Grinding Gear Games co-founder Chris Wilson posted a video on YouTube in which he opens up about his years of battle with data miners during the creation of the first Path of Exile.
According to the developers, such leaks simultaneously compliment a project’s popularity but tend to strip away context and mislead fans.
In the video, Wilson discusses the main ways to combat data mining: from code that automatically purges unused files to encryption that only works until the game is released. The developers paid special attention to adding fake assets and fake tasks.
While creating these lures takes up valuable team time and is inefficient from a production perspective, Wilson admits that they are a great tool for attracting curious players. Therefore, according to the author, it is impossible to completely prevent leaks in the era of completely scratching the code, so developers can only hope that the community treats discovered secrets with appropriate skepticism.