Poll: It's really time to stop supporting Blizzard

[there is no spoon]

"Blizzard has made it very public in the few months since the game?s release that they would take immediate action against anyone found cheating in any form of StarCraft 2." So they gave everyone fair warning and they still purchased the game and proceeded to cheat? I have little sympathy for people who had a fair warning and proceeded to break the rules. Is it weird that the rules apply to offline? Ya, I would say it's a little over done, but it's their product and they gave ampul warning. So should we boycott them for doing EXACTLY WHAT THEY SAID THEY WOULD DO? Personally, I don't think so.

 

[Enkidu88]

Except for the fact that legally YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO MODIFY GAMES PERIOD. This has been part of the license agreement or whatever for years,(You know, that thing you click on before you can play/install the game that tells you all the stuff you can be sued over) the only difference now is that someone is actually enforcing it.

Which is why EULA's are a horrific (and probably at its core, illegal) idea that needs to be challenged in court. First of all you can't read this agreement prior to buying, which in itself is grounds to render the contract void, and second it's probably beyond their purview to state what we can't do with the software in our own homes once we're "licensing" it. I mean you license things like Photoshop and even Windows, if they decided to declare you couldn't use Photoshop to make adorable pictures with cats and silly words wouldn't that be beyond their call to make? Or if windows said that you couldn't install anything other than windows authorized software on your computer wouldn't there be outrage?

The reason no one's really challenged it is exactly because no ones ever bothered to enforce people modifying in singleplayer. Personally I never bought Starcraft II, but if I had I would probably have cheated as well since I'm an unrepentant sinner (in singleplayer that is, I don't even play competitive multiplayer).

The really troubling thing here is, if they're banning people for using trainers in singleplayer, what hope is there for the modding community? What if someone wants to mod in new units or abilities? Are they going to ban them too for modifying the game code?

The argument that they're trying to maintain gamerscore and achievement integrity is pure bullshit. Why don't they have an option like in X-3: Terran Conflict on Steam. If you modify the game, either through cheats or mods, it locks you out of getting points or achievements. Problem solved, everyone's happy. Wouldn't that have been an easier, and more equitable, solution? Obviously they can detect if the game's been modified, how hard would it be to simply tell the game to stop collecting points/giving out achievements?

 

[Exort]

Uhm, it's not blizzard's fault noone read the fucking user agreement forum. Tough luck. their fault, move on

Oh please, everyone knows user agreements are just there to make everything LOOK professional.

No... It is there to stop company from getting in legal issues, or give them the upper hand in legal issues.

 

[Madara XIII]

That this is happening is troubling, as experimentation with games and game code is what the industry is founded on. This may be light experimentation, but it should be allowed nonetheless.

Certainly in the multiplayer, this ban would be reasonable, but single player? No. People should be allowed to muck about as they see fit, as this is what the industry was founded upon. I don't think those telling people to "suck it up" realize what kind of dangerous precedent these actions set. It is like film companies suing smaller filmmakers despite fair use, knowing full well that they don't have the coin to fight it, even though they may legally be in the right.

And that they can even detect this stuff is also troubling. What a brave new world of gaming we live in.

Except for the fact that legally YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO MODIFY GAMES PERIOD. This has been part of the license agreement or whatever for years,(You know, that thing you click on before you can play/install the game that tells you all the stuff you can be sued over) the only difference now is that someone is actually enforcing it.

This times 1000

 

[Exort]

While banning an entire account and disabling their game and basically throwing that money they spent on your game down the bin is a tad extreme considering it was only single-player.

But then again, I'm inclined to not even look at a hack website! They cause nothing but problems even for the people who don't use them.

it is a 14 day ban, more like a warning, but of course the people the got ban isn't going to tell you that, since it is clearly Blizzard fault for banning them. really?

 

[Zorg Machine]

using trainers in single player means that you can use them in multiplayer and so Blizzard has just banned them all together.
I don't see any problem with that. Does it really ruin the game for you if you can't use cheats and breeze through the game?

Btw, you do get achievements if you do that whereas if you use blizzards cheats for single player, achievements are disabled.

 

[Madara XIII]

Cheaters are people without the skill, time, or effort, to beat the game the right way.

Soooo no, I'm not with you.

While in the past in single player games I used to use cheats, this is going way way back to command and conquer days on the Sega Saturn. I now detest cheaters.

I cant even remember the last time I used a cheat of any kind in single player and in multiplayer I never did anyway. Im of the type of person that gets no satisfaction from beating someone if I have to cheat to do it.

That being said it pisses me the hell off to ban people for cheating in a single player game and the fact that they can ban you from playing the single player game is just fucked up. They should not be allowed to do that EVAR.

But the issue is that the game may have an online segment that can be exploited possibly (NOTICE I SAID POSSIBLY) through the same means. And trust me...Online Cheaters are the worst kind.

Im only speculating here but perhaps that maybe cheats or hax should never be allowed in any game that has an online segment, whether it be used in the single player or not.
I can see how they feel about it and I wish KONAMI would do the same thing for Metal Gear Online that Blizzard is doing for its games.

 

[Chewster]

That this is happening is troubling, as experimentation with games and game code is what the industry is founded on. This may be light experimentation, but it should be allowed nonetheless.

Certainly in the multiplayer, this ban would be reasonable, but single player? No. People should be allowed to muck about as they see fit, as this is what the industry was founded upon. I don't think those telling people to "suck it up" realize what kind of dangerous precedent these actions set. It is like film companies suing smaller filmmakers despite fair use, knowing full well that they don't have the coin to fight it, even though they may legally be in the right.

And that they can even detect this stuff is also troubling. What a brave new world of gaming we live in.

Except for the fact that legally YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO MODIFY GAMES PERIOD. This has been part of the license agreement or whatever for years,(You know, that thing you click on before you can play/install the game that tells you all the stuff you can be sued over) the only difference now is that someone is actually enforcing it.

Who is talking about the law? No one is saying they cannot legally do it. I didn't even say that it wasn't their right to do so. What I am saying (at least now) is that they should have thought a bit harder about enacting this.

Legal or not, this industry and the software industry in general was built on experimentation. If they wish to limit this, great for them, but bad for the industry as a whole, which generally values tinkering. Naturally, this tinkering is usually tolerated regardless of what may in the EULA (which, I imagine, is usually there just in case something extreme happens, so they have a way of stepping in if need be). This news is not good, if you ask me.

EDIT (I always do this):

The really troubling thing here is, if they're banning people for using trainers in singleplayer, what hope is there for the modding community? What if someone wants to mod in new units or abilities? Are they going to ban them too for modifying the game code?

The argument that they're trying to maintain gamerscore and achievement integrity is pure bullshit. Why don't they have an option like in X-3: Terran Conflict on Steam. If you modify the game, either through cheats or mods, it locks you out of getting points or achievements. Problem solved, everyone's happy. Wouldn't that have been an easier, and more equitable, solution? Obviously they can detect if the game's been modified, how hard would it be to simply tell the game to stop collecting points/giving out achievements?

Exactly. People seem to be blinded by their hatred of online cheaters to bother thinking about this from a rational standpoint or even what the long term effects might be.

 

[Lord Rothschild]

ok maby im different but my usal rule for cheating is finnish the game once then do what ever

 

[Enkidu88]

Cheaters are people without the skill, time, or effort, to beat the game the right way.

Absolutely I am, no argument here. However, I should still have the right to do so without worrying about my game being banned in singleplayer . That's just stupid. Sure, if I'm cheating at multiplayer then ban me. Banning me for cheating by myself, who cares? Who am I harming?

If I want to cheat at a game of solitaire I can do so, if I cheat on any other game I own that's fine too. Why is Starcraft 2 suddenly so special?

I really hope no other game companies take up this trend.

You understand there is build-in cheat code? People got banned for using third party cheat to hack for achievement that is why they got banned.

Well if there is built in cheats I don't quite see why anyone is using a trainer, but still why shouldn't they be able to? It's singleplayer , in otherwords they're not cheating other people out of having fun with the game, its on their own time and against the computer.

I made another post (#269) as to why the achievement argument isn't an acceptable excuse.

Edit: Also, anyone else find it interesting that WOW bans cheaters for 72 hours but on a game that doesn't have a lucrative subscription fee every month gets a 15 day ban?

Edit #2: Also, reading the message boards on Cheat Happens. It seems plenty of people using trainers in singleplayer without having any issue, so perhaps the article isn't quite accurate. Maybe they were cheating in multiplayer as well, in which case I have no issue.

 

[Fidelias]

Except for the fact that legally YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO MODIFY GAMES PERIOD. This has been part of the license agreement or whatever for years,(You know, that thing you click on before you can play/install the game that tells you all the stuff you can be sued over) the only difference now is that someone is actually enforcing it.

Which is why EULA's are a horrific (and probably at its core, illegal) idea that needs to be challenged in court. First of all you can't read this agreement prior to buying, which in itself is grounds to render the contract void, and second it's probably beyond their purview to state what we can't do with the software in our own homes once we're "licensing" it. I mean you license things like Photoshop and even Windows, if they decided to declare you couldn't use Photoshop to make adorable pictures with cats and silly words wouldn't that be beyond their call to make? Or if windows said that you couldn't install anything other than windows authorized software on your computer wouldn't there be outrage?

The reason no one's really challenged it is exactly because no ones ever bothered to enforce people modifying in singleplayer. Personally I never bought Starcraft II, but if I had I would probably have cheated as well since I'm an unrepentant sinner.

The really troubling thing here is, if they're banning people for using trainers in singleplayer, what hope is there for the modding community? What if someone wants to mod in new units or abilities? Are they going to ban them too for modifying the game code?

The argument that they're trying to maintain gamerscore and achievement integrity is pure bullshit. Why don't they have an option like in X-3: Terran Conflict on Steam. If you modify the game, either through cheats or mods, it locks you out of getting points or achievements. Problem solved, everyone's happy. Wouldn't that have been an easier, and more equitable, solution? Obviously they can detect if the game's been modified, how hard would it be to simply tell the game to stop collecting points/giving out achievements?

The problem is that if they allowed a hack into single-player, there could be a way to trick the multiplayer system into accepting you and your cheats in. But that's beside the point. Is this really a reason to boycott Blizzard? They don't just lock you out of your account on your first offense. And is disabling cheats on single-player that bad? Starcraft 2 is so easy that "I" could beat it, and that's saying something.

Finally we get a company that's trying their hardest to remove and punish cheaters from the game; why the hell are we mad about that?

 

[Tdc2182]

Im almost positive you agreed to a no cheating policy when you registered the game.

 

[Tears of Blood]

Okay, so.... 75% of the people on the first page said that they DESERVE it?

What the fuck!? What kind of freedom-hating communist jerks do you have to be to say something like that!? If you PURCHASE a game with your $60, there should be NO REASON WHATSOEVER that you cannot play the single player. None. I don't care if you were the worst modder/cheater that ever lived, you still need to be able to play the damn single player, and probably the multiplayer! This is why we have PSN/XBL so that you can get banned for things, which is fair game, but this?

Okay, so, let's imagine you beat SC2 all the way through legit. Now, let's say you want to mess around in your OWN COPY of a single-player game, and you want to use cheats and exploits. What in the world is so wrong with that? It's your game, you can do whatever you want with it! You payed $60 for it, you deserve it!

I mean, c'mon. This would be like if they banned you from Oblivion for making or using mods for it. There's just no excuse.

 

[Fidelias]

That this is happening is troubling, as experimentation with games and game code is what the industry is founded on. This may be light experimentation, but it should be allowed nonetheless.

Certainly in the multiplayer, this ban would be reasonable, but single player? No. People should be allowed to muck about as they see fit, as this is what the industry was founded upon. I don't think those telling people to "suck it up" realize what kind of dangerous precedent these actions set. It is like film companies suing smaller filmmakers despite fair use, knowing full well that they don't have the coin to fight it, even though they may legally be in the right.

And that they can even detect this stuff is also troubling. What a brave new world of gaming we live in.

Except for the fact that legally YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO MODIFY GAMES PERIOD. This has been part of the license agreement or whatever for years,(You know, that thing you click on before you can play/install the game that tells you all the stuff you can be sued over) the only difference now is that someone is actually enforcing it.

Who is talking about the law? No one is saying they cannot legally do it. I didn't even say that it wasn't their right to do so. What I am saying (at least now) is that they should have thought a bit harder about enacting this.

Legal or not, this industry and the software industry in general was built on experimentation. If they wish to limit this, great for them, but bad for the industry as a whole, which generally values tinkering. Naturally, this tinkering is usually tolerated regardless of what may in the EULA (which, I imagine, is usually there just in case something extreme happens, so they have a way of stepping in if need be). This news is not good, if you ask me.

EDIT (I always do this):

The really troubling thing here is, if they're banning people for using trainers in singleplayer, what hope is there for the modding community? What if someone wants to mod in new units or abilities? Are they going to ban them too for modifying the game code?

The argument that they're trying to maintain gamerscore and achievement integrity is pure bullshit. Why don't they have an option like in X-3: Terran Conflict on Steam. If you modify the game, either through cheats or mods, it locks you out of getting points or achievements. Problem solved, everyone's happy. Wouldn't that have been an easier, and more equitable, solution? Obviously they can detect if the game's been modified, how hard would it be to simply tell the game to stop collecting points/giving out achievements?

Exactly. People seem to be blinded by their hatred of online cheaters to bother thinking about this from a rational standpoint or even what the long term effects might be.

Long-term effects? Like what? It's something that they, and every other company, has had a LEGAL RIGHT TO DO FOR YEARS. They are only enforcing this. Nothing has been changed.

Trust me, I hate this game. I HATE Blizzard(Though not as much as Activision), there is nothing I want more than an excuse to hate Blizzard even more. But this is not the reason.

 

[HellsingerAngel]

Dear Cheathappens,

This article is full of crap...

?I don?t think it?s fair and I would even go as far as to question its legality."

Speaking from the standpoint of someone who worked for an Internet Service Provider and had to give the "30 days notification for cancellation" talk customers, once you agree to the EULA of any of Blizzard's games, you are bound by contract. This can over ride everything but the most basic of laws. You also have to consider that you are bound by the laws in which the product was made, not the laws of the country you're in. Utter idiocy if you think a company like Blizzard hasn't looked into this already.

?Would you buy a car if you knew that if you decided to switch out the factory stereo with a better, third party stereo, that someone would come and repossess your car in the middle of the night simply for doing so? It's a ridiculous proposition."

That does sound rediculous. Good thing that's not what's happening. It's more like: "Would you buy a car if you knew that if, after signing a contract that clearly stated you could not replace any parts within the car, you decided to switch out the factory stereo with a better, third party stereo, that someone would come and repossess your car in the middle of the night simply for breaking a contractual agreement?" Yeah, that sounds far more accurate to what's happening. Sounds less stupid now, doesn't it?

?Having been in the cheating business for over 13 years now, I?ve learned that people cheat for many different reasons. Some people have time constraints and want to be able to experience the entire game, so they cheat through the most difficult parts in order to reach the end. Some people might be older or handicapped or simply not possess the fast-twitch reflexes of a 12 year old which seems to be a requirement of some games these days."

Good to know. That should also mean you're well versed in the fact that Blizzard always has had ample amounts of built-in cheats to assist players with the same ends. They also have multiple difficulty levels with one that always caters to absolutely new players. You should also be aware that many players, much greater in number than the demographics you've presented, use third party programs to boost achievements and the like, which ultimately effects the online achievement tally. Glad to know paper thin arguments are welcomed within this article and argument.

Now, funny how this works out, but doesn't this website make a profit off of selling cheats? Kinda queer that once Blizzard says "don't use third-party cheats", a third-party cheat site goes to boycott the company's practices. Hide yourself behind "noble intentions", if you can really call them that, but this site would stand to loose some profit if Blizzard really did set an industry standard with no tolerence to third-party cheats and instead opted to put their own sets of cheats in games. Something for all the arguers that say Blizzard is the only one out to grab money here.

Then you have those that say the editing software is too difficult to use. Well, did you all write seperate trainers for the program, or did you download them from this site? The point is, this site could take responcibility and post a map pack with an edited version of the campaign instead of putting something out there that they know is illegal. Thirteen years experience in the cheating game should have been a bloody good tip-off to knowing Blizzard's EULA. But, realistically, this site is the one that doesn't care. Take the cheats and get banned, so long as you pay us money and agree with our spin on things.

And another thing: how is this illegal? You acknowledged that you wouldn't use third-party software to cheat in the game and you did! Contracts can negate anything beyond basic human rights and constitutional rights. So long as you agree to what has been written (which you do by hitting the "I accept" button) they could force you to play the game whilst performing handstands. Legally speaking, you're just an idiot for not reading the print (I can't even say it's fine print).

Bottom line: Go QQ about something worth crying about. Doing something stupid instead of choosing the perfectly legit way is just plain dumb and you deserve what's coming to you.

Love,
Hellsy

 

[Chase Yojimbo]

There really is no logical reason to bash Blizzard like its a disease *Blizzphobe*. They are ok with their games, they are not gods, nor do they suck balls. However, I will still play their games for one reason, and this reason is supported by many many many people. "IT'S A FUCKING GAME!" If you cheat, that is your decision. So stop being a douche and play their 'games'. It isn't like they are trying to take over the world or anything... right?

... ... ...

*Blizzard Assassinates 'Chase Yojimbo'*.

 

[Cazza]

Already there. I own zero Blizzard games and don't plan on buying any.

 

[godofallu]

Seems like someone must have violated the terms of use, which legally allows them to cancel your CD key.

Cry some, then try playing the game hack free. Or don't play it again.

 

[Enkidu88]

Finally we get a company that's trying their hardest to remove and punish cheaters from the game; why the hell are we mad about that?

Because it's singleplayer. We're not griefing on people in online servers, or farming points to unlock cool bonuses. We're just dicking around to see what kind of antics we can get into in a singleplayer game, try different tactics on a campaign mission that you couldn't do without cheating. Who's being harmed?

Like everyone else, I was glad when Bungie curbstomped a bunch of exploiters in Reach, they were in multiplayer and giving themselves an unfair advantage over other players. The only thing we're cheating in singleplayer is the AI, and until they create a fully fledged AI with emotions that can be hurt, I don't think it harms anyone.

 

[Kyman102]

While banning an entire account and disabling their game and basically throwing that money they spent on your game down the bin is a tad extreme considering it was only single-player.

But then again, I'm inclined to not even look at a hack website! They cause nothing but problems even for the people who don't use them.

it is a 14 day ban, more like a warning, but of course the people the got ban isn't going to tell you that, since it is clearly Blizzard fault for banning them. really?

Oh, it's only a two week ban? Well then, geeze, stop complaining everyone! They get to play again! So your claims that they were perma-banned are unfounded.

^^ Thanks dude, I was thinking that a permanent ban did seem a little harsh, but since it's temporary, geeze, if I find someone cracking the game for achievements I'll report them myself.