new player joins the server. Legal measures In recent years, countries including South Korea and China have criminalized the sale or use of cheats in video games. In South Korea, cheaters could be punished with up to 5 years in jail or fines exceeding $40,000. The presence of cheaters in online games may push away the legitimate playerbase and reduce overall profits in the industry, leading to game developers working with legislative bodies or enforcement agencies. Historically, some game companies have also taken legal measures against individuals that have created and sold cheating tools in video games as a means to curb their use. Anti-cheat experts have argued that it is particularly important to take legal steps against entities who profit from making and selling cheats. In April 2013, coder DrUnKeN ChEeTaH was sued by Nexon America for operating GameAnarchy, a popular subscription based cheat provider for Combat Arms, and lost, Nexon being awarded $1.4M in damages. In January 2017, Riot Games successfully sued the LeagueSharp service, which offered a subscription-based hacking service for Riot's League of Legends, with a $10 million award to be paid to Riot. Blizzard Entertainment sued Bossland GMBH for distributing software hacks for several of its games, and was awarded $8.5 million in damages. Epic Games, producers of the battle royale game Fortnite have sued two cheaters partnered with AddictedCheats, who offer cheating services for a variety of online games. Often, game company lawsuits against cheaters or cheat providers cite copyright infringement as the reason for the lawsuit. While some argue against the merit of this claim, grounds for copyright infringement include damaging the company's intellectual property, affecting the experience of other users, and circumventing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which could be applied to video games. See also Cheating in video games Cheating in esports Gaming etiquette Warden (software) References Further reading Exploiting Online Games, Hoglund, Greg, 2008, Pearson Education, Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames, Consalvo, Mia, 2007, MIT Press, External links Aspects of Networking in Multiplayer Computer Games by J.Smed et al., The Electronic Library, volume 20, number 2, pages 87–97, 2002. Fair Online Gaming Information on Intel's anti-cheat research initiative and technology. Esports techniques Video game controversies Online games