mysteriousgamer

October 13, 2010 at 7:42pm

If you don't like it, don't pay for it.  No one held a gun to your head and made you buy Starcraft 2.  Besides, Blizzard wouldn't have to resort to such strong measures if piracy, hacking, and achievement-grabbing measures (cheating) never happened in the first place.

Blizzard software is an amalgamation of DRM and other protective tools.  But sadly, it is what society has forced it to be. 

HeartBurnKid

October 13, 2010 at 6:29am

What a damn joke.  I can't believe Blizzard is banning people from the SINGLE-PLAYER GAME of all things.  Nobody gives a shit if you put money on Free Parking when you play Monopoly, and nobody should give a shit if you cheat in a single-player game.

But that's the new scheme of things, isn't it?  You don't own the game; the dev does, and they can revoke your "ownership" that you paid your hard-earned money for at any time.

Yet another reason to never buy a game that's DRM-infested.

immersive

October 12, 2010 at 4:39pm

If you mod your phone they can stop it from working.

If you mod or cheat in a game they can stop you from playing it.

If you mod your Xbox they can stop if from working.

If you modify your car with better breaks would you like it to stop if from working?

If you add a pillow top to your bed would you like spikes to shoot up though it?

If you change your shoe strings would you like the sole to fall off?

If you die your hair from gray to black would you like your job to fire you?

Im sorry but games such as SC2 and the way it works should always have the single player part no matter what you do to the game. You should also be able to play over LAN with anyone that has the game no matter if you have been banned from the online multiplayer or not.

Also if this is the case they really should refund the cash the people payed for it.

eternally

October 12, 2010 at 3:06pm

 

   I'm thinking that the opinion of someone who can't spell a four-letter word like "lose" doesn't hold too much weight with most folks.

 

 

Nimrod

October 12, 2010 at 1:05pm

Alls this does is reinforce the decision i made to PIRATE this game. I pirated it for the single player and i could care less if i dont get to play their tiny MP games with stupidly low unite caps. When i started DLing it i knew i was either going to be really thankful for my decision or really regret it. And now it seems i was right not to pay the exorbitant amount of 60$ for it.

 

But this is really nothing new. EA can perma ban you from the SP game of BF BC2 if they dont like what you say on their forums. But we all pretty much already know that EA is fking fraud.

 

So at the end of the day, the only people who have nothing to worry about are the kids like me who out right stole it. I guess if you want to cheat in the SP, the message from Bliz is that you gota pirate it.

 

gtz gtz!

StaggeredSix

October 12, 2010 at 11:48am

Basically it comes down to this : RTFM. I play Blizzard games quite often, and I enjoy the achievement system! I love being able to prove I do neat stuff while playing SC2 and WoW. I am one of the few who actually take a look at the manual, and I scan over the EULA. Starcraft 2 is a wonderful game -  and people want to keep it that way. Using hacks, even in single player mode, takes away from everyone. Im sorry - but I really don't want this game to turn into CoD:MW2. If your going to use hacks and cheats in single player mode - prepare to be banned. Maybe Blizzard should just brand them, forever,  as hackers with a portrait or something.... a marine with a dunce cap on would do. 

Hacks in SC2 automatically prove that your terrible and should just uninstall the game.

VaMage

October 12, 2010 at 11:43am

<sigh>I would have no problem with this IF it weren't for one little thing, MONEY.

If Blizz bans someone they should be forced to return that persons MONEY. Hell, depeciate it based on how much the person has currently played and refund the balance if needs be.

They don't want a person like you playing thier game, FINE, give them their MONEY back.

That's the bottom line about bans, they are taking away a product you paid for and NOT returning your MONEY.

The entire "No Returns" and "No Warranty" flies in the face of every segment of consumer law, but due to a bunch of ignorant judges and more money then the Gates, the software industry gets away with what amounts to theft, on a daily basis.

IMO, the software industry is on no higher moral plane then the pirates, and they certainly aren't compared to a "cheater" who "cheats" no one but a comptuer we call PERSONAL for a god damn reason. So, when I read about cheaters and theives all I see is one type of theif ripping off another.

Oh, and achievements, couldn't care less, actually I hate having how well or how poorly, more to the point, I am doing in the game, broadcast to the world with no say in it what so ever.

So, if someone wants to cheat, offer to disconnnect them from their account and let them play. No acheivements, which serioulsy, you play for those? No problem, who cares if you cheat at solitaire?

But this isn't about that, it's about control, and money. Every banned account saves Blizzard some small amount of money, while pocketing the not so small $60 they already racked in. Win-Win for Blizz, but what's in it for the consumer, as usual, nothing.

 

sniggler

October 12, 2010 at 8:36am

"Which is more or less like the NFL storming into your backyard because you and your five-year-old son are tossing around a Nerf ball instead of complying with official regulations" - not quite, if you consider the possibilities of using trainers / hacks / etc to rack up achievements and earn rewards. This sort of puts the cheaters at an unfair advantage over honest players. The only cheats that should be permitted in single-player are Blizz's built-in cheats (which they do have), and are designed to nullify the acheivement unless you go back and re-play the level sans cheats. Trainers on the other hand, pretty much alter the game's code to give you what you want, acheivements and all.

So it's a bit more like, stealing the trophy at a kid's football game, and THEN having the NFL storm into your back yard.

Morete

October 12, 2010 at 7:28am

"I only cheat in single player mode"  Yeah right.  If a person is tempted to go through the hassle of getting cheat codes and hacks for single player, odds are that they'll cheat in multiplayer mode too. 

routine

October 12, 2010 at 6:38am

I dont understand what the fuss is all about.

When you were a child, your mother told you, "if you do x, then y will happen."

Why is this different?

Keith E. Whisman

October 12, 2010 at 5:45am

Does this include people that play with NoCD cracks?

smkoerner

October 12, 2010 at 4:58am

Believe it or not, when legitimate players learn that others are cheating it does ruin their gaming experience.  Blizzard invested time and money in the achievement system, it's a no-brainer that they aren't going to let people marginalize it by cheating.  Achievements play a big role in keeping people playing their game instead of competitors games.  

I think all of the cheaters should boycott Blizzard and save them the trouble of banning.  They won't be missed.

ShockerX

October 12, 2010 at 2:03am

Don't people have a damn clue? There's already ingame cheat codes you type in for chat on single player. Don't see ANY reason to hack singleplayer. EVEN using the cheat codes disable the archievements, so its more of the same reason you shouldn't hack. Damn idiots. I support this ban Blizzard. I didn't even have much trouble getting the archiements on single player.

Hard difficulty was semi easy. I even beat Brutal difficulty mode, and that was some challenge and fun. Then when I went back to hard/normal mode to get all the archievements. My god, how easy it became to ace through the missions.

X2brute

October 12, 2010 at 2:02am

is this for the built in cheats? like power overwhealming? (i dont know the sc2 ones) or just 3rd party hacks

tier4

October 12, 2010 at 1:22am

Some of those achievements are really hard to obtain. Ingame cheating is actually okay, because you don't get the achievements for having done things - you had cheats to help you.

The problem arises when people use hacks to get said achievements. They take credit for something they didn't do. They get a shiny badge that proclaims that they have done impressive feat X when they didn't. So why are you making it sound like they barely did something wrong? Though I agree that a ban is too much, these people still deserve some sort of punishment.

MBK

October 12, 2010 at 12:58am

Really?! Banned for hacking to gain achievements?!  This is retarded.  At least when Valve took action in TF2, all they did was remove the achievements form the offenders, not stop them playing the game they paid for.  Additionally, I'm not certain, but I'm think the achievements in TF2 actually held some weight as they unlocked new items (the only way to get these items until one of the more recent updates), so cheating for them was actually damaging other players experience...in a way.

However, this is ridiculous and probably means that if someone figures out how a way to make a 3rd party single player MOD for the game, MODs which could increase community duration, anyone who uses it will get banned.  But I guess Activision/Blizzard like that cause it means they can charge you through the nose for map packs.

Just to say, I think they very much exploited the fact that this game was bound to sell well by adding the ban clause into the EULA.  Even if people found out, there is no way a boycott would occur.

Finally, I don't own the game and am not an angry cheater who has just been banned.  If I did own it and cheat in single player, I would be angry cause I hate it when devs think they can mess around with my experience.  You know, the one I paid for.  This is just as bad as some DRM (ala Ubisoft).

joeking

October 12, 2010 at 12:30am

My opinon, all cheaters should be banned, period.  Cheating is the reason why PC gaming is so frustrating and rage-inducing.  I'm sure everyone knows the feeling.  There is nothing more that I hate, and I'm being honest, then people who pose as good players but cheat their ass off.  Then they say "LoLuMaD?!" or "ur bad", etc. etc.  Anyways, all cheaters/hackers if you're reading this, please do us all a favor and jump off a cliff, face down.

frizzly

October 12, 2010 at 12:24am

if they push to hard to ban SP cheating and locking them out of Battlenet so they cant play at all. then I think people wil just start running their own servers that blizzard cant touch. Just like they did for World of Warcraft.

Gezzer

October 11, 2010 at 11:11pm

You are asking about people right?

I mean people on the internet right?

I mean people who are gamers on the internet right?

But wait lets look at that again, people are cheating to get single player achievements . WTF!?!

Doesn't it follow if some one is that obsessive enough to cheat in a single player game to receive unearned achievements, that others would be obsessive enough to really wigg out if they find out people are doing exactly that?

That kind of makes Blizzard responsible for policing players even if the cheatings a bit stupid. Considering just how stupid this cheating is I'm all for Blizzard banning them. In fact I think they should be reported to the local mental health unit. Actually both groups should be reported. What every happened to playing a video game after work/school to unwind, or waste time, or simply have some fun?

I mean sure if you've got some skills cool, but in the big scope of things it's really a minor achievement. Even if your a "pro" player all it means is it's how you earn your living. BTW that is what pro means you earn a living, simply playing at a "high" level doesn't make you a professional. Untill they hand out a Nobel prize for gaming or something at that level, it's not really that big a deal. I've been playing games since the early 80's (yeah I'm old) and even I understand that.

Okay maybe banning is a bit harsh, how about removing all the offending player's achievements and disabling any future ones. That would be a bit more reasonable. But only if they go into very intense therapy.

carnivorousslushee23

October 11, 2010 at 10:49pm

I noticed over at the PCGamer article for this that a lot of the readers were getting all hot and bothered as well, so I wanted to do a little clarifying:

Blizzard is only banning people who used 3rd party hacks and trainers to unlock achievements WHILE CHEATING in single player.  You're allowed to use the cheats that Blizzard included in the game (like the original's black sheep wall, show me the money, modify the phase variance, etc.), but when you use one of those Blizzard cheats, that save file is no longer allowed to unlock achievements because you used it.

The bottom line is, the people who got banned are the people who USED CHEATS TO UNLOCK ACHIEVEMENTS, which they are NOT supposed to do.  If you want achievements, you play without cheats, or else the whole achievement system is devalued because it would be so easy to unlock them.  Personally, I think that Blizzard ought to do this, because I don't like the fact that I have to work hard unlocking an achievement while some douchebag can just cheat and unlock it too, with much less effort.  And I'm pretty sure that Valve did something similar with people who cheated to unlock achievements as well in TF2.

Just my two cents.  I hope I made sense there.

bingojubes

October 11, 2010 at 10:38pm

if they get so paranoid about people cheating in SP and ruing the achievement ladders, maybe they will drop single player modes and just be strictly MP on the other 2 releases of the trilogy - it would be easier to regulate then since EVERYONE would have to be playing MP online with a legit copy nonetheless.

they could probably remove SP in lieu of SP cheating, and players will still play, online, that is, and nobody would maybe care. thats where most of the action is, anyways.

bingojubes

October 11, 2010 at 10:31pm

I think SP should be left alone. isnt the game designed that when you activate a cheat, achievments are diabled? i better reinstall my copy: hate to reinstall after a few months and then find i cant play no more - i do not even remeber if i used cheats to win that game or not. welp, back to reinstall for good measure.

SP is not competitive in any way besides against AI - MP should be regulated, and SP should be left alone. maybe they will be retroactive and ban all the people playing the first Starcraft+Broodwar whilst cheating, if they can find those people. Gold spammers in World of Warcraft whould be a more pressing issue that SP cheating.

what happens when you dont care for achievments, and just want to play? achievemts are a nice way of enticing people to play more and try different things, but i dont know: i just buy it play it then reshelve it in the closet for a few years after finishing it in a week. achievements dont mean squat if you suck at the game, like i do, SP offline or MP online.

Nimrod

October 11, 2010 at 10:24pm

Good post but whats the deal with arguing that mods are BAD?!?? Are you serious or were you juse using MW2 as an example? An example that was already pretty damn terrible in the first place.