No Authenticator, No Diablo III Cash Auction House

[Lovely Mixture]

Lots of people here seem rather eager to push all blame away from Blizzard. They are not infallible people. Yes, the users need to be more secure, but what about those that are being "compromised" despite taking precautions?

 

[Zhukov]

Man, I had no idea playing a video game could be so complicated.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Actually the second they decided to make items in the game worth real world money, they were painting a big red and white target on themselves and the user. And if they didn't know it, they are incompetent. If the items were worthless, there would be alot less people interested in stealing them.

World of Warcraft accounts get compromised every day, people have their items stolen, characters deleted etc yet nothing in WoW has any real world money value aside from the gold and the account itself. Which selling of both gold and accounts is against the TOS and EULA. Blizzard put no real world value on WoW but they get compromised anyway. Hate Blizzard all you want, but don't sit here ignorantly blaming them for something that inevitably happens and is partly the responsibility of the user.

 

[Kordie]

I built this machine at home that lets me print money and people keep trying to break into my house! I mean, why aren't they breaking into other peoples houses? I tried changing the locks and they went in the window, WTF?!

Hey bliz, you basically issued a challenge to pirates around the world by making this RMAH, who could have thought that they might take you up on it?

 

[DevilWithaHalo]

Actually the second they decided to make items in the game worth real world money, they were painting a big red and white target on themselves and the user. And if they didn't know it, they are incompetent. If the items were worthless, there would be alot less people interested in stealing them.

So what did Blizzard do about it? They protected their RMAH with authenticators. So "hackers" (and I'm still using the term loosely) can't profit from their efforts.

I'm not arguing against you directly, it's just the argument itself I take issue with. Banks still don't have armed guards checking bags at the door to insure one never get's robbed. And we get along just fine without them. So either we can try to protect ourselves and be about our business, or we can turn it into the fiasco that is the American Airline Industry.

Real Money exchanges in games is nothing new, but is that one you take issue with?

If I bought a car that someone could walk up to and try 100 keys untill one worked and drove off in it, you can bet your ass I'd blame the car company. Having a login system that allows for brute force password programs to function is basically the same thing. Further, people have reported having their accounts messed with despite using an authenticator. I agree that people should take responsability for their actions, and that includes blizzard.

And Blizzard is doing something about it, so why keep bitching about it? Are you suggesting they redesign the core system to accommodate this security feature? I can imagine the additional outrage of players demanding refunds from their authenticators or screaming that they have to go through steps to recover their passwords because they didn't log in correctly. Poor Blizzard, they just can't win, I'll just give them some more money to help.

Funny story though, there was a car manufacturer that at one time had a 3-key ignition system, so you had a 1 in 3 shot of your key working if you had the same vehicle.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

Man, I had no idea playing a video game could be so complicated.

When people have their singleplayer campaigns hacked/compromised, you know something is wrong.

 

[Antari]

Actually the second they decided to make items in the game worth real world money, they were painting a big red and white target on themselves and the user. And if they didn't know it, they are incompetent. If the items were worthless, there would be alot less people interested in stealing them.

World of Warcraft accounts get compromised every day, people have their items stolen, characters deleted etc yet nothing in WoW has any real world money value aside from the gold and the account itself. Which selling of both gold and accounts is against the TOS and EULA. Blizzard put no real world value on WoW but they get compromised anyway. Hate Blizzard all you want, but don't sit here ignorantly blaming them for something that inevitably happens and is partly the responsibility of the user.

Not every user has a very good password, I will admit, and in those cases its not Blizzard's problem. But they didn't have to make the problem they already knew existed from World of Warcraft worse in Diablo 3, by doing this. Its just another example of a company passing all the risk and dangers of the industry to the consumer, who in most cases are less prepared than they are. If Blizzard cared about anything outside of the bottom line, there would be no real world money auction house. And this wouldn't even be an issue. But they will be able to make a few extra bucks out of the tax rate on the auction house, so lets do it, regardless of what it might bring. I can forgive a 13 year old kid for picking an easy password. I can't forgive a professional company for being greedy and incompetent, and then expecting the customer who paid them to fix it.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I ran my WoW account for years without an authenticator. And NEVER ONCE got hacked. How? Because I check e-mails from "Blizzard" for false links, never open anything that says "We know you've been trying to sell your account" or other scams. I also run malware scans, virus scans and rootkit removers constantly. I also don't look at porn sites, even under google incognito which some people think is just as good as a virus protection/malware protection. I also don't play in public networks because I don't trust their security or the people around me. Being on the Internet since I was 13, almost 20 years now, I've learned 3 things:

1. Nothing is secure if its connected to another computer.
2. If you want security unplug your network cable or turn off your wifi/bluetooth.
3. Don't ***** and moan because a company is attempting to protect your account and money.

However I was recently given an authenticator by a friend because he already had 3 of them and didn't need a fourth one and I use it because its one more step to being secure.

Oh and btw, you want good security? Pay for it. Free things always come with a price and free "security" software is usually riddled with holes that are only filled when you pay for the premium service.
Your computer's security (and thus any account you own) is YOUR business first, not Blizzards.

 

[Atmos Duality]

More Diablo 3 in the news?
You know what, I think I'll pass on the usual point-by-point, and just say this:

The only good thing about the authenticator is that it makes the user more conscious of the value of their account, and that people will try to take it. Anyone pretending that the authenticator is some sort of Magic Key that protects their account from compromise is a fool.

 

[Waaghpowa]

But they didn't have to make the problem they already knew existed from World of Warcraft worse in Diablo 3, by doing this.

You've never played Diablo 1 or 2 have you? People would dupe and steal items from other peoples accounts and sell them online for real money before all this. The hope was to create a safer more legitimate means of allowing people to do what they were already going to do while making a small profit. No more Black market.

The fact that this is happening is not indicative of Blizzards competence, it's indicative of people doing what they were always going to do. The difference this time is that Blizzard is actively trying to stop it with their own system.

I'm not defending Blizzard, I'm simply making the point that this is nothing new and people like you are making too big a deal out of it. Nothing is totally secure no matter how hard you work on it.

 

[malestrithe]

I have no interest in Diablo III. I lost interest about the 5th year of development.

That being said, this appears to be the best way to deal with hacking.

 

[Antari]

Actually the second they decided to make items in the game worth real world money, they were painting a big red and white target on themselves and the user. And if they didn't know it, they are incompetent. If the items were worthless, there would be alot less people interested in stealing them.

So what did Blizzard do about it? They protected their RMAH with authenticators. So "hackers" (and I'm still using the term loosely) can't profit from their efforts.

I'm not arguing against you directly, it's just the argument itself I take issue with. Banks still don't have armed guards checking bags at the door to insure one never get's robbed. And we get along just fine without them. So either we can try to protect ourselves and be about our business, or we can turn it into the fiasco that is the American Airline Industry.

Real Money exchanges in games is nothing new, but is that one you take issue with?

I've always taken issue with assigning real world value to a virtual item. Blizzard knows the authenticators are not a garentee, they have proof that it has been cracked. Its an algorithm, you pick the right one, your good to go. Just as easy as guessing a password in some cases. Its the customer's money in the auction house. Blizzard suffers no ill effects from the way its setup now. And while that might be good business sense, it leaves alot of customers in a bad position. Personally I can't support blizzard's position on it. They are not protecting the customer. And considering who owns them, thats really not a shock, or even out of the ordinary.

 

[weirdee]

whoa, whoa

don't act like making the gold selling market official was painting a target

this game would be a target no matter what because gold sellers don't need an official market to sell their stuff and this game is front and center on the world stage so it would never be safe

assigning a value? psh, gold sellers never listen to "official" values anyway, they just put whatever they can on whatever they want. the market always dictates the price, and you're just fooling yourself if you think they needed actiblizzion to do it

that's a false argument and you know it, so quit acting high and mighty

 

[Kordie]

Let's look at how this RMAH affects hacking. It is important to first look at what the point of this game actually is. This game has 2 big things that define it, randomized dungeons and the RMAH. What this means is that the focus of the game is on finding items. Diablo games have always been a gear grind dungeon crawler. The actual game isn't that long, but then you get to farm bosses, make yourself stronger, and get better gear.

In D2 days, items had no value. How I mean that, is that there was no legitimate way to sell items, and as such in the designed system the items have 0 real value. This makes the game economy item driven, everything only has a value within the game. You farm items to trade for better items to help you farm more items. PvP aside, that is a big (some might say only) focus on the game. Dupers enter the picture and try to screw things up, as they always do. They try to control the in-game economy through duping and account hacking. With that control, they try to sell items online to give the items real value.

Now D3 enters the picture. Blizzard looks at the hackers from D2 and figures, if we legitimise item sales, then black market sites wont exist. If theres no point in black market sales then hacking wont be needed. That second line may seem odd to you, because its completely counter intuitive. By creating a RMAH, blizzard has given every item in the game an intrinsic value. Needless to say by legitimising the hackers end game, it promotes the steps that get there. Instead of saying "hacking is bad, don't do it. we will not stand for it" Blizz has basically said "Hacking is bad, don't do it. But if you are gonna do it anyways, we want a cut."

Seriously, blizzard saw what hackers did to D2 and came to the conclusion hey why don't we do that to our own game first? Well, suprise suprise the hackers are here too. The ONLY way a RMAH would be of any use is with a completely secure game. And as many have said, theres no such thing, hackers get into everything.

Now blizzards reply is to sell authenticators? This is like a win-win for blizzard. They see a problem and now not only is it the customers fault, but the solution is to give them more money. (Yes its a free mobile app, but not everyone has a smart phone)

GG Blizzard, well played.

 

[Antari]

Let's look at how this RMAH affects hacking. It is important to first look at what the point of this game actually is. This game has 2 big things that define it, randomized dungeons and the RMAH. What this means is that the focus of the game is on finding items. Diablo games have always been a gear grind dungeon crawler. The actual game isn't that long, but then you get to farm bosses, make yourself stronger, and get better gear.

In D2 days, items had no value. How I mean that, is that there was no legitimate way to sell items, and as such in the designed system the items have 0 real value. This makes the game economy item driven, everything only has a value within the game. You farm items to trade for better items to help you farm more items. PvP aside, that is a big (some might say only) focus on the game. Dupers enter the picture and try to screw things up, as they always do. They try to control the in-game economy through duping and account hacking. With that control, they try to sell items online to give the items real value.

Now D3 enters the picture. Blizzard looks at the hackers from D2 and figures, if we legitimise item sales, then black market sites wont exist. If theres no point in black market sales then hacking wont be needed. That second line may seem odd to you, because its completely counter intuitive. By creating a RMAH, blizzard has given every item in the game an intrinsic value. Needless to say by legitimising the hackers end game, it promotes the steps that get there. Instead of saying "hacking is bad, don't do it. we will not stand for it" Blizz has basically said "Hacking is bad, don't do it. But if you are gonna do it anyways, we want a cut."

Seriously, blizzard saw what hackers did to D2 and came to the conclusion hey why don't we do that to our own game first? Well, suprise suprise the hackers are here too. The ONLY way a RMAH would be of any use is with a completely secure game. And as many have said, theres no such thing, hackers get into everything.

Now blizzards reply is to sell authenticators? This is like a win-win for blizzard. They see a problem and now not only is it the customers fault, but the solution is to give them more money. (Yes its a free mobile app, but not everyone has a smart phone)

GG Blizzard, well played.

Well put, Ninja'd even ... I'm glad atleast someone else sees the point.

 

[Bigeyez]

I was very annoyed to discover the dial-in authenticator doesn't work for D3. I don't want the auction house, I just want -security-. I do not have a smart phone, and no, I am NOT paying extra to buy an extra product because YOU CAN'T MAKE YOUR GAME SECURE.

Seriously, how is this acceptable? My account has been hijacked once already. I only played in a pub with a stranger ONE time. Because my -friend- invited them. Boom, lose all my loot and gold. Had to use one of my two rollbacks. That was how I discovered the phone authenticator doesn't work.

Why is it permissible I have to buy an extra product so the first product functions? FIX. IT.

Wait what? You do realize that if your account was compromised it's because you or someone who uses your computer was caught by a phising scam or keylogger right? How is it the products fault your account was compromised?

See this is why the "hack" business is so annoying. People do not get "hacked". Wrong term that the gamers and journalist for some stupid reason keep using to describe accounts compromised by phising or keylogging.

Edit: And before someone quotes me and spouts some drivel saying zomgzblizzbotfanboydrone whatever this applies to ALL games with login accounts. From Runescape to WoW to City of Hereos, Lord of the Rings, whatever. You go to any of these forums and see posts from people saying how they got "hacked" and its the games fault and blahblahblah.

 

[weirdee]

what, really?

d2 was way back when the gold seller market wasn't even huge yet (but it was growing) and it was fairly easy to dupe equipment, so any kind of real commerce would be a joke

it's not the existence of a legitimate market that counts, but the facts that items are being more strongly protected now, and that gold sellers are now huge, professionally run operations which can easily host their own trading venues anyway

game set values don't mean jack because the market is more important in pricing, and as soon as they open for business, everybody will pretty much ignore initial pricing if it's not what the items are worth to them