Blizzard promises swift retribution against SC2 cheaters
Not all's fair in three-way inter-species war. Blizzard PR sent out a warning today to all of those who would use unscrupulous means to win in StarCraft II. The gist: if they catch you cheating or hacking in any way, you're in violation of the terms of service and your Battle.net account will be banned. It's a tough-on-crime, one-strike-you're-out policy that sounds good in principle - there's nothing worse than being unfairly slaughtered in SC2, especially considering how often I lose legitimately.
But, false-positives aside (remember the Steam/Modern Warfare 2 banning fiasco?) there's a slightly chilling part about this: with StarCraft II, you must sign into Battle.net just to play the single-player campaign or skirmish against the AI. If you're banned from Battle.net, you would lose access to your game entirely, and your $60 purchase would be flat-out gone. Not that I feel sorry for cheaters, but is it perhaps a disproportionately cruel and unusual punishment? Should bad multiplayer behavior cost you your single-player fun too?
Update: Blizzard PR confirms
"If a Battle.net account is banned, a player will no longer have access to the single and multiplayer content."
Update 2: Blizzard PR clarifies on WoW ramifications
"If you are banned from StarCraft II, you will still get access to WoW."
Read Blizzard's full statement after the jump.
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P.S. Yes, I know that's WoW art, but there're no hammers in StarCraft.