Hacking is a tradition in PC games. It usually leads to some excellent mods- in fact, some of the world’s most popular games, including Counter Strike, League of Legends, and DOTA 2, all started their lives out as mods. A lot of them started their life out as mods of Blizzard games. You would think, therefore, that Blizzard would be a bit more tolerant of hacking and modding.
Not so. Eurogamer reports that Blizzard is suing hackers of Starcraft 2. They will be targeting hackers who sell mods for a profit.
“The harm to Blizzard from Defendants’ conduct is immediate, massive and irreparable,” the developer said. “By distributing the Hacks to the public, Defendants irreparably harm the ability of Blizzard’s legitimate customers (i.e. those who purchase and use unmodified games) to enjoy and participate in the competitive online experience of StarCraft 2.”
Blizzard has somewhat of a point here- mods are generally distributed for free, not sold, and if they are actively impeding the online experience, such as the targeted mod in this case, that gives an unfair advantage to players who install it, does, then they should be targeted for fairness’ sake. Just, a lawsuit seems to be a bit of an overreaction is all.
“The quality of our games is our top priority, and we will take the necessary measures, up to and including legal action, to protect our games against cheating and other negative influences,” Blizzard said about that.
It’s a hell of an extreme move, but I guess it’s to make an example more than anything else. Hopefully this doesn’t kill off the honest modding community for their games. For more on Starcraft 2 Heart of Swarm, check out our review here.
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