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Blizzard Bans 100,000 Cheaters In Massive "World of Warcraft" Ban Spree
MojoKid writes: Like many MMORPGs, World of Warcraft can be a grind. To sidestep the time commitment required to continually level up a character, gather resources, improve skills, or whatever else is desired, some gamers turn to bots, software that automates the process. The only problem is, Activision Blizzard isn't so keen on this behavior and has dropped the ban hammer hard on gamers who've been using them. Activision Blizzard didn't specify exactly how many people it booted, saying only that it was a "large number of World of Warcraft accounts." However, a screenshot of a conversation between a player, Game Master, and Activision Blizzard employee suggests that over 100,000 World of Warcraft accounts were identified and booted.
Where you're building up the skill level of your character rather than yourself?
Why do some people smoke weed rather than building up themselves? Because it's easier and they're unmotivated. *shrug*
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Are you kidding? These same people will be back again, which means they have to buy all new copies of the game to get a fresh set of keys which is even more revenue for Blizzard. I imagine that a lot of them are accounts to farm and sell gold or other items so it's not as though they're just going to close shop and go elsewhere when there's still a demand for their services. One could argue that there's even more money to be had right now if the number of sellers has seriously decreased so there's a lot of incentive for these people to get back in the game.
Good for the players who got booted, I mean. It's easy to waste large portions of your life playing that type of game. Think of the productivity gain they will experience now that they are not playing a grinding game.
Bots like TinTin++ were the only reason I played old-school MMORPGs AKA MUDs. Programming your character to be successful is a game in itself.
Less revenue, stronger brand. No one likes a cheater. There is such a thing as a bad customer and you want to get rid of them as quickly as possible.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
It's a time-sink. There's a market for it, and Blizzard (and others) merely capitalize on this. It's really not up to anyone to question what someone else chooses to do with their time. Would you rather he be getting drunk every night at a bar and then driving home? Or hitting on your wife? People need their little things, it's what makes them feel that their life belongs to them.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Define "bad" please? Do come up with the one definition that we can all agree on. Or how about you butt out of people's lives? What difference will your opinion make in 5000 years? If people want to waste their time then more power to them. It's their time to waste, after all. Life is more than slaving away to make someone else rich or staring at a sunset or a flower. What we choose to do (or not do) with our time is what defines us as individuals.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted.
That depends on what your actual goals are.
If you said, "I want to play WoW and have recreation time, and fuck everything else." then that could be true.
On the other hand, if you had goals for yourself that were impaired by the time or money spent on the game, and now you're wondering why you can't achieve those same goals, then you wasted your time.
You can play WoW in moderation and be fine. No question about it. And I am given to understand, it is much easier to be casual these days to boot.
However, if you look up many disorders, pathological behavior consists of actions done to such an extent or in such a manner as to interfere with the ability of someone to function normally in life, such as making a living, or even eating and sleeping properly. You certainly can play WoW too much, and you certainly can spend too much money on it, via paying for gold outside of the game.
If you're not measuring up to your own yardstick, you're wasting time, and not because someone else told you its wrong, but because you're objectively hurting yourself or preventing yourself from achieving your goals.
I used to be a guild and raid leader on endgame content. I remember more than one teen or college age student that was having problems and spent far too much time playing the game. Of course, I doubt the problem was solely the game, but they certainly used the time to do that, rather than addressing issues that they had.
As you'd expect, I used to play quite a bit myself, but eventually I realized that I simply didn't have enough time to play the game and still do what I wanted to do. It was time to quit. And looking back, I remember having a lot of fun. So, I don't regret it, but I also don't regret putting it down either.
People cheat at every game, because there are always people who want more reward for less effort. WoW was actually a lot less grind-y than other MMOs when it came out, and it's driven the competition to be more friendly to casual players. It's been some time since I played, but from what I hear they're still making efforts to make things easier for casual players, and if you're not obsessed with minmaxing and getting rare stuff you could certainly explore and play for years without ever grinding content. With upwards of 10,000 quests and continents bigger than many games' worlds, it absolutely puts the 'massive' in MMO.
If you *are* grinding, I'm sorry, but Blizzard isn't forcing you to aim for piles of gold, rare mounts, or heroic gear sets. *You* want to be a top tier player with better stuff than everyone else, but then you complain about having to work harder than other players to get it. It is hard because you want it to be hard, it is a chore to keep the 'riff-raff' out, so you can show off what a special snowflake you are. If the stuff was easy to get...you'd want other stuff.
Now I won't argue that Blizzard is guilty of exploiting players' OCD; there's always something you really want tantalizingly within reach. It's very much a 'one more quest...one more battle...one more level' addictive sort of experience. It's well balanced, in that lots of things seem to be *just* worth the effort to aquire them, and once you do, there's more...and more...and more. Addictiveness is of course not a bad quality in entertainment, like a novel you can't put down, but if you can't keep in control and balance it with your life, or have to resort to exploits that make the game worse for everyone, then it's simply not for you. Sorry!
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
"So it's ok if Blizztard sells you cheats, but not so if a Chinese entrepreneur does the same thing."
You got it! Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Prada, Rolex etc have the same policy.
So it's ok if Blizztard sells you cheats, but not so if a Chinese entrepreneur does the same thing...?
Yes, because it's their game and in their interests they don't screw it up. A Chinese entrepreneur didn't develop the game and doesn't care. If Blizzard are screwing up, then feel free to go play somewhere else.
Also..
Blizztard
What are you? Ten years old?
Blizzard allowing you to skip a solo pve grind is very different from a bunch of botters shitting up your battleground and ruining your team pvp experience.