Even paid subscriptions don't keep cheaters out.
Even an MMO like world of warcrack (warcraft) at its height of 11 million subscribers, 300+ servers, and $15 US a month could not keep the cheaters out.
The moderators (like dungeon masters or game masters) and their pals all cheated. They even had cheating guilds with programs to fix the game's rolls (it used a modified 20D / 20 sided dice system) or add bonus / mods to the rolls.
The game was hacked so bad, even though Blizzard had hired droves of analysts to check for cheaters.
I was once a hard core WOW player, I worked 8 hours and played 6-8 every day (yeah what a life, I know
), my guild had the PK (player killer) servers hacked, we had d/l bot / hack / editor programs, we even had a over lay system with ghosted characters and easy text for the n00bs to follow when dealing with the hour long boss battles where you had to move to X Y Z in a sequence with certain party members doing their specialties requiring exact timing.
But the always get 18-20 for the die rolls was the best one we had. It also helped that the game master was in and he'd tell us about the update or let our programmers in on the internal beta test server so they could grab the code.
The closest to cheat free was in the 1946 servers, where people really knew the planes and would let the server admin know.
Or the old counter strike / counter strike 2 servers where most of the clans all knew each other and realized someone was pulling no clip or insta headshot cheats.
A solid knit community working with devs / server admins who are willing to make an effort to stop cheaters is the way to go.
I remember in the better 1946 severs, even people with a 10 kph extra speed, using MW50 / WEP / GM 1 / Forsazh forever, or sporting non period / historical armament (like 8 30mm's) / unlimited ammo, were found out within a few games and kicked / banned the next day.
As for CaptainD's ideas, I agree with them. For the sequel / IL-2 series. If they come out with IL-2 series sequels, with pay per new game / theater and then roll out with a separate MMO alongside the IL-2 BOM, I wouldn't mind the MMO being free to play, and pay for extras etc.
I'm all about supporting the devs, yet to thrive relies on a tried and true concept.
1C's business model for this series is simple. Be the best, accurate as possible, good customer service + work with the community / cater to community needs/wants for the game, make a awesome working game, and put out content (like campaigns, online, planes etc), have reasonable pricing, . . . Great products always sell, and reasonable pricing, and dedication to clients and customers keep them coming back.