Cheating attacks and resistance techniques in GeoGame design
Robert J. Hall · 2010
The GeoGames Architecture (GGA) supports the implementation of electronic games that are to be played outdoors and that inherently incorporate vigorous physical activity. The basis of the GGA is to use geocast messaging within an ad hoc network of handheld devices, with game control implemented in a distributed fashion, without a central server and without requiring connection to the Internet cloud. This approach leads to several cheating attacks inherent to ad hoc networking, distributed control, and the open and uncontrolled nature of the play areas. This paper analyzes the threats, describes specific attacks, and gives several techniques that increase a GeoGame's resistance to these attacks. The threats, attacks, and resistance techniques are illustrated in the context of a case study focusing on two significantly different GeoGames, iTESS and iTron.