this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2026
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A CPU serial number or other ID is more unique than a MAC address, as those can be spoofed, and are not guaranteed to be unique, either. I heard one case of someone tearing their hair out over a mystery network issue, eventually discovering two NICs with the same MAC. And also the case of someone buying a whole pallet of NICs, which turned out to all have the same MAC address.
But I don't think that math checks out. A player driven away might return, but a banned player can't.
That pallet of NIC's: oof! I thought there were complicated methods in place to assure that didn't happen.
As for the math, cheating is a problem because it drives players away. Whatever the math is, there is a number of innocent players that could get swept up in a ban that would be acceptable if enough cheaters were also kicked out. I'm not talking morally, just the viability of an online game.