Blizzard changes the rules for account creation in Korea – the hackers in Overwatch will be severely affected.
Hackers and cheaters are a global problem in Overwatch, but no region is hit harder than Korea, where there is almost no match without cheaters. The reason is that cheating in Korea is particularly easy and consequence-free. Most of the gaming occurs in the “PC Bangs” there.
PC Bangs are essentially internet cafes with high-performance computers, where you can play pre-installed games for an hourly fee – including Overwatch.
Cheaters create an American or European Battle.net account and log in with it at the PC Bangs – if the account is banned for cheating, they create a new one in a few seconds.
After banning thousands of players repeatedly, Blizzard is now reacting “properly” and changing the game rules in Korea. On Reddit, user lomotos10 translated Blizzard’s Korean post, which roughly includes the following points:
- “We are trying to find every possible solution to tackle script creators and their distributors, including legal consequences.”
- “Regarding issues outside the game client, we are currently addressing unusual VPN accesses from PC Bangs. (Such as individuals simulating that they are in a PC Bang and therefore enjoying all the ‘advantages.’)
The most important point is likely the last one:
- “Starting from February 17, 2017, we will change the terms of use. Foreign accounts will be able to play games in Korean PC Bangs if they have activated a game license on their account (= the game purchased). This will initially only apply to Overwatch, soon Diablo 3 and StarCraft 2 will follow. Korean accounts are not affected by this change.”
In Korea, only one account can be created per person anyway – anyone caught cheating with that account does not get a second chance.
Whether this will ultimately curb the cheaters and fraudsters remains to be seen. It will likely give the cheating player base a significant setback, as they would now have to buy a fresh copy of Overwatch every time the account is banned.
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