The Digits Hidden in the Virtual World: Approximate Estimation Applying Capture and Recapture

Da Mi Hwang; In Seok Kim

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-93563-8_26

The Digits Hidden in the Virtual World: Approximate Estimation Applying Capture and Recapture

Da Mi Hwang, In Seok Kim

School of Cybersecurity

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

In general, game players want their own characters that project themselves to have stronger power and honor in a virtual world. Their aspiration is achieved by pulling up character’s level or accumulating wealth in game. Some players, thus, cheat at games in a variety of ways to skip the repetitive and tedious process of gaining experience and wealth that consumes a considerable amount of time and effort. Cheatings are regarded as harmful behaviors toward both game producers and players in good faith, and if the rate of the cheating players exceeds a certain threshold, the game producers will not be able to provide fair and successful services anymore. Therefore, the game producers make various efforts to detect and impose a sanction on the cheaters. In this paper, we propose a method to estimate population size of the cheaters more quickly and accurately, in a relatively shorter time and lower cost than traditional methods, by using the method which is used frequently by ecologists. Among the various ecological estimation methods, Jolly-Seber estimator, based on capture and recapture method, was selected to estimate the characteristics of players in virtual world. Moreover, the video footage recorded for estimation is expected to become a legal evidence for game producers to impose sanctions such as permanent account suspension. Based on the estimated population size, the ratio of the cheaters among ordinary players can be estimated, and this ratio is expected to help the game producers to make swift decisions on the timing of sanctions. In this paper, we estimate the population size of cheating players in Blade & Soul, a popular MMORPG game. The total number of cheating players was estimated to be 274,639 players in four selected areas. In 2012, according to official press release of the game producer (NCSOFT Corporation), Blade & Soul had 230,000 concurrent users at every second. The number of active users is approximately estimated to be 2,300,000. Using the method proposed in this paper, the rate of cheating players in the game is approximately 11.94%.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Information Security Applications - 18th International Conference, WISA 2017, Revised Selected Papers
Editors	Brent ByungHoon Kang, Taesoo Kim
Publisher	Springer Verlag
Pages	310-322
Number of pages	13
ISBN (Print)	9783319935621
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93563-8_26
Publication status	Published - 2018
Event	18th World International Conference on Information Security and Application, WISA 2017 - Jeju Island, Korea, Republic of Duration: 2017 Aug 24 → 2017 Aug 26

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume	10763 LNCS
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Other

Other	18th World International Conference on Information Security and Application, WISA 2017
Country/Territory	Korea, Republic of
City	Jeju Island
Period	17/8/24 → 17/8/26

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Acknowledgement. This research was supported by the MSIP (Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning), Korea, under the “Employment Contract based Master’s Degree Program for Information Security” supervised by the KISA (Korea Internet & Security Agency) (H2101-17-1001).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature.

Keywords

Blade & Soul
Capture and recapture method
Estimation of cheaters population
Jolly-Seber estimator
Online game security

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Theoretical Computer Science
Computer Science(all)

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-319-93563-8_26

Cite this

Hwang, D. M., & Kim, I. S. (2018). The Digits Hidden in the Virtual World: Approximate Estimation Applying Capture and Recapture. In B. B. Kang, & T. Kim (Eds.), Information Security Applications - 18th International Conference, WISA 2017, Revised Selected Papers (pp. 310-322). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 10763 LNCS). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93563-8_26

The Digits Hidden in the Virtual World: Approximate Estimation Applying Capture and Recapture. / Hwang, Da Mi; Kim, In Seok.
Information Security Applications - 18th International Conference, WISA 2017, Revised Selected Papers. ed. / Brent ByungHoon Kang; Taesoo Kim. Springer Verlag, 2018. p. 310-322 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 10763 LNCS).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Hwang, DM & Kim, IS 2018, The Digits Hidden in the Virtual World: Approximate Estimation Applying Capture and Recapture. in BB Kang & T Kim (eds), Information Security Applications - 18th International Conference, WISA 2017, Revised Selected Papers. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 10763 LNCS, Springer Verlag, pp. 310-322, 18th World International Conference on Information Security and Application, WISA 2017, Jeju Island, Korea, Republic of, 17/8/24. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93563-8_26

Hwang DM, Kim IS. The Digits Hidden in the Virtual World: Approximate Estimation Applying Capture and Recapture. In Kang BB, Kim T, editors, Information Security Applications - 18th International Conference, WISA 2017, Revised Selected Papers. Springer Verlag. 2018. p. 310-322. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)). doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-93563-8_26

Hwang, Da Mi ; Kim, In Seok. / The Digits Hidden in the Virtual World : Approximate Estimation Applying Capture and Recapture. Information Security Applications - 18th International Conference, WISA 2017, Revised Selected Papers. editor / Brent ByungHoon Kang ; Taesoo Kim. Springer Verlag, 2018. pp. 310-322 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)).

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The Digits Hidden in the Virtual World: Approximate Estimation Applying Capture and Recapture

Abstract

Publication series

Other

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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Cite this