Editing Cheating in online games (section)

===Banning players===
Some game publishers may decide to try to permanently ban players who are persistent in cheating and ruining the game community. Such bans are typically placed based on hardware ID or IP address. Consequently, cheaters may develop ways of getting around these bans, by either playing through proxy or VPN servers, or spoofing or changing their hardware configuration.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ccplz.net/threads/nexon-are-enforcing-their-new-tou-in-regard-to-banning-multiple-accounts.59770/ |title=Nexon hardware bans |date=16 January 2015 |access-date=8 July 2015 |author=Tryst |work=ccplz.net |archive-date=10 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710145404/https://ccplz.net/threads/nexon-are-enforcing-their-new-tou-in-regard-to-banning-multiple-accounts.59770/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Some companies and leagues ban suspected cheaters by blacklisting specific installation or serial keys, or user accounts, meaning that the player is effectively prevented from playing the game online. Certain games are known to identify cheaters and "[[Shadow banning|shadow ban]]" them by placing them in matchmaking with other cheaters only, so as not to let the cheaters know that they have been identified.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Patterson |first1=Calum |title=Twitch streamer Aydan "shadow-banned" in Warzone |url=https://www.dexerto.com/call-of-duty/twitch-streamer-aydan-shadow-banned-in-warzone-1508753/ |website=Dexerto |access-date=5 July 2021 |language=en |date=6 February 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Singh |first1=Surej |title='Call Of Duty: Warzone' players report being shadowbanned despite not cheating |url=https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/call-of-duty-warzone-players-shadowbanned-not-cheating-2846643 |website=NME |access-date=5 July 2021 |date=30 December 2020}}</ref>

While game publishers are known to ban players employing cheats, the actual number of players banned is usually not revealed. Exceptions to this include [[Blizzard Entertainment]], [[Nexon]], and [[CipSoft]], known for banning cheaters in batches, and publicising the number of banned accounts, presumably in order to discourage others from cheating.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://maplestory.nexon.net/news/maintenance/ban-list |title=Mapplestory banlist |date=21 April 2015 |access-date=8 July 2015 |work=MapleStory |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418081237/http://maplestory.nexon.net/news/maintenance/ban-list |archive-date=18 April 2015 |publisher=[[Nexon America Inc.]] |url-status=live }}</ref>