Overwatch Cheaters Are Getting Wrecked By Blizzard

[thepyrethatburns]

This is going to end in a class action lawsuit against Blizzard.

 

[Yuuki]

Apparently everyone in this thread would rather go scorched earth on anyone suspected of cheating instead of at least trying to rehabilitate them.

I feel such draconian measures should be reserved for repeat offenders.

Overwatch is just 1 game. This type of "draconian" permanban only serves to teach them a harsh lesson. They will be that much likely to never cheat in any other game going forward. In the long run this will only improve online gaming for everyone.

In this day and age it is common knowledge that cheating in multiplayer online games is a flat out wrong/unethical thing to do. Whoever is cheating is fully aware of what they are doing to others. It takes a certain mindset to consider cheating, and that mindset is fucked.

So...fuck cheaters. Fuck them for getting their kicks from ruining other people's experiences. Fuck them for using cheats purely out of spite/envy/whatever and gaining satisfaction from frustrating others.
I wish I could smash smash their fingers to pieces with a sledgehammer so they never touch a computer ever again. That is the depth of my hatred for them and what they do. Feel free to say "relax man it's just a game" - but gaming IS how I relax after long hours at work.

It's the equivalent of people who seek joy from vandalizing property and throwing rocks at pets. They need to have their arms and legs broken.

The question of anti-cheat was really the only thing that was making me hesitate to buy Overwatch (I knew it was a solid game), and Blizzard laid all my concerns to rest. I give them a standing ovation and I have bought the $60 full edition of Overwatch to support them.

Blizzard just showed all other online gaming devs/publishers what pathetic greedy cowards they are for not taking a similar stance on cheaters. Fuck any company that gives cheaters a chance to come back. Where are the consequences?!

This is going to end in a class action lawsuit against Blizzard.

No it won't. Their game + their rules + common sense. Cheaters are universally hated in everything, not just gaming.

 

[Czann]

Or just buy another account created by another IP and play it by VPN. Though I have no idea why people bother.

It seems the rat and cat game is more enticing than the game proper for some people.

 

[MonsterCrit]

If that's not enough, reports from cheaters themselves seem to suggest that even if you buy a new copy of the game, Blizzard will ban you again. Permabanned means permabanned - not just from Overwatch but from all Blizzard titles on your battle.net account.

I wonder how long before this gets Blizzard into legal hot water with the consumer affairs.

Also wonder, how many false positives are gettiung themselves banned.

 

[EternallyBored]

If that's not enough, reports from cheaters themselves seem to suggest that even if you buy a new copy of the game, Blizzard will ban you again. Permabanned means permabanned - not just from Overwatch but from all Blizzard titles on your battle.net account.

I wonder how long before this gets Blizzard into legal hot water with the consumer affairs.

Also wonder, how many false positives are gettiung themselves banned.

I think there's some bad writing going on here, cheating in Overwatch doesn't get you banned from battle.net, it just gets you banned from Overwatch, the sentence is indicating that all b.net games have the same policy of permabanning you if you get caught cheating in them.

The law, at least in the U.S. Isn't going to do anything, I'm curious what legal hot water you think they are going to get into, Blizzard has been permabanning accounts and individual games for over a decade at this point, nothing they are doing here is new, WoW has the same system, the only difference here is how swift they were in doing it, and publically announcing the names of the banned accounts.

As for false positives, I have no idea how they are doing the detecting, so I'm hoping they have a reliable system both for detection and appeals, I haven't heard of any significant number of false positives so far, given the low number of bans compared to player population, they are likely being at least somewhat thorough. False positives are always a risk though, as I doubt any system is perfect.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Definitely want to echo what many others have said. Banned from Overwatch? Fine. Banned from any new copies of Overwatch and ALL of your Battlenet games? That seems excessive, and it kind of reinforces my wary relationship with Blizzard. I don't know, Blizz's fanbase just seems so rabid and culty at times; and I really don't appreciate having to install an ecosystem that manages all your Blizzard games. Like it's this special clubhouse with big brother Blizzard looking out for you. You could say the same thing about Steam and Valve but it just feels different to me when we're talking about 1 developer and its games.

 

[Yuuki]

Banned from Overwatch? Fine. Banned from any new copies of Overwatch and ALL of your Battlenet games? That seems excessive

I don't know why you would think it's excessive. This is exactly what cheaters deserve. Blizzard doesn't have that many games. If someone is cheating in one game, they are extremely likely to be cheating in others too. It takes a certain mindset to cheat, and that mindset is fucked. If you let cheaters buy new game copies they WILL keep doing that and cheat again (rich daddy's credit card). There are many places that mass-sell game keys for cheap.

Blizzard simply want to wipe that scum off all their games forever and I agree with them. Once cheating scum, always cheating scum.

I don't know, Blizz's fanbase just seems so rabid and culty at times

No different from any fanbase.

I really don't appreciate having to install an ecosystem that manages all your Blizzard games. Like it's this special clubhouse with big brother Blizzard looking out for you. You could say the same thing about Steam and Valve but it just feels different to me when we're talking about 1 developer and its games.

Because said developer is big enough. BattleNet works quite well, brings Blizzard fans together and lets people communicate across their games using the actual inbuilt game chat. You can talk to a friend who's playing Diablo using the same chat as your WoW Raid group. That level of integration is something nobody else has managed to do.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Banned from Overwatch? Fine. Banned from any new copies of Overwatch and ALL of your Battlenet games? That seems excessive

I don't know why you would think it's excessive. This is exactly what cheaters deserve. Blizzard doesn't have that many games. If someone is cheating in one game, they are extremely likely to be cheating in others too. It takes a certain mindset to cheat, and that mindset is fucked. If you let cheaters buy new game copies they WILL keep doing that and cheat again (rich daddy's credit card). There are many places that mass-sell game keys for cheap.

Blizzard simply want to wipe that scum off all their games forever and I agree with them. Once cheating scum, always cheating scum.

I don't know, Blizz's fanbase just seems so rabid and culty at times

No different from any fanbase.

I really don't appreciate having to install an ecosystem that manages all your Blizzard games. Like it's this special clubhouse with big brother Blizzard looking out for you. You could say the same thing about Steam and Valve but it just feels different to me when we're talking about 1 developer and its games.

Because said developer is big enough. BattleNet works quite well, brings Blizzard fans together and lets people communicate across their games using the actual inbuilt game chat. You can talk to a friend who's playing Diablo using the same chat as your WoW Raid group. That level of integration is something nobody else has managed to do.

Okay, agree to disagree I guess? I would say labeling someone who cheated in a game "scum" is excessive. Dishonest and annoying? Sure. But a ban in that game gets them out of your hair. Telling someone that they can't play any of their games because they cheated is too far in my book. What exactly are these cheats anyway? Is it an aimbot? I have trouble seeing how that carries over into Diable or WoW or Hearthstone. Why don't we just have Blizz send their PC the self-destruct order so we can finally rid these scum from PC gaming ONCE AND FOR ALL HUZZAH.

Disagree on Blizz's fanbase being the same as others. in my opinion I think it comes across as being particularly fanatical and circle-jerky.

Again, I am allowed to dislike the Battle.net system just as you are to enjoy its benefits. None of those benefits apply to me. I don't enjoy having yet another library to have an account and password for. I don't need chat windows to my friends playing different games. On the rare occasion I decide to play a Blizzard game I'd rather not have to go through Battle.net to do it.

 

[Yuuki]

I don't enjoy having yet another library to have an account and password for.

Your single BattleNet account is what you use to log into all Blizzard games (WoW, Overwatch, Starcraft, Diablo, etc). It's unified in that sense. There's also a fairly large overlap in those communities so it makes even more sense.

Or do you prefer to manage separate accounts/logins for each game, despite them being developed and continually supported by the same company?

You're "allowed to dislike" whatever you want, but I'm just pointing out the bigger picture. In the same sense I'm "allowed to dislike" Justin Bieber but I still completely understand why he is rolling in money with millions of fangirls.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Or do you prefer to manage separate accounts/logins for each game, despite them being developed and continually supported by the same company?

I don't want to manage accounts/logins for any games. I know how Battle.net works. My point is, I think it's dumb that I have to open up another application and sign into it just because Blizzard wants me to. If I want to play, say, Heathstone, I should just be able to open Hearthstone and play it. Not have to open Battle.net to see Blizz's latest propaganda and check in on all of my cool fellow Blizzard pals.

 

[thepyrethatburns]

This is going to end in a class action lawsuit against Blizzard.

No it won't. Their game + their rules + common sense. Cheaters are universally hated in everything, not just gaming.

I'm pretty sure that permabanning people from EVERY Blizzard game that they own because of their actions in a single game is the type of overreach that, no matter what is in the EULA, is not going to stand up in court.

 

[EternallyBored]

This is going to end in a class action lawsuit against Blizzard.

No it won't. Their game + their rules + common sense. Cheaters are universally hated in everything, not just gaming.

I'm pretty sure that permabanning people from EVERY Blizzard game that they own because of their actions in a single game is the type of overreach that, no matter what is in the EULA, is not going to stand up in court.

Except that's not what's happening, the cheaters reporting being banned are reporting being banned repeatedly from Overwatch, not all Blizzard games, I'm not sure where Bogos is getting that information as I can find no indication from anywhere else that Blizzard is handing down blanket Bnet bans.

The sentence seems clumsily worded and the accurate wordage is that Blizzard hands down permabans in its other games as well if you get caught cheating.

Unless someone can find evidence otherwise, I have not seen anyone reporting blanket bans for all Blizzard games.

EDIT: In fact, even the official word from Blizzard goes out of its way to avoid mentioning Bnet accounts, they specifically only talk about banning Overwatch accounts and Overwatch games.

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

The funniest thing about this thread?

If a big game corporation had said it was enacting a new system that say, permabanned all service for life anyone caught pirating a game, we'd be all up in arms over "not right" and "Too far." It'd be the biggest controversy since Tracer's ass/GhostbusterAVGNsogony/The Next Thing Sarkeesian says.

I guess extreme punishments for bad things are only acceptable if I am not the accused.

Honestly? I'd be fine with that as long as demos resumed being a thing.

Mind you, I think "burying code to fuck with the pirate" ala Game Dev Tycoon to be much funnier and certainly a better solution...

Although it is pretty fun to point out double-standards (especially when it's clear that vested interests are involved), I do have to point out that piracy is inherently different to cheating simply because me pirating a game does not directly affect your online game experience. This is quite the indisputable fact by the way, unlike the whole "how much money does piracy cost the industry" argument that's been bickered over for years.

And that's ignoring the fact that it's kind of stupid to punish pirates by... making pirating the only way to get your games. Even IF that means no multiplayer for them.

 

[KenAri]

On one hand, fuck hackers. They're the reason I quit playing MW2 back in the day.

On the other hand, banning them again if they buy a new copy of the game is unnecessarily harsh. If they buy the game again, they should be caught cheating again before Blizz starts to autoban future purchases. If they learn their lesson the first time they lose access to their game, let them enjoy your product; save the account-wide bans and bans of future purchases for the repeat offenders.

Honestly, locking out all of their Battle.net games AND publically shaming the cheaters is kind of a dick move, as well.

I dunno. If I had a tumor removed, I wouldn't want it being put back in, even if it promised to be benign. Later on down the line cheats are gonna become a hell of a lot harder to detect, and I don't want some guy previously convicted for hacking getting reinstated into the game and ruining my play with a sneakier cheat.

I still think a stealth-banning system where cheats can only play against other cheats functions better, though.

 

[thepyrethatburns]

This is going to end in a class action lawsuit against Blizzard.

No it won't. Their game + their rules + common sense. Cheaters are universally hated in everything, not just gaming.

I'm pretty sure that permabanning people from EVERY Blizzard game that they own because of their actions in a single game is the type of overreach that, no matter what is in the EULA, is not going to stand up in court.

Except that's not what's happening, the cheaters reporting being banned are reporting being banned repeatedly from Overwatch, not all Blizzard games, I'm not sure where Bogos is getting that information as I can find no indication from anywhere else that Blizzard is handing down blanket Bnet bans.

The sentence seems clumsily worded and the accurate wordage is that Blizzard hands down permabans in its other games as well if you get caught cheating.

Unless someone can find evidence otherwise, I have not seen anyone reporting blanket bans for all Blizzard games.

EDIT: In fact, even the official word from Blizzard goes out of its way to avoid mentioning Bnet accounts, they specifically only talk about banning Overwatch accounts and Overwatch games.

I tried to find the "Blanket ban" policy myself last night but couldn't. However, I just chalked it up to having poor google-fu when it was past time for me to be in bed. Thank you for clarifying that Blizzard's policy only permabans cheater accounts on the specific game in which the cheating occurs (which is a rock-solid policy). I bow to you, good sir.

 

[Yuuki]

I still think a stealth-banning system where cheats can only play against other cheats functions better, though.

That's also a great concept if implemented well. Cheaters should only be matched with other known cheaters, which should also result in painfully slow queue times and anger/frustration. Perfect.
They'll be stuck in their own little hell, accusing everyone else of cheats while using cheats of their own. Meanwhile genuine players can have a great experience away from those fucks. Hahahaha.

Would be awesome if Blizzard did that instead. It's a win/win because they'll still get money from those cheaters.

 

[Synigma]

Everyone that has used the word 'draconian' in this thread does not seem to understand what is going on here.

It is not 'just a game'; It is entertainment. Many many hours of entertainment. If someone in your movie theater stood up and started screaming and ruining everyone else's movie experience is it draconian to remove them?

Now Blizzard is taking it slightly farther than that, effectively posting a picture of that person so they won't be allowed back into the theater. Well sorry, that's what happens when you break societal rules and as a business that's something they are allowed to do to preserve all their other customer's experiences. (besides, according to multiple people in this thread the cheaters are allowed to still go to the other movies anyway)

As for publicly announcing people's user names: Internet anonymity anyone? It's a user name... make a new one if it bothers you that much. Or here's a crazy idea, don't use your main account to cheat? Or just don't cheat at all... I know, crazy idea.