Game players say Blizzard invades privacy

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Right to Control Cheating - Response....: Yes, Blizzard does have a right to try and stop cheaters but, while there have been some valid arguments on this point the fact is that the Consumer is at a disadvantage.

One person brought up the fact that it does not state the terms of any such scanning on the box. What this means is that consumer is not aware of such practices until one opens the box and then chooses to READ the EULA (which most retail outlets will NOT let you return a software product after it?s has been opened). The fact is that Blizzard is not offering a refund for anyone who does not agree with practice and has opened the product. The consumer is left to own a product that they can not use. This is like purchasing a car and the after you get it and drive home, the manual states that a black box will be installed in your car to track your activities (downloaded of course every time you get your car serviced). Yeah you can refuse not to drive your car or get it serviced but then you have a car you paid for and now you can?t use. Along with this you don?t have an option to return it without of course legal recourse ? Now does anyone thinks this would stand up in court? [It?s the most dramatic example I had ? so please excuse me].

Now I have not seen anyone bring up the fact that most consumers are not necessarily that savvy on what such scanning may open them up for (you can see this fact in the proliferation of virus, email hoaxes, etc. - everyone?s been warned of these facts but, it still proliferates) and as such I must admit that displaying the scanning on the box or providing a refund would not be enough to dissuade these people.

But, the fact is there are, other ways to determine or statistically reduce the possibility of identify cheaters but it take a different approach: 1) Provide a pop-up (as someone suggested) requesting the right to scan ONLY memory resident programs when playing WoW and provide an opt-out / opt-in selection along with the EULA during login [most people would not opt-out due to the fact that they have nothing to hide and it?s a simple scan ? look at the Valve software survey on its Steam service]; 2) This opt-in/out would allow Blizzards to focus its efforts on the select number of accounts which opted-out. Then Blizzard could scan these accounts for abnormalities WITHIN the game world (i.e. abnormally increasing stats, character anomalies, inflated kill rates etc.) and not on consumers? files and folders on their PC?s (since such a scan could bring up many false positives ? since no one knows how the scanning is conducted).

Well I think I stated my 2 cents (or more) and along with everyone else?s comments this one has been beaten to death. I think in the very near future someone will challenge this notion legally but, with a little creativity and choice for the consumer Blizzard could still meet it mandate to stop cheaters and not alienate it customer base.; Posted by: M54Me Posted on: 08/14/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use