Rocket League, there are those who use bots to cheat

The company behind Rocket League,Psyonix (which is part of Epic Games), allows players to use bots to train. In 2020, it released an application programming interface (API) to help developers build bots more easily. Last April, a group of video game enthusiasts with programming skills presented RlGyman open source library for building bots for Rocket League based on reinforced learning. The group then launched several open source Ai bots, including a particularly skilled dribbler called Next.

Rolv, a member of the collective that built Nexto, who gave only his first name and claimed to work in the field of artificial intelligence, explained that the Ai bots were not designed to be used in competitive gaming, but only as training opponents. Apparently though someone hacked Nexto to play for a human. Rolv says the collective has several more advanced bots in the works, including one that can learn by watching human play. The group is now considering not launching the new, more powerful bots to prevent someone from misusing them for cheating, as happened with Nexto.

The reactions

Sergey Levinea UC Berkeley professor who studies reinforcement learning, argues that the story that is troubling today’s top gamers Rocket League reflects how quickly AI tools become more accessible. Levine adds that machine learning could be used to spot bots like Nexto, but that it’s still an emerging science.

Another bot developer for Rocket League, who knows the developers of Nexto, points out that the game presents a fascinating challenge from an AI point of view. To have a chance of winning against humans, bots have to predict the outcome of their actions many seconds in advance. “Nexto already has superhuman abilities in some situations – says the developer, who refused to communicate his real name but who calls himself Zealan on Discord -. Believe me, in a couple of years in Rocket Leaguethere will be bots of the highest level“.

Epic Games declined to provide a comment Wired USbut declared a PC Gamer that the company is working to detect and block bots like Nexto. This could, however, kick off a vicious circle, where those looking to cheat will start using more advanced bots and more complex methods to avoid detection, and the company will respond in turn with new countermeasures. Psyonix has issued a statement in which he claims to have banned several accounts that had used the bot and to have introduced a new way that allows users to report suspected cheating, as well as new countermeasures.

Wilen says the problem could become more urgent if the bot learns to throwing the ball in the air: “I’ve heard that it’s going to happen soon, and when it does it won’t be fun for other Rocket League players“.

This article originally appeared on Wired US.