Blizzard Bans Speed Hackers from WoW

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Blizzard Bans Speed Hackers from WoW

Posted by Zonk on Saturday December 4, 2004 @07:46AM from the and-the-cycle-begins dept.

Voodoo Extreme has the world that Blizzard has already banned several accounts for Speed Hacking, a type of cheat that allows a character to move far faster than it should. From the article: "Those individuals who were caught using the speed hack have been banned from the game and have had their accounts closed. We must stress once again that we are opposed to hacking and cheating of any kind and are dedicated to maintaining a fair environment in our games." Adios, punks

18 of 186 comments (clear)

Hope they had definite proof... by Sancho · 2004-12-04 07:50 · Score: 5, Informative

Generally speed hacks work by sending packets in such a way as to simulate periods of extreme latency between the client and the server. This leads to a bit of a bad fork for Blizzard...The two most likely ways that they banned people were checking for constant extreme latency (which could occur) in which case they may have banned people who were not cheating, or they tested for programs running on the user's machine, which is a slippery road towards privacy invasion.
1. Re:Hope they had definite proof... by k_187 · 2004-12-04 07:54 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Actually, it had something to do with fooling the game that you were on a griffin, when you weren't, speeding you up like 50x or something. I saw somebody link instructions to it on the forums (which I read because I am obsessed with the game, yet am unable to afford it.)
  
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  11 was a racehorse
  12 was 12
  1111 Race
  12112
2. Re:Hope they had definite proof... by ASkGNet · 2004-12-04 19:01 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  That would be the ideal case, only trust the client for input, and render everything on the server, then send the image to the client (the client is nothing more than a glorified utility which takes keystrokes and displays images).
  
  However, on the Internet, nothing is ideal, and lag is a major thing to account for. One must also care about the server load. Sure, it's possible to make a client adhering to the above demands, however:
  a) it would not be playable, with the possible exception of a high-speed LAN - where ping times are low and bandwidth is high
  b) the server load will skyrocket with the number of active players
  
  Therefore, some tradeoffs must be added - such as making the client render the world, handling some tasks (such as basic movement prediction and interpolation, for laggy environments - this is what causes "rubber bounding" in laggy times)
Oh I get it now. by BaronSprite · 2004-12-04 07:55 · Score: 5, Funny

The lag wasn't the game going slowly, it was just everyone going faster then I was. Damn kids and their speed hacks... and makeout parties...
Maybe now people will trust Blizzard... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-04 07:57 · Score: 5, Insightful

One of the complaints I heard frequently on various forums was people claiming that they'd "never play World of Warcraft because Blizzard games always get hacked and Blizzard never does anything about it." Hopefully this will convince them that Blizzard is indeed being proactive about preventing cheaters.

Unfortunately, I expect that instead they'll just take it as evidence that World of Warcraft is easily hacked and use that as a reason why they refuse to play.

But I'm glad Blizzard is announcing this, rather than the approach a certain other MMORPG took of saying "oh, there's nothing wrong, there are no bots anymore, we took care of them all" despite groups of players who seem not to mind doing the same thing repeatedly 24/7 and never respond when you try and talk with them...
Actually... by ironwill96 · 2004-12-04 08:02 · Score: 5, Informative

Several people used FRAPS to record people that were using SpeedHacks in the game. So they were not banning people who had not visibly evidenced this behavior several times and been reported by users.

And they were not faking a Gryphon flight while on the ground, they were faking lag to the client making the server lag-o-port them great distances. This is using a method posted on the BlizzHackers website forums.

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"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." - Tennyson
1. Re:Actually... by NeMon'ess · 2004-12-04 12:55 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  No they made a calculated choice. In most OLRPGs, getting attacked while having lag is lethal. It's very frustrating for the dead player. In WOW, when lag happens, the player can run away and they're untouchable. NPCs, monsters, and players freeze in place or stop appearing. When the lag ends, the client sends the player's new position to the server. The server effectively teleports the player to the reported position. A bystander at the new position would see a player just appear there. This has created a cheat, in that when lag happens it's possible to run past high-level enemies who might be guarding treasure. I think Blizzard made the right choice considering how much I've hated getting lag killed in the past.
Re:Apart from moving around faster... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-04 08:03 · Score: 5, Informative

Yeah, speed hackers are impossible to kill. If they get in trouble, they run, and you'll never catch them.
stupid lame cheaters by cyrax777 · 2004-12-04 08:10 · Score: 4, Insightful

Whats the point of cheating in a online game. It justs fucks with the Balance for everyone. And why the hell cheat in a gane you have to pay to play for!. If just wanted to let a bot run around Id just run something like progress quest since it pretty much amounts to the same thing.
1. Re:stupid lame cheaters by antifoidulus · 2004-12-04 08:23 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  The whole reason I hate online gaming: For some people their online persona defines them as a human being, and they take it way too seriously. It's a game for crying out loud, it doesn't matter if your dwarf mage is level 23 and can slay the yellow panda of Azerbajn if you aren't having fun.
  
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  Monstar L
2. Re:stupid lame cheaters by rpillala · 2004-12-04 08:27 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  All online games I've played have an element that cares more about winning than playing. If they can find a shortcut to winning they'll do it.
  
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  When the axe came to the forest, the trees said, "Look out - the handle was once one of us."
3. Re:stupid lame cheaters by radimvice · 2004-12-04 13:02 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  And why the hell cheat in a gane you have to pay to play for!.
  
  Because with companies like IGE that buy and sell accounts and virtual currency/items, effectively creating real-world exchange rates for virtual money, people can make real profits off of cheats, exploits or techniques that improve their efficiency relative to the rest of the players.
Re:May not be a problem for much longer by gl4ss · 2004-12-04 08:22 · Score: 4, Insightful

that doesn't really solve anything, as the code is still run on the client side.

easy solution, if one had infinite network bandwith and speed, would be to make the clients as dumb terminals as possible - with all possible game logic on the servers - so that you would be able to trust the data coming from the client blindly, simply because the client would be only sending stuff like 'button a pressed'.

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world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Re:May not be a problem for much longer by f4llenang3l · 2004-12-04 08:25 · Score: 5, Funny

That would lead to fairly humorous role-playing:
"F4llenAng3l has entered the store. You may buy:
A ring - 54 GP
A Fire Arrow Quiver - 68 GP

...

F4llenAng3l has selected to buy a ring. Please type the text from the image below to complete the purchase, to ensure that you are not a script."

--

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she won't let you fly, but she might let you sing
Re:not to be a smart ass, but: by Dachannien · 2004-12-04 09:09 · Score: 4, Insightful

Well, it's the first time since the game went live that Blizzard has taken some action regarding cheaters, for one thing. As popular as WoW is (far more than EQ2, from what I understand), the stance Blizzard takes on cheaters is actually important to a significant portion of the game community. For another thing, the article indicates that speed hacks are already being used in WoW.

Now, six months down the road, if Blizzard is still banning people for cheating, then it's probably not worthy of another /. post.

Of course, considering that new developments don't actually have to occur for a story to be revisited on /. ....
THAT is not the bad part by BerntB · 2004-12-04 09:32 · Score: 4, Insightful

Whats the point of cheating in a online game.
They are a..holes, sure. But online games isn't the bad part.
What scares me is when I wonder what that kind of people do in real life -- and how many are in my social groups. :-(
Shudder...

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Karma: Excellent (My Karma? I wish...:-( )
1. Re:THAT is not the bad part by ewen · 2004-12-04 12:10 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Some years ago I was a law student. One class we played this group game whereby cheating (through lying to the group about what you were going to do, then doing something else) would let you win big. Nearly everyone in the class cheated. Some were very proud of the high scores they achieved in the game that way. No one else seemed to see it as a problem; they were disappointed they didn't figure out to cheat sooner.
  
  I'm not sure what this says about our lawyers today. But I don't think it's good.
  
  Ewen
  
  PS: My score was negative. And I'm not a lawyer. Those two things are not completely unrelated.
Re:Who cares if somebody speedhacks? by WhatAmIDoingHere · 2004-12-04 12:53 · Score: 4, Insightful

I participated in beta and I got sick of spending all my time taking damage in fights. Probably 100% of the fights I was in damaged me. It's the primary reason I didn't bother buying the game.

You know you have a problem with people start using invincible hacks to save themselves from getting damaged. But instead of fixing the problem, Blizzard banned anybody who cheated. Good job listening to your customers, Blizzard.

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Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.