Blizzard Bans, Suspends More SC2 Cheaters
More StarCraft 2 cheaters are going down thanks to Blizzard's mighty banhammer.
It would be safe to assume that-- after the first wave of StarCraft 2 account suspensions and bans-- Blizzard means business when it comes to cheaters. But apparently some gamers just didn't get the hint, and are now feeling another swing of Blizzard's almighty banhammer.
"We recently issued a new round of account suspensions and bans to StarCraft 2 players who were in violation of the Battle.net Terms of Use for cheating and/or using hack programs while playing," the company said in a blog Tuesday. "In addition to undermining the spirit of fair competition that’s essential to play on Battle.net, cheating and hacking can lead to stability and performance issues with the service. As always, maintaining a stable, safe, and secure online-gaming experience for legitimate players is a top priority for us, and we'll be continuing to keep watch on Battle.net and take action as needed."
The first wave of StarCraft 2 suspensions and bans took place at the beginning of October, affecting over 5,000 accounts. Initially there was some confusion as to why some accounts were targeted, however Blizzard quickly explained that the banhammer wasn't just feeding off those using the built-in single player cheats, but was also going after players using 3rd-party hack programs and/or modifications that support both single and multiplayer modes.
"If a StarCraft 2 player is found to be cheating or using hacks or modifications in any form, then as outlined in our end user license agreement, that player can be permanently banned from the game," the company in October. "This means that the player will be permanently unable to log in to Battle.net to play StarCraft 2 with his or her account. Playing StarCraft 2 legitimately means playing with an unaltered game client."
But what about the built-in single-player cheats? Why can accounts be suspended due to their use? According to Blizzard Support, its related to Achievements and the gamer's overall score. "While single player campaigns may only appear to be you and a computer at first, your achievements and gamer score also caries weight and prestige for your online play," the company said last month.
Blizzard did not reveal the total number of accounts affected by the latest bans and suspensions.
guess blizzard better get used to the idea that of those 2 million people banned some are going to start up private servers and modify the game client to work around and eliminate battlenet from the code, just like all the other games out there. yes it violates the DMCA and a bunch of other laws. they obviously didn't care since they used cheats not to mention there's going to be people outside of the USofA's long arms of justice. chinese companies have already modified blizzard code with their prior games and gotten away with doing this to their other games prior to WOW and are still going today. i don't know that it has happened to WOW or SC2 yet as i have never bothered to look or ask around.
I know its the popular thing to say cheaters ruin games blah blah blah and they probably do but if you gonna ban a person to where they can no longer play something they paid for then i'm not for it.
If you want to ban them, that's fine just give them their money back for the game they paid for.
...why would you give them their money back? if someone gets caught cheating in a poker tournament, do they say "fine, just give me back my entree fee and I'll leave". if you get caught taking pics in a gym locker room (happens mostly in the female LR) do you ask for your gym membership fee back? no, you get your ass tossed out on the street!
man i love reading these articles about blizzard banning players!! if more companies do this then maybe we get PC gaming to where it belongs.
Games have single player components which contrary to popular though many of us still play. When someone is banned the company is saying not only can you not play online which is fine since they broke the rules, but their also saying we won't allow you to play the single player anymore either. That's not cool.
If I use cheat codes and make the game no fun for other players then I understand who i'm banned from the servers. Why does me being banned from playing with others have to do with me playing the single player component of a game I bought?
I don't play SC2 and have no interest in it, but it just pisses me off that you can pay for a game and still have to follow the companies rules to even play it offline.
Blizzard has cheat codes they put in the game that they allow anyone to use in single player. Using them will negate achievement advancement.
The cheats they do not allow are the third party trainers that modify the game client. These do not disable achievement advancement.
I love how calling nonsense what it is = bitching to sheep.
You can use the cheat codes in single player in sc2, but blizzard disables the achievements from there on for that game. Blizzard is banning those with a hacked game that allows them to cheat in single player without disabling the achievements. So if you ask me they got what they deserved.
Just my thought! I spend a lot of my 'game time' with a memory editor fooling around in games. If I'd do that in starcraft 2 (which I refuse to buy thanks to the past experiences with injust banning of my games), I'd certainly get banned as well. And I'm sort of afraid they'd take my wow account too just for good measure. Which I'd really not like (wow hasn't got singleplayer, so the only 'hack' I'd want to apply was enable LAA in their otherwise crappy client software)
I don't see why people defend those who hack the game client.
It's a great game and I don't blame blizzard for enforcing simple rules.
For third-party programs, you should be able to play single player with them but I also understand that it does circumvent acheivements
As for multiplayer, yes bannings should continue! damn cheaters!
What is LAA? I'm not familiar with that acronym.
SC2 is a strictly multiplayer game, since you have to log-in to play single player. What if you don't have an internet connection? No starcraft for you.
It might be a great game once you actually get to play, but it's so badly managed that it turns itself mediocre at best overall.
RTFA. They aren't banning for using the built in cheat codes, they are banning for using 3rd party ones that don't disable the achievements. R.I.F.