Last month Blizzard warned StarCraft II players who have been using hacks to cheat in the multiplayer leagues that they would be cracking down on such behaviour.<\/p>\n
“Blizzard Entertainment has always taken cheating in any form in Blizzard games very seriously, and that’s no different for StarCraft II. If a StarCraft II player is found to be cheating or using hacks or modifications in any form, then as outlined in our end user license agreement, that player can be permanently banned from the game. This means that the player will be permanently unable to log in to Battle.net to play StarCraft II with his or her account.”<\/em><\/p>\n The developer today announced that it has banned over 5,000 players for doing just that.<\/p>\n “We recently took action, including suspensions and bans, on over 5,000 StarCraft II players who were in violation of the Battle.net Terms of Use for cheating and\/or using hack programs while playing. In addition to undermining the spirit of fair competition that’s essential to play on Battle.net, cheating and hacking can lead to stability and performance issues with the service. Maintaining a stable, safe, and secure online-gaming experience for legitimate players is a top priority for us, and we’ll be continuing to keep watch on Battle.net and take action as needed.”<\/em><\/p>\n For players banned from playing StarCraft II, their only option to continue playing is to buy another copy of the game and open a new Battle.net account.<\/p>\n