Blizzard banning people for cheating in SC2 campaign

[Slothy]

Blizzard Bans Single Player Cheaters - Cheat Happens Article

I ran across this on another forum just today and thought I'd share. Essentially Blizzard has temporarily suspended, and in some cases, outright deactivated people's copies of SC2 if they were caught using third party hacks.

In the single player game.

Let that sink in for a minute. People installed and used third party programs to cheat in single player mode and Blizzard brought the hammer down as though they had been cheating in multiplayer. And why? Because people were getting achievements by using these programs. Even assuming that's a valid argument, if Blizzard can detect the use of cheats in single player then surely they could reset, or even completely block these users from having their achievements displayed online.

Going so far as to disable people's games for something that has no impact on other players though? It honestly has me questioning whether I'll continue to play SC2, let alone buy the next game just on principle.

Anyway, how does everyone else feel about this? Does anyone feel that having the game disabled for using third-party mods and game hacks is justifiable when it's all over some achievements and gamer score?

[kotora]

Blizzard stopped making sense to me with the entire way the online portion of SC2 has been set up. This can be added to the list of bull.

[Vermachtnis]

Well I don't cheat and personal stance on others cheating is it's alright as long as it's not in Multiplayer and you don't try to pass off the achievements as their own. They paid for the game so at most I'd think they'd just block them from showing their achievement online like you suggested or label them as cheaters, but to outright ban them for single player is a little drastic.

[Vyk]

Time for 4chan to go after them again :P I've rarely enjoyed Blizzard's decisions, and haven't picked up a game of theirs since Diablo 2 so... They're already not getting my money. But I agree this is ridiculous. I think whatever someone wants to do to a game they bought and are playing on their own by themselves is up to them. And I approve of companies who actually encourage playing the code and creating tools and stuff. BioWare and Bethesda have never had issues with people tampering with their games

[Shoeberto]

Man, at least MS is usually kinda responsible about it - they've just reset people's 'cheevos rather than outright ban them. This is kinda silly. Especially since achievements are worthless anyhow.

[Yeargdribble]

My knee-jerk response was to think this was a BS move, but some people take achievements seriously. People using trainers to get achievements has an effect on how they look in MP, does it not?

I think banning is a little harsh, but I think that people who hack to get achievements should have their achievements permanently revoked.


EDIT: While some might think achievements are meaningless, obviously they mean something to some people. Having them be sullied by this really bothers those people. If achievements are pointless, aren't ladders rankings in MP? Don't people take that quite seriously as well? Should they not?

[Slothy]

People using trainers to get achievements has an effect on how they look in MP, does it not?

Not really. It affects a score that appears beside your profile name but has absolutely no bearing on matchmaking or your ladder rank. Both of which would carry a lot more prestige online than a score based on farming single player achievements.

If achievements are pointless, aren't ladders rankings in MP? Don't people take that quite seriously as well?

There's a big difference between a score that is awarded for completing single player, or arbitrary objectives and a rank that's based on your skill as a player. I'm a fairly strong opponent of achievements in games, but ladders and rankings are different. In the case of the latter, it's a real measure of one's skill as a player, especially when the matchmaking system is fairly well designed, as the one in SC2 is, and does a pretty good job of matching people based on their relative skill. Achievements are more often than not given for obtaining goals anyone can obtain. Getting to a high bracket in SC2 multiplayer on the other hand is a much more challenging and hard earned achievement in my eyes, especially in a game as competitive as SC2, and shows a lot more mastery of the game than completing the single player achievements.

[Freya]

Meh it's blizz. They are pretty hardcore against the whole "don't smurf up" rule. So the best way around this in any situation is don't smurf up. IE don't give them a reason to ban you and you're fine.

[Raistlin]

The point is that cheating in single player isn't a remotely reasonable reason for banning someone. And I agree with that.

This isn't the first time Blizzard was completely retarded. I would be amused if they received some more well-deserved public scorn for this.

[VeloZer0]

I think the whole idea Blizzard is trying to broach is that achievements should be a measure of gaming ability, not just time spent farming. To max out your achievements you have to do some tasks that are quite difficult. Ironic that people complain that achievements mean nothing but when a company tries to add some prestige to them they get scorn for it.

Also, all we have is this one account of a company who makes money selling these cheats. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't a little bit skewed. It is probably just as likely that the ones that were perma-banned got that because they were having temper tantrums about their original suspension.

And I don't think Blizz's current anti-hack system is set up to differentiate between single and multiplayer hacks. Does anyone really think they or any other company would spend money changing the system to give people the ability to cheat on their achievements?

EDIT: For those of you who don't know, Blizzard does include cheats built into the game already. They just don't let you get achievements.

[Rase]

Is it ridiculous? Sure. If it's something that is covered somewhere in the information provided with the game though, that's a bummer.

[Depression Moon]

Banning for cheating in single player? Geto out of here!

[Madame Adequate]

I have been laughing and laughing since I first got wind of this. Blizzard has absolutely no right whatsoever to dictate how people play in single-player and at most this warrants a revocation of cheevos and the ability to earn them.

I am glad I didn't buy SC2; it doesn't seem like I'm missing much anyway, and this is just deranged.

[DMKA]

If you're pathetic enough to cheat in single player mode, you deserve to be banned from every game ever. Go Blizzard. Produce more nerdrage for my laughter. The Halo Reach fiasco has become stale.

Honestly I really couldn't care less as I'd never go anywhere near a RTS game, but think it's hilarious that the gaming world takes achievements/trophies this seriously now.

[Skyblade]

Achievements aren't taken that seriously though. I mean, it's impossible to play through the single player game without getting achievements. Someone who was stuck on one mission and wanted to see the rest of the campaign, so used a cheat to get through it could wind up getting banned, because there is an achievement just for beating each mission. Kind of ridiculous.