Blizzard Suing Starcraft II Cheat Makers

[MulletBen]

People commenting in that Kotaku thread don't seem to realize that they aren't laying legal hands on people who have downloaded hacks for their games.

The hacks that are downloaded contain large amounts of code from the game itself, i.e. code written by Blizzard. Modifying that code is one thing. Selling that code is what gets you sued.

[Gifted]

I am with the cheaters here, if a person modify's the source code which enables cheating and doesn't use it he is clean, if he uploads it, he has the right to do it as he made those changes in the code which makes him the owner of such mods, nowhere Blizzard is able to win such court case, it is Blizzard which illegaly sues people

*blinks*

There are 4 cases where Blizzard has won these cases, so that alone sets your argument of "nowhere Blizzard is able to win such court cases" to a sour start.

Analogy for everyone else:

let's say you are a trucking company. You own 10 large trucks which you use to truck products across the country. You loan out these 10 trucks to 10 different individuals so they can enjoy the use of them while earning you profit, in this case it's a win/win as you're proud of your trucks.

Let's say that someone came up and stole one of your trucks. Suddenly the system doesn't work as well, 10% of the total satisfaction you provide is removed as you don't have all the routes covered. You find a way of changing the other 9 routes a bit, but suddenly the system is slightly less enjoyable with the detours. You start to lose profits over too, due to the nature of the issue.

Suddenly the person who took the truck says "I rode in this truck all the time, it's mine! I put the gas in it, I give it a driver! I even made modifications and I let other people ride in the truck with me." People like the illegal modifications, and some even pay money to try out the illegal modifications. The reality is, the person modified a stolen truck illegally and is making money on it. You, as a truck company, don't want that modification and even made rules to say "no modifications". So you call the cops and get the people out of the stolen truck. Suddenly you have your own truck again, everything is up to 100%... or so it would seem.

But now, while some of your customers understand why you don't put in illegal modifications, because they're illegal, others want those modifications back without regarding to how legal it is. Suddenly what people were 100% happy with before are slightly unhappy. Some of those people get mad at you, the owner of the truck company, for taking away the illegal modifications which you know harm your trucks. They even say "we don't care if your truck was stolen, we LIKED the modifications!" without acknowledging how illegal they were. Others start saying "I know we signed a contract saying we are merely riding along in trucks you created, but because I ride in it all the time, and everyone else owns cars and ride in their cars all the time.. this means I own this truck when I ride it!" Because it worked for the guy who stole the truck in some small way.

Ultimately, what was a solid business before suddenly has a population that doesn't appreciate the fact that they can still ride in trucks, which is something they quite enjoy, but instead are caring about the simple modification that may make the ride the way they want it. The honest reality is, if they wanted the modification that much, they could look for another truck company that offered it and found a way to make it legal or didn't care if it was implemented, but instead they'll stay there and complain about YOUR truck company because they like your trucks.

At the end of the day, this all started with a person who stole one of your trucks, started to make a profit on it, and started a chain of events which, through means not legal in this analogy, made people dissatisfied with a product that still stands by many views as the best truck riding company in the world. In reality, a large chunk of people can't ride your trucks anymore.. which sucks, and a large chunk of people are unhappy with your trucks.

So you decide that you can take this individual to court because not only did he steal your truck, but he performed changes on the truck that are different than originally allowed and then made money on the truck. You want that money back, cause he stole your truck to make it, and you want to ask for reimbursement to damages performed to your truck company.

Analogy quirks:
Trucking Company: Blizzard
10 individuals: Users of the B.net system who paid for their ride.
Paying for the ability to Ride the truck = Getting a license to use the software
Trucks = Generally represent Bandwidth/System Stability/Quality of Product/Codebase
Stealing Truck = Unauthorized use of IP Code to make personal gains.
Illegal Modifications = Hacks
Illegality of said modifications / Law = EULA/Intellectual Property

Now don't get me wrong, I know this analogy has flaws, but I think that it's a good angle on it.

[SinsWage]

I am with the cheaters here, if a person modify's the source code which enables cheating and doesn't use it he is clean, if he uploads it, he has the right to do it as he made those changes in the code which makes him the owner of such mods, nowhere Blizzard is able to win such court case, it is Blizzard which illegaly sues people

You supporting people making money off of ruining others experience and illegal code manipulation? Inconceiveable.

[sandwich_bird]

Don't think about if Blizzard's gonna win or not. Fact of the matter is, Blizzard is a multi-billion company, they can afford to sue people. The hackers most likely can't afford to defend themselves (bunch of college kids with no real source of income I assume). It's gonna hurt them a lot more than it's gonna hurt Blizzard and that's the point of it all.

[spychi]

You supporting people making money off of ruining others experience and illegal code manipulation? Inconceiveable.

I don't support hacks themselfs, I support people who modify source codes for their own gain, they paid for the game, they have the right to change it and don't get me started with EULA rights as those are illegal at least from my POV, if you buy something, you should have the right to modify it in anyway for your own use and then sell your modifications to others if people are willing to pay for them, while the main owner of the source code shouldn't get a fucking penny for that
so I don't care for the anti-cheat crusade from Blizzard if they are breaking the law in the first place
I support modders and hackers are them, they don't take responsibility for others who use their cheats, just like drug dealers don't take responsibility for crackheads

[SinsWage]

The understanding of what you own is the problem here. You own a license, nothing more. You didn't buy the code, you payed the price of admission to blizzards amusement park. You can't change the experience and have it affect others in the park.

[spychi]

The understanding of what you own is the problem here. You own a license, nothing more. You didn't buy the code, you payed the price of admission to blizzards amusement park. You can't change the experience and have it affect others in the park.

this is why I don't accept the EULA rights, this is why I think those are illegal rights and against constitution

[MajinX]

this is why I don't accept the EULA rights, this is why I think those are illegal rights and against constitution

:S so ur problem here isnt with blizzard or anything but with wat you think our rights are when buying products in the first place. well in that case ur not only fighting blizzard ppl now but most of the world who sells products this way...

[Gradius]

I don't support hacks themselfs, I support people who modify source codes for their own gain

Welcome to simple logic class 101 by professor gradius.

You claim that people modifying source code and distributing it is ok. This includes hacks, since you are defending the hack creator in this thread. Therefore you think hacks should be ok to distribute. Therefore you support hacks.

they have the right to change it and don't get me started with EULA rights as those are illegal at least from my POV, if you buy something, you should have the right to modify it in anyway for your own use and then sell your modifications to others if people are willing to pay for them, while the main owner of the source code shouldn't get a fucking penny for that

You are not buying a car. You are buying software. There are different rules for the sale of software because of how easily it can be replicated. The only people that could have as absurd a position on this topic as you do are people who never made software.

this is why I don't accept the EULA rights, this is why I think those are illegal rights and against constitution

Luckily it's not up for debate and nobody cares what you think about the EULA. The hack creators will legally go to jail as they should.

[Castozor]

If you don't like the EULA don't buy their games. Simple as that. But don't agree to them in order to play the game and then say: they are ridiculous and I'm not going to abide to them. If you do, you deserve any legal action taken against you. That's my view on it anyway and I think Blizzard is in the right here.