Blizzard Banning Single Player Cheaters?

[JerrytheBullfrog]

I don't care about achievements but if I wanted to use a trainer, I would be accused of using it to gain achievements. Of course, if Blizzard hadn't designed the single player achievement in a way that they ties into multiplayer prestige then I could use a trainer without being accused of that.

Play the game in Guest mode offline.

If it isn't possible to reset a score then Blizzard needs to hire better programmers.

Not just asking if it's possible to reset a score. I'm asking if it's possible to reset a score and have it stay reset in a way that can't simply be circumvented by the same third-party hacks you used to get it in the first place (not YOU you, of course). Rather, I'm asking if it's feasible to do so when your programmer/community support teams probably have better things to do with their time.

Well, what they were trying to do in the first place sucks I guess because it completely screws those who want to cheat (not authorized cheats, what's the point of authorized cheats) in SINGLE PLAYER mode.

Play the game in Guest mode offline.

Fine, if it wasn't designed to be so dependent on bnet. In offline mode, don't you have to play as "Guest" or something?

Yes, and you don't get achievements or rewards for it. Which according to you is no problem.

Does the game work like Steam does, where it connects itself to bnet by default?

No, you need to manually log in like you do to WoW. But on the side, there's the "play as Guest" option. Just click that instead of logging in.

I don't know and I don't care because the only people who know for sure are the players. I care that single player gaming is now being restricted by developers who think they should be able to control how you play.

The single player is in no way restricted, as they still have the ability to play the game offline.

This only restricts them from the multiplayer. Which Blizzard is in its right to restrict cheaters from anyway.

 

[Rednog]

Add this to another reason why achievements are bullshit.

Its a damn single player game, and people who do cheat don't give a shit about achievements. They don't carry any weight or prestige in any game. No one gives a shit.

This is just ridiculous, and Blizzard is basically doing this because they can.

Its their damn game. They can do whatever the hell they want with it/to it so long as its not copying it and giving it away.

The EULA says otherwise, but those don't carry any credence at all since they're only shown during installation. After you bought the thing.

This is straight up bullshit. Fuck achievements.

Except, from what I understand, they were specifically cheating to get the achievements / profile icons. So, that kind of torpedoes your theory that they didn't care about it, because that was their entire goal in the first place. Pretty much any other cheat you can think of is already in the game, and it disables your achievements/icon earning.

Everyone saying "blar blar they didn't care about achievements" is arguing an uphill battle when it appears as if they were trying to get the prestigious achievements / profile icons in the first place.

And if we accept that Blizzard does not want this to happen, the solution "wipe their achievements/icons" really won't fly, because what's to stop them from cheating to get it again?

Thats not relevant to the matter at hand really. The fact is that blizzard is using the fact that cheating has some effect on the multiplayer aspect (LOL gamerscore/profile icons) to remove your freedom to play the single player however you want. They designed it this way themselves.

But it doesn't. You can still play the single player however you want by using a Guest profile, which lets you play the game not logged in. They have absolutely not taken away ANY of the single-player stuff other than ... the achievements and stuff. Which affects multiplayer.

I'm sorry, I just don't see how this removes anyone's single-player freedoms at all, since there's still the Guest play offline option.

Speaking of the "Guest" option. Is there a reason why you can't just have a separate offline profile like most games have?

I'll tell you why, because Blizzard designed the game to be dependent on bnet so that you would want to play on bnet due to the offline version of the game being inferior.

There is absolutely no difference to the single player besides you being tagged as a guest if you are offline/banned vs you being online and having your name slapped at the top right of the damn starting screen.
There is absolutely nothing different about it at all, you can still play each level, save, etc.
If that little name at the top right convinces you that the offline version is inferior then you sir are insane.

 

[John Funk]

Add this to another reason why achievements are bullshit.

Its a damn single player game, and people who do cheat don't give a shit about achievements. They don't carry any weight or prestige in any game. No one gives a shit.

This is just ridiculous, and Blizzard is basically doing this because they can.

Its their damn game. They can do whatever the hell they want with it/to it so long as its not copying it and giving it away.

The EULA says otherwise, but those don't carry any credence at all since they're only shown during installation. After you bought the thing.

This is straight up bullshit. Fuck achievements.

Except, from what I understand, they were specifically cheating to get the achievements / profile icons. So, that kind of torpedoes your theory that they didn't care about it, because that was their entire goal in the first place. Pretty much any other cheat you can think of is already in the game, and it disables your achievements/icon earning.

Everyone saying "blar blar they didn't care about achievements" is arguing an uphill battle when it appears as if they were trying to get the prestigious achievements / profile icons in the first place.

And if we accept that Blizzard does not want this to happen, the solution "wipe their achievements/icons" really won't fly, because what's to stop them from cheating to get it again?

Thats not relevant to the matter at hand really. The fact is that blizzard is using the fact that cheating has some effect on the multiplayer aspect (LOL gamerscore/profile icons) to remove your freedom to play the single player however you want. They designed it this way themselves.

But it doesn't. You can still play the single player however you want by using a Guest profile, which lets you play the game not logged in. They have absolutely not taken away ANY of the single-player stuff other than ... the achievements and stuff. Which affects multiplayer.

I'm sorry, I just don't see how this removes anyone's single-player freedoms at all, since there's still the Guest play offline option.

Speaking of the "Guest" option. Is there a reason why you can't just have a separate offline profile like most games have?

I'll tell you why, because Blizzard designed the game to be dependent on bnet so that you would want to play on bnet due to the offline version of the game being inferior.

Yes, you want to play on bnet because the game is designed to be played on bnet. With achievements, friends lists, etc.

Why would you want profile icons, achievements, friends lists, if you aren't going to be online? That's all you get from an "offline profile."

If you buy a game from Steam, you can set it to play without actually logging into Steam. But you won't be able to talk to your friends on steam messenger, you won't be able to get steam achievements, while you aren't logged in. This is the exact same thing.

 

[Rednog]

I gotta go but let me just say this.

When SC2 came out Blizzard said that "You will want to play on BNET 2.0 because of it's features" or something similar.

Follow me so far.

So when people lose BNET access for cheating in SINGLE PLAYER everyone pretends that it's not a big loss to lose BNET access.

So which is it?

There is a difference between cheating in single player because you want to dick around in a single player game and have fun your own way. Hell I've been a fan of playing games completely wrong for a long time and many of my friends subscribe to the same logic. But in this case the people cheated in the SINGLE PLAYER with the goal of affecting the MULTIPLAYER. The single player is simply a vessle/step in which to cheat the multiplayer. It would be the same damn case if the players were able to hack their profiles directly to give themselves the achievements and the portraits. The easiest way to get the achievements/portraits was through the multiplayer. Not a single damn one of the cheaters got the hacks to play the single player because they wanted to play the single player game. And like I said before there is absolutely no way to argue this because the hacks do exactly the same thing that blizzard's cheats do. The only difference is that blizzard's cheats disable achievements/portraits. So why use the hack if your goal isn't cheating out the multiplayer?

 

[Exort]

I gotta go but let me just say this.

When SC2 came out Blizzard said that "You will want to play on BNET 2.0 because of it's features" or something similar.

Follow me so far.

So when people lose BNET access for cheating in SINGLE PLAYER everyone pretends that it's not a big loss to lose BNET access.

So which is it?

If you cheat with build in cheat code then you aren't banned. People are banned for using third party cheat to hack the achievement.

 

[tehweave]

I don't know, I haven't played starcraft 2 yet, but I hope they don't do this with world of warcraft. Addons are part of what make the game go from 'good' to 'awesome.'

 

[Eldarion]

Add this to another reason why achievements are bullshit.

Its a damn single player game, and people who do cheat don't give a shit about achievements. They don't carry any weight or prestige in any game. No one gives a shit.

This is just ridiculous, and Blizzard is basically doing this because they can.

Its their damn game. They can do whatever the hell they want with it/to it so long as its not copying it and giving it away.

The EULA says otherwise, but those don't carry any credence at all since they're only shown during installation. After you bought the thing.

This is straight up bullshit. Fuck achievements.

Except, from what I understand, they were specifically cheating to get the achievements / profile icons. So, that kind of torpedoes your theory that they didn't care about it, because that was their entire goal in the first place. Pretty much any other cheat you can think of is already in the game, and it disables your achievements/icon earning.

Everyone saying "blar blar they didn't care about achievements" is arguing an uphill battle when it appears as if they were trying to get the prestigious achievements / profile icons in the first place.

And if we accept that Blizzard does not want this to happen, the solution "wipe their achievements/icons" really won't fly, because what's to stop them from cheating to get it again?

Thats not relevant to the matter at hand really. The fact is that blizzard is using the fact that cheating has some effect on the multiplayer aspect (LOL gamerscore/profile icons) to remove your freedom to play the single player however you want. They designed it this way themselves.

But it doesn't. You can still play the single player however you want by using a Guest profile, which lets you play the game not logged in. They have absolutely not taken away ANY of the single-player stuff other than ... the achievements and stuff. Which affects multiplayer.

I'm sorry, I just don't see how this removes anyone's single-player freedoms at all, since there's still the Guest play offline option.

It seems to me that this sets precedent that we don't want. If this is ban-able, then so is anything else blizzard decides it doesn't like. Banning you from the multiplayer because of something you can do in the single player isn't right. Its just bad design on blizzards part.

Now any kind of modding if fair game for them, great. I have several mods for dawn of war, whole new races added, game balance changed, new units, different campaigns. None of witch is safe on blizzards watch because of some stupid achievements.

 

[John Funk]

Add this to another reason why achievements are bullshit.

Its a damn single player game, and people who do cheat don't give a shit about achievements. They don't carry any weight or prestige in any game. No one gives a shit.

This is just ridiculous, and Blizzard is basically doing this because they can.

Its their damn game. They can do whatever the hell they want with it/to it so long as its not copying it and giving it away.

The EULA says otherwise, but those don't carry any credence at all since they're only shown during installation. After you bought the thing.

This is straight up bullshit. Fuck achievements.

Except, from what I understand, they were specifically cheating to get the achievements / profile icons. So, that kind of torpedoes your theory that they didn't care about it, because that was their entire goal in the first place. Pretty much any other cheat you can think of is already in the game, and it disables your achievements/icon earning.

Everyone saying "blar blar they didn't care about achievements" is arguing an uphill battle when it appears as if they were trying to get the prestigious achievements / profile icons in the first place.

And if we accept that Blizzard does not want this to happen, the solution "wipe their achievements/icons" really won't fly, because what's to stop them from cheating to get it again?

Thats not relevant to the matter at hand really. The fact is that blizzard is using the fact that cheating has some effect on the multiplayer aspect (LOL gamerscore/profile icons) to remove your freedom to play the single player however you want. They designed it this way themselves.

But it doesn't. You can still play the single player however you want by using a Guest profile, which lets you play the game not logged in. They have absolutely not taken away ANY of the single-player stuff other than ... the achievements and stuff. Which affects multiplayer.

I'm sorry, I just don't see how this removes anyone's single-player freedoms at all, since there's still the Guest play offline option.

Speaking of the "Guest" option. Is there a reason why you can't just have a separate offline profile like most games have?

I'll tell you why, because Blizzard designed the game to be dependent on bnet so that you would want to play on bnet due to the offline version of the game being inferior.

Yes, you want to play on bnet because the game is designed to be played on bnet. With achievements, friends lists, etc.

Why would you want profile icons, achievements, friends lists, if you aren't going to be online? That's all you get from an "offline profile."

If you buy a game from Steam, you can set it to play without actually logging into Steam. But you won't be able to talk to your friends on steam messenger, you won't be able to get steam achievements, while you aren't logged in. This is the exact same thing.

If you have to "set a game to not connect" then it isn't by default. I would imagine that SC2 connects to BNET by default and in that case a player not caring enough to go out of their way to play offline might be caught up in this.

But... you don't.

Either way, you have to click a button to sign in. Whether the button is "Log In" or "Play as Guest," it doesn't matter.

 

[Exort]

The existence of built in cheat codes does not mean you have to use them if you wish to cheat. The existence of built in cheat codes does not justify banning people for cheating with a third party device.

You could still use the Game Genie to get 30 lives in Contra even though you could do it with a built in code too.

Anyway, you ignored my question. Is loss of BNET access a big loss or not?

Yes it is a big loss, and it is right to do so it you try to hack the achievements.
Look if someone hack to get a 100-0 win loss recond in muitlplayer, everyone will agree to ban them why not people that hack for achievement? I understand some people think achievemnt are not important but you are not the only poeple live on this planet.

 

[tehweave]

The existence of built in cheat codes does not mean you have to use them if you wish to cheat. The existence of built in cheat codes does not justify banning people for cheating with a third party device.

You could still use the Game Genie to get 30 lives in Contra even though you could do it with a built in code too.

Anyway, you ignored my question. Is loss of BNET access a big loss or not?

Yes it is a big loss, and it is right to do so it you try to hack the achievements.
Look if someone hack to get a 100-0 win loss recond in muitlplayer, everyone will agree to ban them why not people that hack for achievement? I understand some people think achievemnt are not important but you are not the only poeple live on this planet.

What? I didn't say that! Did you re-type what I wrote?

I don't know, I haven't played starcraft 2 yet, but I hope they don't do this with world of warcraft. Addons are part of what make the game go from 'good' to 'awesome.'

That's what I said.

 

[John Funk]

...and if you don't log in, you can't resume from your single player save created while online?

No. It's essentially a separate profile.

...which is what you were asking for, no?

 

[Exort]

...and if you don't log in, you can't resume from your single player save created while online?

You can but that save can't earn achievement any more.
There is two kind of save for Starcraft 2 one is cloud and one is local.
Offline stores at local and can be access by loading it even while online.
Local stored game file can be access by any profile as long it is on your computer.

 

[Exort]

The existence of built in cheat codes does not mean you have to use them if you wish to cheat. The existence of built in cheat codes does not justify banning people for cheating with a third party device.

You could still use the Game Genie to get 30 lives in Contra even though you could do it with a built in code too.

Anyway, you ignored my question. Is loss of BNET access a big loss or not?

Yes it is a big loss, and it is right to do so it you try to hack the achievements.
Look if someone hack to get a 100-0 win loss recond in muitlplayer, everyone will agree to ban them why not people that hack for achievement? I understand some people think achievemnt are not important but you are not the only poeple live on this planet.

What? I didn't say that! Did you re-type what I wrote?

No, I said it justify to ban people, you said not? Unless I misread you comment which thinks hacking achievement doesn't jusify bans.

 

[Exort]

Cheating in single player mode should not get one banned. That Blizzard CHOSE to tie in single player achievement to some sort of multiplayer mode is the problem. The two should have been kept separate.

and Cheater CHOOSE to hack the achievements. If they use build-in cheat codes which disable achievement then they wouldn't get banned. (or offline play)