One of the biggest issues that is faced by the PUBG Mobile developers and gamers are the cheaters and hackers in the game. These people want to enjoy their game with unfair means and end up making the experience bad for all the other players in the match.
Hacking and cheating has been an age-old problem with online multiplayer games. This has been especially bad for FPS games and those that have a competitive scene. And with the boom of streaming gameplay, cheating has become a major problem with even some streamers taking to cheating to ensure that they get a better following.
As for PUBG Mobile, cheating has been a big issue that the developers dealt with since it was launched globally. The developers and those that make these cheats have a tug of war where both sides are at constant war with each other. One side makes new cheats while the other comes up with ways to nullify those.
Krafton is rather active in combating cheating and comes up with regular lists of players and accounts that have been banned for cheating. And on the Battlegrounds Mobile India official website, Krafton has posted a new page for Rules of Conduct which includes a list of reasons that could get accounts banned. Here’s a look at those reasons and the duration of bans these will incur.
| Offence | Ban duration | |
|---|---|---|
| Use, develop, advertise, trade or distribute Unauthorised Programs or Hardware Devices | Permanent Ban | |
| Investigate the use of Unauthorized Programs or Hardware Devices | 3 Days Ban | |
| Modification of Game Client, Servers and Game Data (packet, etc.) | Permanent Ban | |
| Exploiting Bugs and Glitches | Permanent Ban | |
| Discriminatory Act (e.g. racial and sexual discrimination) | Permanent Ban | |
| Inappropriate use of language (e.g. profanity or other offensive languages) | 30 Days Ban | |
| Usage of Inappropriate Nicknames and Clan names |
90 Days Ban (nickname and clan name will be changed without your consent) |
|
| Teamkilling | Permanent Ban | |
| Teaming | Permanent Ban | |
| Gameplay Interference | 30 Days Ban | |
| Stalking | Permanent Ban | |
| Publishing Personal Information | Permanent Ban | |
| Abusing (e.g. manipulating match results, etc) | Permanent Ban | |
|
Usage of Another User’s Account / Restrict the Usage of Account (for protecting the Account) |
Permanent Ban | |
| Abusive Use of AFK (Away From Keyboard or idling) | Permanent Ban | |
|
Disturbing Business Operations (e.g. spread false information, abuse customer service platform, impersonate oneself as an employee, create and spread rumours or conduct any other acts) |
Permanent Ban | |
| Abnormal Gameplay | Permanent Ban | |
| Inappropriate Advertisement (e.g. commercial without authorization, abusive, etc.) | Permanent ban | |
|
Inappropriate Use of Profile Photo (Inappropriate text or images in the profile photo, use of someone else’s photo, etc.) |
90-day ban | |
| Abnormal Payment and Subscription | Permanent ban | |
| Abuse of Open market store Policies and Processes | Permanent ban | |
| Trade/Sell Accounts | Permanent ban |
While this is a positive step from Krafton to ensure a good experience for players the game is currently facing another roadblock even before it’s been officially launched. According to reports, the developers still have the game communicate and send over data to servers in China, which was one of the biggest issues with PUBG Mobile in the first place.
The data sent and received by the Battlegrounds Mobile India APK is from China Mobile Communications servers in Beijing. This is accompanied by Tencent-run Proxima Beta in Hong Kong along with Microsoft Azure servers located in the US, Mumbai, and Moscow.
Following these incidents, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on India’s Data Protection Bill and BJP Member of Parliament, Meenakshi Lekhi has asked MEITY “to look into it” in her tweet. While MEITY previously clarified that it can’t ban a game before launch this new development along with pressure from other politicians might push it over the edge.