Thinking about competitive integrity
Essays on trust, evidence, and the technology behind verified play.
The Accusation Economy
Why doubt sticks faster than defense, and what infrastructure for being believed could look like.
In competitive gaming, being accused of cheating is functionally the same as being caught, because there's no mechanism to prove innocence. The accusation is the verdict.
The Ghost of Al Mazrah
DMZ was the best game mode I've ever played. Cheaters killed it. Activision buried it. And every leak says it's coming back.
DMZ wasn't just a game mode. It was a promise that extraction shooters could feel like home. Then cheaters crashed the servers, Activision pulled the plug, and a community was left in the rubble. With every leak now pointing to DMZ's return in the next Call of Duty, this is a love letter to what we lost, and a case for why the return demands something the original never had: proof.