Blizzards Response to Cheating

Photo by Adam Spurlock

Since Blizzard has had it’s most successful beta yet with their game Overwatch, the topic of cheating has popped up with a few alleged incidents happening in the eSports scene for the game. With Overwatch being released later this month, this is an issue that the community management team will have to get ready for. Blizzard takes the stance of responding to cheaters on a no tolerance policy.

On the forums for the game, Stephanie Johnson, a Community Manager, addresses the topic. “If a player is found to be cheating or using hacks, bots, or third-party software that provides any sort of unfair advantage, that player will be permanently banned from the game. Full stop” she said.

This is not the first time that Blizzard has taken a swift hand to cheaters in their games. In the past there had been troubles with cheaters in Diablo III after its launch in 2012 as well as the years that World of Warcraft has been up where the company has enforced massive banhammer waves locking, banning and tagging tens of thousands of accounts for suspicion of cheating and bot use.

Some players do have the concern with being falsely accused of cheating and having their accounts be banned. As was the case for Diablo III when players had complaints about being unfairly banned from the anti-cheat system. Just for these types of situations, Blizzard has set a measure to counter this problem with an appeal process for banned players where they can protest their innocence.

Cheating is something that comes with playing a massively multiplayer game online with people from around the world. Although, it is an act that does not go unpunished in Blizzard’s eyes. The company is always urging players to report any suspected cheaters to hacks@blizzard.com to take care of the problem and bring justice to cheaters.