Crossfire: A Game in Dire Straights!

Crossfire is a free online first person shooter game that has come under attack by
(1) hackers,(2) economical problems, and (3) harsh criticisms.

1. Addressing the entire concept of hacking in Crossfire can be very difficult and lead to heated arguments. However, there are several questions that need to be answered first before rationalizing this problem. (1)Why are there hackers in crossfire? Crossfire is a game that requires quick reactions and pinpoint accuracy in order to be considered a "good player". When offered with incentives such as becoming an instantly "good player", getting large amounts of kills, observing yourself as the ace/mvp of the game, and having a large reward of GP - hacking can become prevalent. (2) Where do people obtain their hacks? Hacks are easily obtained through quick internet/VIP downloads - some hacking packages are more difficult to get than others. (3) Why is crossfire so lazy when it comes to dealing with the hacking problem? The Crossfire team implements patches,allows limitless hacking reports to be sent, and has top of the line security programs, such as x-trap. However, the crossfire team cannot possibly be expected to account for every person of the face of the Earth that is capable of creating hacking software. New hacking software will be implemented, and crossfire will have to rise and face it head on.

2. How does crossfire face economical problems? Crossfire is a free multilplayer online first person shooter game. But if the game is entirely free how can the staff get paid and the servers/security kept up to date? Players are offered ZP points to help enhance their playing experience while in crossfire. ZP costs money - it is this money that is used to help fuel the administration/ upkeep of the game. However, there are surveys that can be filled out in order to obtain (free?) ZP points. I myself filled out several quick surveys and found myself with 14,400 ZP points in no time. I converted the ZP into GP and obtained 120,000 GP points ( I used this to buy whatever I wanted thereafter). In my own opinion I think that the survey option can easily be taken advantage of - allowing anyone to get anything they want with just a few free surveys. Perhaps, ZP pricing should be increased/harder obtain so that more money can be used to hire more staff/increase security to help fight the hacking problem? Although many of the hackers I have seen are heavy ZP buyers - would permanently banning them decrease profits?

3. What do you think of when you hear the name Crossfire? There are several suggestions that I could make to improve the game. Be aware that some of my suggestions would be too time consuming/costly to perform for this game. 1) Hire more staff and increase security to help delay/fight off potential hackers - this would be accomplished by an increase in ZP pricing. 2) Offer greater incentives for players to buy ZP points - Make new levels/content only available to ZP buyers. 3) Enhance the games graphics - everyone likes higher graphic quality, but this option is costly and time consuming. 4) Revamp certain game mechanics - fixing errors such as getting shot/dieing even though you jumped behind a wall/ crate just in time or when you get hit with a knife/shovel even though you appear to be well out of range for that to happen. 5) Create a new voting system that allows the voters to call an in-game moderator to the gaming area. The moderator will then identify the hacker, recognize their behavior, and suspend/remove them from crossfire - this suggestion would require a large amount of paid and/or volunteer moderators to perform, perhaps one moderator to every room?

Good luck, and enjoy your Crossfire gaming experience!

-Assclown321