How Blizzard Deals With Cheats--Westwood should learn a thing or two

[Taqwa11]

Here is a recent Battle.net message that shows how Blizzard deals with cheats. This kind of control shows a company that cares about its games, fans, and fair play. Westwood, on the other hand, just plain sucks.

Warcraft III Map Hack

Please note that we are aware of the Warcraft III map hack that has recently surfaced and are working to neutralize this hack now. The hack works by allowing players to disable the fog of war setting in multiplayer games, which grants an advantage to the person using the hack. The hack allows an unscrupulous player to see where all opponents and creeps are located on the map prior to actually exploring the map with a unit.

In keeping with our aggressive stance against hacks and cheats, Blizzard will ban the CD key of anyone caught using this hack in Warcraft III. Furthermore, we will continue to randomly monitor games connected through Battle.net to ensure fair play.

Please save your replay if you suspect someone has cheated when playing against you. If you have played a game against someone you suspect of having cheated, you can file a complaint at hacks@blizzard.com (be sure to attach your saved replay file). Also, please notify hacks@blizzard.com if you have any information on persons or Web sites found to be distributing any type of hack or cheat program affecting any Blizzard game.

Blizzard would like to take this opportunity to sincerely appeal to anyone considering using a map hack program. While it might seem like fun to have an unfair advantage on Battle.net, the end result of these types of programs is that they affect the enjoyment that other people get from our games. We take no pleasure in banning the CD keys and preventing play over Battle.net of people who have legitimately purchased a copy of one or more of our games. Abiding by the terms of our end user license agreement helps us keep Battle.net fun and reliable for everyone.

As always, we appreciate the efforts of our fansites in spreading the word and helping to raise customer awareness with such issues. Thanks to our customers as well for your patience and understanding. In the weeks to come, we will post a follow-up statement with an update on our efforts to prevent players from using map hack programs in Warcraft III.

-Blizzard Entertainment

[Desert_Eagle25]

Thats Blizzard for ya. Damn i love this country. 8)

[DukeLeto]

What's "Blizzard for ya"? I've seen lots of people cheat in SC, and when I contact Blizzard, they don't do a d*mn thing. And I have replays clearly showing they cheated, too. >:(

Not that I'm saying WestWood's any better: They don't care either, and they don't even patch thier games to try to stop cheaters. >:(

[Desert_Eagle25]

They've replied to me before...ne ways they said they cant do ne thing bcuz they have done tons of shit to stop it, re-configure bnet, give tons of patches, but a month later a new one comes out...

[DukeLeto]

Yup, it's hard to stop those stupid cheaters. >:(

[Desert_Eagle25]

Damn straight, i wish we could throw them in with Bin Laden and drop the a nuke on their asses....

[DukeLeto]

Here, here! ;D

[Navaros]

I don't buy it. That's just PR BS if you ask me.Blizzard cares about *certain* kinds of hacks, maphacks are not one of them. *MILLIONS* of people (myself included) use the maphack for Diablo 2 and Blizzard never banned ANYONE for using a maphack. Blizzard bans for hacks that lag their servers and a few other types of hacks, but based on historical evidence, they will take no action against maphack users (other than to disable the maphacks with each patch, which only requires an updated version of the maphack, and the maphack users are back in business) They are "working on it"? LOL They will patch the game to stop the maphack, and the maphack maker will tweak his code the day after the patch is out. Then guess what? The maphack works again! Blizzard just issued that statement as a PR move. Until there is actually a public statement about accounts banned *for using the maphack in War3*, it's all just hot air.

[zamboe]

That is not true Navaros.

Blizzard actions go beyond PR.

[DukeLeto]

That is not true Navaros.

Blizzard actions go beyond PR.

I'm not usually mean like this, and I apologize in advance, but:

That is pure BS. It's all PR. WestWood is no better. ALL companies are ALL PR. They're not out to please their customers. Their only consideration is profit. Profit, profit, profit. That's big business for ya.

*Rant mode off* :-X

[Taqwa11]

Well, at least they are promising to do something about it. They explain why, too--because cheats like that make the game no fun for the rest of their customers who play fair.

Sure, you're never going to stop hacks who have a lot of computer knowledge and too much time on their hands. Personally, I have barely enough time to PLAY the games, let alone sit around and work on ways to cheat in them.

[Navaros]

Blizzard has said on the Beta Forums that there is *Nothing* they can do to stop maphacks. They could not stop maphacks on D2, nor can they stop maphacks in War3. People can't get banned for using maphacks.

Think about it. Someone pays just under $100 Canadian for War3. That person uses the maphack. Blizzard bans the CDKEY of that person. Now, Blizzard has a PR *NIGHTMARE* on their hands.

That customer calls in: "that was my little brother who downloaded and used the maphack without my permission, I wasn't even home!"

or

"I thought the maphack was just a mod, a way to enhance the game, I had no idea it was illegal!"

... and not just those two, but MILLIONS OF IRATE CUSTOMERS calling Blizzard to complain, and threaten legal action against them for taking their cold hard cash and then denying them access to BNet.

In addition to the examples I've specified, there are endless other problems that would cripple Blizzard's business if they banned anyone just for using a maphack, as I am sure you can imagine from just these two examples.

Maphacks are too mellow for Blizzard to take severe action against.

On top of that, Blizzard itself has said that it is not technologically possible for them to stop maphacks.

[thomas]

hackers are stupid I mean they ruin the fun for people playing counter-strike and they really suck at the game because the use hack. >:(

[Desert_Eagle25]

First of all, i KNOW the person who made the map-hack - Noodlez. We go to the same forum and know eachother well. He got tired of this ceating and turned in the program he made. So now that Blizzard as him to help with the code, their gonna get rid of map-hack.

[Navaros]

yeah i checked out the noodlez site, he's a goof. he claims "i am a mad haxor" and there's not even anywhere on his site to download his so-called hack from, and same with his buddy. they link to each other, and on his buddy's site there is something listed as "war3 maphack" and it's not even a maphack! LOL

that guy is a loser hacker-wannabe, period. he released something for one day as a joke, then took it away. hahahah very funny

he's not the only one who knows how to make map hacks :)

[ordos45]

he's not the only one who knows how to make map hacks :)

Does that mean you are a hacker Nav? Or that there are many better hackers than Noodlez?

[Desert_Eagle25]

There are, but Noodlez was the only one to accomplish this out of over 100,000,000 people.

[d3m0nger]

cheaterplanet.com or xcheater.com, are the most popular hack sites for games

[Desert_Eagle25]

Uh Huh, but this was *PRIVATELY* released to BliZz HaCkerz.

[Caid Ivik]

Blizzard have to deal with cheats. Westwood have not. Its games have no cheats. And if you use kind of "trainer" or modificated "rules" for example, you'll face "out of sync". I've tried to play one mod with other, who had same mod and it crashed like that.

Blizzard's game are so boring, that they need cheats to make action.

[Terror]

Blizzard have to deal with cheats. Westwood have not. Its games have no cheats. And if you use kind of "trainer" or modificated "rules" for example, you'll face "out of sync". I've tried to play one mod with other, who had same mod and it crashed like that.

Blizzard's game are so boring, that they need cheats to make action.

This is probably the most stupid post that i've seen since Navaros came up with his "stupid 12 unit group cap" post

[Desert_Eagle25]

Terror, you and I are going to be good friends. :)

[DjCiD]

yes WW shoul dlearn a thing or twohell look what they said was gonna happen to cheaters and stuffhttp://westwood.ea.com/westwoodonline/tournaments/emperor/tournhelpwin.htmlaccording to Gob this page was out way back when the game came out... why did they remove all links to it and why wont they follow thru with the enforcment of the rules?!?! what if everyone started using the report cheater thingy on bottom, what would WW do finally remove this page too?now i dont mean use the report function as oh you built faster than me u cheated... when they didnt look at their enimes base and saw four factories which is what made them build faster... who knows it wouldnt proabaly make a difference ;D WW does have a few things to learn

[Razorox]

Navaros, you make me sick. Just a few months ago, you were ranting and raving about how good blizzard is, and good their games are, not to mention support, when compared to westwood. Now you find out that WC3 is too hard for u to play, cuz u suck ass at playing games (find a new hobby ffs, you whining sack) Now you're being so hypocritical, that it isn't even funny. You have no idea what you are talking about in any subject at all. And you state everything as fact when it couldn't be further from the truth. I swear, if I saw you in real life, I'd kick the shit out of your annoying, nerdy, no-life-so-I-have-to-ruin-the-forum-for-everybody-with-my-lame-whining-and bitching ass >:( >:(! Nothing is more frustrating than n00bs like you, who have no idea what the HELL is going on ::).(And don't even get me started on Duke-leeto ::))

[Razorox]

Blizzard's game are so boring, that they need cheats to make action.

Your brain is so small, that you actually just said that. ::)