Call of Duty will shut down and even suspend your account if you use keyboard and mouse with aiming assistance

Both on consoles and PCs, there are competitive games, usually shooters, that offer a ranked system for players to climb the ranks and become one of the best in their country or even worldwide. Competitive games should provide a fair experience for all players, but we know that there are people who use cheats and tricks until they are banned. In Call of Duty (COD), things are taken more seriously, as their anti-cheat system Ricochet will remove players who take advantage of the aim assist feature typical of controllers but using a keyboard and mouse, a practice that is becoming increasingly widespread.

Cheats have existed in video games since their early days, dating back decades. In the era of the first Sony consoles, like the PS1 and PS2, cheats were so common that they were even featured in video game magazines, showing how to activate them. These were cheats created by the game developers themselves and were usually activated in two ways: a combination of buttons on a controller or by entering a specific name when creating a user/character. This latter type of cheat is still used today in games like Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

Ricochet has been updated to remove players who use aim assist with a mouse in COD.

Call of Duty Updates’ tweet (@CODUpdates) on January 16, 2024, states that Ricochet’s security detection systems now target those using tools to activate aim assist while using a mouse and keyboard. The game will close if such tools are detected, and repeated use of these tools may lead to further action on the player’s account.

In the old days, when games were single-player or local co-op and had no online mode, this kind of cheating was not frowned upon, as it added an extra element of fun. However, in a competitive online game, any player using cheats completely ruins the experience for others. It is all too common for cheaters in online competitive games to improve their ranking or achieve an incredible kill-death-assist (K/D/A) ratio.

In games like Call of Duty, Activision has implemented a series of anti-cheat measures called Ricochet. This system has proved to be quite effective, banning 14,000 players in just 24 hours. A new update of Ricochet’s anti-cheat system in Warzone, MW3, and MW2 will remove players if they are detected using a keyboard and mouse with aim assist. Furthermore, if they continue to abuse this system, their account may be suspended.

Tools such as XIM and Cronus Zen are used to achieve this aim assist advantage.

There are always debates surrounding console and PC shooters, as each platform has its pros and cons. Although some players may favor controllers, keyboards and mice offer unmatched precision. This is why all games in this genre have some form of aim assist function for controllers, to provide a comparable experience with crossplay activated.

PC players do not have access to this aim assist feature by default, but there are tools and cheats that can be exploited for it. For years, games like Call of Duty, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, and more have implemented effective aim assist systems for controller users, and PC players have taken advantage of this. A common tactic is to play on a keyboard and mouse while simulating using a controller, so as to benefit from aim assist. Armed with this combination, players can achieve an uncanny level of precision and tracking of enemy players.

Unauthorized tools like XIM and Cronus Zen are used for this purpose. In a related topic but separate from Call of Duty, credit must be given to Embark Studios for nerfing and removing aim assist functions in The Finals, preventing players from using ReWASD to exploit aim assist. This is the first time a company has taken measures to reduce aim assist on controllers, which may provoke complaints from console players but earn praise from the PC gaming community.

The news that Call of Duty will close, and even suspend your account, if you use a keyboard and mouse with aim assist first appeared on El Chapuzas Informático.