will not be able to access the consoles pool through that.

29:18 And again, there's a legitimate way that we

29:20 get from first party, which is, you know,

29:22 Microsoft and Sony that says there's a detected

29:25 device here that's a a mouse or a keyboard,

29:27 and we automatically would switch you to the PC pool.

29:29 You wouldn't be able to access the console pool at all.

29:31 Perfect.

29:31 Well, there you go again, guys.

29:32 And uh well, this is another question.

29:34 What about boosted players?

29:36 Will there be any sanctions?

29:39 So [clears throat] we we will uh discuss discuss about

29:43 the function but of course if you get boosted so it means

29:46 that you uh have reached a rank or level that it's

29:50 not your level at some point uh we need to react.

29:53 What will be the sanction?

29:54 It will depends on the severity of the boosting and it will

29:57 also depend on the fairness of the boosting like if you are playing

30:00 with a a friend that is very strong to the game not

30:03 cheating might be different that if you have squaded with cheaters a lot.

30:07 uh and this is where we will have a strong collaboration uh

30:10 in term of playlist security and and cheating uh as a whole

30:15 and I think this is my follow-up question.

30:17 So in terms of identifying boosted accounts is the same as you

30:20 said before like looking at patterns looking at how quickly things are going.

30:23 Yeah, it's all about patterns.

30:25 It's all about patterns repetition.

30:26 Of course, we cannot assess the boosting uh on on one match for example.

30:30 So uh we'll work to define these patterns

30:34 to make sure that it's fair for all the players.

30:37 uh related to all the information we are we are gathering um and based

30:41 on the the playlist in the game and and the rank system etc.

30:45 And if I could add a little bit

30:46 to that so boosting players can happen in many different ways.

30:48 One of those also is elo trapping and we've

30:50 taken a firm stance in elo trapping this year.

30:52 Um elo trapping is not an acceptable way to rise the ranks within

30:56 Rainbow Six Siege and we've been taking a strong stance against that as well.

30:59 All right, I got more questions coming in so let's get to it.

31:01 Um will we be able Oh, this one's interesting.

31:04 Will we be able to switch off crossplay on PC?

31:07 So, that's something that we're we are looking at.

31:09 We don't have anything to announce right at this time,

31:11 but we are looking at um ultimately giving players

31:14 the options to play how they want to play.

31:16 Uh when we brought PC console crossplay in year 9, Season 4,

31:20 it was something that we really didn't want to have at the time because

31:23 we needed to make sure that that new crossplay system was as stable as possible.

31:27 So, we're always looking at this and when the time is ready,

31:29 we'll be have something to announce.

31:31 Perfect.

31:31 All right.

31:31 Uh, next one is when you guys said

31:34 that spoofing devices would be banned after initial mouse trap,

31:37 is that ban permanent?

31:39 So, the length of the ban is something that we're currently discussing.

31:42 Uh, it will absolutely be one year minimum.

31:44 Uh, that's that's absolutely for for sure.

31:47 We're looking at uh what's the right length, but yes,

31:49 you you'll be mousetrapped and if you get fully

31:53 mouseted where usually you would go to the PC pool, you now will be banned.

31:57 And and just to reassure players like we are

31:59 going to give warnings as we are giving warnings today.

32:02 If you have issue with your sensitivity etc

32:06 and it's a false positive somehow we we'll make sure

32:09 that it's fair but at some point when we

32:10 ban you we are sure that you are most strapping.

32:13 Yeah.

32:13 We'll use the three strikes and you're out basically.

32:16 Exactly.

32:17 Exactly.

32:17 Just generally don't do it guys.

32:18 [laughter] I think that's the advice we can give you.

32:20 Try to avoid being in those situations.

32:22 Uh okay.

32:24 So, can you say anything about the actual plans towards the new HP speed?

32:30 Oh, yeah.

32:30 For this is for testing.

32:31 Yeah.

32:31 For the testing for the new HP speed system, any changes from what we've seen?

32:36 If you can say anything, no.

32:38 Well, no, we don't have anything to announce right now.

32:40 We're actually still going through the data

32:41 and just trying to understand exactly,

32:43 you know, what the information that we're receiving from players.

32:46 You know, filtering through it.

32:48 There's many different uh different insights that have come from that.

32:51 Uh not all players agree all the time.

32:53 So we're kind of looking through uh what's

32:55 the best course of action to take that next.

32:56 Yeah, I think that comes goes into the discussion we had before about

32:58 like how long it's going to take for implementation to to actually come through.

33:02 And yeah, we're still trying to see that I guess.

33:04 Exactly.

33:04 And also sometimes we might put something

33:06 into test that might not be delivered as is.

33:09 Maybe instead of a global system,

33:11 we'll say actually that's greater for an operator

33:13 or that's great for a specific playlist.

33:15 Um there's different ways that we can kind of, you know, action the feedback.

33:18 So we need to take take that feedback on discuss as a team what do

33:22 we want to do with this and then decide how we bring that into the game.

33:25 Cool.

33:26 Uh so we've got another question here.

33:29 Will there be any changes made to the solo queue experience?

33:34 So yeah the it depends on ultimately where the what the question means.

33:38 Um yeah it's it's kind of a little vague.

33:40 I I mean I think they're implying like in terms

33:42 of um toxicity and in terms of or anti

33:45 toxicity and in terms of maybe like having to deal

33:48 with teammates or trying to improve team collaboration perhaps.

33:51 I don't know.

33:52 We could also be talking about different playlists and so on.

33:55 Um we'll have some uh solo Q discussion

33:58 to to announce at the SI on February 15th.

34:00 So there might be uh something that we are

34:03 mentioning for for especially high level solo Q players.

34:05 Yeah, let's go back and see if there's any questions here in the chat.

34:08 I don't.

34:09 Oh, here we go.

34:10 Um, can we report someone for their offensive username?

34:15 Yep.

34:15 It will be uh live in March.

34:18 Okay, that's it.

34:19 Easy.

34:19 It's coming, guys.

34:20 Part of the new features that are going to be coming

34:22 in and and maybe I want to talk more about reports.

34:25 [clears throat] Like it's uh like espec

34:26 especially for us like for anti-che is super

34:28 important like if you report players and uh

34:31 this information is super valuable to us.

34:33 Different types of uh cheat will be able to be reported

34:35 and we want we want to be able to see that.

34:37 So your the reports

34:38 really granular then in terms of like the reporting system that's really great.

34:42 Yeah.

34:43 Um we have more questions here.

34:45 I'm just waiting for Yeah, I'm just waiting for it to come in.

34:49 But yeah,

34:49 we can I can add something about what is coming for anti-toxicity for for 11.

34:53 We are also going to tackle the abundance system.

34:56 Make sure that uh we try to avoid players

34:59 that are dodging matches at super high level for example.

35:03 Oh yes.

35:03 Um yeah.

35:04 and and we want to make sure that it cannot happen anymore.

35:07 So, we'll build a system that is going to look

35:09 at patterns uh more than just one or two occurrences.

35:13 Uh and we want to avoid uh dodging matches at at higher rank mainly as well.

35:18 Yeah, for sure.

35:18 I mean, that's obviously an issue I think for a while and it's

35:21 good to see that there's going to be something done to to avoid that.

35:24 But that being said, sorry,

35:26 in [clears throat] terms of like if you accidentally disconnect,

35:28 how do you determine between that and an abandon?

35:31 Um the goal is to to rely on patterns as we

35:33 as we said it's all about patterns at the end.

35:36 So if you are disconnecting one or two times within your last

35:39 season or 100 matches for example you won't be pen be

35:43 penalized that much but if it's again and again and very often

35:47 will be harsher uh to make sure that you cannot do it.

35:51 Actually if I could add on match cancellations like outside of cheating it's one

35:54 of the top priorities that we want

35:55 to address for specifically the ranked playlist.

35:58 Uh we know that people are dodging pros.

35:59 They're dodging maps they don't want to play.

36:01 They're dodging, you know, players with high uh stats.

36:04 Um that's not going to fly with us anymore.

36:06 So, we're going to be taking a strong

36:07 stance against match cancellations in year 11.

36:09 Perfect.

36:10 And I actually have a question kind of related here.

36:12 Um what is considered as smurfing?

36:15 Will content creators who buy a second account to play

36:17 the game pseudo anonymously get sanctioned by the new systems?

36:21 Does buying a new account not for the sole p purpose

36:23 of destroying lower level lobbies as a highle player count as smurfing?

36:27 So I think there's a lot of different questions here.

36:29 Let's start with the first one.

36:31 What is considered as smurfing?

36:32 We kind of answered that already though.

36:35 You want to elaborate?

36:36 Okay.

36:37 So our definition of smurf of smurfing as of today is

36:42 you have a secondary account and you are destroying lower uh lobby.

36:47 Okay.

36:46 Um meaning that you have the same stats as a cheater.

36:50 uh and if we allow this we cannot win

36:53 on the cheating side because the perception is never going to decrease right

36:57 so this is the definition now about some content

37:00 creators pro players etc that that have secondary account it's

37:05 in theory uh forbidden by our term of services

37:09 we are seeing that we are not going to ban

37:11 all the players doing that today because it's it

37:14 it's we need to we need to assess the change

37:17 and we need to put rules and we need

37:18 to to educate people that that the truth it's forbidden.

37:22 So we want to make sure that we can converge

37:25 together again collaborative effort to reduce the perception of cheating.

37:30 Uh if tomorrow um a pro player a content creator is

37:34 buying a new account and this lower lobby we are banning them.

37:38 There is no bypass at the end.

37:39 We need to secure the the game.

37:41 So this is our stance today.

37:43 Uh and we will evolve to make sure that it's super fair.

37:46 Okay.

37:46 Same as for boosting for example.

37:48 you know, it's the abuse that makes the difference.

37:51 So, if we see a pattern of abuse,

37:52 you're using that especially like to boost your ego or I don't know,

37:55 that's really when we want to sanction and we want to ban the players.

37:59 Yeah.

37:59 And there there's more to that question like isn't buying an account,

38:02 as we mentioned, buying an account is forbidden.

38:04 You cannot buy an account even if you're playing legitimately afterwards,

38:08 that account is very questionable.

38:09 And often we know where it came from because the those are bot farms.

38:12 They're they're all connected.

38:14 Um but also with that question um going

38:16 into lower level lobbies and just you know

38:18 destroying those lobbies that's not fun for the other

38:20 nine players that are within that lobby.

38:22 So yes, we are taking stances against that.

38:25 We'll look at how we can partner with our content creators and pros

38:27 to make sure that they have what they need to make their content,

38:30 but there's a certain part of that content that's just not really

38:33 helping us and we're going to have to take a stance against.

38:36 Got it.

38:36 I think that answered everything that was being asked there.

38:38 Thank you guys.

38:39 Um I think we answered this already but but we'll we'll ask it again.

38:44 Will teammates leaving matches cause you to still get punished?

38:49 Yeah.

38:49 So not teammates, squadmates.

38:51 So if you are uh inviting your friend to play together in the same

38:55 match or you are in squad together uh in year 11 if one

38:58 of them is leaving uh and create um and leaving and so this abandon

39:05 generate match consolation all the squad is going to have a loss at the end.

39:09 This is one of the strategy we want to put

39:11 put in place and as Chris said about match consolation,

39:14 we take this seriously uh and we need to avoid this kind of dodging.

39:21 All right.

39:21 Sorry, I'm just reading through the questions here.

39:23 That's okay.

39:23 There's some that aren't really applicable to to player protection.

39:28 You guys are going to have to wait

39:29 for answers to those questions again February 15th.

39:31 I'll mention it again afterwards.

39:33 Um but uh is look ship it.

39:41 Ship it.

39:41 Okay, I'll I'll ship I'll ship it.

39:42 I'm just All right.

39:43 Is there any news on when the voice chat bug will be fixed on PC?

39:47 It's a real struggle to play

39:48 competitive game that relies massively on voicecoms.

39:50 I understand the the frustration.

39:52 So, you want to take it?

39:53 Yeah.

39:53 Like I I can say that we are absolutely aware

39:55 that this is a bug uh that's happening in our game.

39:58 It we do consider it a a bug.

40:00 It's exactly what it is and we are looking at to address it as soon as possible.

40:04 It's taking a little bit longer than I I know

40:06 that players are are hoping that we had addressed it.

40:10 Yeah, it's a pretty deep issue and so that's why it's taking uh you know,

40:12 if it was a quick fix, we would obviously have fixed it and brought it in.

40:15 It's taking a little bit longer than expected,

40:17 but we're 100% aware of it and we're working on it.

40:19 We want to address this because, as was mentioned, teammates,

40:23 coordination, you know, communication, it's the core identity of our game.

40:27 So, not only are players frustrated, but you know, we're frustrated as well.

40:30 So, we want to make sure that players can cooperate and play off of each other.

40:34 Did you want to add something?

40:35 Everything that Chris said, like [laughter] the communication feature is

40:39 not a communication for fun in Siege.

40:40 It's mandatory to be able to play this game.

40:43 So, we are taking it super seriously and yeah, it's a deep issue.

40:47 So, okay, cool.

40:49 I think uh things are starting to wrap up in terms of questions.

40:53 Not really seeing anything else.

40:56 So, I think that's going to be it for our first ever community checkpoint, guys.

41:01 I hope you guys enjoyed it.

41:03 Um, we had fun doing it.

41:04 Thanks to Chris, Matia, Lancelot,

41:07 Adrian over there who's been playing some awesome uh CEO,

41:10 of course, and all of our production team.

41:12 We had behind the scenes Melissa, uh, Maxim, and of course, Nicolas.

41:16 So, huge thanks to them and to all of you for joining us.

41:19 Don't forget to tune in to the six invitational that's

41:22 happening on February 15th for the full year 11 roadmap.

41:25 For now, I hope you all have a great day.

41:28 Thank you.

41:34 [music]