[s]battlenet[/s]
Should sharing accounts be considered cheating? Heated debates started in the forums at WCReplays regarding the 16 invited players for the Season 4 Regional Qualifier. Players accusing eachother of cheating filled up 15 pages in the forum post, excluding the other thread at the official Battle.Net forum.
Account sharing happens often in the the normal Battle.Net ladders, to help your team mate level up, get an icon or just practicing in secret. This is not consindered cheating, and Blizzard has put up no rules about it either.
But what if it happens when it's an invite ladder with prize money at stake and a free ticket to the regional offline qualifier? Is it still considered cheating? Among the American players, some say it is cheating - some do not. In the rules of this invite ladder it says that "Any cheating, perceived cheating, or griefing, as determined by Blizzard in its sole discretion, will disqualify Entrants."
The ones who shared accounts do this openly. Seven of the players in the Top 16 are from verGe-Gaming and they say in these threads that they were sharing accounts. MonteCristo, leader of verGe-Gaming says that they have not broken any rules. Though he agrees to what many says that the system is not good enough.
- I agree that they should change the system, but until then everyone will be pulling these tricks. He also says that this is not only in the American server, and that he knows others doing the same.
- I won't call these individuals out, but this is not an incident isolated to Verge by a long shot.
There were account sharing issues in past Battle.Net tournaments, as Shortround was playing under MonteCristo's account on the ladder. This was not considered cheating from Blizzard's side. And as Jaczie Lo writes in her in-depth article about this subject, Blizzard is usually quick to address any form of cheating. One of USA's top players, Rainman, says that no rules whatsover was broken.
- No legal or ethical boundaries were crossed, he says. Rainman further says that if they were asked to stop they would have.
One of the players who did not reach the Top 16 is Axslav. He is against this, and posted a thread in the Battle.Net forum for Blizzard's rule on the matter. After a couple of days it does not seem Blizzard is going to do anything about it. The Top 16 players have received their invitation to the regional final in New York - a trip with all expenses paid.
Whether this is something Blizzard intend to change for the next season is not yet known. None of the Blizzard staff has posted anything about it. As Zerter writes in the comments at the article at GotFrag, it is up to Blizzard to decide.
- The fact remains that Blizzard gets to decide whats cheating and what isn't, and according to them this just isn't.
Neither has anything been announced where the regional final will take place, except in the invitation mails to the players. It is going to be played this weekend, November 11th in New York.
Links
GotFrag.com - Source
WCReplays.com - Heated debate 1
Battle.Net - Heated debate 2
verGe has seven of the spots in the Top 16 of the Battle.Net Ladder Season 4 Playoffs, and they openly say they have been helping eachother out to reach the top. Is account sharing considered cheating? That is the question which the heated debates at WCReplays and the Battle.Net forum is about.
Should sharing accounts be considered cheating? Heated debates started in the forums at WCReplays regarding the 16 invited players for the Season 4 Regional Qualifier. Players accusing eachother of cheating filled up 15 pages in the forum post, excluding the other thread at the official Battle.Net forum.
Account sharing happens often in the the normal Battle.Net ladders, to help your team mate level up, get an icon or just practicing in secret. This is not consindered cheating, and Blizzard has put up no rules about it either.
But what if it happens when it's an invite ladder with prize money at stake and a free ticket to the regional offline qualifier? Is it still considered cheating? Among the American players, some say it is cheating - some do not. In the rules of this invite ladder it says that "Any cheating, perceived cheating, or griefing, as determined by Blizzard in its sole discretion, will disqualify Entrants."
MonteCristo: "They should change the system"
The ones who shared accounts do this openly. Seven of the players in the Top 16 are from verGe-Gaming and they say in these threads that they were sharing accounts. MonteCristo, leader of verGe-Gaming says that they have not broken any rules. Though he agrees to what many says that the system is not good enough.
- I agree that they should change the system, but until then everyone will be pulling these tricks. He also says that this is not only in the American server, and that he knows others doing the same.
- I won't call these individuals out, but this is not an incident isolated to Verge by a long shot.
Account sharing before - Blizzard did nothing
There were account sharing issues in past Battle.Net tournaments, as Shortround was playing under MonteCristo's account on the ladder. This was not considered cheating from Blizzard's side. And as Jaczie Lo writes in her in-depth article about this subject, Blizzard is usually quick to address any form of cheating. One of USA's top players, Rainman, says that no rules whatsover was broken.
- No legal or ethical boundaries were crossed, he says. Rainman further says that if they were asked to stop they would have.
One of the players who did not reach the Top 16 is Axslav. He is against this, and posted a thread in the Battle.Net forum for Blizzard's rule on the matter. After a couple of days it does not seem Blizzard is going to do anything about it. The Top 16 players have received their invitation to the regional final in New York - a trip with all expenses paid.
Whether this is something Blizzard intend to change for the next season is not yet known. None of the Blizzard staff has posted anything about it. As Zerter writes in the comments at the article at GotFrag, it is up to Blizzard to decide.
- The fact remains that Blizzard gets to decide whats cheating and what isn't, and according to them this just isn't.
Neither has anything been announced where the regional final will take place, except in the invitation mails to the players. It is going to be played this weekend, November 11th in New York.
Links
GotFrag.com - Source
WCReplays.com - Heated debate 1
Battle.Net - Heated debate 2
