CAPTCHA challenges for massively multiplayer online games: Mini-game CAPTCHAs

Botting or automated programs in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) has long been a problem in these networked virtual environments. The use of bots gives cheating players an unfair advantage over other honest players. Using bots, players can potentially amass a huge amount of game wealth, resources, experience points, etc. without much effort, as bot programs can be run continuously for countless hours and will never get tired. Honest players on the other hand have to spend much more time and effort in order to gather an equal amount of game resources. This destroys the fun for legitimate players, ruins the balance of the game and threatens the game developer’s revenue base as discontented players may stop playing the game. Research efforts have proposed the incorporation of CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) challenges in games to prevent or detect potential cheaters, by presenting challenges that are easy for a human to solve but are difficult for a computer to solve. However, the incorporation of CAPTCHA challenges in games is often seen in a negative light, as they are deemed to be intrusive and that they destroy the sense of immersion in the game. This research presents an approach of using CAPTCHAs in MMOGs that is both secure and adds gameplay value to the game.