Blizzard is suing hackers

[mik1]

Although it is their right I do feel plunging someone into massive debt for the rest of their life is a little cruel to get a message across.

 

[-Ulven-]

Blizzard is defending a vast community from being griefed by a handfull of hackers.

Only thing I'm disgusted at from lawsuits is RIAA who are overstepping their bounds. And it dosen't help when Sony Music Entertainment starts banning videos in certain countrys for some obscure reason

I say some of the giants in the music industry is asking for piracy. Gaming however is just companys trying to set examples and protecting communities.

 

[xDarc]

A lot of people don't seem to understand that this has nothing to do with modding as a hobby, and nothing to do with EULAs.

It has to do with making money using blizzards code to sell hacks. This has always been illegal and there are no new precedents being set here.

Simmer down.

 

[ZeoAssassin]

Hacking is modifying existing code which is illegal in the EULA. Blizzard is well within their rights to ban them. They made it worse by selling the code, making profit that they shouldn't have off Blizzard's game, without their permission and so Blizzard is well within their rights to sue them.

They do not, in most cases that you are reffering to as "hacking" they are usually changing memory imprints in your RAM, simple tools like TSearch have them find and modify certain Adresses in the memory by searching vor a certain value like "354" gold, then doing something in a game to change that value and "search next" to narrow down the search results. After they figured it out they can make tools that do exactly that without searching for int/longint/String values etc.

Mods though are changing gamefiles, often even a lot of them and create "total modifications". If for some reason what Blizzard wants to do would become law, most of this: http://www.moddb.com/mods and more (including said Trainers etc.) would become illegal.
I hope I don't have to remind you successful mods often spawned their own full titles in time you might be playing now like Counter Strike, Team Fortress, DoTA (League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, Demigod), Killing Floor etc. and many of the developers that make those games nowadays started out by doing exactly that in the past.

You seem to be implying that Blizzard doesn't want people to mod at all? i would have to disagree.

after all, Blizzard said it themselves that they fully support the map-making/mod community which is why they gave us their data-editor with SC2. Also, even thou this will probably be down the road Blizzard has admitted to wanting to "publish" popular maps/mods and sell them over B.net with a portion of the money going TO the makers. That sounds like support to me.

First 3 minutes or so confirms this.

In addition, Blizzard has fully embraced the WoW modding community and lets all players download and use countless mods to modify UI and help with raid encounters like threat-meters and boss-mods. At the same time they do crack down on people who create mods that Blizzard doesn't want to be used such as Bots that play the game to farm gold or honor. The only other time they have banned a mod is when an unfair advantage is given to the users to the point where the mod is playing for you.

so i don't really see how cracking down on people that mod for the purpose of cheating as well as making money off said cheating will be the end of modding when it comes to gaming.

Now i am NOT a modder so i can be wrong about all this. also yes the SC2 modding seems to be a hell of a lot more strict than WoWs, but that should be understandable because SC2 is a far more competitive game than WoW and should be stricter to preserve that competitive play.

it would seem that it is completely possible to police cheaters ans still preserve modding in a given game given Blizzards history.

 

[Scout Tactical]

There is a new name for mods, DLC and free mods have a very limited role in that future. So yeah, I think we are seeing the foundations of the future of modding being laid. It will be farmed for maximum profitability. One of the first steps to doing this is to let everyone know that only Blizzard-approved mods will be tolerated.

Hacking mods should not be tolerated by anyone. Do you tolerate, or even more damning, approve of hacking mods?

 

[Arehexes]

There is a new name for mods, DLC and free mods have a very limited role in that future. So yeah, I think we are seeing the foundations of the future of modding being laid. It will be farmed for maximum profitability. One of the first steps to doing this is to let everyone know that only Blizzard-approved mods will be tolerated.

Hacking mods should not be tolerated by anyone. Do you tolerate, or even more damning, approve of hacking mods?

So I guess the Unoffical TES4 mod is bad even though it fixes a crap load of bugs in TES4 the makers didn't fix or enhance?

 

[snow]

The three men - "Permaphrost," "Cranix," and "Linuxawesome" - are being accused of "multiple counts of copyright infringement", with Blizzard seeking not just damages but also a cut of the money the three received selling the hacks.

So you're regretting purchasing Starcraft 2 because Blizzard is suing people for copyright infringement? You're starting to dislike Blizzard because they take the time to defend what is rightfully theirs?

If I were in their shoes... I'd be doing the same thing. If these 3 guys were doing something that violated Blizzards copyright and terms of agreement, then Blizzard does have a case. Anyone that holds a copyright that gets broken has a case, so I find it completely and utterly silly that people are booing Blizzard for this.

Very sad that there are so many people who don't understand these things and ignorantly shout out "OMG Activision is getting to Blizzard."

 

[Scout Tactical]

There is a new name for mods, DLC and free mods have a very limited role in that future. So yeah, I think we are seeing the foundations of the future of modding being laid. It will be farmed for maximum profitability. One of the first steps to doing this is to let everyone know that only Blizzard-approved mods will be tolerated.

Hacking mods should not be tolerated by anyone. Do you tolerate, or even more damning, approve of hacking mods?

So I guess the Unoffical TES4 mod is bad even though it fixes a crap load of bugs in TES4 the makers didn't fix or enhance?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CompletelyMissingThePoint

TES4 is not a multiplayer game. It gives you access to the developer console, which literally allows you to do anything. You totally missed the point of what I said.

 

[Spencer Petersen]

Its the lesser of two evils, either allow hackers to run rampant on your game or take a hard stance with them, and I think this is the better option. I'd rather a couple greedy fucks lose their game and right to illegally alter a multiplayer system they have to ruin for all of us, than let the entire multiplayer experience turn into a cesspool of hackers because the developers refused to take any action.

 

[sanguinator]

they deserved it. hacking is evil.

 

[zehydra]

Yeah, I'm totally with Blizzard on this one. I've seen what rampant hacking will do to a game. And it isn't pretty.

 

[MDSnowman]

Modding is a core part of PC gaming, I can't believe that people will give up this awesome part of gaming.

We won't. Even if they make it illegal, it's still going to happen. You can't stop a determined group of people.

And you won't be able to stop video game companies for doing incredibly anti-consumer, and just downright stupid things to try and counter act this. Like they're doing with piracy now for example.

 

[Spencer Petersen]

Its the lesser of two evils, either allow hackers to run rampant on your game or take a hard stance with them, and I think this is the better option. I'd rather a couple greedy fucks lose their game and right to illegally alter a multiplayer system they have to ruin for all of us, than let the entire multiplayer experience turn into a cesspool of hackers because the developers refused to take any action.

Yeah cause suing people is the ONLY way to ensure that the multiplayer experience isn't ruined.

Here's what we've learned. If you tie single player to multiplayer (in even the smallest of ways) you can maintain complete control over your game and gamers will support you.

The future is looking bright where true single player gameplay all but disappears and is replaced by "always online" single player.

Why do you seem so keen on jumping to the aid of people who honestly just care about their achievement points and online prestige? Actual multiplayer hacks do exist and are being produced by companies like this with the sole intent of fucking everyone who plays this game. I'm sorry if I don't support people whose sole intent is to invalidate any work I or anyone put into the harder achievements for their own self serving intent. Not to mention there is no need for these hacks in a single player environment anyway due to there being cheat codes already embedded in the game.
You also keep making the point of single-player online. My answer, play in offline mode, simple, effective, and solves all your problems, now stop trying to ruin it for everyone else. And if you plan on quoting this I want you to give a definitive answer on why offline single player doesn't work for you.

 

[coldshadow]

they are sending a message to prevent people from creating more hacks. at least thats my take on it.

 

[DustyDrB]

As could've been expected, most people on this site don't seem to see the implications of this over "cheaters bad!".

That when you agree to terms of use and then break them, then you're going to be subject to the penalties warned about in said terms of use?