Blizzard, "World of Warcraft's" developer, has recently cracked down on cheaters, or specifically, players who have used third-party hacks to obtain an in-game advantage over other players.
"We've recently taken action against a large number of World of Warcraft accounts that were found to be using third-party programs that automate gameplay, known as 'bots.' We're committed to providing an equal and fair playing field for everyone in World of Warcraft, and will continue to take action against those found in violation of our Terms of Use. Cheating of any form will not be tolerated," Blizzard Community Manager Josh Allen (Lore) said in a post.
The World of Warcraft has a subscriber base of 7.1 million people, and the ban affected 100,000 accounts. The ban prevents these users to play for the next six months, which is not bad compared to the permanent lifetime ban Blizzard previously imposed on botters, according to Kotaku.
The ban does not only affect gamers who literally use a program to automate all of their character's actions. Any player found to be using any kind of app to automate anything on his or her characters, even a minor thing, is eligible for punishment, according to PCMag.
"Botting is defined as automation of any action, not just character movement. If a program is pressing keys for you, you've violated the ToU," Blizzard Community Manager Bashiok posted on Twitter.
Botting is defined as automation of any action, not just character movement. If a program is pressing keys for you, you've violated the ToU.
— Bashiok (@Bashiok) May 13, 2015
