Blizzard Bans, Suspends More SC2 Cheaters

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.

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25 Comments Comment from the forums

captainnemojr

How I play in single player should have no effect on what my ranking is online. I can own in single and get owned in multi because a real person is better than AI. If I want to use cheat codes just to mess around on single player, then I should have that right. Hacking, on the other hand, I can see banning.
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Graham_71

I don't have SC2 but good, cheaters ruin games and im glad to see someone finally doing something about it, wish Quake 3 had it's cheaters banned back in the day.
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pbrigido

Good. Keep them out of my games. Hope they get more soon. Say what you will about Blizzard, but they are damn good about keeping their games clean.
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garyshome

Yes and in FEAR also
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dEAne

That's good, fair enough.
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nutriment6464

Awesome, good job blizzard, that makes my experience better, and that's why you're one of the best company out there.
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f-14

"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."/quote]
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.

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tical2399

I'm not feeling this. These people paid their money for the games and I assume if you get banned you can't log in which stop for even playing single player.

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.
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tical2399

The difference is when you pay for that gym member ship you're paying to use their equipment in their building.

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.
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kevinqx

captainnemojrHow I play in single player should have no effect on what my ranking is online. I can own in single and get owned in multi because a real person is better than AI. If I want to use cheat codes just to mess around on single player, then I should have that right. Hacking, on the other hand, I can see banning.
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.
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