Blizzard is suing hackers

[Spencer Petersen]

Its the lesser of two evils, either allow hackers to run rampant on your game or take a hard stance with them, and I think this is the better option. I'd rather a couple greedy fucks lose their game and right to illegally alter a multiplayer system they have to ruin for all of us, than let the entire multiplayer experience turn into a cesspool of hackers because the developers refused to take any action.

Yeah cause suing people is the ONLY way to ensure that the multiplayer experience isn't ruined.

Here's what we've learned. If you tie single player to multiplayer (in even the smallest of ways) you can maintain complete control over your game and gamers will support you.

The future is looking bright where true single player gameplay all but disappears and is replaced by "always online" single player.

Why do you seem so keen on jumping to the aid of people who honestly just care about their achievement points and online prestige? Actual multiplayer hacks do exist and are being produced by companies like this with the sole intent of fucking everyone who plays this game. I'm sorry if I don't support people whose sole intent is to invalidate any work I or anyone put into the harder achievements for their own self serving intent. Not to mention there is no need for these hacks in a single player environment anyway due to there being cheat codes already embedded in the game.
You also keep making the point of single-player online. My answer, play in offline mode, simple, effective, and solves all your problems, now stop trying to ruin it for everyone else. And if you plan on quoting this I want you to give a definitive answer on why offline single player doesn't work for you.

Offline single player games are going to be gone with PC games, look at Assassin Creed II, if you can't log into the Ubisoft server you can't play it AT ALL. And it's Single Player online ONLY so yeah. If companies start attaching "leader boards" to single player games (which some single player RPGs do now), they can claim the same thing Blizzard is doing. Now if I wanted to cheat in my copy of Tales of Vesperia for the fun of it should I be banned because it keeps the score on the leader boards and "ruins the online experience of the other players"(which I don't even want to be a part of). Think about it, single player for everything but the leader boards so it still has a "online" component, which Namco could use to ban cheaters.

Did I miss some big announcement saying that Blizzard was planning to axe offline singleplayer? Or are people just pulling conspiracies out of thin air?

And yes I agree that Ubisoft's DRM policy is the embodiment of Satan, but in my experience Blizzard is a bit more rational than them, so I doubt Heart of the Swarm or Legacy of the Void are going to have single player servers. If they did I would be pissed, but until then I'm going to keep calm about this.

After it's done is a terrible time to object but if you want to wait till then, we'll be talking about this in a year or two.

We need to stop EA now before they release their virus to turn our computers to Decepticons.
After its done will be a terrible time to object, but if you want to wait well be talking about this in a year or two.

We all know the signs are pointing to it.

(See? I can claim to see the future too)

Well EA was going to make mass effect online only but didn't because people complained about how some can't be online all the time.

And we all know, removing features is better than adding them!

 

[The Atomic Irishman]

Whatever happened to whimsical cheats like big heads, paintball bullets and rainbow blood... D:

 

[VanityGirl]

No one ever reads the "Terms of Agreement/Use". If you read those magical things, it says that any sort of tampering can result in ban. Furthermore, tampering with a company's IP (aka hacking) is, in itself, illegal.

So, go Blizzard. I support this!

What if it said that by installing the software you have agreed to sell your soul to the devil?

Read the EULA arguments are pointless, it is not legally binding and this case is not about the EULA so please, quit giving that stupid after-purchase click through nonsense more false power by pretending that it is relevant.

Actually, it is very relevant. The Terms of Use is essentially an online contract you sign. If you've played the game, the company can say "Obviously Mr/Ms So-n-So agreed to our terms, but still hacked the game."
Honestly, it looks really bad on you in court. Any document you sign (or in this case click) will come back to haunt you.
Also, Blizzard had clearly stated before this massive dust up that they would be punishing any type of cheaters and hackers they catch. If you are still stupid enough to do that after a company issued warning and the clear warning in the Terms of Use, then of course you're going to be in a heap of trouble come judgement day.

If a site has a disclosesure of rules, (which Blizzard has in the Terms of Use for ALL their games), and it is ignore then you can, in fact, be sued, banned or whatever the company wants to do with you.

 

[Spencer Petersen]

Its the lesser of two evils, either allow hackers to run rampant on your game or take a hard stance with them, and I think this is the better option. I'd rather a couple greedy fucks lose their game and right to illegally alter a multiplayer system they have to ruin for all of us, than let the entire multiplayer experience turn into a cesspool of hackers because the developers refused to take any action.

Yeah cause suing people is the ONLY way to ensure that the multiplayer experience isn't ruined.

Here's what we've learned. If you tie single player to multiplayer (in even the smallest of ways) you can maintain complete control over your game and gamers will support you.

The future is looking bright where true single player gameplay all but disappears and is replaced by "always online" single player.

Why do you seem so keen on jumping to the aid of people who honestly just care about their achievement points and online prestige? Actual multiplayer hacks do exist and are being produced by companies like this with the sole intent of fucking everyone who plays this game. I'm sorry if I don't support people whose sole intent is to invalidate any work I or anyone put into the harder achievements for their own self serving intent. Not to mention there is no need for these hacks in a single player environment anyway due to there being cheat codes already embedded in the game.
You also keep making the point of single-player online. My answer, play in offline mode, simple, effective, and solves all your problems, now stop trying to ruin it for everyone else. And if you plan on quoting this I want you to give a definitive answer on why offline single player doesn't work for you.

As I have said, soon there will be no offline single player. Soon single player will be online only so the company can control every interaction you have with the game. This is what I fear and it is coming. Blizzard is setting the ground rules for what is coming and the next game may have only online single player.

I doubt anyone has the sole intent of ruining online play for everyone, I think their goal is to make money.

Here's a question, if it's illegal to make money from a game without the permission of the game publisher, where does that put unauthorized strat guides?

This isn't Ubisoft were talking about here, you can play the game without a connection to the internet just fine. From my point of view, the achievements offered through connected single player are a sort of broken up "online leader-boards" to let those who are very good at the single player show off their skills and earn some prestige for it. The hacks offered to earn these achievements while still using godmode and the like makes this system entirely pointless and cuts down any possibility of expansion on this premise into something for developed. I'm sorry if you see that adding features to your game while connected to the net somehow looks like they are removing features of the offline mode. Again, please tell me why the offline mode is any less functional than the previous Starcraft or Brood War.

And I also bet that illegal arms dealers don't have the sole intent of hurting anyone, they just want to make money, but does that make them blameless? Absolutely not

As for the strategy guides, I don't know anyone that buys strategy guides anymore now that the internet is around, but selling something that is designed to make money off of someone's intellectual property is in incredibly poor taste in my opinion, especially if your intent is not to clear up confusion or even the playing field but instead give people who don't need the help an unfair advantage over anyone else who didn't fork over the cash.

No it isn't Ubisoft, it's Blizzard and that doesn't mean a damned thing anymore.

Here's what I see has happened. We all agree that cheating in multiplayer is bad, no one is arguing that. Blizzard took advantage of this by tying the single player to the multiplayer so they could exercise the kind of control over their game as we are currently seeing.

The offline mode is there but it may not be in the next game. That is what I am saying, why are you finding that so hard to understand. This ONE game is just ONE step. Do you deny that we are headed for the death of offline single player?

Are you really comparing arms dealers to hackers? LOL, that's pretty desperate.

Wow, you managed to rant about strat guides without answering any questions. I take it that you don't know if unauthorized strat guides are illegal.

BTW, some of the best strat guides ARE the unauthorized ones.

Yes, I do deny that we are headed to the death of offline single player. Where is any indication that the next games won't have it? Please, now, I've asked you this twice, what is so fucking wrong about the offline single player present in SC2 that makes it undesirable? Playing online only adds features, features you say you don't care about yet still complain when you cant get them. You cant have it both ways. The reason there are advantages to play online single player is because now there is a reason for people who are interested only in the multiplayer to get involved in the single player. So, if you had your way, the best course of action for the industry would be to remove features which form a logical bridge from single to multiplayer. I fail to see how you see death of offline single player form this. What else could you want from the offline single player?

And yes, I compare hackers to arms dealers, you know why? Because they are both selling tools which people can use to gain an unfair advantage over another. Its called a fucking analogy.

And its a pretty huge difference between strategy guides and hacks, one can help a beginner learn the basics of the game to be better prepared for common tricks and traps, however it doesn't give much advantage to an experienced player, and one is software which alters game code to give an advantage which is completely un-counterable. Strategy guides give tips on good unit combos, hacks give your units invincibility and 10 times damage. They are not the same in any way.

And I can put up with someone making money from selling a strategy guide if they are actually doing some work to help beginners and such learn the game, and legally, its fine. But when you are basically selling wins, its fucking disgusting

I have already answered you. My fear is that we are heading towards online only single player gaming. You don't agree but we shall see how it goes.

I have said that THIS game has offline single player but the next one may not. How many times must I say the same things? Yes, IMO single player should not be tied to multiplayer and IMO the only reason they did it this way is so they could control even the single player aspect of the game. When you no longer have offline single player, you may see my point. This game is a step in the direction that Blizzard and single player gaming is headed. If you don't understand my concerns now, ask someone who speaks English to read it to you.

LOL, comparing arms dealers to hackers is pretty damned desperate.

Strategy guides can tell a player EVERYTHING about a game and that is what I call an advantage, especially over players who don't have a strat guide. Don't you agree?

I guess its just a difference in opinion, but i believe the single player experience should transition into the multiplayer experience, rather than being 2 different games. Id like some aspect of single player to integrate into the multiplayer so that the game as a whole feels more complete.

Ok, if you just wanna call each other names i can abide. But to me hackers are just people selling tampered boxing gloves, which cause your opponent to catch on fire, explode and die when hit.

And there are 2 types of advantages: 1.Being better and 2.Being able to see everything, build instantly, be invincible, deal massive damage and have unlimited resources

Yes, strategy guides can help a player and give him an advantage over other players without the guides, but the kind of knowledge that world class players have can only come from experience and experimentation, not from reading guides. Now, hacking to enable godmode will give you an advantage over ANYONE, without requiring any extra work or training by the user. Guides make you better through knowledge, which can be substituted with experience and free research, hacks make you better by rewriting code, which cannot be substituted by anything free, huge difference.

And by the way, the hacks allow people to avoid cheating regulation in online play, what do you think was going to stop them from running rampant on the multiplayer?

 

[4RT1LL3RY]

I fail to see how most of the hacks violate copyright. How most trainers and hacks work is by directly setting the values in game memory to change things in game. If you find out that 0xAA in memory is a long int and corresponds to the score in a game and directly change the value in memory at 0xAA to contain 4048. If this somehow violates copyright law something is incredibly wrong. These hacks aren't cracks for the game the circumvent copyright/activation of the game.

The various people being sued have made, single player trainers and map hacks that are sold for profit. They have violated EULA terms, but are not being used to circumvent copy protection as per the DMCA. The issues are that the people involved in these are outside the jurisdiction of California courts, which are what the EULA says all offenses will be charged through.

It will be a long legal fight before this is over.

 

[Arehexes]

Its the lesser of two evils, either allow hackers to run rampant on your game or take a hard stance with them, and I think this is the better option. I'd rather a couple greedy fucks lose their game and right to illegally alter a multiplayer system they have to ruin for all of us, than let the entire multiplayer experience turn into a cesspool of hackers because the developers refused to take any action.

Yeah cause suing people is the ONLY way to ensure that the multiplayer experience isn't ruined.

Here's what we've learned. If you tie single player to multiplayer (in even the smallest of ways) you can maintain complete control over your game and gamers will support you.

The future is looking bright where true single player gameplay all but disappears and is replaced by "always online" single player.

Why do you seem so keen on jumping to the aid of people who honestly just care about their achievement points and online prestige? Actual multiplayer hacks do exist and are being produced by companies like this with the sole intent of fucking everyone who plays this game. I'm sorry if I don't support people whose sole intent is to invalidate any work I or anyone put into the harder achievements for their own self serving intent. Not to mention there is no need for these hacks in a single player environment anyway due to there being cheat codes already embedded in the game.
You also keep making the point of single-player online. My answer, play in offline mode, simple, effective, and solves all your problems, now stop trying to ruin it for everyone else. And if you plan on quoting this I want you to give a definitive answer on why offline single player doesn't work for you.

As I have said, soon there will be no offline single player. Soon single player will be online only so the company can control every interaction you have with the game. This is what I fear and it is coming. Blizzard is setting the ground rules for what is coming and the next game may have only online single player.

I doubt anyone has the sole intent of ruining online play for everyone, I think their goal is to make money.

Here's a question, if it's illegal to make money from a game without the permission of the game publisher, where does that put unauthorized strat guides?

This isn't Ubisoft were talking about here, you can play the game without a connection to the internet just fine. From my point of view, the achievements offered through connected single player are a sort of broken up "online leader-boards" to let those who are very good at the single player show off their skills and earn some prestige for it. The hacks offered to earn these achievements while still using godmode and the like makes this system entirely pointless and cuts down any possibility of expansion on this premise into something for developed. I'm sorry if you see that adding features to your game while connected to the net somehow looks like they are removing features of the offline mode. Again, please tell me why the offline mode is any less functional than the previous Starcraft or Brood War.

And I also bet that illegal arms dealers don't have the sole intent of hurting anyone, they just want to make money, but does that make them blameless? Absolutely not

As for the strategy guides, I don't know anyone that buys strategy guides anymore now that the internet is around, but selling something that is designed to make money off of someone's intellectual property is in incredibly poor taste in my opinion, especially if your intent is not to clear up confusion or even the playing field but instead give people who don't need the help an unfair advantage over anyone else who didn't fork over the cash.

If you care enough about achievements to where you have to brag about it then your just sad, achievements weren't as big in the 90's(but they gave out more cheats instead of a stupid number). I have more important things to work on then brag about how I play games all day, and by this logic if you use ANY OUTSIDE HELP BESIDES YOUR OWN SKILL TO EARN THAT ACHIEVEMENT YOUR EVIL AKSD;CAOJDF(sry couldn't help it lol). But really people "earn" achievements by boosting or just doing nothing. So to be honest if I can play Fable 2 and sit around while someone does the work and I have all the achievements (which I did do btw), it kinda makes the whole idea moot. Your just crying about someone getting something you worked hard on getting. Your not getting money for earning achievements or anything, all those trophies, points, or steam achievements mean NOTHING. Oh and fyi if your Achievements mean a lot to you get this in fallout 3 PC you can type in "Achievement Hex#" on the console and get that achievement and you know whats great it's games for windows live. So yeah I never played passed Following His Foot Steps but have all the achievements for the Karma level things.

Herp Derp, games are for nerds, anyone who plays the games is stupid and has no life, if you play games then you are stupid and i dont so i am smart. Acheivements mean you have no life, hurrr durr. I cheat for achivements and that makes me cool. Playing is for stupids. because i dont like acheivemtns they need to remove them all from games forever, because i am the smartest.

Grow the fuck up. If you don't care about achievements then don't play online single player, that is all. But wait, you seem to be defending someone who's entire motivation is... ACHIEVEMENTS. The ONLY reasons these people hack this way is 1. To cheat in online multiplayer (which everyone agrees is wrong) or 2. To get achievements without working for them. Whether you see the value in them or not everything is not up to you, so get over yourself. If even 1 person really cared about his gamerscore or blizzscore or whatever, its the responsibility of the game developer to ensure a safe play environments for EVERYONE who abides by the EULA. Blizzard would be fucking poor little Johnny Gamerscore by not banning these assholes, who do this for the sole benefit of themselves and making the work of people who give even the slightest shit about achievements worth less than dirt. So your not affected, congratulations, but contrary to what you believe, everyone does not believe what you believe, get over yourself.

I guess I hit one of your nerves if your mocking me and misquoting me, to make me look like a moron(really herp derp is your best defence, only people who can't give a good argument goes to insults?).

Never said games are for nerds, never said people who play games have no life (i did say i have more important things in life to do though), never said playing games made you stupid. And why would I say this if I own over 200 FREAKING GAMES.

I said if your going to freak the hell out that someone cheated to earn a achievement you should get a life (really there is a difference in playing a game and freaking out to get that 1000/1000 in a xbox game). I mean Bethesda did it for Games for Windows Live WITH A CONSOLE COMNMAND, so why not the rage over that (Fable 2 did it also).

And I shouldn't have to pick offline single player(cause single player is supposed to be OFFLINE, IT'S SINGLE PLAYING WHO WOULD I BLOODY PLAY WITH MY FEET?). It's single player, there is no need to have any ANY option to have online for single player.

And I never said I'm bloody cool for cheating for achievements (I said what is the point if one person can enter a console code provided by the devs to unlock them all with NO PROBLEM). If I can by-pass the normal method to get those 10 gamer points or what ever, what does it matter.

My defense is people who mod and hack stuff our doing it to give a different option on how to play, I couldn't care if you do it for achievements, and it seems these mods were for SINGLE PLAYER. Look at Multi Theft Auto, it's a hack that lets you race through custom made maps in gta cars (or custom made) and no one is whining about how it's ruining everything. And when people cheated to get TF2 items Valve removed their items and gave everyone who didn't cheat a halo.(so this isn't a well no one else is doing anything about it case)

If your against hackers earning achievements unfair what about this, HOLY CRAP THEY ADVERTISE EASY ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKS WITH THIS.

http://us.codejunkies.com/Products/XB360-Xport__EF000191.aspx

So if your going to mock you i'll mock you

Har har you need to play MY WAYORZ OR SUCKS IT, yorz way is teh gayz. Why don't you go awayz you think youz betrz then us you noob STFU LULZ I'am CLEVRZ.

 

[Spencer Petersen]

Its the lesser of two evils, either allow hackers to run rampant on your game or take a hard stance with them, and I think this is the better option. I'd rather a couple greedy fucks lose their game and right to illegally alter a multiplayer system they have to ruin for all of us, than let the entire multiplayer experience turn into a cesspool of hackers because the developers refused to take any action.

Yeah cause suing people is the ONLY way to ensure that the multiplayer experience isn't ruined.

Here's what we've learned. If you tie single player to multiplayer (in even the smallest of ways) you can maintain complete control over your game and gamers will support you.

The future is looking bright where true single player gameplay all but disappears and is replaced by "always online" single player.

Why do you seem so keen on jumping to the aid of people who honestly just care about their achievement points and online prestige? Actual multiplayer hacks do exist and are being produced by companies like this with the sole intent of fucking everyone who plays this game. I'm sorry if I don't support people whose sole intent is to invalidate any work I or anyone put into the harder achievements for their own self serving intent. Not to mention there is no need for these hacks in a single player environment anyway due to there being cheat codes already embedded in the game.
You also keep making the point of single-player online. My answer, play in offline mode, simple, effective, and solves all your problems, now stop trying to ruin it for everyone else. And if you plan on quoting this I want you to give a definitive answer on why offline single player doesn't work for you.

Offline single player games are going to be gone with PC games, look at Assassin Creed II, if you can't log into the Ubisoft server you can't play it AT ALL. And it's Single Player online ONLY so yeah. If companies start attaching "leader boards" to single player games (which some single player RPGs do now), they can claim the same thing Blizzard is doing. Now if I wanted to cheat in my copy of Tales of Vesperia for the fun of it should I be banned because it keeps the score on the leader boards and "ruins the online experience of the other players"(which I don't even want to be a part of). Think about it, single player for everything but the leader boards so it still has a "online" component, which Namco could use to ban cheaters.

Did I miss some big announcement saying that Blizzard was planning to axe offline singleplayer? Or are people just pulling conspiracies out of thin air?

And yes I agree that Ubisoft's DRM policy is the embodiment of Satan, but in my experience Blizzard is a bit more rational than them, so I doubt Heart of the Swarm or Legacy of the Void are going to have single player servers. If they did I would be pissed, but until then I'm going to keep calm about this.

After it's done is a terrible time to object but if you want to wait till then, we'll be talking about this in a year or two.

We need to stop EA now before they release their virus to turn our computers to Decepticons.
After its done will be a terrible time to object, but if you want to wait well be talking about this in a year or two.

We all know the signs are pointing to it.

(See? I can claim to see the future too)

Well EA was going to make mass effect online only but didn't because people complained about how some can't be online all the time.

And we all know, removing features is better than adding them!

More DRM is not a feature that helps gamers, it is a restriction.

Digital Restrictions Management is what DRM really stands for. Maybe one day that will be clear to you.

I thought you were saying they wanted to add an online feature to Mass Effect, which I would support, but they were wanting to add a Ubisoft-style single player server system?! That's just shit, EA just dropped a point for even thinking about that. Abusive DRM is bad, I agree, but if I'm going to be playing against other people in what is supposed to be a fair and balanced environment I'd rather take the one that stops hackers than the one who lets them run rampant.

 

[Arehexes]

I guess its just a difference in opinion, but i believe the single player experience should transition into the multiplayer experience, rather than being 2 different games. Id like some aspect of single player to integrate into the multiplayer so that the game as a whole feels more complete.

I disagree. I believe they should be kept separate. I do not want to be forced online when playing a single player game.

Ok, if you just wanna call each other names i can abide. But to me hackers are just people selling tampered boxing gloves, which cause your opponent to catch on fire, explode and die when hit.

I like gaming too but it isn't life and death.

Yes, strategy guides can help a player and give him an advantage over other players without the guides, but the kind of knowledge that world class players have can only come from experience and experimentation, not from reading guides. Now, hacking to enable godmode will give you an advantage over ANYONE, without requiring any extra work or training by the user. Guides make you better through knowledge, which can be substituted with experience and free research, hacks make you better by rewriting code, which cannot be substituted by anything free, huge difference.

So using guides for my 360 games has affected my gamerscore. Does that make me as bad as those people who used a trainer and got achievements in SC2?

The point is that achievement were pushed on all players without choice (unless you wanna play as a "guest" offline but most people would see that as a downgrade) and an advantage is still an advantage be it from a book, a website or a trainer.

And by the way, the hacks allow people to avoid cheating regulation in online play, what do you think was going to stop them from running rampant on the multiplayer?

What stops me from using my Action Replay for Mario Kart DS? Most people know that cheating in an multiplayer game is pointless.

If Blizzard can detect this trainer running, then there should be no one using it online. They should be blocked from online multiplayer if the trainer is running. In that event, no one IS ruining the mp.

The said part is AR's are legal in the US, and cheating in DS games aren't uncommon. It's a nasty problem, but when SINGLE PLAYER GAMES can't be hacked for the fun of it (and yes hackers do FREAKING DO THIS FOR FUN) it's a bad thing for modders.

 

[Arehexes]

Its the lesser of two evils, either allow hackers to run rampant on your game or take a hard stance with them, and I think this is the better option. I'd rather a couple greedy fucks lose their game and right to illegally alter a multiplayer system they have to ruin for all of us, than let the entire multiplayer experience turn into a cesspool of hackers because the developers refused to take any action.

Yeah cause suing people is the ONLY way to ensure that the multiplayer experience isn't ruined.

Here's what we've learned. If you tie single player to multiplayer (in even the smallest of ways) you can maintain complete control over your game and gamers will support you.

The future is looking bright where true single player gameplay all but disappears and is replaced by "always online" single player.

Why do you seem so keen on jumping to the aid of people who honestly just care about their achievement points and online prestige? Actual multiplayer hacks do exist and are being produced by companies like this with the sole intent of fucking everyone who plays this game. I'm sorry if I don't support people whose sole intent is to invalidate any work I or anyone put into the harder achievements for their own self serving intent. Not to mention there is no need for these hacks in a single player environment anyway due to there being cheat codes already embedded in the game.
You also keep making the point of single-player online. My answer, play in offline mode, simple, effective, and solves all your problems, now stop trying to ruin it for everyone else. And if you plan on quoting this I want you to give a definitive answer on why offline single player doesn't work for you.

Offline single player games are going to be gone with PC games, look at Assassin Creed II, if you can't log into the Ubisoft server you can't play it AT ALL. And it's Single Player online ONLY so yeah. If companies start attaching "leader boards" to single player games (which some single player RPGs do now), they can claim the same thing Blizzard is doing. Now if I wanted to cheat in my copy of Tales of Vesperia for the fun of it should I be banned because it keeps the score on the leader boards and "ruins the online experience of the other players"(which I don't even want to be a part of). Think about it, single player for everything but the leader boards so it still has a "online" component, which Namco could use to ban cheaters.

Did I miss some big announcement saying that Blizzard was planning to axe offline singleplayer? Or are people just pulling conspiracies out of thin air?

And yes I agree that Ubisoft's DRM policy is the embodiment of Satan, but in my experience Blizzard is a bit more rational than them, so I doubt Heart of the Swarm or Legacy of the Void are going to have single player servers. If they did I would be pissed, but until then I'm going to keep calm about this.

After it's done is a terrible time to object but if you want to wait till then, we'll be talking about this in a year or two.

We need to stop EA now before they release their virus to turn our computers to Decepticons.
After its done will be a terrible time to object, but if you want to wait well be talking about this in a year or two.

We all know the signs are pointing to it.

(See? I can claim to see the future too)

Well EA was going to make mass effect online only but didn't because people complained about how some can't be online all the time.

And we all know, removing features is better than adding them!

More DRM is not a feature that helps gamers, it is a restriction.

Digital Restrictions Management is what DRM really stands for. Maybe one day that will be clear to you.

I thought you were saying they wanted to add an online feature to Mass Effect, which I would support, but they were wanting to add a Ubisoft-style single player server system?! That's just shit, EA just dropped a point for even thinking about that. Abusive DRM is bad, I agree, but if I'm going to be playing against other people in what is supposed to be a fair and balanced environment I'd rather take the one that stops hackers than the one who lets them run rampant.

No the mass effect 1 game would have a DRM feature were you have to be online to play it and if your not it would not work (just like AS2). But people in the military complained about how they couldn't be online to play when they are on the field. Which like you said is abusive DRM. But let me ask this from gamer to gamer, if you play a RPG (Tales of Verperia is my example) with no multiplayer (outside of DLC which is just to give you money and items and levels, and local in battle co-op). And you wanted to hack just so you can beat up every boss who gave you nightmares with petty revenge (which is fun, I'll never forget making the Ultima Weapon boss in FF6 my *****). And it uploaded your score to the leaderboard (which it does have) should you be banned for hacking even though you didn't do it for scores or achievements? The problem we are trying to say is, that single player games are being integrated with some weird online gimmick that isn't needed, just so you have to follow their rules to the tee or your banned. But that's not all, a few games have had their start from mods, like counter strike and team fortress (both were mods of other games). And Glaboo who made Game Gennie was even sued by nintendo for the same thing this is about here. And Glaboo won.

 

[Arehexes]

I guess its just a difference in opinion, but i believe the single player experience should transition into the multiplayer experience, rather than being 2 different games. Id like some aspect of single player to integrate into the multiplayer so that the game as a whole feels more complete.

I disagree. I believe they should be kept separate. I do not want to be forced online when playing a single player game.

Ok, if you just wanna call each other names i can abide. But to me hackers are just people selling tampered boxing gloves, which cause your opponent to catch on fire, explode and die when hit.

I like gaming too but it isn't life and death.

Yes, strategy guides can help a player and give him an advantage over other players without the guides, but the kind of knowledge that world class players have can only come from experience and experimentation, not from reading guides. Now, hacking to enable godmode will give you an advantage over ANYONE, without requiring any extra work or training by the user. Guides make you better through knowledge, which can be substituted with experience and free research, hacks make you better by rewriting code, which cannot be substituted by anything free, huge difference.

So using guides for my 360 games has affected my gamerscore. Does that make me as bad as those people who used a trainer and got achievements in SC2?

The point is that achievement were pushed on all players without choice (unless you wanna play as a "guest" offline but most people would see that as a downgrade) and an advantage is still an advantage be it from a book, a website or a trainer.

And by the way, the hacks allow people to avoid cheating regulation in online play, what do you think was going to stop them from running rampant on the multiplayer?

What stops me from using my Action Replay for Mario Kart DS? Most people know that cheating in an multiplayer game is pointless.

If Blizzard can detect this trainer running, then there should be no one using it online. They should be blocked from online multiplayer if the trainer is running. In that event, no one IS ruining the mp.

The said part is AR's are legal in the US, and cheating in DS games aren't uncommon. It's a nasty problem, but when SINGLE PLAYER GAMES can't be hacked for the fun of it (and yes hackers do FREAKING DO THIS FOR FUN) it's a bad thing for modders.

It's bad for everyone when you can't mod a single player game. That some people cheat on the DS online though isn't call to ban cheat devices, that would be ridiculous but that is similar to what we are seeing with Blizzard.

I'm a programmer in training (college baby whoooo lol), and I heard how Epic's job requirement is that you need to make like 3 or 5 mods with their engine before they even talk to you (if that's true or not is another story). But I enjoy modding games, it's what gives games replay valve, if that was gone I would be depressed.

 

[hctib_elttil]

they did something thats illegal
valve punish players who abuse there games also
the only reason is because its blizzard + ball and chain

 

[Krion_Vark]

I think that saying these particular cheats "Destroy the SC2 experience" is a bit melodramatic, but otherwise, I don't see any problem with this lawsuit. Serves 'em right.

It can in a way since the Story Line is usually meant to teach people how to play and if you use things like Trainers and such it doesn't really teach you how to play. But playing online gets you better at teh game than playing through the story since the computer usually does things in a certain pattern while humans do not.

 

[Snotnarok]

It's less about suing them and more about getting the message out that they dont' want people making hacks for a game that's popular with tournaments.

Though I somehow doubt they'll really gain any ground with suing.

 

[Romidude]

Well, I don't know how this hacking was done, but if they fucked about server-side, it's actually illegal.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Don't be fooled whatever you now is as Blizzard is actually Activision.
Just look back when Activision bought them and when odd stories around Blizzard started to turn up.
People may be prosecuted under the Blizzard name, but it is the Activision "brain" department that comes up with all these slimy ideas.