Blizzard has been wielding its +1 Hammer of Justice against a horde of bot-using World of Warcraft players, handing out six-month bans against anyone found to be using ”third-party programs that automate gameplay”.
According to PCGamesN, it’s the so-called ‘Honorbuddy bot’ that’s been the focus of Blizzard’s wrath, a program that automates the accumulation of PVP honor points. It’s like these people don’t understand the whole point of WoW - grind, grind, and grind some more.
”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,”” explains Blizzard. ”We’re committed to providing an equal and fair playing field for everyone in World of Warcraft, and will continue to take action against those found in violation of our Terms of Use. Cheating of any form will not be tolerated.”
But what constitutes cheating? WoW players have been using shortcut mods and UI addons since the game launched roughly three hundred and forty-eight years ago, so it’s understandable that some might be confused about where the line is drawn.
World of Warcraft community manager Bashiok explained the distinction in a Twitter post: ”Botting is defined as automation of any action, not just character movement. If a program is pressing keys for you, you’ve violated the ToU.”
So there you go. If you suspect anyone of flagrant cheating, you can either right-click and report in game, or email any relevant information to hacks@blizzard.com. The company isn’t messing around; according to this snapshot of a player’s conversation with a GM in-game, they’ve handed out over 100,000 six-month bans in a 24-hour period. Blimey.
