Cheating and Detection Method in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game: Systematic Literature Review

Recently, despite massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) based on the PC implementation environment in mobile games, related fraudulent and illegal activities are still prevalent in response to the extension and diversity of the online gaming market. For game users who enjoy the game as leisure or cultural content, these issues inhibit the game’s immersion or cause seceding from the game, thus negatively affecting the overall online gaming industry. This systematic review provides an overview of substantial studies on the occurrence of cheating behavior, countermeasures, and detection methods. We aimed to scrutinize the scope of generable cheating behavior due to the structural characteristics of a stateful game server. Furthermore, we focused on providing the basis for the key mechanisms of online games based on the conceptual attributes of the MMORPG. A comprehensive literature research was conducted, and the classification of countermeasures and detection methods were systematized. The results of the systematic literature review contribute to the current understanding of how to correctly manage detection techniques and methods for cheating behavior in the MMORPG.