Recently, we’ve discussed Blizzard‘s newest change to their terms of service in regards to World of Warcraft, where the developers found it necessary to make the use of command-broadcasting software a punishable offense.
To be clear, this bans software that’s used to send command inputs to multiple clients of World of Warcraft at once, a strategy commonly used by gold farmers and bots. While multiboxing isn’t a bannable offense, this change affects them heavily as well.
Blizzard has made it clear that multiboxing – playing with multiple clients of World of Warcraft open at once utilizing different accounts – is not a bannable offense, and that only using the input broadcasting software will find players in hot water.
Already, after having made the announcement and change to their terms of service just a few days ago, Blizzard has begun rolling out warnings to the players that are still using the now-banned input software.
This was part of a three-part punishment system that Blizzard announced. The first offense consists of a warning, while the second is punishable with a temporary suspension, though the exact length wasn’t announced.
If a temporary suspension isn’t enough to make a player stop using the software, Blizzard is completely ready and willing to ban a player on a permanent suspension. They’ve battled bots long enough, and they seem quite serious about this new change.
“Using this software creates a detrimental gameplay experience for the majority of players in World of Warcraft,” Blizzard states in their warning. “We need to warn you that we will restrict accounts which continue to use this type of software.”
Blizzard’s warning also states that they might remove what a player gained by using this software, such as the materials, items, or currency that one gained using it. In closing, the warning states that continued action will result in additional penalties, which can include a permanent account closure.
It seems like Blizzard is fully set with these new rules, likely as one of the primary aggressive actions to battle the constant botting that the titles have been experiencing. Given that the vast majority of those using this software are bots, it’s a reasonable change.
It’s important to note that this new terms of service affects both clients of the title, including World of Warcraft: Shadowlands and World of Warcraft: Classic. No matter what client you spend most of your time on, expect to see this sort of software less often.
