Over 100,000 accounts banned in World of Warcraft
Blizzard announced that they take serious actions against the players using bots – third-party programs that automate gameplay. Up till today, a six-months ban was imposed on over 100,000 accounts.
There is turmoil in Azeroth. Last week, we found out that during the last 3 months, the number of subscribers in World of Warcraft decreased by 3 million (which still gives an impressive total of 7.1 million), and now it’s dropping down further by 100,000. This decrease is a result of the decisive actions undertaken by Blizzard that aimed at getting rid of the players using bots.
World of Warcraft needs no introduction – it’s the most popular MMORPG, which, in its peak moment (the turn of 2010 and 2011), could take pride in having about 12 million subscribers. Although the number has decreased since then, Blizzard still draws massive numbers of players, mainly thanks to the constant upgrades and regularly released expansions. The last expansion – Warlords of Draenor – was released in November last year.
“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.” – the developers informed on the game’s forums. All the players using similar solutions will be banned, irrespective of whether they use bots for simple tasks or PVP encounters . “If a program is pressing keys for you, you've violated the ToU” – said on Twitter Micah „Bashiok” Whipple, Blizzard’s Community Manager. “Cheating of any form will not be tolerated.” – Blizzard representatives assure, and request the players to report everyone suspected of using bots. As you can see in this screenshot taken during the conversation with one of the Game Masters, over 100,000 accounts were banned so far.
The compulsory rest from World of Warcraft will not be a permanent one, as the ban expires after six months, giving the cheaters a chance to redeem themselves. Meanwhile, honest players can wait for the next expansion already announced in October, this time without having to worry about bot users.
