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These bans also block the single player mode?! That is absolutely absurd. False bans for multiplayer aren't anything new (unfortunately), but also blocking the

These bans also block the single player mode?! That is absolutely absurd. False bans for multiplayer aren't anything new (unfortunately), but also blocking the singleplayer mode, making the purchased product 100% unusable seems criminal.

meibo 4y ago
This is what happens if you "buy" Activision/Blizzard software - they're driving the service model to the max and will exploit it as much and as deeply as possible. They're the worst of the worst and anyone familiar with their games will tell you the same. In the end, there's nothing you can do but to put your money into games that respect you as a customer, which is very rare in AAA. These companies hate you. No one will listen to you and nothing will change, as it's extremely profitable. No one will regulate it. In 3 weeks, a dev there will notice that some updater code can break game files which flags people's accounts or something like that, it'll be quietly patched and everybody will forget about it.
- TAForObvReasons 4y ago
  Google is the worst of the worst. At least you can easily choose not to play Activison games. It's much harder to choose not to participate in the Google ecosystem, and actions in one service or account can have deep repercussions to other services and "associated" accounts. Appealing to an actual Google support human being is seemingly impossible
- blue039 4y ago
  its not just Activision/Blizzard. Single player bans are in a lot of AAAs. > In the end, there's nothing you can do but to put your money into games that respect Could always pick up a copy of IDA... > In 3 weeks, a dev there will notice that some updater code can break game files which flags people's accounts or something like that, it'll be quietly patched and everybody will forget about it. As a side note if you want some fun you should fire up wireshark when you're playing a game and watch how much "metadata" is sent from your PC to the game company. They know more about you than your doctor in some cases. EasyAntiCheat and Denuvo seem to be the worst offenders.
  - rootw0rm 4y ago
    Re: metadata, this is very true. Unfortunately it's also more common for it to be encrypted these days. Even more of a reason to bust out the IDA
  - simiones 4y ago
    What is IDA? The only thing I've found is the International Development Association affiliated with the World Bank, which doesn't seem likely...
    - weeeeelp 4y ago
      It's a disassembler/binary analysis tool, widely used for creating, for example, cracks/executable patches for games and other programs. https://hex-rays.com/ida-pro/ https://hex-rays.com/ida-pro/
  - seanw444 4y ago
    This is why my games run in a Windows VM, which touches none of my personal info. The most they know about me is my dark mode preference, monitor size / model, CPU, and GPU. Everything else is abstracted. It can't see any of my storage space. Only the virtual disks I have for booting the VM, and games.
    - ridgered4 4y ago
      A lot of games anticheat detects and bans if you're in a VM. It seems like it is only for multiplayer though (for now anyway...until they think you might be getting free DLC pants for your single player character).
      - seanw444 4y ago
        A lot of them are pretty easy to bypass. EAC is one. Been playing a game with a friend that uses it for the last month or so, and it's been smooth, ever since I must've discovered what they use to check.
BlueTemplar 4y ago
Yeah, but then ActiBlizz has been doing the "online only" thing at least since Starcraft 2 (2010), also removing multiplayer not through Blizzard's servers in the process ! And they recently did the same with the Diablo 2 """remaster""", preventing multiplayer-heavy mods running in the regular online mode from operating !! (They are not allowed on battle.net, partially for anti-cheating reasons of course.) Meanwhile other games still allow normal connection through IP/server name, provide a matchmaking server for players to organize their games, including modded ones, and provide an *optional* ban list for server owners using the official matchmaker to enforce on the worst offenders that in no way affects the singleplayer or the direct connection multiplayer experience !
- jersak 4y ago
  I've always enjoyed playing and modding D2, so when D2R launched I bought it and again went into modding and what not, all single player. A while after that i got an email saying i had been banned. I tried hopping on a single player game and it worked so i didn't care too much since i don't play online anyways. However, to my surprise, 30 days after the ban when i tried to play i was greeted by a message saying that i had been offline for too long and needed to log back in to "verify ownership" of the game, which i obviously couldnt since i got banned, so i couldn't even play offline/single player. Luckily i managed to get in touch with an understanding support rep who unbanned me, but not without a "stop modding if you don't wanna get banned again" message, which is absurd. I paid for the game and i should be able to do whatever i want with it within the confines of my own computer.
  - cpv 4y ago
    > I paid for the game and i should be able to do whatever i want with it within the confines of my own computer. Most of the time you buy a one time license to use the software, which is tied to your account and platform.
    - smaudet 4y ago
      It's still your platform, though. "License" is not a contract, you paid them not the other way around. What they are doing is probably illegal nevermind immoral. I.e. it is a form of slavery, which I guess you are paying for? Which is a type of scam. The mgmt who work at these AAA shops belong in the dumpster bin of humanity. You hand over rights to your platform which you, not they, bought and paid for, and provide them with lucrative information, and are now bound to do whatever they say? Some hot nonsense, if I ever heard it.
emsixteen 4y ago
My XBL 2001 account got permabanned with 10~ years of purchased content on there, all my network of friends and leaderboard achievements and the likes, the works. Lost access to literally everything that wasn't on-disc, and appeals didn't help. I'd had one genuine temp-ban beforehand, and my theory is over the years I got enough reports from opponents that they just built up into saying t'ra to my account and purchases. Yay, right?

meibo 4y ago

This is what happens if you "buy" Activision/Blizzard software - they're driving the service model to the max and will exploit it as much and as deeply as possible. They're the worst of the worst and anyone familiar with their games will tell you the same. In the end, there's nothing you can do but to put your money into games that respect you as a customer, which is very rare in AAA. These companies hate you. No one will listen to you and nothing will change, as it's extremely profitable. No one will regulate it. In 3 weeks, a dev there will notice that some updater code can break game files which flags people's accounts or something like that, it'll be quietly patched and everybody will forget about it.

TAForObvReasons 4y ago
Google is the worst of the worst. At least you can easily choose not to play Activison games. It's much harder to choose not to participate in the Google ecosystem, and actions in one service or account can have deep repercussions to other services and "associated" accounts. Appealing to an actual Google support human being is seemingly impossible
blue039 4y ago
its not just Activision/Blizzard. Single player bans are in a lot of AAAs. > In the end, there's nothing you can do but to put your money into games that respect Could always pick up a copy of IDA... > In 3 weeks, a dev there will notice that some updater code can break game files which flags people's accounts or something like that, it'll be quietly patched and everybody will forget about it. As a side note if you want some fun you should fire up wireshark when you're playing a game and watch how much "metadata" is sent from your PC to the game company. They know more about you than your doctor in some cases. EasyAntiCheat and Denuvo seem to be the worst offenders.
- rootw0rm 4y ago
  Re: metadata, this is very true. Unfortunately it's also more common for it to be encrypted these days. Even more of a reason to bust out the IDA
- simiones 4y ago
  What is IDA? The only thing I've found is the International Development Association affiliated with the World Bank, which doesn't seem likely...
  - weeeeelp 4y ago
    It's a disassembler/binary analysis tool, widely used for creating, for example, cracks/executable patches for games and other programs. https://hex-rays.com/ida-pro/ https://hex-rays.com/ida-pro/
- seanw444 4y ago
  This is why my games run in a Windows VM, which touches none of my personal info. The most they know about me is my dark mode preference, monitor size / model, CPU, and GPU. Everything else is abstracted. It can't see any of my storage space. Only the virtual disks I have for booting the VM, and games.
  - ridgered4 4y ago
    A lot of games anticheat detects and bans if you're in a VM. It seems like it is only for multiplayer though (for now anyway...until they think you might be getting free DLC pants for your single player character).
    - seanw444 4y ago
      A lot of them are pretty easy to bypass. EAC is one. Been playing a game with a friend that uses it for the last month or so, and it's been smooth, ever since I must've discovered what they use to check.

BlueTemplar 4y ago

Yeah, but then ActiBlizz has been doing the "online only" thing at least since Starcraft 2 (2010), also removing multiplayer not through Blizzard's servers in the process ! And they recently did the same with the Diablo 2 """remaster""", preventing multiplayer-heavy mods running in the regular online mode from operating !! (They are not allowed on battle.net, partially for anti-cheating reasons of course.) Meanwhile other games still allow normal connection through IP/server name, provide a matchmaking server for players to organize their games, including modded ones, and provide an *optional* ban list for server owners using the official matchmaker to enforce on the worst offenders that in no way affects the singleplayer or the direct connection multiplayer experience !

jersak 4y ago
I've always enjoyed playing and modding D2, so when D2R launched I bought it and again went into modding and what not, all single player. A while after that i got an email saying i had been banned. I tried hopping on a single player game and it worked so i didn't care too much since i don't play online anyways. However, to my surprise, 30 days after the ban when i tried to play i was greeted by a message saying that i had been offline for too long and needed to log back in to "verify ownership" of the game, which i obviously couldnt since i got banned, so i couldn't even play offline/single player. Luckily i managed to get in touch with an understanding support rep who unbanned me, but not without a "stop modding if you don't wanna get banned again" message, which is absurd. I paid for the game and i should be able to do whatever i want with it within the confines of my own computer.
- cpv 4y ago
  > I paid for the game and i should be able to do whatever i want with it within the confines of my own computer. Most of the time you buy a one time license to use the software, which is tied to your account and platform.
  - smaudet 4y ago
    It's still your platform, though. "License" is not a contract, you paid them not the other way around. What they are doing is probably illegal nevermind immoral. I.e. it is a form of slavery, which I guess you are paying for? Which is a type of scam. The mgmt who work at these AAA shops belong in the dumpster bin of humanity. You hand over rights to your platform which you, not they, bought and paid for, and provide them with lucrative information, and are now bound to do whatever they say? Some hot nonsense, if I ever heard it.

emsixteen 4y ago

My XBL 2001 account got permabanned with 10~ years of purchased content on there, all my network of friends and leaderboard achievements and the likes, the works. Lost access to literally everything that wasn't on-disc, and appeals didn't help. I'd had one genuine temp-ban beforehand, and my theory is over the years I got enough reports from opponents that they just built up into saying t'ra to my account and purchases. Yay, right?