Breakfast Topic: Skeletons in the closet
by Amanda Dean 
May 21st 2008 at 8:00AM
It looks like Blizzard is busting out the ban hammer in full force. Last week is was on point sellers (and buyers) in the arena this week they're bashing down Glider users. There was a lot of noise on the forums last week from folks that felt they were unjustly punished. I'm sure we'll hear similar stories as a fallout from the glider events.
It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy all over when cheaters get their due. But it also makes me worry that the witch hunt might go too far. Here at WoW Insider we make it a point to be kind of hush hush about exploits, since we have no desire to lead anyone astray. (This is why we said very little about things like the Fire Nova Totem or Snake Trap exploits). The way I see it is if you don't do anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about. We've all repeatedly agreed to the terms of use.
I make it a point to play by the rules. I have been known to multibox, but only when I'm in complete control of both characters (using only follow and assist macros). I only use follow and assist macros when running two computers. The rest is done by a ridiculous pose with one hand on each keyboard. Blizzard says that running multiple accounts is acceptable as long as it doesn't involve botting. Then again, they also said that creative arena strategies were acceptable, at one point
Has the harsh punishment of recent weeks made you nervous about any skeletons in your closet?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cheats, Blizzard, Breakfast Topics, Arena
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
native May 21st 2008 8:13AM
i swear i've never pointed this out before but...
"Last week is was on point sellers (and buyers) in the arena this week they're bashing down Glider users."
I know its early in the morning but you might want to tweak that sentence. :)
Simon May 21st 2008 8:18AM
Wallclimbing, used to do it so much back before it was nerfed
and i've used alot of Model-Edits
but I doubt that they will get picked up, unless they go back through masses of file data to find my movements. though model editing might soon be a problem if they manage to implement something that reads all the .MPQ's going into WoW
Calaana May 21st 2008 8:26AM
It's a non issue - hard code the file path into the game. Right now it just picks up whatevers in the rightplace(I refuse to tell anyone how to do this, but those that do know will understand), so wowfolder/a/s/d/f/file.stf would get loaded even though it's not an official file. However if they change the game code to load specific files only, they get rid of 99% of the problem, possibly all if my understanding of what happens when you edit the official files(Game goes splat).
Aislinana May 21st 2008 8:26AM
I was a ridiculous wall climber back pre-1.9. I was pretty much anywhere I wasn't supposed to be.
Balius May 21st 2008 8:30AM
That snake trap exploit was pure crap. Should have banned all hunters above the level you get it for being jerks.
Of course, I'm just bitter about going afk in a friendly inn on a PVE server and coming back to find myself dead. Constantly. It was so bad on my server that I had to either log out any time I left the computer or hide my toons somewhere safer than the inn...like in the middle of groups of angry mobs.
doug May 21st 2008 8:49AM
I'll admit it, I used to use Glider, and got banned for it (Nov 14, 2006) and I miss my account, but I realized how much fun the game actually is when you get to know people and have fun doing it. I've never even thought of using it since then.
Kryptonls May 21st 2008 8:49AM
You multibox by literally controlling both machines with a hand for each keyboard? You realise there are programs out there for that which are allowed....?
kw May 21st 2008 9:12AM
Yeah.. try out Synergy, which is basically a software KVM. As long as each action the second account takes only occurs when you press a button, it's all ok with Blizzard.
For example I dual-box a mage and priest fairly often, and I have the priest set to follow me. I have a target/follow macro set up, then I have Synergy set to use my number pad keys to have the priest heal. It's been really fun.
I can't imagine actually using two keyboards.. /shudder
NeverExhaled May 21st 2008 9:19AM
When I first bought WoW, I didn't like the game very much.
It was mostly my own fault, I didn't bother to learn to play properly. I didn't know I needed to get training or how to buy stuff from the AH, or how to distribute my skill points properly, if at all. So by the time my first toon hit 20, it was an under-powered mess of a human warrior who was having a very difficult time completing quests at his level.
I found out about Glider and bought it impulsively (just like I had bought WoW) leveled that human warrior from 20 to 24 (impressive, isn't it?) with the help of Glider but quickly got sick of that as well and just quit it all. A few months later I decided to give WoW another try, I deleted the human warrior and started playing (as opposed to botting) an undead lock. I don't know if it was the switch to a ranged class or the simple fact that I was playing the game properly, but I wasn't feeling the need to use Glider at all, and I was seriously hooked on WoW. Since then, I've levelled a couple of toons to 70 the old-fashioned way and feel that I'm 100% legit. I'm not scared of Warden or any other spyware Blizzard may scan my system with, I've been "clean" for years. What DOES scare me is if that they get their hands on the list of Glider customer transactions and start banning all accounts with matching credit card numbers.
I've got over 1000 human hours "invested" in WoW and I would hate to see it all erased.
Krianna May 21st 2008 2:27PM
I doubt they'd do that-- besides the HUGE legal problems, they'd piss off a lot of folks, and there is no way to be sure that folks would use the same card for both.
Milktub May 21st 2008 10:01AM
My skeleton was that before sapping flagged you, I used to hang out in Refuge Point (Arathi Highlands) and sap lowbies.
I have no sympathy for the folks who ran a botting program any time in the past. Whether you actually read the EULA and TOS or not, you clicked the Agree button.
Blackhorn May 21st 2008 11:35AM
I think the one that people would fear the most would be something with more of a paper-trail... like buying gold. Blizzard decides to make an example of people and bans 50,000 well established users and accounts because at one point in the past said users bought gold.
Clearly there's enough of a market for RMT in WoW for it to get to this point of absurdity (keylogging just to rob people? Come on!). That means there are a ton of people out there that at one point (years ago, even) that have bought gold.
What if, one day, Blizzard went back through all the logs of, for example, all the "first toon" characters on any realm looking for large sums of gold winding up in said toon's mailbox (or whatever the method was for goldsellers).
Boom. Hehe.
Outoftime May 21st 2008 11:48AM
I'll be the first to admit I botted my alt characters to 60, then leveled them to 70. Simply because I cannot dedicate half of my waking life to level a character. Im 27, married, working overtime. I definately enjoy raiding, and the social aspects of wow. And I think it is a well thought out game. But ask around, /played. How long is too much. I have met guys with 100 days played. Some even more. I am sorry, If I played this game to level up the way blizzard wants me too, I wouldnt have a job, I wouldnt have a wife. I lost my account with two 70s. One mage, One warrior. The mage I leveled up myself, and it took me a good 8 months to do it. The warrior I botted up in about two months to 60, and spent another two months leveling it to 70. Once I began raiding a played a little longer, and gear both my characters fully out. I guess of blizzard wants to strike down the casual player who doesnt bleed wow, I wont be coming back. I'll just take a break from the MMO scene. Wonder if I'll come back.
Akman84 May 21st 2008 12:45PM
I lvl'd my 70 UD rogue by myself and that alone took me a alot of time that I honestly don't have anymore. I too started gliding my alts because well, I had no time. Between work, school and life outside of Wow.. I maybe had an hour or two to myself. I admit, I wish I didn't glide because I lost a awesome account for it, but on the other hand.. If I didn't and allowed the Wow-crack take over.. I wouldn't have my job, nor a social life, and most likely back at home with the rents..
Badger May 21st 2008 1:29PM
"I am sorry, [but] If I played this game to level up the way [B]lizzard wants me [to], I wouldn[']t have a job, [and] I wouldn[']t have a wife."
That's called real life. "Warcraft" is a game. If you don't have time for both, give up WoW and stick to living a happily married and well-paid life.
Real Life > Warcraft.
"Once I began Raiding [I] played a little longer, and gear[ed] both my characters fully[.] I guess [if] [B]lizzard wants to strike down the [CHEATER] who doesn[']t bleed [WoW], I won[']t be coming back."
FixT.
Also: Good riddance.
John Woodard May 21st 2008 1:54PM
I have wife, 2 kids, a job, and a house to maintain. I spent a YEAR leveling my character to 70 only playing at lunch time.
It's not that you don't have time to do it, you don't have time to do it as fast as you want. You want to get to endgame content without earning it.
John Woodard May 21st 2008 2:07PM
And another thing, you don't have time to level your character but you have time to RAID? When you can level your character in 4 hours per week but raiding usually takes anywhere from 8-20 hours per week?
You don't lack time, you lack patience.
rick gregory May 21st 2008 4:21PM
If you can't level a other toons the standard way, fine. Then don't level one. No one is saying you have to have multiple 70s. Hell, no one is saying you need to have ANY 70s...
But don't cheat then cry when you get caught. What you did devalues the people who DO take the time to level toons the right way. You cheated, you knew what you were doing and you paid the price.
Gryphon Hall May 21st 2008 9:33PM
How would you feel if, in the job where you do overtime, some other punk would show up to work at 10 am, get some poor gofer to do his work for him, went out to play golf (or WoW), came back around 4 pm, submit his deliverables and... get paid exactly the same salary as you (who works the entire day).
And, when asked why he does that, considering that he only actually works a few minutes a day, he'd answer "I enjoy having the buying power that a good salary would give, but I don't have the time to actually work for it... I have a life and so I get Cato here to do it for me. I just have no time."
Tell me you won't dance in the streets if that punk was fired.
Theserene May 22nd 2008 2:54PM
You can level accounts while having a job, that is not a valid excuse.
(Theserene, full-time software analyst with a hellish commute to that job, been married 3 years)
Accept that you cheated at a game knowingly, but do not try to make up some kind of justification for doing so.