Another MW2 IW.net Fail – ISP Banning?

[mindcycle]

It just seems more and more problems have been deriving out of Infinity Ward’s decision to neglect dedicated server support and their last minute plan P2P announcement with IW.net.

Gamers has been complaining that IW.net leads to threats from termination from their ISPs for “running servers on their home connection” and “excessive file sharing through peer to peer connections.” I am by no means an ISP security expert but I believe you have got to spend a whole lot of time playing to bring up that red flag.

Several gamers have been downgraded to dial-up or spend hectic phone conversations explaining the dilemma to their ISPs, some even faced higher phone bill charges. IW.net forces a good portion of MW2 players to violate the terms of most ISP providers as you can see here.

Here's a few users posts reporting this happening.

I received a letter from time-warner cable which I would type out but it would take me 20 minutes. the letter basically says that they think I have a virus thats sending/receiving information.”when computers that are connected to the network become infected with viruses and other intrusions, serious problems can arise, such as degradation of network performance and he infection of other users” It directs to link for virus removal. I can assure you I do not have a virus as I did a fresh install of windows 7 the day before mw2 came out. I dont open any emails, and really the only thing I do on that computer is play games. Its my gaming computer, I use my laptop for everything else and I know 100% I do not have a virus nor have I had.

i’ve already gotten a mail from my isp telling me they are reducing my 20 meg line to dial up speed for the next month for “excessive file sharing through peer to peer connections” and i will be cut off if i persist.
tried telling them that its a pc game thats causing it, their reply is pc games do not use p2p

Read the rest here along with links to the posts on IW's forums: http://www.gossipgamers.com/another-mw2-iw-net-fail-isp-banning/

 

[NoSoup4You]

Wow, I haven't checked the links (admittedly) but did anyone mention exactly how many hours they were spending playing MW2 on average/week?

 

[mindcycle]

Wow, I haven't checked the links (admittedly) but did anyone mention exactly how many hours they were spending playing MW2 on average/week?

Not sure if anyone mentioned that. It seems that it's not bandwidth overage, but ISP's are detecting possible P2P activity due to the game using the players computer as a host server.

Link to main forum post.
http://www.infinityward.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=203408#p3226134

 

[duragezic]

It's tough to believe a lot of the posts given how much lies I've seen from people on that forum. That forum is ridiculous.

I seen a couple posts from people who collected bandwidth data and the usage while not host was same as other games and host was significantly higher but doubtful to be a problem since it's not 24/7.

Then again, I check Steam pages of people I've played with online and quite a few have 200+ hours in two weeks. How the is that possible?

One of the posts sounds like an idiot with a monthly limit that doesn't know and went over it, which could happen with any game. Also, this guy is 100% sure he has no virus. How does he know? Because he never installs AV on his machine. He just knows he doesn't have a virus. What a dumbass. Look at his posts.

I'm sure it could happen but I don't think it's much of an issue.

Aren't console games the same way? I had always thought Xbox Live had hosts (not just login, content, etc servers) but when they announced the host migration feature for 360, I guess not. Why haven't huge numbers of these people been getting letters for the past few years? Someone correct me on this last part if I'm wrong.

 

[mindcycle]

It's tough to believe a lot of the posts given how much lies I've seen from people on that forum. That forum is ridiculous.

I seen a couple posts from people who collected bandwidth data and the usage while not host was same as other games and host was significantly higher but doubtful to be a problem since it's not 24/7.

Then again, I check Steam pages of people I've played with online and quite a few have 200+ hours in two weeks. How the is that possible?

Yeah, i'm not sure if it's a large issue or not I just though it was interesting. The reality is that it could happen since ISP's use scripts that detect possible P2P usage and other "overages" that violate their TOS. Those scripts will typically either lower your throughput right away or send you an email informing you of the problem.

I know for a fact that comcast automatically lowers your throughput if they detect P2P usage. One of my previous roommates used to run torrents all day and our internet speed continuously dropped, even after I made him quit the torrent apps. It made it impossible to stream anything. Before I knew what was going on I called comcast and they told me the account had been flagged for P2P usage.

 

[Xellos2099]

Wow, there are some people who are actually willing to defend IW and say it si player fault, what are they, IW coolate drinker?

 

[pontifex]

Wow, there are some people who are actually willing to defend IW and say it si player fault, what are they, IW coolate drinker?

All this bashing of IW has apparently made you slack off on your 3rd grade English homework. Be cool, stay in school!

 

[Jschmuck2]

All this bashing of IW has apparently made you slack off on your 3rd grade English homework. Be cool, stay in school!

You don't like coolate?

 

[NoSoup4You]

Cherry IW Coolate is my favorite.

I checked the link and quite frankly I'm not impressed with these testimonials. They're littered with biased remarks and while I can understand why they'd be upset, it's a little over the top. So I guess I'm calling shenanigans on them or at the very least questioning their motives. Maybe I have too critical an eye for these things...

 

[mmnno]

The console versions have been 100% P2P all along. Sounds like those people are BSing.

 

[Mike Gayner]

The console versions have been 100% P2P all along. Sounds like those people are BSing.

This. P2P console games have been around since the dawn of man.

 

[kylebisme]

It's not peer-to-peer, and neither are the vast majority of console games, but rather they use a client-server setup where one of the player's consoles acts as a listen server.

 

[Newbian]

Well you play a game that forces your connection to act as a server then what do you expect.

Play a decent game where dedicated servers are used.

You are using a server service without paying for it and it's costing you but seriously we need to find out just how much playing it takes per day for the kind of activity to get noticed.

 

[GullyFoyle]

This. P2P console games have been around since the dawn of man.

If by the dawn of man, you mean about 7 years, yes (for internet connected consoles). It's true that blaming this issue on IW's decision to have P2P networking on the PC version of MW2 is a lost cause, given the proportion of PC players:console players, though. Give it up. Bash the ISP's, not IW. End bandwidth limits now!

 

[Newbian]

If by the dawn of man, you mean about 7 years, yes (for internet connected consoles). It's true that blaming this issue on IW's decision to have P2P networking on the PC version of MW2 is a lost cause, given the proportion of PC players:console players, though. Give it up. Bash the ISP's, not IW. End bandwidth limits now!

Yes...I need more porn.

But seriously when a game like this makes you act as a dedicated server does anyone truly win?

Just good to hear MW2 getting bashed for the stupid mistakes like that.

 

[mindcycle]

The following quote is from a user on the IW MW2 PC forum. I'm not sure of the accuracy of his claim but I though i'd post it for you guys to see here.

It wouldn't surprise me if P2P games on the PC alerts some ISPs, sure consoles uses P2P as well but they run through common lower ports (53, 80, 88, etc) that's used as everyday typical internet traffic along with a couple mid 3000's ports while the PC requires a bunch of upper 1000-3000 ports open. If an ISP sees your activity, then assume you're running some kind of warez P2P server or something, they'll let you know

http://www.infinityward.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=203408&start=20

 

[kylebisme]

It's not P2P! P2P is what old games like the first two Doom games used, were the gamestate snyced across all connected players rather than having one act as host.

 

[oogabooga]

Cherry IW Coolate is my favorite.

I checked the link and quite frankly I'm not impressed with these testimonials. They're littered with biased remarks and while I can understand why they'd be upset, it's a little over the top. So I guess I'm calling shenanigans on them or at the very least questioning their motives. Maybe I have too critical an eye for these things...

Does anyone actually admit how many hours they play to get their activity noticed by an ISP? Don't get me wrong, MW2 did a lot of dumb things, but it's hard to believe that the standard, even normal enthusiast player, would run into issues.

Of course they could just have super uptight ISP's...

 

[ViviTheMage]

Hahaha, well that actually sucks if it's true!

I wonder what IW can/will do?

Dedicated servers...please ;P

 

[mindcycle]

It's not P2P! P2P is what old games like the first two Doom games used, were the gamestate snyced across all connected players rather than having one act as host.

The exact terminology is misleading I agree, since P2P isn't exactly what's going on. People are calling it P2P since it's easier for them to grasp that concept since they're familiar with it.

However, one person's machine still acts as a server in the match making system used by MW2, and that activity could be flagged by your ISP. That is what we are talking about here. Whether or not that is an actual problem would be dependent on your ISP's TOS and how they choose to enforce that TOS. Honestly, I don't believe it's probably that huge of an issue. But, as ISP's are constantly imposing tighter and tighter restrictions it could pose a threat in the future, or even now, as user posts from the IW thread suggests.

 

[exar333]

IW FTL (again)

 

[mb]

If by the dawn of man, you mean about 7 years, yes (for internet connected consoles). It's true that blaming this issue on IW's decision to have P2P networking on the PC version of MW2 is a lost cause, given the proportion of PC players:console players, though. Give it up. Bash the ISP's, not IW. End bandwidth limits now!

Heh, that just brought back memories of playing Super Mario Kart via XBAND back in the day

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

P2P architecture is kind of the opposite of client-server architecture (which MW2 uses). People need to get their terminology straight.

 

[aigomorla]

Wow, there are some people who are actually willing to defend IW and say it si player fault, what are they, IW coolate drinker?

every forum has a spot.

AMDZone still believes the PHII is greater then i7.

I think for AT its big breasted > flat chested.. :X
(sarcasm)