Blizzard Sues StarCraft II Cheat Makers

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Blizzard Sues StarCraft II Cheat Makers


Blizzard has filed a lawsuit against the makers of the "ValiantChaos MapHack" for StarCraft II, saying that it infringes copyrights, breaches contracts and just generally messes with its mojo.

"ValiantChaos MapHack" is a cheat that grants StarCraft II players who use it various unfair advantages over their competition, including the ability to see the full game map, even areas meant to be obscured, and the opposing player's unit moves. It also violates Blizzard's "technical security measures" and various aspects of its Terms of Use and End-User License Agreement, which has led the studio to file a lawsuit against those responsible for making it.

The lawsuit [http://pdf.yt/d/exHXLZNbCvuVq3v0] names the defendants as "Does 1 through 10," since the actual names of the people involved are unknown, but the claims are very clear. "The provisions of the ToU and EULA are designed to protect the integrity of the game by, among other things, preventing the very conduct demonstrated by the Defendants - providing certain players an unfair competitive advantage against other players," the lawsuit states. "The ToU and EULA provide commercially reasonable contractual protection of Blizzard's rights in and to StarCraft II."

Blizzard says the defendants are "well aware" that their hack violates its prohibitions but continue to sell it anyway, by offering it to forum users who "donate" $62.50 for a VIP forum membership. The damage caused by the hack is "immediate, massive and irreparable," the suit claims.

"Among other things, Defendants irreparably harm the ability of Blizzard's legitimate customers (ie., those who purchase and use unmodified games) to enjoy and participate in the competitive online experience of StarCraft II," the lawsuit says. "That, in turn, causes users to grow dissatisfied with the game, lose interest in the game, and communicate that dissatisfaction. This results in lost sales of the game and/or 'add-on' packs and expansions thereto, as well as harm to Blizzard's reputation, the value of its game, and other harms to Blizzard."

The suit claims direct, contributory and vicarious copyright infringement by the hack makers, as well as breach of contract, intentional interference with contractual relations and even trafficking in circumvention devices in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Blizzard is seeking an injunction against further distribution of the hack, access to all infringing and violating materials, a full breakdown of all monies earned from the sale of the hack, and of course various damages and legal fees.

This isn't the first time Blizzard has taken legal action over an in-game cheat - it BBC [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106241-Legal-Battle-Between-Glider-and-Blizzard-Will-Likely-Continue] that it will likely prevail this time around too, thanks in large part to the advent of the DMCA.

"The law in this area is relatively new as these forms of online games are only a decade old," he said. "Nonetheless, there have been a number of victories in this area and overall the odds are stacked against hackers and against cheaters once a games company is determined to take legal action."

Source: TorrentFreak [http://torrentfreak.com/blizzard-sues-starcraft-ii-hackers-copyright-infringement-140521/]


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Adam Jensen_v1legacy

I never asked for this
Sep 8, 2011
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As much as I'd like to say that a lawsuit is over the top, I've been a victim of online cheaters more than a million times. There's no excuse for cheating. It's a situation where everyone involved knows that it's the wrong thing to do. You shouldn't mess with anyone's mojo.
 

iseko

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Dec 4, 2008
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Rip them a new one please blizzard. I hate cheaters in online games.
 

LordMonty

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Jul 2, 2008
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To be honest, with gaming becoming more and more main stream and professional in terms of sporting competition and otherwise respected this is something that will happen more and more as people try to cheat and comprimise games like starcraft.

I don't hate the entrepreneur trying to make some coin but this is hurting a fair game which atually carries some value to a high skilled player who might actually make a living from this game, I hope these people are found and stopped as it is a problem and needs to be stopped.
 

Bat Vader

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Mar 11, 2009
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It's cheaters like this that make cheaters like me look bad. I only cheat in single player since it doesn't effect anyone else but the idea of cheating in multiplayer just disgusts me.
 

Originality

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Dec 25, 2010
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Cheating offline only cheats yourself out of the genuine experience. Cheating online ruins the experience of everybody who plays. That's not cool.

I'm not a fan of the whole lawsuite system, but in this case... go Blizzard!
 

vun

Burrowed Lurker
Apr 10, 2008
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Bat Vader said:
It's cheaters like this that make cheaters like me look bad. I only cheat in single player since it doesn't effect anyone else but the idea of cheating in multiplayer just disgusts me.
Eh, I don't think online cheaters ruin the reputation of anyone who chooses to cheat in a single-player game. But then again, for all I know there could be far more people who are unable to see the difference between cheating that affects others and cheating that does not than I am aware of.

Personally, I despise people who cheat online and fully support Blizzard in this.
I also fully support anyone who decides to use cheats/trainers in single-player games because it only affects that one person and in some cases let you bypass annoying game design features(like auto-QTE trainer for the new Tomb Raider).
 

Klonoa Prower

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Jul 23, 2008
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BigTuk said:
Good luck with that... of course this will do nothing to stop the cheating (which is the funny thing) NO this is just butt hurt. There will always be cheaters and cheats and in the end.. that's part of gaming. You learn to deal with it.
That's a horrible way to look at things! Using that logic, we shouldn't lock up murderers and rapists just because there will always be more of them. If you expect change to occur, you have to take action to change things, not just complain until something happens.
 

XenoScifi

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Dec 30, 2013
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This is a great move to help curb online cheating. I agree with everything this lawsuit is aiming at all the way down to these cheats down right making a game look bad and in turn a potential loss of sales.

I hope this will pick up steam and other publishers start taking action.
 

Bat Vader

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Mar 11, 2009
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vun said:
Bat Vader said:
It's cheaters like this that make cheaters like me look bad. I only cheat in single player since it doesn't effect anyone else but the idea of cheating in multiplayer just disgusts me.
Eh, I don't think online cheaters ruin the reputation of anyone who chooses to cheat in a single-player game. But then again, for all I know there could be far more people who are unable to see the difference between cheating that affects others and cheating that does not than I am aware of.

Personally, I despise people who cheat online and fully support Blizzard in this.
I also fully support anyone who decides to use cheats/trainers in single-player games because it only affects that one person and in some cases let you bypass annoying game design features(like auto-QTE trainer for the new Tomb Raider).
I agree. I fully support Blizzard in this too. I feel like the lawsuit is more to scare other online hackers and cheaters. I can't find a sum they are suing them for.
 

Alpha Maeko

Uh oh, better get Maeko!
Apr 14, 2010
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I cheat hardcore every time I play Call of Duty...

.. by using whatever n00btube is available :D
 

Avaholic03

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Andy Chalk said:
The lawsuit [http://pdf.yt/d/exHXLZNbCvuVq3v0] names the defendants as "Does 1 through 10," since the actual names of the people involved are unknown
If their real names are unknown, how do they expect to enforce any ruling? Do their online personas have assets that can be seized?
 

Raziel

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Jul 20, 2013
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Avaholic03 said:
Andy Chalk said:
The lawsuit [http://pdf.yt/d/exHXLZNbCvuVq3v0] names the defendants as "Does 1 through 10," since the actual names of the people involved are unknown
If their real names are unknown, how do they expect to enforce any ruling? Do their online personas have assets that can be seized?
I would assume they will seize the assets from that "donation" account and probably shut down the website. Also tracking down withdraws from that donation account might reveal the real names.
 

NuclearKangaroo

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Feb 7, 2014
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sue them to oblivion, nuke those cheaters offices from orbit and salt the earth so that nothing may ever grow in that place ever again... and thats only if they say they are sorry

if they dont, well, first we must find a way to bring Cthulhu to this realm...
 

Infernal Lawyer

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Jan 28, 2013
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vun said:
Bat Vader said:
It's cheaters like this that make cheaters like me look bad. I only cheat in single player since it doesn't effect anyone else but the idea of cheating in multiplayer just disgusts me.
Eh, I don't think online cheaters ruin the reputation of anyone who chooses to cheat in a single-player game. But then again, for all I know there could be far more people who are unable to see the difference between cheating that affects others and cheating that does not than I am aware of.

Personally, I despise people who cheat online and fully support Blizzard in this.
I also fully support anyone who decides to use cheats/trainers in single-player games because it only affects that one person and in some cases let you bypass annoying game design features(like auto-QTE trainer for the new Tomb Raider).
You'd be surprised. I used to frequent the VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) discussion forums on Steam, and it really was amazing how many people refused to distinguish between online and offline cheaters.

I even saw one idiot in a different forum telling another forum user he deserved to have his Steam account disabled because he used a Game Genie on his Super Nintendo. I bullshit you not: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/familysharing/discussions/0/846965882691848618/#p4 (Last part of post #106, just saying if you bother to check the link since it's VERY long). The reply was particularly hilarious, though.
 

Kuala BangoDango

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Mar 19, 2009
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Originality said:
Cheating offline only cheats yourself out of the genuine experience.
True, however, for some players cheating is the only way they'll ever get to see the later parts of games. Too many of us start a game and, like recent statistical studies have shown, quit halfway through either because it's too hard, time consuming, or another game is released that piques our interest more.

As an example, I have a brother-in-law who would use cheat codes in just about every long campaign-type game he played (HoMM series being the one I remember most). When I asked him about it he said it'd take him too long to play it legitimately what with having to re-load earlier saves or even worse re-start entire scenarios just because he didn't know the maps or enemy strategies yet and lost part-way through. Cheating was the only way he could get through the games to the end and experience the full story even if it wasn't "earned".

In other words, for some players:
Don't cheat = see 10-25% of what the game creators wanted you to see...
Cheat = see the complete vision of what the developers had in mind for their game.

Of course that WAS only for single-player. He wouldn't do it for multi-player.
 

vun

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Apr 10, 2008
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Infernal Lawyer said:
vun said:
Bat Vader said:
It's cheaters like this that make cheaters like me look bad. I only cheat in single player since it doesn't effect anyone else but the idea of cheating in multiplayer just disgusts me.
Eh, I don't think online cheaters ruin the reputation of anyone who chooses to cheat in a single-player game. But then again, for all I know there could be far more people who are unable to see the difference between cheating that affects others and cheating that does not than I am aware of.

Personally, I despise people who cheat online and fully support Blizzard in this.
I also fully support anyone who decides to use cheats/trainers in single-player games because it only affects that one person and in some cases let you bypass annoying game design features(like auto-QTE trainer for the new Tomb Raider).
You'd be surprised. I used to frequent the VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) discussion forums on Steam, and it really was amazing how many people refused to distinguish between online and offline cheaters.

I even saw one idiot in a different forum telling another forum user he deserved to have his Steam account disabled because he used a Game Genie on his Super Nintendo. I bullshit you not: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/familysharing/discussions/0/846965882691848618/#p4 (Last part of post #106, just saying if you bother to check the link since it's VERY long). The reply was particularly hilarious, though.
I'm not surprised, there's a lot of dumbass comments all over Steam. Especially workshop comments, the level of inanity is unfathomable.
 

Pyrian

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Jul 8, 2011
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Charging for the cheat-mod means that (A) they have no chance in court and (B) they're in serious risk of being reeled in by the money trail.