Blizzard Denies Banning Diablo 3 Gamers Playing on Linux

[exfileme]

Blizzard is denying rumors that it's banning Diablo 3 gamers because they're using WINE for Linux. Blizzard's numerous banned Linux customers say otherwise.

Blizzard Denies Banning Diablo 3 Gamers Playing on Linux : Read more

 

[jhansonxi]

Warden IS DRM spyware and this wouldn't be the first time it has generated false-positives for cheating, even with Windows users. However, I know someone who is playing D3 daily on WINE without problems so it may be a problem with a specific version of Wine or specific Blizzard.net servers. The servers are not all updated at the same time so it may only be specific regions that are affected.

 

[aevm]

"scans the user's PC for specific software and sends the info back"

I thought searches required a warrant to be legal...

 

[vilenjan]

Aevm have ever read the ELU of any game that you play? You pretty much sing your right away by accepting the ELU contract. Welcome to 21st century gaming.

 

[wildkitten]

[citation][nom]aevm[/nom]"scans the user's PC for specific software and sends the info back"I thought searches required a warrant to be legal...[/citation]
While I am no fan of Blizzard in the Bobby Kotick era, if someone plays the games Blizzard makes that means they pressed that Agree button to the EULA and TOS which gives Blizzard permission to run Warden.

If someone doesn't want Warden, and I can't fault anyone who doesn't, it is intrusive and has been known to cause problems, they can simply choose not to agree to the EULA and get a refund.

 

[wildkitten]

[citation][nom]jhansonxi[/nom]Warden IS DRM spyware and this wouldn't be the first time it has generated false-positives for cheating, even with Windows users. However, I know someone who is playing D3 daily on WINE without problems so it may be a problem with a specific version of Wine or specific Blizzard.net servers. The servers are not all updated at the same time so it may only be specific regions that are affected.[/citation]
Could be even more than that. Could be a certain version of WINE with a certain distro or distro's of Linux that cause the problem. Not every Linux distro is the same as every other one.

 

[rantoc]

Well "warden" should not be the issue here, what it does is basically compare what tasks is running in
the computer vs a list of known cheats and then send a positive (if your running a listed item) or false if no known cheat is running. I would not be surprised if most were running a known cheat and got busted and now blame blizzard for ruining their poor sportsmanship.

Blizzard should be blamed when they do mistakes like the overly f-cked up Diablo 3 releasem servers, repair prices patch ect ect. (worst release ever in the history of gaming?). I dont think they are to blame here thoo.

 

[nukemaster]

[citation][nom]vilenjan[/nom]Aevm have ever read the ELU of any game that you play? You pretty much sing your right away by accepting the ELU contract. Welcome to 21st century gaming.[/citation]
Sure are right.

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS FOR YOUR USE, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NONINFRINGEMENT, AND THOSE ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. BLIZZARD DOES NOT WARRANT THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICE AT THE TIMES OR LOCATIONS OF YOUR CHOOSING; THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE; THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED; OR THAT THE GAME CLIENT OR THE SERVICE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.

AND

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR ANY DISPUTE WITH BLIZZARD IS TO STOP USING THE SERVICE, AND TO CANCEL ALL ACCOUNTS REGISTERED TO YOU.

 

[Pennanen]

It amazes me how willingly people are giving out their rights, mostly blizzdrones.

Just so you know, eula and tos are toilet paper when it comes to the law.

In the land of the free, america that is, corporations and their user agreements might rule over the laws of the state but in europe we have laws that actually work and prevent stuff like random banning etc.

And yes there has been a case here already where a guy got banned by blizzard for selling his account on web auction. That person sued blizz and won the case.

 

[alcalde]

[citation][nom]rantoc[/nom]Well "warden" should not be the issue here, what it does is basically compare what tasks is running in the computer vs a list of known cheats and then send a positive (if your running a listed item) or false if no known cheat is running. I would not be surprised if most were running a known cheat and got busted and now blame blizzard for ruining their poor sportsmanship.Blizzard should be blamed when they do mistakes like the overly f-cked up Diablo 3 releasem servers, repair prices patch ect ect. (worst release ever in the history of gaming?). I dont think they are to blame here thoo.[/citation]

WINE (stands for WINE Is Not an Emulator) is an implementation of the Windows API on Linux that allows many Windows programs to run on Linux. Warden can definitely be a problem because it's going to need to access WINE's Windows API commands to determine the running tasks, and WINE does everything it can to never let a program realize it's not running on Windows. Warden may be considering some of the returned values "odd" and thus triggering the ban. I'm not an expert on this, but people in the know have been saying that no known "bot" program or related cheats are known to work under WINE on Linux, which lessens the odds that they're being banned for being legitimate cheats.

 

[pawnstorm]

Not that I'm a minor or anything, but I always wondered if EULA's are legally binding in the states if you're a minor, especially in a case that could be considered infringing on someone's rights to privacy. AFAIK it's considered a contract which cannot be legally binding until at least the age of consent, not sure if consent is considered 18 or the age of consent set by state laws. All said this is a pretty minor case of that right infringement, and in the case of this story, most minors wouldn't be running linux.

 

[wildkitten]

[citation][nom]nukemaster[/nom]Sure are right.AND[/citation]
What point are you making? Are you backing up Vilenjan or trying to contradict them?

 

[suture]

Never saw so many blizzard (more specifically D3) news in tomshardware site.
What the hell is going on?

 

[wildkitten]

[citation][nom]pawnstorm[/nom]Not that I'm a minor or anything, but I always wondered if EULA's are legally binding in the states if you're a minor, especially in a case that could be considered infringing on someone's rights to privacy. AFAIK it's considered a contract which cannot be legally binding until at least the age of consent, not sure if consent is considered 18 or the age of consent set by state laws. All said this is a pretty minor case of that right infringement, and in the case of this story, most minors wouldn't be running linux.[/citation]
Actually a minor can not sign up for an account for Battle.net, or isn't suppose to. It's suppose to be the parents.

 

[wildkitten]

[citation][nom]pennanen[/nom]It amazes me how willingly people are giving out their rights, mostly blizzdrones.Just so you know, eula and tos are toilet paper when it comes to the law. In the land of the free, america that is, corporations and their user agreements might rule over the laws of the state but in europe we have laws that actually work and prevent stuff like random banning etc.And yes there has been a case here already where a guy got banned by blizzard for selling his account on web auction. That person sued blizz and won the case.[/citation]
That may be, but at the same time, there is no law that says a business has to do business in a certain country and sooner or later when the rules of their game are not respected, they merely won't offer it.

The fact is, the EULA is a contract. Software is not owned, it is licenced. The company still owns it.

 

[martel80]

[citation][nom]nukemaster[/nom]...[/citation]Even if you physically signed that EULA/TOS in my country, most of the stuff would not have any effect as it is in direct contradiction of the law. In most of EU, it's impossible to sign away rights granted to you by laws unless those laws explicitly permit it.

E.g. if you gave someone a signed permission to kill you and they did, they would still end up in jail for murder. The reasoning behind this concept (which US apparently isn't capable of) is that you might have been forced/tricked into signing such material and so you still need to be protected. There are some downsides to this (legal euthanasia is almost impossible in EU) but the positives outweigh the negatives, IMO.

 

[kinggraves]

Blizzard sure is a popular target. Pretty much every single online game with the slightest effort into it runs an anticheat engine that checks your system for cheat wares. Without such engines those games would be so full of players using hacked clients no legit player would compete. If you don't like it, don't play online games, and don't buy D3 since it's an online game.

Cheaters claiming they didn't cheat? So what? Criminals that are caught red handed still claim they're innocent. The idea that they're purposefully banning players that could buy goods off the real market just because they use Linux is absurd. Why would they intentionally exclude customers?

They have no responsibility to fix it, Linux is not listed as a supported platform. There is no guarantee that it will work with WINE. You're using an unsupported platform. Figure it out by yourselves and report the EXACT combination back to Blizzard and they'll probably fix it so they can continue taking your money. Just don't expect them to troubleshoot an unsupported combination for your benefit.

 

[amuffin]

You should be happy you made a profit from them.

 

[The_Trutherizer]

Not on Linux, but D3 has been a waste of time and money for me. $60 for the low entertainment value and high frustration level was just not worth it.

 

[Pennanen]

[citation][nom]wildkitten[/nom]That may be, but at the same time, there is no law that says a business has to do business in a certain country and sooner or later when the rules of their game are not respected, they merely won't offer it.The fact is, the EULA is a contract. Software is not owned, it is licenced. The company still owns it.[/citation]

Maybe in america. In europe if i paid for the game, its mine. There has already been precedent case about that and the customer won it.

 

[stoogie]

just get a windows 7 pc u retards, obviously if u have a linux box u would have a windows pc, you are not homeless people without income.

 

[sten_gn]

[citation][nom]stoogie[/nom]just get a windows 7 pc u retards, obviously if u have a linux box u would have a windows pc, you are not homeless people without income.[/citation]

And if You write from time to time some small text on your PC, should you buy M$ Office instead of free Libre Office ?!!

 

[GNCD]

The game only supports Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It says so on the box, on Blizz's website and on Wiki. Yet they still bought it and installed it on their Linux computers. Retards?

Blizz on the other hand is actually trying to help these guys. What a shitty company.

 

[Cryio]

"and was able to play Diablo 3 on their Linux boxes up until last week." WERE able

 

[demonhorde665]

seriously sick of seeing folks get thumbed down because they posted something mildly negative towards linsux, or linsux users. get over yourselfs. Linux sucks period if it was as great as all you super nerds say it is , then it would be the number one OS not windows. I'm in agreance with some oft eh guys that got thumb's down .. if you want say "hey look at me , i'm a pansy liberal open source loving super nerd!" then run linsux, if you want to play pc games, get windows.


let the thumb rain pour down !