We are currently working on a web client that communicates with the server using AJAX with JSON. The client is based on gwt, and communication is over https.
The communication can be easily inspected by browser tools – is there some reasonable approach to hide this from the user, i.e. securing the protocol?
Other than standard authentication and encryption techniques used by all browsers, whatever method you come up with, it must be initiated by your JavaScript client. This means that a good hacker can deconstruct your JavaScript and figure out how you submit data.
Security usually deals with either third parties trying to intercept communication or pose as legitimate users, or malicious users trying to get access to where they are not supposed to. Once you verified that a user is legitimate, why would you try to hide user’s data from the user? Maybe you can describe your use case.
EDIT:
The only way to prevent bots is to ask a question that only a human can answer (e.g. Captcha) somewhere in the workflow (i.e. before submitting important data). It’s usually annoying for users, but there is no other way. Since you build a gaming platform, ask your designer to come up with some fun verification.