Blizzard: Diablo 3 Internet Requirement Prevents Hacking

By Kevin Parrish
published

Blizzard doesn't want the rampant hacking as seen with Diablo 2.

Despite recent talk that Diablo 3's required Internet connection was all about the player's character and Battle.net's feature set, game director Jay Wilson made it clear that the requirement is also to prevent the same amount of hacking as seen with Diablo 2. The revelation was made while explaining why it's a bad idea to have an offline mode for the upcoming action-RPG game.

"If we allow an Offline mode, it changes the structure of the data that we have to put on the user’s system," he told PC Gamer during Gamescom. "Essentially we would have to put our server architecture onto the client so that it can run its own personal server. Doing that essentially is one of the reasons why Diablo 2 was a much easier game to hack than obviously any other game you’d mention and so it’s what led to extensive cheating and item dupes and things like that."

"I would never guarantee that we’re never going to have those things in Diablo 3, but it’s one of the things that our community has been the most vocal about, wanting this fixed, and if we essentially are putting the server out there…we’re not really going to be able to better than Diablo 2," he added.

But with the piracy issue aside, Diablo 3 was designed from the ground up to be an online, multiplayer game. "The game’s not really being played right if it’s not online," he said. He indicated that it wasn't designed for players to opt out of the cooperative experience, to opt out of the trading experience. And at this point in time, essentially everyone is connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi networks or a local broadband connection, so there was no reason why they couldn't create an online-only game.

Still, what about those people who have faulty, unreliable connections? "Erm… upgrade the wiring in [the] house?" Wilson said. "I mean, in this day and age the notion that there’s this a whole vast majority of players out there that don’t have online connectivity – this doesn’t really fly any more." He then pointed out that he could access nine networks just from his hotel room alone.

"You’ve got to make choices about what you want to do, and sometimes those choices are going to make some people unhappy, but if you feel like it’s what is the right thing to do to making a better product then you have to do it," he said.

To read the full interview, head here.

Kevin Parrish
138 Comments Comment from the forums
  • bavman
    Way to ruin a great game.
    Reply
  • wildkitten
    Server architecture on the player's computer? Blizzard just let us all know the real reason there is no offline mode and that would be the real money AH.

    Since even single player will be played off their server, the server will control the drop rates of items. They have already said that they will change items if there are too many of them. This means legitimate players who are playing solo will be competing with the gold sellers and others running bots to get the best items to drop so they can put on the real money AH.

    The more they talk, the less Diablo 3 is sounding like a game that is intended for genuine players. I know my money will be going elsewhere.
    Reply
  • omnimodis78
    It's all good. Rome wasn't built in a day, nor did it destroy itself in a day, but it was its own selfish stupidity that did so.
    Reply
  • mute20
    Duping was super bad in diablo 2. Literally 80% of all high end runeworld items where duped. It was really gambling when you traded cause the item could disappear right after the trade.
    Reply
  • dimar
    Will I be able to use trainer to advance faster to see the story?
    Reply
  • heroictofu
    After reading this article, I'm taking a different stance from the norm and say this is a step in the right direction. Almost anyone who is going to read this article in the first place is already connected online and odds are, they spend all their time online regardless with a broadband connection. The few that only see this on their cell phone won't get the game anyway. While I have no real statistics, I'm sure at least 99% of the people who have played or continue to play Diablo 2 are connected online all the time anyway. As long as Blizzard doesn't mess with the server hardware to a point where you're getting disconnected all the time, I don't see why this is such a problem for so many people.

    I have tons of single player games on my PC (Mass Effect comes to mind). If they suddenly required an online connection to be present at all times, I still, personally, would have no issue with this as I'm connected online all the time regardless.
    Reply
  • aniklues
    is like Starcraft2. I don't oppose their policy, but I'm very sad that it seems like it is losing its color as a PC gaming. Blizzard's thought is very reasonable.
    Reply
  • Sequences
    As bad as dupes were, it was the driving factor in the Diablo 2 economy due to the absurdly low drop rates of high runes. Duped items often become a sort of currency. Unless Blizzard has developed some kind of in-game currency, this is the kind of stuff that could kill a game economy.
    Reply
  • keeno83
    I really dont see a problem with an only online mode.
    If someone has a pc capable of playing d3, why wouldnt they have an internet connection. Understandable if the server go's down, the power go's out.. or like a couple years ago the link between Australia and the rest of the world went.. but how often does that or would that really happen. Maybe if I was a hardcore gamer like these people who spend 2/3 of their day paying wow etc.. I would be pissed.. but for the majority.. I dont see what people are complaining about.
    Reply
  • shoelessinsight
    There are people who live in rural areas where broadband connectivity is extremely unreliable, or they have to use dial-up. There are people whose only internet connection is through an internet cafe, in which they are paying by the hour.

    Hotels and plane flights don't always have stable internet either. Sure, you may have nine different wireless networks visible from your hotel room, but have you ever tried playing an online game on one of those networks? In my experience, it's not usually feasible.

    All of the above cases are situations where a single-player gaming experience can be destroyed by a required internet connection. Many people simply don't have an option for reliable internet, and now they're having their options for single-player games taken away as well.
    Reply