Blizzard denies banning Linux players from Diablo III

There are two sides to every story. That’s just how it works. I mean, did you ever watch that movie The Hole? Exactly.

Okay, so maybe the rumours that Blizzard has been banning players from Diablo III for running the game on Linux don’t involve any unrequited love or murder conspiracies (yet), but maybe that’s not the whole story either.

Yesterday, a bunch of people took to the official Diablo III forums to complain that they’d been banned for using the Linux. The offence cited was “unapproved third party software”. So far, so predictable internet outrage, but Blizzard has now claimed that the bans were not, in fact, issued for using Linux.

“We’ve extensively tested for false positive situations, including replicating system setups for those who have posted claiming they were banned unfairly,” Blizzard community man Micah “Bashiok” Whipple said on the forum.

“We’ve not found any situations that could produce a false positive, have found that the circumstances for which they were banned were clear and accurate, and we are extremely confident in our findings.”

He added that “Playing the game on Linux, although not officially supported, will not get you banned – cheating will.”

So they-said, he-said, and on it goes. The truth is out there. I’m still holding out on some unrequited love and murder conspiracy. Or maybe aliens. I’m not fussy.