Blizzard has banned thousands of World of Warcraft accounts for ‘cheating’ in the game.
The company shut down accounts that were using ‘bots’; that’s a term used for third-party programs that automate gameplay.
This means that a bot can perform menial tasks like collecting herbs or mining ore ad infinitum, giving users an unfair advantage.
“We’ve recently taken action against a large number of World of Warcraft accounts that were found to be using third-party programs that automate gameplay, known as ‘bots’,” reads a forum post by Lore, a Blizzard Community Manager.
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Lore added: “Cheating of any form will not be tolerated.”
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One user posted a conversation with a Blizzard Game Master, revealing the scale of the bans.
“There were several thousands of accounts suspended for 6 months today,” wrote the GM.
“And I mean several thousands, 100,000 plus, so you can guess how many of those are making tickets trying to revert the [suspensions].”
Users won’t be charged the usual subscription costs during the ban period, so Blizzard will lose somewhere in the region of £1 million in payments each month thanks to the bans.
Blizzard also called users to action to help catch dodgy characters in-game, writing on a post: “If you believe that you’ve encountered a player abusing a bot, exploit, or cheat, please let us know!”
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
