• Blizzard's New Lawsuit Against German Bot Maker is the Equivalent of Glassing a Planet From Orbit
    36 replies, posted
[t]http://i.cubeupload.com/gOwgFI.png[/t] [quote= Lawsuit Filing]https://torrentfreak.com/images/blizzard-bossland.pdf[/quote] [quote=Polygon] In the lawsuit, Blizzard claims that the tools have led to a loss of "millions or tens of millions of dollars in revenue," and has caused the publisher "to suffer irreparable damage to its goodwill and reputation." Blizzard notes in the lawsuit that one of the ways Bossland is able to make the tool is through the use of third-party contractors that obtain illegal access to the game and then repurpose it for the hack. Blizzard is asking for monetary compensation for the alleged damage done to the publisher as well as punitive damages to be handed out to Bossland. Blizzard has sued Bossland previously in Germany over a cheating tool developed for Blizzard's popular MOBA, [I]Heroes of the Storm[/I]. Blizzard lost that case and was ordered to pay both Bossland's legal fees. Source: [URL]http://www.polygon.com/2016/7/5/12094510/blizzard-suing-overwatch-cheating[/URL][/quote] There's some seriously heavy stuff in this case and you won't get a full breakdown from the gaming press. [B]1.[/B] They're trying to keep any issues with international law to a minimum and stay within California as much as possible. They want as little to do with the German legal system and its courts as possible. In 2015 Blizzard lost a prior case against Bossland GmbH, as the Civil Division of the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court disagreed with the ruling of the Hamburg Regional Court. Blizzard had to pay all legal fees for the defense. [B]2.[/B] Expanding on the Polygon snippet, Blizzard is not only taking legal action against Bossland GmbH. They are seeking punitive damages from "[John] Doe's". They are suing [I]anyone[/I] who has agreed to a Blizzard EULA, then helped GmbH to develop cheats. (Trafficking, marketing, or developing) This means discovery requires them to find "(...) individuals whose real identities are not yet known to Blizzard."(Page 5 Line 8) As they've yet to go into discovery, we'll see how deep this gets. Judging from the severity of this case it seems [I]anyone who shared free bot profiles or plugins on the forums [B]may [/B]also be sued[/I]. [quote= Page 22, Line 77]"When third party 'freelancers' or contractors (..) use the software to create derivative works, such as the dynamic screen overlay generated by the Overwatch Cheat, they engage in copyright infringement."[/quote] [B]3.[/B] Blizzard is pursuing the maximum statutory damages on [I][B]all counts[/B][/I] (I - VI) Anyone found to be a Defendant is being sued for all counts. Counts are [I]additive[/I]. For example: Count I calls for $25,000 for each violation and Count III calls for $150,000 for each copyright infringed. Each Defendant is already sued for $175,000 [I]just off those two counts[/I]. [quote= Page 25, Line 30] "Preliminarily and permanently enjoining Defendants, their officers, employees, agents, subsidiaries, representatives, distributors, dealers, [I]members[/I], affiliates, and all persons acting in concert or participation with Defendants.(...)"[/quote] [B]4. [/B]Blizzard's case relies on their EULA and DMCA 17 U.S. Code § 1201 - Circumvention of copyright protection systems [1201](b)(1) [quote=Cornell Law](1) (A) No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title. The prohibition contained in the preceding sentence shall take effect at the end of the 2-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this chapter. [/quote] [B]5. [/B]This entire case is about Overwatch. They are using the cases of bots in their other games to prove that cheating results in a loss of revenue. [quote=Page 7, Line 14]"Overwatch is a highly competitive, skill-based game with a fixed set of rules and regulations that have been carefully designed to ensure that all players stand on equal footing and have a fair chance to defeat their opponents and progress in the game. Maintaining proper game balance is absolutely critical to the game’s success. Thousands of hours have been spent by Blizzard to ensure that the game is fair and fun to play. If that balance is artificially upset, or if there is a perception that some players are cheating or have an unfair advantage, then players will grow frustrated with the game and stop playing, the robust multiplayer community will wither before it takes root, and the game will not reach its full potential."[/quote] Basically: "Fuck all y'all."
I get they're trying to set a precedent, but this is way overboard and far-reaching. I don't think people who just SHARED the cheats on a forum should be held accountable the same as a developer, or even be involved in a lawsuit for that matter.
I like the idea of suing bot makers but I wonder how this is going to turn out
Good luck finding every single one who used this cheat, I think you guys are just overreacting. I like the current attitude Blizzard has though it's literally "FUCK EVERYONE THAT CHEATS" attitude that we've sorely missed.
Loss of revenue haha good one. Because banning people then those people re buying the game to cheat again is revenue loss.
[QUOTE=redBadger;50681694]Loss of revenue haha good one. Because banning people then those people re buying the game to cheat again is revenue loss.[/QUOTE] if a game gets sufficiently inundated with cheaters, the word gets out and a mass exodus can occur. Not that it's happening to Overwatch or anything, but it's always a possibility.
[QUOTE=redBadger;50681694]Loss of revenue haha good one. Because banning people then those people re buying the game to cheat again is revenue loss.[/QUOTE] The reasons they cite in the findings are: 1. Blizzard talk about how cheating harms the enjoyment of legitimate customers, and (more importantly) makes them stop playing so they don't spend money anymore. (Lost revenue on WoW subscriptions /Overwatch crates / Hearthstone cards / HoTS items) 2. Amount of money Blizzard has spent trying to counter or remediate the hacks 3. Loss of "customer goodwill" due to their apparent failure at preventing the hacks. Bad for the same reason as rampant cheating. Also did anybody else know there was a Hearthstone bot? I had no idea.
To me, this all to increase the chance of having something stick. Sort of why a simple arrest can balloon into so many charges when the DA wants to continue to trial. This is also similar to when someone sues a major corporation or government for something. They ask for a massive payout, not expecting to get it, but to get a fraction of it. Blizzard is trying to get as many chances at shutting down this cheat creation company in the legal system.
[QUOTE=Lone_Star94;50681782]To me, this all to increase the chance of having something stick. Sort of why a simple arrest can balloon into so many charges when the DA wants to continue to trial. This is also similar to when someone sues a major corporation or government for something. They ask for a massive payout, not expecting to get it, but to get a fraction of it. Blizzard is trying to get as many chances at shutting down this cheat creation company in the legal system.[/QUOTE] Basically simple procedures to make sure that the jury doesn't just dismiss the case quickly.
[QUOTE=Super Muffin;50681772]Also did anybody else know there was a Hearthstone bot? I had no idea.[/QUOTE] Yea, it was ridiculous. I ran it 24/7 for months non-stop, had it hit the Legend rank for me (top 0.5% of players) since generally computers can play cards better than a human can, got all the cards after hitting the gold cap, got all golden portraits for 9 heroes (500 ranked wins each) and enough dust to make my favorite decks in full gold. That was the only time I have ever cheated/botted in an online game. And I never got banned, not even a single warning. I still have my account with all rewards. Being able to bot 8+ hours a day even after the ban waves, I just lost interest in their games and respect for the company. You can't even log onto Diablo 2 without being spammed by botters - every lobby on the game list is a bot. You can still hack in World of Warcraft, for fucks sake. It was hard to say goodbye to wonderful games I grew up with like D2 and WoW, but I've moved on. Blizzard doesn't give a shit, and probably never will.
[QUOTE=redBadger;50681694]Loss of revenue haha good one. Because banning people then those people re buying the game to cheat again is revenue loss.[/QUOTE] a lot of games get abandoned/refunded due to massive waves of cheaters.
Oh, Sony did this long time ago with playstation chipping.
[QUOTE=polarbear.;50681865]Yea, it was ridiculous. I ran it 24/7 for months non-stop, had it hit the Legend rank for me (top 0.5% of players) since generally computers can play cards better than a human can, got all the cards after hitting the gold cap, got all golden portraits for 9 heroes (500 ranked wins each) and enough dust to make my favorite decks in full gold. That was the only time I have ever cheated/botted in an online game. And I never got banned, not even a single warning. I still have my account with all rewards. Being able to bot 8+ hours a day even after the ban waves, I just lost interest in their games and respect for the company. You can't even log onto Diablo 2 without being spammed by botters - every lobby on the game list is a bot. You can still hack in World of Warcraft, for fucks sake. It was hard to say goodbye to wonderful games I grew up with like D2 and WoW, but I've moved on. Blizzard doesn't give a shit, and probably never will.[/QUOTE] is them nuking botters from orbit with this lawsuit not giving a shit?
For what purpose tho, its like suing thepiratebay in an effort to solve your piracy problems.
[QUOTE=polarbear.;50681865]Blizzard doesn't give a shit, and probably never will.[/QUOTE] do you know what the topic of this thread is about???
[QUOTE=Cold;50682976]For what purpose tho, its like suing thepiratebay in an effort to solve your piracy problems.[/QUOTE] Yeah but surely it'll cause people within legal reach of Blizzard to think twice before developing, marketing or otherwise be involved in cheating.
[QUOTE=Mitsudigi;50683165]Yeah but surely it'll cause people within legal reach of Blizzard to think twice before developing, marketing or otherwise be involved in cheating.[/QUOTE] I doubt it.
wouldn't this open the door for suing modders
[QUOTE=Super Muffin;50681772]The reasons they cite in the findings are: 1. Blizzard talk about how cheating harms the enjoyment of legitimate customers, and (more importantly) makes them stop playing so they don't spend money anymore. (Lost revenue on WoW subscriptions /Overwatch crates / Hearthstone cards / HoTS items) 2. Amount of money Blizzard has spent trying to counter or remediate the hacks 3. Loss of "customer goodwill" due to their apparent failure at preventing the hacks. Bad for the same reason as rampant cheating. Also did anybody else know there was a Hearthstone bot? I had no idea.[/QUOTE] Some hearthstone bots are good enough that they play certain decks better than the average human player. You find bots even at the higher ranks in that game. I find it interesting, and given the nature of that game (pay up or grind for hours) I find it hard to blame botters.
[QUOTE=Wii60;50683309]wouldn't this open the door for suing modders[/QUOTE] There are already justifications for a lawsuit against modders in the DMCA. The only reason we don't see it is because it'd be hard to prove any damages. It's not worth the effort or the legal fees. We (usually) have to pay for a game to mod it or play mods in general, so it's seen as a benefit. And if a publisher wants to sell a game that banks on additional content they just won't offer any mod support.
[QUOTE=polarbear.;50681865] Blizzard doesn't give a shit, and probably never will.[/QUOTE] if this isn't them giving a shit then the only thing they can do to show they give a shit is line cheaters up in a row and shoot them in the face one by one [editline]10th July 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=FezianEmperor;50681649]Good luck finding every single one who used this cheat, I think you guys are just overreacting. I like the current attitude Blizzard has though it's literally "FUCK EVERYONE THAT CHEATS" attitude that we've sorely missed.[/QUOTE] Same logic for pirates. You'll never catch them all, but you can sue the people handing it out and/or selling it. AKA, go to the source. Piracy will never die and neither will cheating, but you can slow it down a little if you really try.
[QUOTE=Wii60;50683309]wouldn't this open the door for suing modders[/QUOTE] Didn't value already sue people who ran servers with custom weapons or something?
[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;50684422]lol their whole case rides on their EULA lmao good luck with that[/QUOTE] Probably the main reason why they're trying to avoid German Courts then.
[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;50684422]lol their whole case rides on their EULA lmao good luck with that[/QUOTE] They've won comparable previous cases, like against the Glider bot.
so instead of working to prevent cheats from working in the game, they insist on super sueing people that may also have very little to do with the cheat.
Suing cheaters seems to be in bad taste, even if the cheaters shouldn't have done it- They should approach it like valve does instead. While cheating can reduce the quality of a game, suing for THAT MUCH is, frankly, a gigantic overreaction and at the end of the day cheating just isn't worth ruining someone's life over. It just, plainly, isn't.
[QUOTE=Map in a box;50687141]so instead of working to prevent cheats from working in the game, they insist on super sueing people that may also have very little to do with the cheat.[/QUOTE] No...? They're working on both. There's already been ban-waves. Do you think their legal team and anti-cheat team are the exact same or something?
[QUOTE=Silversoda;50687361]No...? They're working on both. There's already been ban-waves. Do you think their legal team and anti-cheat team are the exact same or something?[/QUOTE] While what Blizzard may be over-stepping their bounds with what they want to accomplish, this is just a legal strategy; tack on as many offenses as possible, but in the end, the real offense sticks (hopefully). Same thing another user mentioned above. This is a step in the right direction imo. Compare this to Valve's communication and behaviour towards cheaters in their own game(s); you can't really complain about this.
How far back would you have had to accepted an Blizzard EULA to be part of the lawsuit?
[QUOTE=Kagu;50687519]While what Blizzard may be over-stepping their bounds with what they want to accomplish, this is just a legal strategy; tack on as many offenses as possible, but in the end, the real offense sticks (hopefully). Same thing another user mentioned above. This is a step in the right direction imo. Compare this to Valve's communication and behaviour towards cheaters in their own game(s); you can't really complain about this.[/QUOTE] how can one actually compare valve's lack of communication and their lack of describing how their [b]anti cheat[/b] works to blizzard potentially sueing a ton of people for a rediculous amount of money?
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.