Blizzard Attacks StarCraft II Cheat Developers

[deth2munkies]

Talk about a little biased journalism?

Before anyone else jumps on an anti-cheaters band wagon here, these people are not being sued because they enable cheating in multiplayer. In fact at least some hackers said they would change their programs to work STRICTLY in single player after Blizzard started banning players. No... Blizzard have been banning players who used these programs in single player, Blizzard allows cheating like this anyway via in-game cheats, it is just that trainers allow for greater options.

Doing this Blizzard might very well be forcing players getting these permabans to buy the game all over again if they want to keep playing (these are not little bans people). Frankly, it has become a mess made by Blizzard by this point. Of course this is a fair deal of speculation, but with its WoW empire and Activision in the room with them, Blizzard might be feeling more temptation/pressure than ever before to become extra greedy.

So what is it about? Money.

Edit: For reference please see this correspondance http://www.cheathappens.com/article_blizzardbans.asp
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions naturally, but the facts are that Blizzard are not playing totally kosher here.

AHAHAHAHA...just when I think people on the internet can't get MORE illogical. "Hey, you're being biased, here's the most biased possible source that contradicts you."

Blizzard is banning people who use 3rd party hacks and modifications to the game files that are strictly prohibited in both the EULA and ToS. They read the rules, read that they could be banned if they did it, they did it anyway, got banned, cried. That's all there is to it. And people that were fucking STUPID enough to spend $60 on the game and $15 on an illegal trainer for it don't even deserve to have that much disposable income. Ones who re-buy the game and do the same thing have surpassed stupidity and delved into insanity.

Bans do NOT automatically constitute another sale of the game. If you get banned for doing something stupid, it's always better to just cut your losses and say "Fuck this shit". If they do re-buy it, they won't get banned again unless they're insane, so it's not like they're getting 3-4 sales out of people.

Blizzard hasn't so far perma-banned anyone who hasn't broken the EULA or ToS in some way, so they haven't overstepped any sorts of bounds.

Not only all that, THIS article is about lawsuits brought against the people coding and distributing the hacks, not the people who use them. You clearly lack reading comprehension and are trolling boards netwide with the same redundant argument every time you see the word "Blizzard" and for that you have earned a place in the 6th circle of internet hell.

 

[Nifty]

I'll just copy-pasta what I said in a similar thread:

Such an absurd over reaction. This is just Blizzard saying "we're so big and rich that we can afford to look juvenile and daft". This is no different from some WoW nutter having his magic sword swindled out of him and then going round the perpetrator's house in real life and stabbing him to death.

If someone cheats in an online game they should just be tarred and feathered, a scorched earth response just sets more horrendous examples to other publishers/developers already obsessed with the where-there's-a-blame-there's-a-claim culture.

 

[ItsAPaul]

Don't let the article fool you, you can buy/sell gold and bot all you want and blizz doesn't do a thing. Just don't make a business out of it.

 

[RYjet911]

EULA and ToS don't have any use in the law. All they can do is allow Blizzard an acceptable set of guidelines to ban people.

Their strategy is complaining that it causes them lost sales.

Okay then. So if I go around telling people that I don't think StarCraft 2 is a particularly good game and not worth the £30+ it is in the shops, and people listen to my advice and not buy the game, have I technically just lost them sales?

Are they going to sue me loads of money too because I've lost them potential customers of both their game and future downloadable content? Will they sue me for not buying their game because I was a potential customer who isn't buying the game, not because of hackers (I personally couldn't give a fuck, it's what the end game button is and people only care because of the recent trend of Kill/Death or Win/Loss ratios, or kill/win streaks in more recent gaming) but simply because I didn't exactly like the first game all that much and StarCraft 2 is pretty much more of the same with shinier graphics?

Seriously, Blizzard is huge, and it's a shame they're harbouring a higher frequency of this bullshit. The only game I've bought from them in the past was Diablo, and while at the time I thought it was okay, it was nothing exceptional, and my opinion of it made me not buy Diablo 2. Does that mean they will sue THEMSELVES because they lost a potential sale?

It's a retarded lawsuit strategy that I'm honestly shocked is getting through the legal systems, especially when they're going after a few more-than-likely bedroom coders with nothing better to do than make a game easier by use of a program.

I bet this is the whole reason they wanted the RealID system too, so that hackers who are caught can be prosecuted without them having to request from ISPs or whatever the real info of people.

And do they realise that Counter Strike: Source, a game riddled with hackers, still has a few thousand active servers, and still gets bought actively enough on Steam that they can STILL update it? They even released a new thing somewhat recently that gives players of it access to beta updates so they can test it among actual players. They're able to do that while hackers pick away at the Valve Anti-Cheat system implemented within the servers to help stop hackers in their tracks.

And they don't go around suing hackers/coders for it.

Oh wow, a hacker is on the leaderboard. Just ban the fucker and leave it at that.

Oh wait, it's easier to make money from suing someone who simply won't be able to pay the eventual fines rather than spend money making it a more enjoyable experience for everyone.

I've never been a fan of Blizzard and now I never will be. Their own malpractices have lost them potential sales, and I hope they sue themselves over it.

Or hell, I hope they sue me over it. I'd love to see that get through court.

 

[Gsmoove]

Activision is throwing around their weight too much, they're turning into bullies and what we must ask is how long before they start targeting innocent people.

How did you get out of the basement? Get back down there and don't come back up until you brought you're rationality!
_____________________________________________________________
If the player disables the achievement things he should be allowed to cheat. So Blizzard should stop using the greedy approach and use the friendly approach.

what I mean by targeting innocent people, is that their policy might change to further strip the rights of consumers. If someone buys a game than it shouldn't matter if they cheat in single player, no need to be so confrontational if you need something better explained, you sound like a troll.

 

[Iscin]

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.

What amazes me is that no one has looked further into the story. It was single player too [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104294-Blizzard-Gives-Single-Player-StarCraft-2-Cheaters-a-Time-Out-Opens-Can-of-Worms-UPDATED], where they basically tell people "cheat at your own risk"

So all in all, this is a money grab mostly. There's a reason I won't support Blizzard and Activision games. Some corporation telling me how to enjoy a game is kinda missing the point.

I agree, check out my previous post.

Are you missing the point that these cheats/trainers were sold rather than just given away?

No I am not:

1) Of course they are sold, it takes a lot of effort to keep them up to date and stable. And of course, this is all about money, that is also why the EULA was invented.

2) CheatHappens for one does actually release their trainers for free after a time, and people pirate their trainers like people pirate the games regardless.

But tell me, am I missing something? Surely this has no relation to what the argument here is, that Blizzard are suing developers that make available programs which hack their game protected by the EULA? Whilst of course at the same time banning users who dared use the program.

 

[ffs-dontcare]

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.

What amazes me is that no one has looked further into the story. It was single player too [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104294-Blizzard-Gives-Single-Player-StarCraft-2-Cheaters-a-Time-Out-Opens-Can-of-Worms-UPDATED], where they basically tell people "cheat at your own risk"

So all in all, this is a money grab mostly. There's a reason I won't support Blizzard and Activision games. Some corporation telling me how to enjoy a game is kinda missing the point.

Yeah, obviously I agree that I should be able to play single-player however I like. But at the same time, I personally find that multi-player hackers are more of an immediate nuisance. It doesn't seem like much of a money grab to me in this sort of case. It's good to see them going after the root problem instead of mere symptoms when it comes to multi-player hacking, although I'm still a bit miffed that I'm apparently not allowed to cheat in SC2's single-player in order to have an extra bit of fun like I do in certain games. This whole thing concerning Blizzard seems like a mixed bag, there's definitely some good as well as some bad in there. Ah well.

Not to mention, while those who hack in multi-player probably need a slap upside the head or two, there's just something incredibly wrong with making money off of the idiots buying said hacks in the first place.

 

[Iscin]

I think this needs some clarification:

Are these "hacks" the same singleplayer hacks that warranted all those recent bans or are we talking about different hacks specifically designed for multiplayer?

Yes they are, this was on CheatHappens' forums too.

In that case I have lost all understanding for Blizzard's behaviour.

Third-party modifications are what kept Blizzard's non-WoW games popular for an insane amount of time, what are they hoping to gain by this?
Creating paranoia in modding circles about what is allowed and what isn't won't exactly help Starcraft II in the long run, and sueing people for several million dollar is essentially pointess because there's no way you'll ever see that money.

I really don't get this move.

I am convinced it is do with the money, frankly when you take something to court it has GOT to be about the money. It's a shame really, I think I will stick with Starcraft still; I have really been enjoying the game and it would take a lot to get me anally retarded enough to walk away from it. Still... companies continue to hurt gamers when they least expect it, sad really.

 

[Iscin]

Talk about a little biased journalism?

Before anyone else jumps on an anti-cheaters band wagon here, these people are not being sued because they enable cheating in multiplayer. In fact at least some hackers said they would change their programs to work STRICTLY in single player after Blizzard started banning players. No... Blizzard have been banning players who used these programs in single player, Blizzard allows cheating like this anyway via in-game cheats, it is just that trainers allow for greater options.

Doing this Blizzard might very well be forcing players getting these permabans to buy the game all over again if they want to keep playing (these are not little bans people). Frankly, it has become a mess made by Blizzard by this point. Of course this is a fair deal of speculation, but with its WoW empire and Activision in the room with them, Blizzard might be feeling more temptation/pressure than ever before to become extra greedy.

So what is it about? Money.

Edit: For reference please see this correspondance http://www.cheathappens.com/article_blizzardbans.asp
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions naturally, but the facts are that Blizzard are not playing totally kosher here.

AHAHAHAHA...just when I think people on the internet can't get MORE illogical. "Hey, you're being biased, here's the most biased possible source that contradicts you."

Blizzard is banning people who use 3rd party hacks and modifications to the game files that are strictly prohibited in both the EULA and ToS. They read the rules, read that they could be banned if they did it, they did it anyway, got banned, cried. That's all there is to it. And people that were fucking STUPID enough to spend $60 on the game and $15 on an illegal trainer for it don't even deserve to have that much disposable income. Ones who re-buy the game and do the same thing have surpassed stupidity and delved into insanity.

Bans do NOT automatically constitute another sale of the game. If you get banned for doing something stupid, it's always better to just cut your losses and say "Fuck this shit". If they do re-buy it, they won't get banned again unless they're insane, so it's not like they're getting 3-4 sales out of people.

Blizzard hasn't so far perma-banned anyone who hasn't broken the EULA or ToS in some way, so they haven't overstepped any sorts of bounds.

Not only all that, THIS article is about lawsuits brought against the people coding and distributing the hacks, not the people who use them. You clearly lack reading comprehension and are trolling boards netwide with the same redundant argument every time you see the word "Blizzard" and for that you have earned a place in the 6th circle of internet hell.

Err... riiiiiight.

Quick count here:

1) I am not a journalist, I'm a biased opinionated internet commentator. DUH! Nor did I say that CheatHappens wasn't biased, of course they are biased, just like Blizzard are biassed. It is just the OTHER SIDE.
2) Frankly, the EULA can go to hell. It is a manipulative red tape tool that has caused more crap than even DRM has for gamers. See XKCD: http://xkcd.com/501/
3) In regards to your personal trolling attempt

Look at your comment. Back to mine. Back to yours NOW BACK TO MINE. Sadly, it isn't mine. But if you stopped trolling and started posting legitimate crap it could LOOK like mine. Look down, back up, where are you? You're scrolling through comments, finding the ones that your comment could look like. Back at mine, what is it? It's a highly effective counter-troll. Look again, MY COMMENT IS NOW DIAMONDS.
Anything is possible when you think before you comment or post.
I'm on a computer.

 

[qbanknight]

Lawsuits now? Are you fucking serious? For cheating in the SINGLE-PLAYER? How in the hell does that affect the online experience? Better question: why hasn't any of the thousands of developers sued people for making cheats of their games? Probably because it's a pointless idea and one that does not need money.

Now our true colors show Blizzard, huh? Looks Bobby Kotick's money-grubbing from any source on Earth has finally come to you (not like splitting the campaign into 3 full-priced games wasn't already any indication). This is pathetic, the moment we buy a game we can do whatever the hell we want with it, SO LONG as we do not pirate the game or hurt other's experience in the game. I fail to see how cheating in single-player affects the multi-player component.

 

[RYjet911]

Lawsuits now? Are you fucking serious? For cheating in the SINGLE-PLAYER? How in the hell does that affect the online experience?

Because of leaderboards using single player data aswell as multiplayer.

Yes, it's about something as retarded as leaderboards, and Blizzard claim it will cost them sales due to word of mouth.

 

[Lucifron]

ITT: A bunch of people who haven't read the EULA, and therefore failed to understand that when they purchased SCII, they didn't purchase a physical object which became theirs, but a license to use software completely on the terms of the software's developer.

Akshully, you don't need to read the EULA to understand this. The forum discussions here and the Escapist's news are more than enough. Times have changed. Activision-Blizzard has you by the balls. Learn to like it.

 

[runedeadthA]

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.

Wait what? People seem to have made this assumption (including blizzard it seems) that the cheats are MP. No, they arn't. One of the first lines in the article is "third-party cheat modifications in single-player games." No where in the article does it say Multiplayer in the article. Blizzard has cleverly Bullshitted their way around this by saying things like "Online Experince"... Which is because even for singleplayer Starcraft 2 makes you have to be connected to the internet. Therefore this "Competitive online experience" seems to be implying the purely cosmetic "points" you get for doing certain achievements in singleplayer. Which of course can only be turned off by using first-party cheats.

Cheat engines and the like are ONLY ever designed for singleplayer. Many of the makers and users DON'T want to use them against others (Thats why they use these instead of hacks after all). The programs just exist to have that extra bit of fun after you've beaten the game a few times and want to go back to That One Mission and delightfully bulldoze the opposition with 50 Thors.

 

[Ranorak]

Lawsuits now? Are you fucking serious? For cheating in the SINGLE-PLAYER? How in the hell does that affect the online experience? Better question: why hasn't any of the thousands of developers sued people for making cheats of their games? Probably because it's a pointless idea and one that does not need money.

Now our true colors show Blizzard, huh? Looks Bobby Kotick's money-grubbing from any source on Earth has finally come to you (not like splitting the campaign into 3 full-priced games wasn't already any indication). This is pathetic, the moment we buy a game we can do whatever the hell we want with it, SO LONG as we do not pirate the game or hurt other's experience in the game. I fail to see how cheating in single-player affects the multi-player component.

It does effect the online multiplayer

1) There are the normal cheat codes that blizzard coded in SC2, these are perfectly fine, but disable achievements. Those achievements are used in multiplayer to show off, and possibly intimidate your opponent.
2) these hackers made trainers that let you cheat, while still getting achievements. Thus bypassing Blizzard's way of making achievements meaningful.
3)"But it's just achievements" these people were willing to pay money for them. So obviously they mean something.
4) The creators of these trainers did not only change the game data (something you are not allowed to do, because you don't own the software) but they made money off of it.
5) you do NOT own the game when you buy it. You own the disk, the manual the plastic box but not the coded software. That still belongs to the creator.

Cheat engines and the like are ONLY ever designed for singleplayer. Many of the makers and users DON'T want to use them against others (Thats why they use these instead of hacks after all). The programs just exist to have that extra bit of fun after you've beaten the game a few times and want to go back to That One Mission and delightfully bulldoze the opposition with 50 Thors.

There are perfectly fine built-in cheats for that. These people bought the trainer SPECIFICLY for the multiplayer achievements. Because the built-in cheat deactivate those. And these trainers bypass that. That is the reason.

You can cheat all you want in single player, but it disables achievements.

 

[cerebus23]

I've always wondered... WHY create these hacks when you know it WILL lead to lawsuits? They might be great hackers, but on every other level they're butt-head retarded. You don't dabble with someone elses software without permission! First rule when it comes to programing.

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.

Couldnt agree more. I think blizz made a fair point with "hacks ruining further expansion sales", it's very valid. I quit CS because of all the framerate hackers, never even bothering to try CS:source, and i bet im not the first.

Cept your not modfiying the actual game your hacking apart the memory addresses in ram, you are not modifying game files or exes, single player hacking out a game or cheating or using a trainer usally hurts noone at all, it would hurt noone in sc2 cept blizzard made the sp game online more or less by tieing your sp saves and achievements to the online portion of the game, otherwise they would be no harm no foul.

mp cheating is the worst of the worst and those people deserve a special place in hell, give us back ip play and lan play and oh look i can play my friends and neighbors anytime wnywhere i want i do not have to deal with random asshat 11000000000001 that i see when i go online that just loves to wall hack use aim bots and generally stroke themselves off cause they pwn so much by cheating and ruining other peoples games.

the fact that blizzard chose to blur the line between a single player campaign and online multiplayer they the ones that caused this whole mess. the guys at cheathappens etc create trainers for every damn game that comes out usually the day of, their members pay for that service. Many private coders make traininers using cheat engine and tsearch and put them out for free to anyone that wants them. some do it for fun some do it cause a game might have some rough spots a trainer can smooth out.

The best argument against ce is that they make money off other peoples software by charging a subscription fee for trainers. But is there any malicious intent by the guys at ce to ruin the online of sc2 or any game? doubtful.

THe mega hacks like wall hack, speed hacks, aimbots and the like are a step or two above and way beyond what your average trainer does.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

**snip**

Seems like you're saying Blizzard is being greedy. Is it greedy to go after people who make money off of something you created that are committing a form of plagarism?
This is something Blizzard has done before, even previous to the merger with Activision. (see one of my previous posts involving bnetd). Blizzard seems to care very much about reverse engineering of their games and use of 3rd party programs to enhance or change the gameplay. The fact that they're applying it to single-player is only due to the single-player experience affecting multiplayer. Whether or not the effects are "game-breaking" they still affect the mp experience thus giving single-player cheaters an advantage over non-cheating players. Even if it is just "portraits" or other goodies, it still is changing the game to give themselves an advantage.
Note also that "evil" Blizzard actually promotes game addons for WoW as long as they aren't game breaking.

 

[Hisshiss]

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.

What I find even more odd than that is the fact that he thinks anyone cares that hes boycotting these companies in the first place.

 

[lacktheknack]

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.

Wait what? People seem to have made this assumption (including blizzard it seems) that the cheats are MP. No, they arn't. One of the first lines in the article is "third-party cheat modifications in single-player games." No where in the article does it say Multiplayer in the article. Blizzard has cleverly Bullshitted their way around this by saying things like "Online Experince"... Which is because even for singleplayer Starcraft 2 makes you have to be connected to the internet. Therefore this "Competitive online experience" seems to be implying the purely cosmetic "points" you get for doing certain achievements in singleplayer. Which of course can only be turned off by using first-party cheats.

Cheat engines and the like are ONLY ever designed for singleplayer. Many of the makers and users DON'T want to use them against others (Thats why they use these instead of hacks after all). The programs just exist to have that extra bit of fun after you've beaten the game a few times and want to go back to That One Mission and delightfully bulldoze the opposition with 50 Thors.

A. There's ingame cheats to do that... and they disable achievements and trophies, which B. DO AFFECT THE MULTIPLAYER.

Think about it. You might say "I don't care about achievements", but there are quite a few people online who DO. The workarounds basically say "I worked hard to do this, this and this, so I'm going to offer a challenge in this, this, and this regard", except without actually doing the work in the first place. It's a shortcut to the upper echelon of Starcraft, so to speak. If you really want to extract all the joy you can from the single player, USE THE IN GAME CHEATS.

 

[jakefongloo]

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.

To these hackers video games are their life. They're their job security is similar to drug dealers that get money off people for their next fix. While a video game doesn't seem like a big deal for you let's put this in perspective. A Starcraft tourny player a prestigious one makes most of his money off of his skills. he goes to tournaments both local and international to make enough money to make ends meet. However some tournaments are reputation only. If this guy gets destroyed by a cheater he could have very well ruined this honorable player's life as well at least for a little while. There is no excuse for doing something that you already know is against the law it wasn't like this law popped up yesterday. I hope Blizzard dicks them something good!

P.S Activision could take a lesson from blizzard considering they're merged (Fucking mw2 modders with your wall hacks!)

 

[TheSanityAssassin]

god damn blizzard is a greedy company