Blizzard Attacks StarCraft II Cheat Developers

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Blizzard Attacks StarCraft II Cheat Developers



Hackers that have distributed cheat programs for StarCraft II are in deep trouble with Blizzard, and the law.

Blizzard recently made headlines for banning used third-party cheat modifications [http://www.amazon.com/Starcraft-II-Wings-Liberty-Pc/dp/B000ZKA0J6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287256601&sr=8-1] in single-player games. Now, Blizzard is taking its fight to the creators of these kinds of modifications with a lawsuit.

The suit was filed in a Los Angeles district court last week against three programmers Blizzard accuses of creating StarCraft II "hacks and cheats" that it says are "designed to modify (and in fact destroy) the StarCraft II online game experience." Blizzard justifies its suit by alleging that the cheats infringe on the company's copyrights. Blizzard is demanding to be awarded damages and disgorgement of any money earned from the sale of these StarCraft II hacks, and wants them to be removed from every location under the court's jurisdiction.

"By distributing the hacks to the public, defendants cause serious harm to the value of StarCraft II," Blizzard wrote in the suit. "Among other things, defendants irreparably harm the ability of Blizzard's legitimate customers (i.e. those who purchase and use unmodified games) to enjoy and participate in the competitive online experience. That, in turn, causes users to grow dissatisfied with the game, lose interest in the game, and communicate that dissatisfaction, thereby resulting in lost sales of the game or 'add-on' packs and expansions thereto."

If history is any indication, things will not end up well for Blizzard's targets, whom live in Canada and Peru and go by the aliases of "Linuxawesome", "Cranix," and "Permaphrost." In recent years, Blizzard has become known for going after those it believes are causing harm to its games, including World of Warcraft private server owners [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/72196-Blizzard-Sues-Gold-Seller].

All were summarily destroyed by Blizzard's might, including an $88 million judgment in one case, so Permaphrost is likely shaking in his grav-boots right now. There's nothing more annoying than a hacker or a cheater when you're playing a game straight, so I have to say I'm glad to see Blizzard taking care of business.

Source: GameSpot [http://www.gamespot.com/news/6282171.html]

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Lost In The Void

When in doubt, curl up and cry
Aug 27, 2008
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Hmmm I wonder which country "Permaphrost" is from XD

Anyways on topic this is only a good thing. I don't mind cheats for a single player game, but in competitive multiplayer, that's just a dick move all around
 

Monster_user

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Jan 3, 2010
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Okay, so Blizzard, and Ubisoft games are off my list. Activision? Still undecided...

I can see now why Valve gets so much love.
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
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Monster_user said:
Okay, so Blizzard, and Ubisoft games are off my list. Activision? Still undecided...

I can see now why Valve gets so much love.
Blizzard is off your list for... giving a fiscal middle finger to multiplayer cheaters?

Huh.
 

deth2munkies

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Jan 28, 2009
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lacktheknack said:
Monster_user said:
Okay, so Blizzard, and Ubisoft games are off my list. Activision? Still undecided...

I can see now why Valve gets so much love.
Blizzard is off your list for... giving a fiscal middle finger to multiplayer cheaters?

Huh.
Oh noes, I should be able to pirate, hack, and do whatever I want to any game with no consequences!

They must be ebil to stop me!

/sarcasm

Seriously, pirate, cheat, and hack at your own risk, it's against the EULA, ToS and by tenuous extension, the law. So don't cry if you get caught and punished.
 

Flipscore

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Jul 23, 2008
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Blizzard said:
"That, in turn, causes users to grow dissatisfied with the game, lose interest in the game, and communicate that dissatisfaction, thereby resulting in lost sales of the game or 'add-on' packs and expansions thereto."
Sued for negative word of mouth advertising coming to a courtroom near you!
 

Stormz

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Jul 4, 2009
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Monster_user said:
Okay, so Blizzard, and Ubisoft games are off my list. Activision? Still undecided...

I can see now why Valve gets so much love.
So I'm guessing you're a cheater right? only a cheater would say something like that.
 

Dioxide20

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Aug 11, 2009
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I didn't think that there were multiplayer hacks for Starcraft 2. I thought that the big problem recently was that people were cheating in the single player campaign (something I have ZERO problem with).

The only thing that I don't agree with is when people charge money for these things, especially cheat codes. I could easily see, and agree, with Blizzard having a problem with this.
 

skitskat

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Apr 14, 2009
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yeahhhhhhh....fine by me to take out the guy making the cheats, but please leave me some singleplayer cheats! :eek: i seriously suck at some games, and i cheat because i'm never interested in gameplay at all, i treat games like books, and i only ever really want to know the story :p
 

Throwitawaynow

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Aug 29, 2010
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skitskat said:
yeahhhhhhh....fine by me to take out the guy making the cheats, but please leave me some singleplayer cheats! :eek: i seriously suck at some games, and i cheat because i'm never interested in gameplay at all, i treat games like books, and i only ever really want to know the story :p
They did, blizz gives you cheats just disables achievements like.... every game lol. People just cry about wanting to cheat and get points.
 

Towowo2

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Feb 6, 2009
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Multiplayer I think everyone can agree that cheating ruins the fun. But in single player there is absolutely no room to do this. They aren't harming anyone but themselves.
 

Gorden Springel

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Apr 3, 2010
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I dont know, I dont cheat/hack on ANY game I play, since it pretty much ruins the point. HOWEVER ruining someones financial future and possibly their life because they erroneously believed they wouldnt get caught doing something, in the grand scheme of things, relatively minor, I think is more douche-baggish than what the hackers did in the first place. I mean, ruining someones real life over a VIDEO GAME is completely over the top. I sincerely hope Blizzard loses these lawsuits.
 

ffs-dontcare

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Aug 13, 2009
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Permaphrost... what an original name. Not.

I'm with Blizzard on this. I get tired of dealing with people who cheat and hack in order to gain an unfair advantage against me in multi-player.

The people selling multi-player hacks knew what they were getting into. They can't feign ignorance.
 

Staskala

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Sep 28, 2010
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Ever since Blizzard merged with Activision, they've become total dicks.
Banning is one thing, but a law-suit?
I'm as much against cheating in multiplayer as everyone else, but that's going a bit too far, much like all of Blizzard's recent law-suit.

I'm really not a moralist, but how is it fair to ruin someone's entire life because he ruined a few multiplayer matches in a video game? This is completely out of proportion.
 

Enkidu88

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Jan 24, 2010
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I don't like to say I told you so...but...wait no I do like to say I told you so.

So I fucking called it!

I knew their banning of single player cheaters was only the first step, now we're going to see what happens when the EULA is actually enforced. I'm looking forward to following the case actually, hopefully those being sued don't just capitulate and surrender because I think they'd have a good chance of getting the EULA eviscerated in court. I really hope this bites Blizzard, and the EULA especially, in the ass.

That's copied from the other thread that was started about this, just fyi.
 

ImprovizoR

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Dec 6, 2009
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I actually support this. Cheaters are fuckin' retards and they should be forever banned from online. If they want to play then they should play fair like everyone else. If not, get bent! And if they want to play again then buy another copy and stay away from cheats.

Of course I only support it if they limit themselves to multiplayer games. But this is a retard run world that we live in and before you know it, people will sue those guys that make awesome trainers for single player games. So when I think about it it's better to do nothing then to fuck it up for everyone. As soon as Kotick gets a taste of money from lawsuits he will sue everyone for pretty much everything.
 

Mikester1290

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Jun 29, 2010
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Can someone please accurately specify whether these cheats are singleplayer/multiplayer and payware/usuall freebie?

It matters really.