Blizzard Punishing Griefing On Warcraft III Ladders

Thanks to RPGDot for pointing to a Battle.net forum post, in which Blizzard indicate they will ban Warcraft III teams for 'griefing'. This requires Blizzard acting on in-game tactics, rather than illicit software mods/hacks - they mention: "We have received reports and observed that certain Warcraft III players have deliberately caused their own teams to lose in team games. This goes against the spirit of fair play on Battle.net, and as such, we will take action on a case-by-case basis. In each case, if we determine that griefing is in fact occurring, the griefer's Battle.net account and access to ladder games will be subject to removal."

Comments

It's about time.

[Dolemite_the_Wiz]

This sort of play has been going on since Starcraft first came out.

Dolemite
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Re:It's about time.

[cicatrix1]

Yeah, the forum post in question is about a month old (Go Slashdot!), but basically the immidiate reason behind it was because this got to be such a problem that clans were formed that did nothing but backstab* teammates. *Backstabbing includes anything from intentionally going to an allies base and attcking it, to more subtle forms of making nothing but farms, doing nothing at all, walling your ally in with buildings, killing all your units, etc... People were actually proud of the new and interesting ways they could come up with to screw up the game. Teenagers should be branded and avoided :p

Way To Go Blizzard!!!

[LordYUK]

This is actually old news, but hey, whatever...

I fully support Blizzards decision, in fact, they just recently banned FFA (free for all) griefers... its SOOO easy to get into a ladder FFA with a "friend" if you click on the play game button at about the same time, since there are relatively few FFA's at any given moment.

Just for clarification, this is your typical griefer:

game starts, they (depending on race) either destroy all their buildings, or hero rush your base, or build nothing but peons.

An older trick was the get this one wand that teleported a unit back to your town hall, and right before you finished "creeping" (killing neutral monsters for gold/experience) they'd teleport your hero back to base, get the item and the xp for your kill...

These arent people that "suck" at the game. These are the asshats that would join your Diablo 2 game with hacked characters and then kill you "because they could".

Re:Way To Go Blizzard!!!

[DrDoombender]

I agree with you totally on that. I had to deal with that today. Some nob didn't like me asking him what units he was going for so he killed his base and mine, in a 3vs3 game. This happened not once but twice in a row by the same guy going by the name of "iamthedaddy". In previous days I've encountered Lossbot, and a few others that just magically dropped for no reason.

So I am glad that Blizzard takes an active stance against this bs because it ruins a great game.The worse part is when people don't understand what is going on. Before they know it their base is destroyed by some jerk.

I also think that Blizzard has to do this because otherwise there would be no fear of doing this. Its bad enough when people use hacks, but its even worse when they rig a game so that you lose or are severly crippled.

doubt this is a viable solution, since these people will just create new accounts, but at least Blizzard is trying

I think that Blizzard bans based on your cd-key. So creating new accounts becomes a problem. Also, some people have some really nice records. We're talking 500+ wins, so losing an account like that is devastating (and this does happen, EG: Iamthedaddy).

Re:WTF?

[Rallion]

Actually, after seeing your post, I decided to check out the bNet Terms of Use. Basically, you're not allowed to be an asshole. A few things you can't do, copy-pasted:

"harass, threaten, stalk, embarrass, or cause distress, unwanted attention, or discomfort upon another user of Battle.net or other person or entity;"
"cheat during game play,"
"carry out any action with a disruptive effect, such as causing the screen to "scroll" faster than other users are able to type to it;"
"disrupt the normal flow of dialog in a chat room or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other users, individuals, or entities, including, but not limited to, posting "Spam" messages on Battle.net. "Spam" messages as used herein include, but are not limited to, any effort to use a computer or other electronic device to post an unauthorized and/or unsolicited advertisement to Battle.net;"

I'd say griefing is covered by both the first and second ones I listed...Also, it says that if you violate any of those rules, you can be immediately, without warning, banned, permanently or temporarily. Of course.

Heh...I like it.