Update: Diablo 3 Cheater Purge Imminent

[Karloff]

Update: Diablo 3 Cheater Purge Imminent

Blizzard gets out the banhammer for bot users and hackers.

Multiple choice time! If you use hacks, cheats, bots or mods in Diablo 3, will you: a) be chained to a mountain, while an eagle eats your liver for all eternity; b) be forced to climb the Mountain of Knives; c) be condemned to wander forever in the third circle, eating everything that comes your way, until a wandering crusader sticks Death's scythe in your massive butt; or d) get banned?

Blizzard says the answer is d), although they looked at the eagle-liver thing for a while, before deciding that it might be a little excessive. Writ in letters of fire in Blizzard's latest advisory is a gruesome warning: "[Any cheater] will be permanently unable to log in to Battle.net to play Diablo III with his or her account." A wandering pilgrim known only as izvr posted to the soon-to-be-doomed in the Battle.net comments thread, "May the Heaven and Hell bless you guys. May the Heaven and Hell bless itself." That seems only reasonable, under the circumstances.

This comes on the heels of Blizzard's latest requirement, that players need to use Authenticators [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117843-No-Authenticator-No-Diablo-III-Cash-Auction-House] if they want to access the Real World Money Auction House. Blizzard has had security on its mind for a long time now; World of Warcraft taught them that the Willie Suttons of the internet try to hack their games because that's where the money is. It's hardly surprising that Blizzard prefers to take a hard line on mod users.

Sayeth the announcement, "suspensions and bans of players that have used or start using cheats and hacks will begin in the near future." Wailing and the gnashing of teeth will follow shortly thereafter.

Sources: Eurogamer [http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/6317359/Cheating_in_Diablo%C2%AE_III-6_11_2012]

Update: Blizzard has moved forward on its promises, issuing the following statement on the official Battle.net forums:

We recently issued a round of account suspensions and bans to several thousand Diablo III players who were in violation of the Battle.net Terms of Use for cheating and/or using botting or hacking programs while playing. In addition to undermining the spirit of fair play that's essential to everyone's enjoyment of the game, botting, hacking, and other such exploitive behavior can contribute to stability and performance issues with the Battle.net service. As always, maintaining a stable, safe, and fun 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.

Permalink

 

[The.Bard]

I'm confused. Wasn't the whole point of their always-online-uber-leet-DRM so that people COULDN'T hack and cheat at all?

So this means the online requirement successfully kept people from messing with it for... less than a month?

Good job all around.

 

[Eric the Orange]

Wait, they weren't doing this before?

 

[draythefingerless]

ITS FUNNY BECAUSE THIS ALWAYS ONLINE BULLSHIT JUST TOTALLY COLLAPSED ON ITSELF.

Seriously thou. Fuck D3's alwaysonline.

 

[DEAD34345]

Is that even legal? Do they get a refund?

It'd be understandable if they were banned from the multiplayer portion of the game, but if they can't log in to their Battle.net account they wouldn't be able to play the game at all, unless I've heard wrong. I think it's ridiculous that Blizzard can get away with something like this, but not surprising. Consumer rights don't seem to exist when it comes to video games, they were probably legislated out of existence by the mandatory post-purchase EULAs.

 

[RaikuFA]

Is that even legal? Do they get a refund?

It'd be understandable if they were banned from the multiplayer portion of the game, but if they can't log in to their Battle.net account they wouldn't be able to play the game at all, unless I've heard wrong. I think it's ridiculous that Blizzard can get away with something like this, but not surprising. Consumer rights don't seem to exist when it comes to video games, they were probably legislated out of existence by the mandatory post-purchase EULAs.

Considering that they steal from peoples accounts, do you want them to still play?

 

[RobfromtheGulag]

I'm by no means condoning it, but based on their track record at WoW/D2 I wouldn't be too worried if I were hacking/botting.

(I don't even have D3, partially because of said players).

 

[DEAD34345]

Is that even legal? Do they get a refund?

It'd be understandable if they were banned from the multiplayer portion of the game, but if they can't log in to their Battle.net account they wouldn't be able to play the game at all, unless I've heard wrong. I think it's ridiculous that Blizzard can get away with something like this, but not surprising. Consumer rights don't seem to exist when it comes to video games, they were probably legislated out of existence by the mandatory post-purchase EULAs.

Considering that they steal from peoples accounts, do you want them to still play?

"hacks, cheats, bots or mods"

Bots do not involve stealing from peoples' accounts, cheats do not involve stealing from peoples' accounts and mods do not involve stealing from peoples' accounts. Hacks may involve stealing from peoples' accounts sometimes. So... yeah, not sure what else to say. If it were just actual thieves who were affected it would be more understandable, but it isn't.

 

[walrusaurus]

"online game bans cheaters"

I fail to see how this is news. Everyone knew that there would still be bots in d3, theres bots in every game.

 

[JerrytheBullfrog]

So the Pirates are safe then?

Last I checked there were still no fully working pirate servers for D3. So I don't think they're even playing it yet. At least, if they are it's a shitty barely working version.

ITS FUNNY BECAUSE THIS ALWAYS ONLINE BULLSHIT JUST TOTALLY COLLAPSED ON ITSELF.

Seriously thou. Fuck D3's alwaysonline.

Actually, I'd say this kind of vindicates it. Fucking with other people's stuff? You lose your game! No better punishment.

 

[faefrost]

Is that even legal? Do they get a refund?

It'd be understandable if they were banned from the multiplayer portion of the game, but if they can't log in to their Battle.net account they wouldn't be able to play the game at all, unless I've heard wrong. I think it's ridiculous that Blizzard can get away with something like this, but not surprising. Consumer rights don't seem to exist when it comes to video games, they were probably legislated out of existence by the mandatory post-purchase EULAs.

Blizzard has been very upfront for years now that Diablo is not a single player game any longer. It is an online game. It's not loke the EA fiasco's where they blocked play to what were very clearly single player games. Blizz did the due diligence ahead of time on this one, so yeah they can ban you from Battle.net.

While I loathe the always on internet requirements and DRM bullcrap, I fear that this actually comunicates exactly the opposite message from what some are assuming. The internet requirement does not prevent cheaters and botters and hackers from doing their thing. It lets the game runners detect and shut them down hard so they don't influence the economy or impact others game play like they could in previous games.

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

I like to imagine this kind of scenario happening somewhere:

*reads post about cheaters getting banned*
*doorbell, it's Blizzard*

Oh shit guys, hide the hacks and flush the mods!

 

[loser003]

Blizzard should of gone with all of the above, d is clearly too lax

 

[DEAD34345]

Is that even legal? Do they get a refund?

It'd be understandable if they were banned from the multiplayer portion of the game, but if they can't log in to their Battle.net account they wouldn't be able to play the game at all, unless I've heard wrong. I think it's ridiculous that Blizzard can get away with something like this, but not surprising. Consumer rights don't seem to exist when it comes to video games, they were probably legislated out of existence by the mandatory post-purchase EULAs.

Blizzard has been very upfront for years now that Diablo is not a single player game any longer. It is an online game. It's not loke the EA fiasco's where they blocked play to what were very clearly single player games. Blizz did the due diligence ahead of time on this one, so yeah they can ban you from Battle.net.

While I loathe the always on internet requirements and DRM bullcrap, I fear that this actually comunicates exactly the opposite message from what some are assuming. The internet requirement does not prevent cheaters and botters and hackers from doing their thing. It lets the game runners detect and shut them down hard so they don't influence the economy or impact others game play like they could in previous games.

And?

If someone pays for a product, and doesn't receive that product, they should be refunded. If it was a pure multiplayer game, and there was no option whatsoever for a singleplayer experience (as there actually is in this case) then obviously they can't just block you from the multiplayer and still let you keep the game, but then it is their duty to refund you the price. Like I was saying, it's basic consumer rights, only no-one seems to give a damn about them any more.

Most people do not take video-games as a hobby as far as people like me and you do, and they won't frequent The Escapist or whatever other sites and know this information in advance. They will buy the game, and then they will suddenly be presented with an EULA that says Blizzard can stop them playing this game (that they have already paid for) whenever they want. What if they don't agree with this? It's too bad, no game and no refund.

I'm certain this is illegal when it comes to most other products, and I don't know (or really care) what loophole software companies use to get away with this, but it's bullshit.

 

[The Lugz]

So the Pirates are safe then?

the pirates are allways safe, aye matey.
unfortunately they only have some @ss backwards alpha build world generator, or so i hear
but if they can haul the booty, then they dont care.

ITS FUNNY BECAUSE THIS ALWAYS ONLINE BULLSHIT JUST TOTALLY COLLAPSED ON ITSELF.

Seriously thou. Fuck D3's alwaysonline.

i agree, it has failed to do ANYTHING it claimed to it does not protect your account, it does not stop cheating, it does not prevent botting
( you bet your @ss if the iphone app exists to generate signin codes, a bot script can too )


Seriously thou. Fuck D3's alwaysonline.[/quote]

Is that even legal? Do they get a refund?

It'd be understandable if they were banned from the multiplayer portion of the game, but if they can't log in to their Battle.net account they wouldn't be able to play the game at all, unless I've heard wrong.
I think it's ridiculous that Blizzard can get away with something like this, but not surprising. Consumer rights don't seem to exist when it comes to video games,
they were probably legislated out of existence by the mandatory post-purchase EULAs.

Considering that they steal from peoples accounts, do you want them to still play?

they voilated the terms they accepted, unless you live in the uk digital signing and contracts are considered 100% legal
( im no law student, but i've heard of uk cases being thrown out due to digital signing )

Edit# got trigger happy with the copy paste button.

 

[vxicepickxv]

So the Pirates are safe then?

the pirates are allways safe, aye matey.
unfortunately they only have some @ss backwards alpha build world generator, or so i hear
but if they can haul the booty, then they dont care.

ITS FUNNY BECAUSE THIS ALWAYS ONLINE BULLSHIT JUST TOTALLY COLLAPSED ON ITSELF.

Seriously thou. Fuck D3's alwaysonline.

i agree, it has failed to do ANYTHING it claimed to it does not protect your account, it does not stop cheating, it does not prevent botting
( you bet your @ss if the iphone app exists to generate signin codes, a bot script can too )


Seriously thou. Fuck D3's alwaysonline.

Is that even legal? Do they get a refund?

It'd be understandable if they were banned from the multiplayer portion of the game, but if they can't log in to their Battle.net account they wouldn't be able to play the game at all, unless I've heard wrong.
I think it's ridiculous that Blizzard can get away with something like this, but not surprising. Consumer rights don't seem to exist when it comes to video games,
they were probably legislated out of existence by the mandatory post-purchase EULAs.

Considering that they steal from peoples accounts, do you want them to still play?

they voilated the terms they accepted, unless you live in the uk digital signing and contracts are considered 100% legal
( im no law student, but i've heard of uk cases being thrown out due to digital signing )

Edit# got trigger happy with the copy paste button.[/quote]What makes these digital contracts so interesting is that you can't agree or decline them until after you have purchased a product.

 

[antipunt]

Wait wai wai wut? So we tolerated with this always online DRM crap just to suffer from the things they were 'going to prevent'?

 

[Destal]

Is that even legal? Do they get a refund?

It'd be understandable if they were banned from the multiplayer portion of the game, but if they can't log in to their Battle.net account they wouldn't be able to play the game at all, unless I've heard wrong. I think it's ridiculous that Blizzard can get away with something like this, but not surprising. Consumer rights don't seem to exist when it comes to video games, they were probably legislated out of existence by the mandatory post-purchase EULAs.

Blizzard has been very upfront for years now that Diablo is not a single player game any longer. It is an online game. It's not loke the EA fiasco's where they blocked play to what were very clearly single player games. Blizz did the due diligence ahead of time on this one, so yeah they can ban you from Battle.net.

While I loathe the always on internet requirements and DRM bullcrap, I fear that this actually comunicates exactly the opposite message from what some are assuming. The internet requirement does not prevent cheaters and botters and hackers from doing their thing. It lets the game runners detect and shut them down hard so they don't influence the economy or impact others game play like they could in previous games.

And?

If someone pays for a product, and doesn't receive that product, they should be refunded. If it was a pure multiplayer game, and there was no option whatsoever for a singleplayer experience (as there actually is in this case) then obviously they can't just block you from the multiplayer and still let you keep the game, but then it is their duty to refund you the price. Like I was saying, it's basic consumer rights, only no-one seems to give a damn about them any more.

Most people do not take video-games as a hobby as far as people like me and you do, and they won't frequent The Escapist or whatever other sites and know this information in advance. They will buy the game, and then they will suddenly be presented with an EULA that says Blizzard can stop them playing this game (that they have already paid for) whenever they want. What if they don't agree with this? It's too bad, no game and no refund.

I'm certain this is illegal when it comes to most other products, and I don't know (or really care) what loophole software companies use to get away with this, but it's bullshit.

I fail to see the problem. When you register the game, you accept the ToS of the game. When the ToS are violated, you get banned. The article also states that you can't login to battle.net to play D3, it doesn't mention other games. Also, you are incorrect about there being a single player portion...you can play solo but that doesn't make it a single player game. You can play by yourself in WoW too.

These people are also hurting the economy of the other players. There are crap items on the AH currently for 200,000,000 gold. There is no way someone has got that much gold legit and there is no way a legit player can compete with those who aren't.