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Blizzard will permaban 'Overwatch' cheaters
Overwatch's massively popular beta might be over, but the game's cadre of developers at Blizzard are already making plans of how to deal with cheaters ahead of launch: Banning them. Permanently. No three strikes rule. No cool down. Just an outright permaban. And that's awesome. Writing on the forums, community manager Lylirra says that if a player is using hacks, bots or anything that gives her or him and unfair advantage, the banhammer will strike swiftly. If you spot someone cheating come the game's May 24th release, send any and all information regarding such to hacks@blizzard.com.
Blizzard issues thousands (more) Hearthstone bot bans
Good news, Hearthstone players. If you've been using a bot to automate your gameplay, you'll log in today to find a shiny new prize! Specifically, that shiny new prize is not being able to log in because you've been banned. Your prize was being banned. Blizzard has awarded this prize to "several thousand" Hearthstone accounts using third-party tools to automate gameplay; the bans are permanent, so no need to worry about losing them at the end of the season. Players who have not been botting and violating the game's TOS will also log in to find a shiny new prize, which is a play environment with far fewer bots. Isn't that nice? The official post reminds players to report suspicious behavior by emailing the development team so that in the future another group of cheaters can wake up to find a brand-new lifetime ban locking them out of the game. Those of you who can still log in may also want to take the opportunity to vote on the next teaser for the Goblins vs. Gnomes expansion. [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
CCP permabans EVE monument vandals
Citing a "zero tolerance approach to dealing with harassment and victimization in the EVE Universe," CCP announced today that it has permanently banned the three vandals who defaced the new EVE monument in Reykjavik, Iceland. A fourth individual received a six-month ban. "The fact that the monument was vandalized is an insult to the entire community, not just to the individual who's name was directly targeted by the vandalism," the studio posted. The ban includes not only CCP's games but attendance at Fanfest as well. CCP declined to release the in-game names of the individuals and said that any future development related to the incident will be kept confidential.
League of Legends pro player banned for jerkiness
Fantasy MOBA League of Legends is (in)famous for its boorish player behavior, so much so that Riot Games even tasked a group of 30 developers and scientists with finding a way to get the game's expansive community to play nice. The firm has apparently given up on reforming one player, though, as it has handed down a permanent ban to pro gamer Christian "IWillDominate" Rivera for his "tendency to engage in verbal abuse and insults, his lack of cordial demeanor, and his treatment of less-skilled players." Rivera, who is a member of Team Dignitas, has been brought before LoL's player tribunal nine times, and Riot reports that he has also engaged in "repeated incidents of similar behavior outside the game." The company's announcement acknowledges the effect the ban may have on Rivera's career, but it says that "no other professional players in North America approach this individual's harassment score," and "promoting good sportsmanship and improving player behavior is a mission that's extremely important to Riot."
Infinity Ward issuing Modern Warfare 3 bans that last 5000 days
Infinity Ward is issuing its version of a "permaban" to offensive Modern Warfare 3 players, in the form of a ban lasting 5000 days. "If you see this message," IW Creative Strategist Robert Bowling confirmed on Twitter, "it means you've been Permabanned (for something bad)." Really, when you think about it, IW is being charitable to cheaters and other malcontents by issuing bans lasting only 13 and a half years. That's not really permanent at all! Maybe you should thank Infinity Ward for its beneficence by not hacking your game or being outrageously racist. Otherwise, you'll be thinking about how to live your life until you turn 26.
Microsoft issues Xbox Live bans for 'Marketplace theft'
It's not uncommon for Microsoft to unleash the Xbox Live banhammer once every few months. Rounds of banning are generally conducted for typical reasons -- piracy, cheating and the like -- but this ban session is a little different. We've received several tips on the matter, and Microsoft has issued a statement on the Xbox.com forums saying that the console bans were the result of Xbox Live Marketplace "theft." The statement notes that the company "discovered users who illegitimately accessed Xbox LIVE Marketplace downloadable content," adding that "this access was intentional and not accidental, constituting a blatant violation of the Terms of Use for the service." The company won't provide specifics on the kind of theft that took place, though there are some likely culprits. For example, there are known methods for downloading Xbox Live content for free (that we won't be sharing here) and presumably Microsoft has gotten wise. If you'd like to keep your account intact, then maybe, you know, don't steal.
Avatar breaks out the banhammer for Perpetuum cheaters
Rut roh! It's banhammer time in Perpetuum, the sci-fi indie sandbox from Avatar Creations. The latest Avatar dev blog has the (sparse) details courtesy of Dev Calvin. Apparently some players availed themselves of a game exploit that allowed for significant gains in robots, equipment, and other commodities. It's not as innocent as it sounds, though, as the dev blog makes clear. "The method that was used can by no means [be] interpreted as intended gameplay. A lot of technical preparation and effort went into the experimentation and execution," Calvin writes. The ill-gotten gains have of course been removed, and Avatar has also permabanned the offending accounts, which sends a clear message as to the type of zero-tolerance policy toward cheating on display in the world of Nia. Check out the official Perpetuum website for more reading material.
Latest PS3 firmware update brings the bans for Black Ops hacks
Dirty, dirty Black Ops cheaters that downloaded the new PS3 firmware, update 3.56, are finding out exactly what Sony meant when it said the patch would help bolster "security." A grip of consoles have been permanently banned from Black Ops multiplayer servers for hacking or cheating after their users installed the new firmware -- though some of the outspoken among the banned are contesting the presumption that they are cheaters on the game's official forums. (Which is like, the first thing you'd do if you were a dirty, dirty cheater.) In a seemingly cooperative attack executed by two mortal enemies, firmware 3.56 joins last week's mandatory Xbox Live update, which also stopped pirated and modded copies of Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2 in their tracks. Is Activision's cash cow so powerful that the publisher can request its own console updates at will? If that's the case, Activision: Would you please, please ask Sony to add cross-game chat? Oh, and see if Microsoft will bring black the blades. We miss the blades.
StarCraft 2 cheaters and hackers not long for this virtual world
It seems like it's becoming common practice for video game companies to warn their games' illicit players that trouble is swiftly approaching in their direction. Blizzard recently updated the official Starcraft 2 site with a warning, which explicitly states that if a player "is found to be cheating or using hacks or modifications in any form, then as outlined in our end user license agreement, that player can be permanently banned from the game." Like, forever. For-ev-er. Later in the update, Blizzard warns "suspensions and bans of players that have used or start using cheats and hacks will begin in the near future." If you're guilty of exercising some dubious winning strategies, you might want to go ahead and put the kibosh on that ASAP -- provided it's not already too late.
Microsoft fires off salvo of Halo: Reach pirating permabans
If you were one of the ne'er-do-wells who thought downloading a leaked copy of Halo: Reach and then playing it online was a really, really great idea, you might have received a stern email from Microsoft like the one recently dug up by MaxConsole. The document informs these red-handed pirates that "your Xbox LIVE account privileges have been permanently suspended due to illegitimate prerelease title play." Xbox Live Director of Policy and Executioner Stephen Toulouse commented on the bans on Twitter, explaining "as with all unauthorized play on Xbox LIVE, anyone playing any unauthorized title runs the risk of account permaban and console." In short, you do the crime, you pay the time. Wait, is "forever and ever" an actual measurement of time?
