Blizzard Bans Single Player Cheaters

[V-Man339]

Yes, really.

Cheat Happens user gm0ney has yet to play Blizzard’s much anticipated Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty online. He’s spent the majority of his time playing through the game’s campaign and AI skirmish matches, which makes the email he received that much stranger. “Offense: Terms of Use Violation - Exploitative Activity: Unauthorized cheat programs (‘hacks’). Account Action: 14 day (336 hour) suspension.” The user had been suspended, for using the trainer for Starcraft 2 created and distributed by CheatHappens.com, strictly against AI opponents. “Gm0ney” isn’t alone either, Blizzard’s actions have left many Cheat Happens users with a suspension or much worse, a lifetime ban, it also has many wondering - is it legal?

“I was mostly shocked,” Cheat Happens gm0ney said of the ban e-mail. “Although with all of the news about bans and suspensions coming up, I was somewhat prepared. Blizzard has made it very public in the few months since the game’s release that they would take immediate action against anyone found cheating in any form of StarCraft 2. “We take cheating in our games very seriously,” said a Blizzard spokesperson in a press release. “If you’re caught cheating in Starcraft 2, Blizzard, as per the terms in the EULA reserves the right to ban your battle.net account and/or CD key from ever playing again, online or off. In essence, it’s the language of the EULA that’s in question in the argument as Blizzard states that “playing anything other than an unaltered game client violates the Battle.net terms or use. “We strongly recommend that you avoid using any hacks, cheats or exploits.”

 

[<RJMC>]

but the game has cheats in itself isnt?

for being using a 3rd party program it means mods will cause ban too?

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

I'm fairly certain this is, sadly, fair ground (legally), the ToS says Blizzard may terminate anyone's ability to play the game for any reason.

 

[Lucid]

Why would they be using trainers when the game's built in cheats are really more than enough...?

Either way, this is ridiculous.

 

[Raziaar]

I don't buy blizzard games because blizzard is a terrible company and they make terrible games, Except for the ones I want to buy.

 

[Ren.182]

Wow :| This is stupid. It's not like they're hurting anybody. Bit unfair that some people are getting their CD-keys banned from both online and offline play :/

 

[Kisze]

The thing is that they're unlocking all the achievements easily which other people have to work for makes achievements (even more) meaningless. Then there would be no prestige in having done difficult achievements etc. which is why they banned them.

 

[Lucid]

The achievements are done either way, what does it matter?
They're just tiny pictures.

 

[Acepilotf14]

The thing is that they're unlocking all the achievements easily which other people have to work for makes achievements (even more) meaningless. Then there would be no prestige in having done difficult achievements etc. which is why they banned them.

OH NO, SOMEONE IS GETTING ACHIEVEMENTS FASTER? BANBANBANBANBAN

Should we ban all the TF2 achievement whores too?

 

[CyberPitz]

This has absolutely nothing to do with people getting achievements. It's all about altering game files that shouldn't be done WHILE LOGGED INTO BNET. Log in offline mode and use your damn trainers if you really really wanna hack.

You've gotta be a retard to believe that what you are doing is fine and you won't get caught, especially while Blizzard is on a role with banning hackers.\

Plus 14 day ban. Pretty damn generous warning for hacking, if you ask me.

 

[ríomhaire]

The thing is that they're unlocking all the achievements easily which other people have to work for makes achievements (even more) meaningless. Then there would be no prestige in having done difficult achievements etc. which is why they banned them.

You know you can download a programme that unlocks all your Steam achievements for all games instantly? It really don't matter.

In any case I agree with tough anti-cheating measures, but this is silly! Valve have a good (if somewhat harsh) system with VAC. It only checks if you're cheating if you're on a VAC server and then it only bans you from VAC servers. Being banned for using trainers in singleplayer is crazy!

 

[Remus]

Blah blah blah, I work for Blizzard/Activision, blah blah blah

Thought so...

 

[VirusType2]

**** Activision. You buy one of their games, you deserve to be ripped off.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Nah, I doubt this has anything to do with Activision - they're just the publisher and they don't really stand to profit from a move like this. I like Blizzard, and I usually agree with their anti-cheating measures, but lately they've been getting kind of authoritarian with how their games are handled.

That said, I can see two sides to this. I mean, achievements are meant to be optional filler, not actual gameplay (except TF2 lol). However, while banning people for cheating them seems harsh, you have to consider why they were trying to do that in the first place. To me, you either like achievements and go after them earnestly, or you don't and ignore them. They shouldn't be mandatory, and in this case I don't believe they are. So... why try to cheat them? That kind of suggests they weren't really interested in playing the game properly, so it's hard for me to sympathize with them.

In any case, if it's just a two week ban then it's hardly the end of the world. I just hope Blizz aren't finally going mad with power...

 

[morgs]

The only reason I can see someone cheating for achievement points in this game is so they can boast their point scores to their opponents and other online players.

 

[<RJMC>]

maybe blizzard has got too much of the e-sports stuff in its head that its treating it like a real sport

 

[Raziaar]

This has absolutely nothing to do with people getting achievements. It's all about altering game files that shouldn't be done WHILE LOGGED INTO BNET. Log in offline mode and use your damn trainers if you really really wanna hack.

You've gotta be a retard to believe that what you are doing is fine and you won't get caught, especially while Blizzard is on a role with banning hackers.\

Plus 14 day ban. Pretty damn generous warning for hacking, if you ask me.

Hacking? You gotta be kidding me. It's just people using a trainer for ****s sake... offline.

 

[bbson john]

Just temporal banning. Not the end of the world.

 

[15357]

Just temporal banning. Not the end of the world.

I think being banned from the time-space continuum would be pretty much the end of the world.

 

[Eejit]

Unless you're friends with Stern.

 

[StarBob]

Don't care about this.

Blizzard probably has it in he EULA so the legality is there.

The moral of the story is - don't use third part crap that risks pissing people off.

 

[<RJMC>]

well good thing is temporal ban,cuz I wouldnt be surprised if they made it permanent

 

[Druckles]

It was morally wrong of me to gain an advantage over that artificially created player. I see that now. Please forgive me.

 

[Wanted Bob]

Don't care about this.

Blizzard probably has it in he EULA so the legality is there.

The moral of the story is - don't use third part crap that risks pissing people off.

This. I would be annoyed if I was that guy, but Blizzard isnt at fault for just following through what they said.

 

[ríomhaire]

Don't care about this.

Blizzard probably has it in he EULA so the legality is there.

The moral of the story is - don't use third part crap that risks pissing people off.

No one here is arguing if it was within Blizzard's rights. They can do what they want with their service. We're arguing that what Blizzard did was retarded and pointless.

 

[Naph]

Cheaters deserve all they get.
People are missing the plot on how singleplayer in SC2 grants certain options in multiplayer online. Sure some may be for cosmetic purposes, but that's enough to get someone banned.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

It was morally wrong of me to gain an advantage over that artificially created player. I see that now. Please forgive me.

nobody is talking about morals here, this is purely a legal issue.

 

[StarBob]

No one here is arguing if it was within Blizzard's rights. They can do what they want with their service. We're arguing that what Blizzard did was retarded and pointless.

...it also has many wondering - is it legal?

Also, I don't think it was retarded or pointless. Blizzard probably doesn't have a system in place that differentiate the exact purpose of third party software but, since all information is kept on their servers, they stop all third party cheating software. That seems to be reasonable and... well... to have a point. As long as they keep cheating out of multiplayer (where 99.999% of Starcraft 2's fun lies) they will be doing things just fine in my book.

 

[flamingdts]

It's only a matter of time before a trainer is available for multi player gameplay. Better to ban any potential use of trainers in their games first before it becomes a popular method of earning achievements.

Plus, there are so many SC2 players in the world. The portraits are a great way of distinguishing between good and amateur players. If you want the achievements, work for it. If you don't, too bad.

 

[Yuri]

It isn't like Blizzard's anti-cheat system specifically targets this; it is probably just a catch-all trainers for signed-in users system. I'm sure they don't give a shit about cheating in SP, but they give even less shit to implement something that determines your game type and makes exceptions. I wouldn't expect them to.

 

[Kisze]

OH NO, SOMEONE IS GETTING ACHIEVEMENTS FASTER? BANBANBANBANBAN

Should we ban all the TF2 achievement whores too?

The achievements are done either way, what does it matter?

This has absolutely nothing to do with people getting achievements.

You know you can download a programme that unlocks all your Steam achievements for all games instantly? It really don't matter.

I was just stating facts :|. In the article there's a quote from a blizzard spokesperson who says "While single player games only appear to be you and a computer at first, your achievements and gamer score also carries weight and prestige for your online play,".

 

[Bad^Hat]

Hacking? You gotta be kidding me. It's just people using a trainer for ****s sake... offline.

Well, no, they were connected to battle.net so the achievements registered, so technically - technically - they were online. I don't know, I'm still kind of ambivalent about this. Part of me wants to cry foul for banning on any grounds in the single player portion of a game as I've always felt there was an unwritten rule that consumers "owned" that part and could do with it as they pleased. On the other hand, the people who were cheating did so specifically to abuse the achievements, which is (again, technically) an online function. Had they simply wished to cheat resources or something to beat the campaign or get a leg up against the AI, there are codes in-game to do that which also disable achievements.

If they'd been using trainers for entirely innocent purposes and were banned anyway, I'd definitely have an issue with this. As it stands... eh.

Edit: Actually, were they trying to cheat the achievements? I'm sure I read that but now I'm not so sure.

 

[CyberPitz]

You know you can download a programme that unlocks all your Steam achievements for all games instantly? It really don't matter.

In any case I agree with tough anti-cheating measures, but this is silly! Valve have a good (if somewhat harsh) system with VAC. It only checks if you're cheating if you're on a VAC server and then it only bans you from VAC servers. Being banned for using trainers in singleplayer is crazy!

That's exactly how this works. If you're logged into bnet *VAC server* and you cheat? Busted. If you're not on Bnet and in offline mode *Non-VAC* you are fine.

I fail to see how you guys feel this was a bad idea.

Thought so...

Sorry if I don't jump to conclusions and feel like joining the bandwagon of "HATE ACTIVISION/BLIZZARD!"

 

[Druckles]

nobody is talking about morals here, this is purely a legal issue.

No it's not. As was said, it's perfectly legal.

 

[taviow]

First of all, you have to log into B.net to play the game, regardless of whether or not you want to play single player (with achievements enabled that is, offline mode exists but it disables the achievements).

So, technically, they were indeed online. The players who did this have done so to abuse the achievements, which are, well, an online function. If they wanted to get through the campaign quickly or cheat during matches with the AI, they could have done so using the in-game cheats.

They used trainers instead. I agree that in single player mode people should do whatever they want, trainers and cheating included. It's all about altering the game files which shouldn't have been done *online* in the first place. But as it stands, I don't have much of an issue with this. Blizzard gave them a 14 day ban, when they could have easily justified a permanent ban, since they can start up online games just as easily as they started up games versus the AI, or the campaign.

Also, Blizzard can't possibly tell the difference between someone using trainers in single player without malicious intent and someone who intends to eventually use it online. So they were not banned for cheating during single player. They were banned for using trainers while logged in.

Besides, their intention of getting achievements seems malicious enough already, considering you get in game rewards for achievements you've done, that other players can see, such as portraits. When playing online, you see this cheater's portrait, and you end up with the illusion that you're up against a guy who won 1000 matches as protoss/terran/zerg/random.

 

[ríomhaire]

Part of me wants to cry foul for banning on any grounds in the single player portion of a game as I've always felt there was an unwritten rule that consumers "owned" that part and could do with it as they pleased.

This is my view on the matter.

 

[CyberPitz]

This is my view on the matter.

Play in offline mode, then.

 

[Raziaar]

So does this mean blizzard is going to ban single player cheaters for Diablo 3? Sorry, but I always used to have fun with a trainer in Diablo 1 and 2 when I was younger. Just won't buy it if this asinine policy is instituted with that.

Also, some EULA's have been ruled unconstitutional in the past... just because it's in the EULA doesn't mean it's necessarily enforceable.

Though, probably not much in the way of grounds here since you're using their service.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Good question, actually. The single player was kept pretty separate from the online portion in Diablo II though, and I can only imagine they're doing something similar here. It was always fun to mess around with trainers just to test out ridiculous builds and stuff, so I hope they maintain that separation...

****ing achievements, man. I wish they'd have stayed an innocent distraction.

 

[CyberPitz]

Of course they will do the same thing with Diablo 3. Hell, it will be the exact same thing. You wanna **** around? Use Offline Mode. Screw with your trainers, do your thing, log back in to play serious.