Spreading Leaked Test Client Content and You: The Story of the Banhammer

[DivA]

Hello friends!

There have been several cases recently of our private test client information being leaked from SBT. We pour a lot of effort into not only creating content, but to regulate its exposure and release schedules. Where we have caught leakers, we've punished them to the fullest extent. However, it is unrealistic for there to never be any leaks, accidental or intentional. So, from now on, we're implementing a zero tolerance policy regarding the spreading of leaked test client materials. If you do happen to hear some juicy bits about upcoming content, please keep it to yourself and respect what we're trying to do here at S2. We try to be as transparent as possible regarding our design direction and process, but running around spamming leaked information because it makes you feel important is not very nice. And it makes the bunnies sad.

Summary: If you intentionally post and spread leaked material or information from the test client, we don't care where you got it from, you will be banned. Not just from the forums, your account will be completely deactivated. This

Edit: This is not a super harsh purge incoming message- it is merely a fair warning to all those who repeatedly and maliciously, with full intent and knowledge of what they're doing, leak upcoming content on upcoming material. As I said in my original post, we are already tracking our leaks in SBT and doing all we can there, but there is a lot of second-hand leak spreading going on that is unacceptable.

Please note that we encourage speculation and discussion on upcoming content and people guessing about upcoming stuff will not be victim to false punishment. It's pretty obvious, though, when people purposely leak every detail about an upcoming hero or post screenshots of soon-to-come goodies.

Have a nice day :scou:
Have

[Rassiter]

this is good to hear

[Turbo_]

Hmm, I see.

[PredatorX]

sounds painful! :(

[DrFishStick]

For great HONOR!

:jera:

[True`Hero]

What if you didnt know it was leaked info!!! =[

[TheRedRager]

spoilers: Aluna is actually a man, I have test client leak info.

1stv

[Exocet]

The Kraken is ready to be released!

[Slapyousilly]

What got leaked that made you want to post this?

[kippetje]

spoilers: Aluna is actually a man, I have test client leak info.
She does have a stick :(

[Angusiasty]

Aluna will have alt avatar. Pls don't ban me :(

[PoscheL]

Nice!
maybe forum will calm down a bit no more people refreshing pages every 0,2 seconds on fridays.
THX!

Anyway: surprises are no surprises if leaked! would be like christmas in july :/

[lorddaniel]

Warned.

[xmangosx]

Lesson learned: Don't trust people on the internet.

[LazerApple]

s2 wants moneys GIVE ME WHAT THEY WANT!!!

[Kokuyo]

Only a small part of HoN's player base (the ones that payed 30$) is allowed to know all about S2's plans.
The rest (the ones who payed 30$) must NEVER EVER know what S2 is planning to introduce in the next patch.

[CrashBashL]

lack of love in your life

now hold on there miss.
a little more respect for your customers please.

i have a wife 10x more beautiful than you are.
the lack of love is comming from you.

thx. have a nice day.

[sillent]

pwned. well played sir

[Syxril]

Communism at it's finest

[Weasleface]

HEY GUYS, I HEARD A NEW HERO ALUNA IS COMING OUT TODAY LOLOLOL

leaked

[DivA]

Dude, I'm a dude. And that statement isn't general, it's directed at those who attention whore by spreading leaked info :)

[Breast]

probably doesn't help when it's one of your moderators doing it

sup china

[tw0str0ke]

They're already dead :scou:

[LazerApple]

HoN is dead gg

[SuperFly]

What if you have to take a leak?

[Pebbles]

*gulp*

[Midnightoil]

ok i learn my lesson im a guf boi now

[CrashBashL]

Dude, I'm a dude. And that statement isn't general, it's directed at those who attention whore by spreading leaked info :)

then im 10x more awesome than you are!! :))
thats why I RECIEVE so much love from my wife
:P

[qazqazqaz]

What got leaked that made you want to post this?

Maybe the thing that russians leaked aluna skills and *smth else* way before she was even announced.

[Ashlan]

Hello friends!

And it makes the bunnies sad.

Have a nice day :scou:
Have

What ? did you just said predator bunny won the alt avatar contest? ;)

[MaxGhost]

The hero's ability descriptions are in the Stringtables of the current version... sooo...

[X_Raider]

And if I heard a rumor, asking the forum and it turning out to be true ? To tell you the truth this is kinda scary.

[Kartalov]

So which information was leaked ? :o Because i definitely haven't heard anything since Aluna..

[ClamSlammer]

Video games are serious business, lul.

I'll just google the patch notes.

[MKMaxthrotle]

how bout u follow ur own words and stop misleading ur customers and be disrepsektful to us and we will stop it to u we have no respekt for u right now how u treat ur customers and make false promises all the time so u can melk them for cash in ur game store :)

[stat1ck_]

#31 wins.

[Divaa]

U stole my nickname

[tw0str0ke]

Respekt

[Dadoon]

Obviously this only applies to communication channels where you are aware of the identity of the users (ie. here and in-game chat and chat channels and maybe IRC), I can see already leakers posting changelogs on Wikileaks.

Unless maybe you would a way to deliver a personalised/watermarked version to every single pre-release tester, for example Timothy gets a version were additionally to all the changes Maliken is given a funny-looking hat, so that if you see somewhere reported as going to be in the next version you know where to plug the hole. ;)

Still, from I fail to see the rationale behind this, I doubt that changelog leaks might lead to any commercial loss.

/edit: Wait, or is this some sort of marketing ploy?

[Grigden]

i didnt know people did this, could we have some examples? not about new info leaked, but maybe some stories of past times

also, any chance of a stonger policy about trolling? anyone who makes a post with nothing but "#/10", "first", or just a quote from earlier in the thread and a stupid insult or something useless. also anyone who starts a thread asking about when a patch is, or new hero they think is coming

you need to crack down harder, or they wont respect you!

[Kalium]

They are reworking scout, and his vanish skill will caus--- ##

(User was banned for this post)



joke

[MohJ]

Fascism.

[flint88]

Julian Assange strikes again...

[MaxGhost]

Julian Assange strikes again...

I lold

[daretheninja]

users disregarding this notice will have :nigh: sent to their home. he won't do anything, he'll just stand there and make you feel really damn uncomfortable.

[Midnightoil]

MAXGHOSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[LoOLwuT]

thats the dumbest thing i have ever heard.
>post something in forums
>s2 mad= there goes 30 bucks + all the crap you bought in the $scam$ shop
freaking ridiculous.
son i am disappoint

[Dadoon]

users disregarding this notice will have :nigh: sent to their home. he won't do anything, he'll just stand there and make you feel really damn uncomfortable.Lvl 6?

[LilDiddly]

Engineer is being reverted back to his original creation.

You heard it here first.

[ImmortalTecz]

Release the banhammer!

[MaxGhost]

users disregarding this notice will have :nigh: sent to their home. he won't do anything, he'll just stand there and make you feel really damn uncomfortable.

I lold again

[Zelfana]

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l5se1iTR0T1qz4w1go1_500.jpg

[Schirokko]

Julian Assange strikes again...
conspiracy conspiracy conspiracy

[RyHon]

I am also disappoint. How is someone supposed to differentiate between what is leaked and what was displayed in the last newsletter/sticky regarding the patch in progress. Shall we all go through those threads before we post anything to make sure it was not leaked?

Also, how is information leakage detrimental in any way?

[LoOLwuT]

is this a troll post or is he cereal?

[innorruck]

YAY!!!!! At last S2 reacts. GO GO S2

[Tropicocity]

Hello friends!

There have been several cases recently of our private test client information being leaked from SBT. We pour a lot of effort into not only creating content, but to regulate its exposure and release schedules. Where we have caught leakers, we've punished them to the fullest extent. However, it is unrealistic for there to never be any leaks, accidental or intentional. So, from now on, we're implementing a zero tolerance policy regarding the spreading of leaked test client materials. If you do happen to hear some juicy bits about upcoming content, please keep it to yourself and respect what we're trying to do here at S2. We try to be as transparent as possible regarding our design direction and process, but running around spamming leaked information because it makes you feel better about yourself and the lack of love in your life is not very nice. And it makes the bunnies sad.

Summary: If you intentionally post and spread leaked material or information from the test client, we don't care where you got it from, you will be banned. Not just from the forums, your account will be completely deactivated. This

Have a nice day :scou:
Have

Now now Diva, you ruined your otherwise professionally-sound and respectable post with a comment insinuating that those who hear information (ultimately part of your player base) are lacking in love.

Your mature and well-presented post was demeaned by a childish snide remark. Not that it'll bother you in the slightest though!

[Lava]

How long till 'users who didn't purchase at least 500 gold coins will get their account suspended'? :)

[Dadoon]

Shouldn't you ban also for posting alleged leaks? This way we (the users) won't be able to differentiate which leaks were correct and which fake.

[MaxGhost]

is this a troll post or is he cereal?

I was being sereal.

Go open resources0.s2z, go in the stringtables folder, open entities_en.str in notepad, search for Aluna and SabotageKit. Rejoice.

[LoOLwuT]

How long till 'users who didn't purchase at least 500 gold coins will get their account suspended'? :)


^this.
pretty soon you will have to buy gold coins so that you can buy mm games so that you can play. they will make you BUY COINS TO PLAY A GAME!!!!!!!!

you heard it here first folks

[Rignite]

Wait wait let me get this straight

You're going to go ahead and have a zero tolerance on this, but when it comes to something easily far more important like the game ruining griefers and trolls you've gotta deciding game after game, you're going to have a mostly hands off approach?

What the hell has happened to you these last couple months S2? I feel like we've grown apart and I hardly know you anymore. What the hell gives?

[Soblane]

uh banning real account is retarded. who cares i can probably go to pastebin and find out the changes in 30s

[Decatf]

Make it more interesting. Let's see some rape charges against alleged leakers. <.<

[Mazinkaiser]

Needs more :krak:

[Soblane]

I was being sereal.

Go open resources0.s2z, go in the stringtables folder, open entities_en.str in notepad, search for Aluna and SabotageKit. Rejoice.
holy ****
isnt this just what diva warned about


(thx for the tip)

[Soblane]

although i guess it's kind of useless without knowing what to search for.
any program that compares 2 text files and points out the differences?

[BobSaggot]

This is completely redic.

S2 nobody cares about your SBT club it honestly shouldn't matter at all for people to know what you're working on

There is no difference between real SBT info and fake SBT info... it can be discuss to NO HARM either way

But whatever... "ban hammer" people, make things even worse for your rep

[Simon493]

If you transformed a *****y 12 year old girl into a company it would be S2

[MaxGhost]

although i guess it's kind of useless without knowing what to search for.
any program that compares 2 text files and points out the differences?

Notepad++ does it. There's tons of programs that do it actually. Many are free.

[Soblane]

this doesnt make any sense though.
they patched in alunas new skills in 2.0.15 or what? how did that text make it in our files

(pls dont ban me diva i didnt break any rules)

[MaxGhost]

this doesnt make any sense though.
they patched in alunas new skills in 2.0.15 or what? how did that text make it in our files

They probably wrote the stringtables early and it somehow got patched in with the test patch stuff for 2.0.14

[Testingrani]

Yes, S2 should be more strict with the HoN leaks.

[Yunak]

Really? Are you nuts?

SBTs have agreed to keep the info private. If leaked, they should be punished.

Normal players did no such thing. Not only may they not know what is a leaked information, they are also not obligated to read all the forum for random rules by random people. OK?

[Yoekix]

somehow i get the feeling when dota 2 is out, many people will start doing shitty things against s2 just to get their account banned like they want to say "i don't need it anymore, *****"

[Mazinkaiser]

This is completely redic.

S2 nobody cares about your SBT club it honestly shouldn't matter at all for people to know what you're working on

There is no difference between real SBT info and fake SBT info... it can be discuss to NO HARM either way

But whatever... "ban hammer" people, make things even worse for your rep

SBT Leaker spotted :krak:

[Rignite]

somehow i get the feeling when dota 2 is out, many people will start doing shitty things against s2 just to get their account banned like they want to say "i don't need it anymore, *****"

I never thought I'd say this but with their actions lately I may just very well be one of this people.

What's funny is how I'm more sad about the way S2 has become than angry about it. I want my old S2 back ;.;

[Destro]

I KNOW SECRET STUFF.

However the banhammer scares me D:

I've never leaked anything from the Savage2 days all the way to hon. PFFF

[MKMaxthrotle]

Hey s2 if i didnt agree to none that stuff u cant ban me for it im not 1 of ur testers
u can only ban pepel u give the info to and its ur own fault dont take it out on the pepel that pay for u to have ur dream job

[Disco_Bison]

I will never leak again I promise :(

[angrad]

so if you can't do your job and you hire 10 year olds to work for you it is our responsibility to maintain a professional image for S2.


good to know you're incompetent.

[Limited]

S2, okay you're cool :)

[Nekros]

Communism at it's finest
i hope you didnt mean that as an insult. Seeing as how proper communism is practically a classless utopia where nobody is better than the other and everyone has what they want in life.

[Somersby]

i hope you didnt mean that as an insult. Seeing as how proper communism is practically a classless utopia where nobody is better than the other and everyone has what they want in life.

:D:D:D:D:

[Ben_Dunder]

You might want to include this in a newsletter, in case someone missed it.

Just sayin'

[fabulousramp]

Maybe you should stop using SBT's and just close that **** down for you and the pros only?

Also I thought the only reason you don't want **** leaked was because you don't know for sure if its going to make it in or not. You didn't want false promises. This looks like your doing some thing crazy and you don't want people to talk about it no matter what. And your only rewarding the people who already leaked stuff by doing this.

Feedin the trolls diva Feedin da trollz

[ShammySham]

now hold on there miss.
a little more respect for your customers please.

i have a wife 10x more beautiful than you are.
the lack of love is comming from you.

thx. have a nice day.
10 x 0 = 0

That's one ugly wife you got there. :\

OT: Glad to see S2 cracking down on leaks, I don't want sick patches to be spoiled!

[Rapid]

Hi i never read forums and i didnt know u posted this, what if i spoil?
just wondering cuz this thread makes no sense at all :.

[DivA]

This is not a super harsh purge incoming message- it is merely a fair warning to all those who repeatedly and maliciously, with full intent and knowledge of what they're doing, leak upcoming content on upcoming material. As I said in my original post, we are already tracking our leaks in SBT and doing all we can there, but there is a lot of second-hand leak spreading going on that is unacceptable.

Please note that we encourage speculation and discussion on upcoming content and people guessing about upcoming stuff will not be victim to false punishment. It's pretty obvious, though, when people purposely leak every detail about an upcoming hero or post screenshots of soon-to-come goodies.

[Aviseras]

I was worried I was going to be crushed for showing my icons in advance. o.O

[jaypea]

S2 never ceases to amaze.

[Duey]

S2 grew a pair, i like

[fabulousramp]

This is not a super harsh purge incoming message- it is merely a fair warning to all those who repeatedly and maliciously, with full intent and knowledge of what they're doing, leak upcoming content on upcoming material. As I said in my original post, we are already tracking our leaks in SBT and doing all we can there, but there is a lot of second-hand leak spreading going on that is unacceptable.

Please note that we encourage speculation and discussion on upcoming content and people guessing about upcoming stuff will not be victim to false punishment. It's pretty obvious, though, when people purposely leak every detail about an upcoming hero or post screenshots of soon-to-come goodies.


Thank you ever so much I retract my full statement and this needs to be in the first post.

Don't scare us Diva.

[Nero0]

um.....just wondering what will happen if someone "guesses/speculates" upcomming content and they guess right. do they get the ban hammer?

[Volko]

It's the first time of my life that I see a video game not allowing beta tester to publy their work on the public forum.

Maybe if you allow players to play on the test servers, even if the update is not funny done yet, etc, every update won't be a fail update with hotfixes.


Once again /fail S2.

[Hipster_]

HoN is dead gg

Yes HoN is a gg.

[xanderK]

I love bunnies. Don't make them sad!

[Supercheese]

Go open resources0.s2z, go in the stringtables folder, open entities_en.str in notepad, search for Aluna and SabotageKit. Rejoice.

Rejoicin'. Didn't know there was a new item - neat!

[kslghost]

I would think it's a little more fair to go after the sources of the information, and not put this ugly fascist-looking post on your general forum. I mean honestly, I support S2, but this just looks so, so dumb. It's basically a threat. To your entire user base.

[kslghost]

Just noticed the edit, and it's a little less fascist now. But you still shouldn't threaten (yes, you are still threatening) to close an account unless they were an SBT. Second-hand information is re-leaked because it is that - it is no longer a secret anyway.

[Coolcollo]

I've already looked at my s2z files after each update.

Not hiding much... <_<

And when I talk to Pudding I GUESS alot of things pretty close.

Pretty sure I can guess all the numbers on Aluna right now.

[TRYTROUSERS]

intentionally greifing 9 other players : 2 day ban

releasing materials to the forums that you can get by configging irc: PERMABANDELETEOFDOOM.

hmm.

[XeliN]

hmm my comment was strewn into the abyss, guess ill rephrase it in an acceptable form. this

"it makes you feel better about yourself and the lack of love in your life is not very nice."

reads like the type of argument//justification a highschooler might use.

[TRYTROUSERS]

its funny how they backed down from permabanning all of the griefers and rageaholics but they are so adamant in protecting their beta materials that 99% of us have no stake in because we aren't one of the three clans on honcast.

just makes you question the motives of the company i suppose.

[DivA]

Rephrased the troll/joke sentence because people take me more seriously than Troy Polamalu takes his hair~

[Flawless]

If SBTs are under NDA then whoever leaks should be sued. S2 has to make sure LoL won't copy them, and its much easier to build hype when things are still secret. ><

[Ghostly]

intentionally greifing 9 other players : 2 day ban

releasing materials to the forums that you can get by configging irc: PERMABANDELETEOFDOOM.

hmm.

You got it right on the money.

I can open up the files of which you provide to me and got tons of information.
If I post that information... is that a leak?

Oh and yeah, if you have half a brain you can go anywhere you want in IRC including invisibly joining the SBT channel.

I think S2 is right for not showing us info early...that's all good and fine. But you can't threaten permaban to paying customers because people can circumvent your security to find out about upcoming content. Thats not a good business model. Fix your end and blame yourselves... don't blame the people that are outsmarting you.

[MKMaxthrotle]

Rephrased the troll/joke sentence because people take me more seriously than Troy Polamalu takes his hair~

how about u take it like a man insted of blameing us for getting pissed offed dood?

[Schirokko]

Rephrased the troll/joke sentence because people take me more seriously than Troy Polamalu takes his hair~
He calls that thing on his head hair?
I thought it was some sort of pet he had an insurance for.

[DivA]

He does have insurance for it! Pretty amazing.

PS Idejder still owes me $100 for my Packers beating his Steelers in the Super Bowl

[Nolifer]

He does have insurance for it! Pretty amazing.

PS Idejder still owes me $100 for my Packers beating his Steelers in the Super Bowl
Good to know.

[CavitySearch]

So what happens when my friend goes "hey, i heard in the next update we're getting xxxxxxx" then I go, hey, let's post on the forums and see if this is true.

Am I suddenly in the ban hammer's way despite the fact that I am not sure if the rumor I was told was true and am asking for confirmation?

[DemoniWaari]

So what happens when my friend goes "hey, i heard in the next update we're getting xxxxxxx" then I go, hey, let's post on the forums and see if this is true.

Am I suddenly in the ban hammer's way despite the fact that I am not sure if the rumor I was told was true and am asking for confirmation?

You want to ask confirmation about a subject that was not ment to be known by anyone outside the beta group? Yeah that'll work.

[eoLithic]

as the flamboyant announcer would say "oooohhh scary"

[Pomeshnue]

This is great to hear.

[smoo]

Wow this is great!

[Altalis]

now hold on there miss.
a little more respect for your customers please.

i have a wife 10x more beautiful than you are.
the lack of love is comming from you.

thx. have a nice day.



How did you measure that?

[Khser]

so basicly if i hear something like "hon is coming to iphone" or something like that (realistic or not) from a web site like ign, gamespot, or some other local web sites, i wont be able to ask/talk/suggest anything about it?

you guys must have been lost it...... yea i am against leaking but "no question" ??? so you are basicly shuting every single person to speak anything from future versions? i seriously think you lost it.... i think its the money.... you guys were much more cool on closed beta... or even on open beta...


edit: i am so mad about this thread that i am going to create a new thread for people who thinks like me, and for the ones who are against. i am trying to choose the correct words so i wont "offend" anyone, it may take a while since english is not my primary language... but i hope i can put my thoughts into words, because i am really mad about "Hey community, STFU or i will shut it by banning you" thing.

[Blaky039]

:krak:

[Muxas]

noone wants to make me sbt so this rule dosnt apply to me , cuz i dont know anyone which is one

[korDen]

FWIW, leaks don't happen from SBT only. E.g. I heard about Sab*t*ge K*t from someone else who has private access to such information. :)

[Slithice]

damn that wikileaks guy would get his account insta-ban if he had one.

[CrashBashL]

Diva. let me ask you something.
if i say that Aluna's 3'th skill is just like the original skill build prototipe for Emphat, is bannable?
cause i dont think it is.
the original build is al over internet.
cause here on this site, was the original build(you guys gave it to us) from Empath before release, were it showed her skill that is similar to Aluna's 3'th skill.
then before release, you decided to remake her skill's (Empath's)
i only speak what you guys told us.
if so, how come a moderator keep deleating my posts after i speak about these similarities?
its "ilegal".
are you guys trying now to take away our right to speculate? talk? extrapolate? dont you dare guys..dont go there.

[miley__cyrus]

so u guys are going to get ur lawyer... ? i remember that.

[iprolyh8u]

The Kraken is ready to be released!



Aye :krak:

What about items from the old test client, back when forum 33 was used?

[SAFAD]

spoilers: Aluna is actually a man, I have test client leak info.

reported :scou:

[XeliN]

whats sabotage kit? :O

[NaNNy`]

U mad?

:D

[Steffen]

Communism at it's finest

11/9
would read again.

[Gwydion]

So in short, if you want to leak HoN content, do it on facebook or twitter where they have no power over your account :D

[KingMoila]

Original post should be put as an modification of TOS at the startup screen of HoN.

Accepting your terms of service never said I shouldn't be able to disscuss things I know. Even more, it didn't state that it gives you right to deny the use of a product I bought.

I did buy the rights to the game. Permanent ban from forums would be okay, as the same terms your product has don't apply here. However, it is hardly legal to remove rights to play the game by ruling you did in this thread.

Wouldn't really care, since I have no information about upcoming patches, but the principle is what matters.

[BleSsYou]

so will you accept new SBTs ? im still waiting for a reply on my application

[Jake]

Oh Diva! Why all the pretty girls are also so mean?

[ackwell]

... but running around spamming leaked information because it makes you feel important is not very nice. And it makes the bunnies sad.

Have


Doubt people share the information to make themselves "feel important"...
It's more likely that they share it because they want to discuss it and they are anticipating it.

In my honest opinion, I think it's ****ing crazy that you are banning people for this. What I'd actually like instead is a "SBT Blog" where a chosen group of SBT players get to share their opinions on the test client content and we, the players, get to see what they have to say.

This whole "the new heroes have to be kept secret until release" is just ridiciolous. There's no reason for it.

[CrashBashL]

thats it...
BANN us and you will be the fail dev of the year.
you have almost 40.000 players online.
you can not afford TO LOSE YOUR CUSTOMMERS.
your not a succesful company to dare speak like that to your customers.
please revise the way you talk to us.
i buy your game. i pay your game. you dont talk to me like that. do you understand?
you really expect that the ppl you ban to buy another account? you really think you can make more money like that?
ahahaha
we are waiting for you Diva to edit your first post and say you are sorry for talking that way to us..YOUR CUSTOMERS.,,us, the guys that keeps your company alive.

[incuGuS]

thats it...
BANN us and you will be the fail dev of the year.
you have almost 40.000 players online.
you can not afford TO LOSE YOUR CUSTOMMERS.
your not a succesful company to dare speak like that to your customers.
please revise the way you talk to us.
i buy your game. i pay your game. you dont talk to me like that. do you understand?
you really expect that the ppl you ban to buy another account? you really think you can make more money like that?
ahahaha
we are waiting for you Diva to edit your first post and say you are sorry for talking that way to us..YOUR CUSTOMERS.,,us, the guys that keeps your company alive.

40.000 CONCURRENT players, does not mean 40.000 players.

And yes they can lose 1000 playres from banhammers and no one would notice or care.

Stop being selfrighteous, and realize YOUR contribution did not build the company.

[chainest]

thumbs up

[AOoToO]

i know i know
its all because of me posting the legendary valkyrie Teaser video thread
well i'm sorry =p

[CrashBashL]

40.000 CONCURRENT players, does not mean 40.000 players.

And yes they can lose 1000 playres from banhammers and no one would notice or care.

Stop being selfrighteous, and realize YOUR contribution did not build the company.


our contribution maintain this company.
nice try though..bye.

[chainest]

thats it...
BANN us and you will be the fail dev of the year.
you have almost 40.000 players online.
you can not afford TO LOSE YOUR CUSTOMMERS.
your not a succesful company to dare speak like that to your customers.
please revise the way you talk to us.
i buy your game. i pay your game. you dont talk to me like that. do you understand?
you really expect that the ppl you ban to buy another account? you really think you can make more money like that?
ahahaha
we are waiting for you Diva to edit your first post and say you are sorry for talking that way to us..YOUR CUSTOMERS.,,us, the guys that keeps your company alive.

meh.... facepalm.jpg anyone?

[theli]

strange, the only 'leaks' i stumbled upon were aluna's skill descriptions and those where not leaked from SBT but they were available in stringtables of release 2.0.15 client

[Bamsemums]

I got a leak. There will be more gold alt avatars. Some will cost 6800 malikoins.

Do I get a ban?

[iaznaB]

NOooooooo ,the bunnies :(

[Baer]

Just stop the leaking, where is your problem?
It went so well with 2.0 and that was just an awesome release.
Thumbs up S2, and ban these fcking leaking SBT and other leaking peoples.

[HawkeyeBR]

Next patch will bring us a 10k silver coins bugged scout alternate avatar. I'm serious, Google it.

OT, seriously, s2 is always walking the wrong way. Many people just prefer you back in the closed/open beta times.

If information leaks, its by some reasons:
1- You fail at communicating with your customers, that have to wait a month to get some usefull stuff on a new patch, buried under tons of crap improvements;
2- you always say that your developing some major changes and many new cool things, but we never see those stuff. New heroes releases are part of any game like DotA, LoL and HoN itself, and should not be threated like "new super cool thing that only s2 can do". Comunicate with us. I'm not asking for you to say everything thats going to be on the next patch, but maybe you can just listen to your customers and don't make them wait without reason. This prevent most leakes, since we will already be on pair of what you are working on;
3- you from s2 are all retarded to think that a ridiculous random leak will ruin your game. You have many bigger problems to deal with, and one of them is the money magnet under your underwear. You don't even know how to properly comunicate with customers, using unnecessary ofensive words on your threads against us.

None of you will be millionaire, face it s2.

[Supercheese]

Next patch will bring us a 10k silver coins bugged scout alternate avatar. I'm serious, Google it.

wat?

[Naib]

strange, the only 'leaks' i stumbled upon were aluna's skill descriptions and those where not leaked from SBT but they were available in stringtables of release 2.0.15 client

There have been quite a few leaks since SBT was formed.
SBT have to sign a non-disclosure iirc so in leaking this infomation they are already in violation of this. Now they can leak to a patse and carry on being a SBT without punishment and let the 12yo who wants to feel special leak it without reprisal OR hold all accountable

Personally I think this is good, a bit more harsh that good old :krak: from beta. The number of times a bit of beta f=33 info was "leaked" to GD and the locals go crazy of a testing change when it didn't even go into the patch ...

SBT have been given alot more access and more responsibility so they should be held accountable for their actions even if those actions are translated to those they leaked it to, maybe it will result in people reporting the SBT who are leaking

[Larceny]

Harsh but fair.

[Larceny]

Next patch will bring us a 10k silver coins bugged scout alternate avatar. I'm serious, Google it.

OT, seriously, s2 is always walking the wrong way. Many people just prefer you back in the closed/open beta times.

If information leaks, its by some reasons:
1- You fail at communicating with your customers, that have to wait a month to get some usefull stuff on a new patch, buried under tons of crap improvements;
2- you always say that your developing some major changes and many new cool things, but we never see those stuff. New heroes releases are part of any game like DotA, LoL and HoN itself, and should not be threated like "new super cool thing that only s2 can do". Comunicate with us. I'm not asking for you to say everything thats going to be on the next patch, but maybe you can just listen to your customers and don't make them wait without reason. This prevent most leakes, since we will already be on pair of what you are working on;
3- you from s2 are all retarded to think that a ridiculous random leak will ruin your game. You have many bigger problems to deal with, and one of them is the money magnet under your underwear. You don't even know how to properly comunicate with customers, using unnecessary ofensive words on your threads against us.

None of you will be millionaire, face it s2.

1. S2 should only have to communicate with us when they need to, not when we want them too. Your view on their improvements is biased and short-sighted anyway.

2. I don't think I've read anywhere that patching the game is considered to be a unique quality of S2. "Super cool" content does not have to be unique. What is unique, however, is the capabilities of the game engine and intelligent design, compared to that of DotA and LoL, respectively. Forcing S2 to communicate with us would be against their will, and wouldn't stop leaks anyway, unless S2 basically put all its work in progress on the internet for us to look at.
3. It's not about a leak "ruining" the game, it's about hype being premature and not ready for the public. A lot of leaked information doesn't make it to the final product. Also, S2 is a company. You need money to run a company. It's actually completely free to play HoN after the initial $30, it just costs more for you to make your e-peen bigger. If you don't want to spend more than the initial $30, then don't. No one's forcing you.

Your intelligence suggests you will never be a millipnaire as well :/

[CrashBashL]

Your intelligence suggests you will never be a millipnaire as well :/

i asure you, you are as inteligent as you say he is.


S2 doesnt keep inside work secret for not creating a premature hype.
its cause if some info get leaked and another company gets its ears on, they could implement it first. IF the implement it first, then its copyright and S2 can no longer do it..they have to come with something new.

now you know something that you didnt know previewsly.

[HawkeyeBR]

1. S2 should only have to communicate with us when they need to, not when we want them too. Your view on their improvements is biased and short-sighted anyway.

2. I don't think I've read anywhere that patching the game is considered to be a unique quality of S2. "Super cool" content does not have to be unique. What is unique, however, is the capabilities of the game engine and intelligent design, compared to that of DotA and LoL, respectively. Forcing S2 to communicate with us would be against their will, and wouldn't stop leaks anyway, unless S2 basically put all its work in progress on the internet for us to look at.
3. It's not about a leak "ruining" the game, it's about hype being premature and not ready for the public. A lot of leaked information doesn't make it to the final product. Also, S2 is a company. You need money to run a company. It's actually completely free to play HoN after the initial $30, it just costs more for you to make your e-peen bigger. If you don't want to spend more than the initial $30, then don't. No one's forcing you.

Your intelligence suggests you will never be a millipnaire as well :/

Maybe you should read again, your superior intelligence must be failing. I'm not saying that they HAVE to comunicate with us when we ask to, i'm not telling them to spread every information they can in the internet, and i'm not telling them to stop the cash/shop thing to get extra money.

The principles of support from most companies that deal with a high number of customers are to keep them satisfied with (in case of HoN) new interesting content and direct online support (via forum). One big problem of HoN is the hyper-raging community, that most of the time spit over s2, and guess why ? Because they don't give us a clue if they read what we write here. No one will ever know if they listen to us when they are balancing heroes. We can see big imbalanced stuff that stay there for like a month while everyone rages on the balancing forums. Instead of put a bigger effort into those stuff that bother the customers, they waste time changing the shop (that was prety fine the way it was before the gold coins stuff) and making everyone rage, and for plausible reasons. If you have the money to buy all premium useless alt avatars, go and do it. But even if i had, I would still prefer seeing changes that make the game more enjoyable and not things that don't change anything at all.

[Dadoon]

its cause if some info get leaked and another company gets its ears on, they could implement it first. IF the implement it first, then its copyright and S2 can no longer do it..they have to come with something new.Incorrect. You apparently don't understand copyright.

[krs]

If you do feel the urge to leak some information, do it on the countless HoN sites out there. Most of them will be glad to publish this kind of stuff and S2 can't do s**t about it.

I'm just curious... How does S2 reward beta testers and super beta testers?

[CrashBashL]

If you do feel the urge to leak some information, do it on the countless HoN sites out there. Most of them will be glad to publish this kind of stuff and S2 can't do s**t about it.

I'm just curious... How does S2 reward beta testers and super beta testers?

they give them free alternate avatars.
avatars that cost us 6800 coins.
uppss.. do i get bann for this info?


Incorrect. You apparently don't understand copyright.

you do understand that when a developer creates something and they trademark it, its copyrighted,yes?
you even fail to give an argument..you said something and you ran away..make you look more interesant? i say it make you look more stupider.

[Spastard]

reading this thread now is so mainstream. i read it when it had the old title

[Aya]

they give them free alternate avatars.
avatars that cost us 6800 coins.
uppss.. do i get bann for this info?


Cool false information, :glac:.

[ilennoX]

This post makes me sad. Blizzard put the banhammer on me multiple times and it hurts. :scou:

[ThunderCraft]

What got leaked that made you want to post this?
empath 1rst incarnation was leaked on 4chan /v/

the second one was leaked on the forums

[Ch1cken]

I loled so hard when i read this.


All i could think about was steve job's jackass face when he learned that his iphone 4 was leaked. I wonder if it was similar to when he refused to acknowledge that his iphone 4 has the shittiest antenna put on a cell phone since the early 90s.

Don't understand why you guys are always so secretive about new content, the more insight the better, and your sbt(shitty beta testers) are clearly not cutting it. I really dont understand how you can trust a group that doesn't notice invisible models on almost every patch you release, or at least admit that your having issues with your "sbt".

[KingBane]

uh is this about my guess for spanish aluna bull fighter? cause i swear i was only kidding i thought it'd be a neat alt skin but are you guys really implementing it?

[Wordkill`]

They're finally going to port Lycan over.

[JoOKie]

S2 trying to fix problems by being idiots. Great

[Slut]

Spreading Leaked test client information is bannable UNLESS you're a comp player

[Schlumpf]

i got told easy mode will be removed and another mode called "casual mode" will be implmented...

imb4leak


now seriously: whats so wrong about it? spreading the word to interest players ?
i mean you dont have to give a damn about what the majority pub player say about it before you implement it into the game, so why is spreading info's about your work so damn bad in your eyes?
would like to have a statement about that !


They're finally going to port Lycan over.
ye...but what about techies? :(

[voidpredator]

IN SOVIET RUSSIA, leakers dont ge-oh wait

[MaJesTiQ]

pwn stream doesn't count!

[tewL]

fascist s2 only wants chosen players to use their test client

NO JEWS GUYS

[GucciGod]

LOL S2, okay.

[XeonIsh]

Just bought Flamboyant voice pack.

"UUUUUH SCARY"

[Couchmonster]

Under German right you cannot close my account, because I payed for it.
There is no eula or anything I had to agree on and even that is not fix.

Pure Hypothesis: Technically if you would close my account and I happen to have legal expenses insurance I would sue you for my right to play the game... and will most likely win under German law.

[Thysios]

Under German right you cannot close my account, because I payed for it.
There is no eula or anything I had to agree on and even that is not fix.

Pure Hypothesis: Technically if you would close my account and I happen to have legal expenses insurance I would sue you for my right to play the game... and will most likely win under German law.

You don't own your account.
You're only leasing it.

[Couchmonster]

Tell that to Blizzard and the German courts. :)

I suggest S2 should consult their lawyers before posting funny threats in the forum.
Since you have to actually give an official warning to your offender in German law, this funny threat will have no legal effect at all.
As far as I recall it is not mandatory to read this board to play the game. ;)

[JoOKie]

Yep. Dumb of S2 to even create this thread. Why not solve the problem directly instead of harming the playerbase for talking? Sounds pretty clear-cut to me. S2 are just being lazy.

[gansch]

Keep it on the dl guys, but on the tc they ported lycan

[obstacle_1]

http://liveearth.org/img/save/check-for-leaks.jpg



:bubb:

[Dadoon]

I suggest S2 should consult their lawyers before posting funny threats in the forum.S2 is US-based and just export their services.

[Deityh]

Dunno whats so secret about testing and balancing but whatever its your sandbox.

[Midnightoil]

I suggest anyone who has a problem with S2 just sue them and see how it goes. Maybe then you will learn a lesson

[Eonx]

Tell that to Blizzard and the German courts. :)

I suggest S2 should consult their lawyers before posting funny threats in the forum.
Since you have to actually give an official warning to your offender in German law, this funny threat will have no legal effect at all.
As far as I recall it is not mandatory to read this board to play the game. ;)

Sigh.. you should really read the T&C properly.


C. S2 MAY SUSPEND, TERMINATE, MODIFY, OR DELETE ACCOUNTS AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON OR FOR NO REASON, WITH OR WITHOUT NOTICE TO YOU. For purposes of explanation and not limitation, most account suspensions, terminations and/or deletions are the result of violations of this Terms of Service.



13. Governing Law.

Except as expressly provided otherwise, this Agreement shall be governed by, and will be construed under, the Laws of the United States of America and the law of the State of Michigan, without regard to choice of law principles.

You agreed to everything in the T&C when you handed over your money.

[Onkelffs]

Tell that to Blizzard and the German courts. :)

I suggest S2 should consult their lawyers before posting funny threats in the forum.
Since you have to actually give an official warning to your offender in German law, this funny threat will have no legal effect at all.
As far as I recall it is not mandatory to read this board to play the game. ;)

Not wondering that your country is ****ed up, it's full of retards!

You haven't bought any property as people have stated, you paid online to be provided with an international service. This service is served under american law as you agreed on in the EULA.

Also in the same documents you agreed on that they can suspend your account for any reason.

I can't find any news or documents regarding any german lawsuit suspended player vs blizzard. Could you please provide a link?

Anyhow the only possible reason would be that WoW is sold in stores in germany, thus you might not have been notified about the terms you are agreeing on by using that product. This is not applicable on HoN since you have bought it in the states.

[Couchmonster]

S2 is US-based and just export their services.

As far as I remember I still am in Germany :D

To all others. I am strictly FOR punishment for spreading tc-beta information.
I just point out what problems could occur, not to troll, but to help avoiding it.
I even couldn't care less about the punishment on this, as I will never get those information and for sure if I do will not give it to others :D

[Gorb]

As far as I remember I still am in Germany :D

To all others. I am strictly FOR punishment for spreading tc-beta information.
I just point out what problems could occur, not to troll, but to help avoiding it.
I even couldn't care less about the punishment on this, as I will never get those information and for sure if I do will not give it to others :D
Then perhaps you should read the TOS quoted a couple of posts above so you avoid looking quite so silly :)

[CrashBashL]

so i get banned if i say that Alunas 3'th skill is taken directly from the movie:
"The Chronicles of Riddick" ??
Vin Diesel (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004874/)
hehe

Lord Marshal, the ruler of the Necromongers, The One Rank that cannot be superseded, had the same ability as Aluna has. The 3'th one :))
He could send an image of himself anywere, then teleport to that location :))

now in case you guys dont remember or dont know here is the video of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wazFS6cbGE&feature=related

look from the 7 minute mark
:d
cheers!

[Couchmonster]

Then perhaps you should read the TOS quoted a couple of posts above so you avoid looking quite so silly :)

I am sorry, but the laws of my country still apply.
Law > TOS

[Soblane]

13. Governing Law.

Except as expressly provided otherwise, this Agreement shall be governed by, and will be construed under, the Laws of the United States of America and the law of the State of Michigan, without regard to choice of law principles.


can you learn to read already, retard?

[Couchmonster]

Ah and you mean just because you write my state's law does not apply it won't?
You are funny pal :D

[Dadoon]

You are importing a service, if you don't like, don't import it, if your country does not like it then they should put a ban in place.
The US wouldn't extradite Maliken (they generally don't) and Maliken could simply avoid putting foot on German solid if he does not want to share the fate of the Betandwin guys in France. ;)
So, even if the TOS and actions of S2 went against German consumer protection laws (which I doubt), S2 would not need to care.

[Couchmonster]

Actually they need to care. And it is S2's job to obey laws and or block the service. Not the job of my government.
Since I doubt they want to deny a whole country of customers the game I think they should simply make sure they obey the law.
For example by sending a formal warning if they want to ban people for spreading beta information.

You cannot cancel out consumer protection laws and they really have a purpose.
I am here to point that mistakes out, and not to abuse them.

I like the game and as coder myself I respect that they want to protect their development pocess.

[Cider]

Actually they need to care. And it is S2's job to obey laws and or block the service. Not the job of my government.
Since I doubt they want to deny a whole country of customers the game I think they should simply make sure they obey the law.
For example by sending a formal warning if they want to ban people for spreading beta information.

You cannot cancel out consumer protection laws and they really have a purpose.
I am here to point that mistakes out, and not to abuse them.

I like the game and as coder myself I respect that they want to protect their development pocess.

I thought the German Education system was pretty good. You can't honestly believe this can you?

[CrashBashL]

I thought the German Education system was pretty good. You can't honestly believe this can you?


best ****ing joke of the day.
ahahahahaha.

you can NOT use GERMANY and EDUCATION in the same sentence Freunde.

[Dadoon]

Actually they need to care. And it is S2's job to obey laws and or block the service.Think about it, what could the possible consequences be for them if the didn't?

[Gallifrey]

at everyone just wonders.. wtf is wrong with you S2? What is your problem? little girls getting hold as sex slaves on test servers, so noone should know ?!

honestly, its not like anyone cares your bad new heroes , copied from ex-porno star mexican girls - banning people JUST FOR KNOWING STUFF is pathetic. lets shot everyone !

[Boertie]

Such an EULA has no rights in european and dutch law.

[Leyart]

I will be banned for this leak, but I heard that the next hero is a Lycan port

[darko11]

that's a little harsh :/

i don't think leaking info is OK, but the punishment for it is $30 + whatever money a person has invested in their game, and on top of that all their XP/coins/stats.

kinda harsh if you ask me considering leaking information won't change anything in the end.

[Coheed]

Hello friends!

There have been several cases recently of our private test client information being leaked from SBT. We pour a lot of effort into not only creating content, but to regulate its exposure and release schedules. Where we have caught leakers, we've punished them to the fullest extent. However, it is unrealistic for there to never be any leaks, accidental or intentional. So, from now on, we're implementing a zero tolerance policy regarding the spreading of leaked test client materials. If you do happen to hear some juicy bits about upcoming content, please keep it to yourself and respect what we're trying to do here at S2. We try to be as transparent as possible regarding our design direction and process, but running around spamming leaked information because it makes you feel important is not very nice. And it makes the bunnies sad.

Summary: If you intentionally post and spread leaked material or information from the test client, we don't care where you got it from, you will be banned. Not just from the forums, your account will be completely deactivated. This

Edit: This is not a super harsh purge incoming message- it is merely a fair warning to all those who repeatedly and maliciously, with full intent and knowledge of what they're doing, leak upcoming content on upcoming material. As I said in my original post, we are already tracking our leaks in SBT and doing all we can there, but there is a lot of second-hand leak spreading going on that is unacceptable.

Please note that we encourage speculation and discussion on upcoming content and people guessing about upcoming stuff will not be victim to false punishment. It's pretty obvious, though, when people purposely leak every detail about an upcoming hero or post screenshots of soon-to-come goodies.

Have a nice day :scou:
Have
Stop being a diva

[allbusiness]

Sigh.. you should really read the T&C properly.






You agreed to everything in the T&C when you handed over your money.



Just because you pay and download the game doesn't mean that the T&C is a legal binding contract. Should probably be a little more informed about EULA and the court of law (especially other nations which don't even recognize EULAs as a legally binding contract) before brushing someone off so casually.


The enforceability of said "agreement" is highly dependent on numerous factors. You shouldn't be so bold as to say "hey you, you agreed to this and you have no say about it." That's just a great way to make S2 look very, very, very bad.


Plus he does have a point. Although in the agreement it states that S2 can for whatever reason cancel your account, it probably would not hold up in a court of law if S2 suddenly banned 5000 players for no apparent reason (you know, just for fun). You need some kind of legal standing to ban somebody from your game; for example, hackers can be banned because they are not only breaking the rules that were set in place, but they are also ruining the experience for other customers.

[redeye998]

know whats up in next hero release...
LYCAN PORT!!!
TROLOLOLoLoLooOOo00ooo!!!!!!!!!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z4m4lnjxkY)

[UCF_Knightro]

my question is who cares if people find out about content ahead of time

I've seen plenty of Dota beta maps in my day

its not like when you find out about content makes any difference in how the game is played

S2 should focus on what is important, and that is making this a game that is strategically deep, balanced, replayable, and completely fun

I would argue that this game has none of these categories mastered, I'm not here to troll about the game, its obviously fun enough to play, but as of right now it simply does not match up to some of the more addicting games i have played in my time (specifically dota, yeah i said it)









Besides if you crack down on leaked information, then everyone will know it was true
But if you simply let it go, people won't know whats true, and whats just rumors

[Naib]

my question is who cares if people find out about content ahead of time

I've seen plenty of Dota beta maps in my day

its not like when you find out about content makes any difference in how the game is played

S2 should focus on what is important, and that is making this a game that is strategically deep, balanced, replayable, and completely fun

I would argue that this game has none of these categories mastered, I'm not here to troll about the game, its obviously fun enough to play, but as of right now it simply does not match up to some of the more addicting games i have played in my time (specifically dota, yeah i said it)









Besides if you crack down on leaked information, then everyone will know it was true
But if you simply let it go, people won't know whats true, and whats just rumors

I can think of three issues with leaked content

#1 NDA. People in SBT are under an NDA.
For people to leak data such data must have come from someone in the SBT group and for them to provide the data they are violating their NDA. They agreed to certain terms when they were accepted and to leak breaks this agreement. The person leaking should be the one kicked out of the SBT for violation of their terms but sometimes it isn't possible to find the source, hitting the runners is the next best thing which then minimises #2

#2 Forum FUD/RAGE/TROLLING
During closed-beta with f=33 forums a similar "do not leak" statement was inplace with :krak: being the punishment (boiled downto thread deleted and forum infraction/ban). The issue with prematurly leaking infomation is just that
its premature, the testclient (and the new SBT group) are for new ideas to be tested, ideas that might not even see the light of day in the client.
There were a few instances where some heroes had some changes (some complete rework in some cases) and it was pasted into GD and the locals started foaming at the mouth, it didn't matter that before the post it was decided such changes were not to be implemented.
Prematurly leaking infomation in an uncontrolled fashion (ie a monkeyhead stating what they are doing or trying todo) only servers one purpose and that is the work up the locals of GD into a frenzy over nothing

#3 Legal.
It is known that there is/was legal issues between S2 & Valve over Dota2 & what heroes S2 have "rights" to use. dota is still being developed.
What if in SBT a new hero and stuff was being worked on (like they do in SBT) and the info on it was leaked WAY before the hero was possible to be fully implemented. Icefrog goes and implements it in DOTA. There is now a nice legal problem of s2 "copying" a dota hero after a date even tho the hero was an s2 "s2 original"
Concidering the BS that is going on w.r.t. the legal it is safer to cover all your bases

[Deansy]

Well sayd, lets not let people spoil the excitment of new content. :D

[Afasia]

read and understood!

[Lava]

Summary: If you intentionally post and spread leaked material or information from the test client, we don't care where you got it from, you will be banned. Not just from the forums, your account will be completely deactivated.

No offense, but you should check with your lawyers before posting threats like the above on the official forums.

May I quote from your ToS:


6. Alpha / Beta Policy
If you have been selected to the alpha or beta program for any of S2's products you do so under the following express conditions:
Alpha/beta tests are strictly confidential. The games, including information about features and functionality to be offered as part of the games, are confidential. If you participate in a alpha/beta test, you will use your best efforts to safeguard and to prevent unauthorized access to, copying, disclosure, and unauthorized use of the beta games. In addition no recordings, no screenshots, no assets grabs of any type will be permitted. You will carry out the testing personally and not provide access to beta games to any other person. You agree that breach of the above confidentiality obligations will cause irreparable harm to S2, and S2 is entitled to (in addition to any other remedies available to it) ex parte injunctive relief without bond to prevent the breach or threatened breach of your obligations. In addition, your retail account for Heroes of Newerth will be terminated immediately.
By starting an alpha/beta game, you agree that: Playing alpha/beta games is at your own risk and that you know that the games may include known or unknown bugs, Any value or status indicators that you achieve through game play may be erased at any time, S2's TOS applies to your use of the games during the testing phase, and, you will keep all information about the alpha/beta games confidential as stated above and not disclose such information to any other person. User's Computer Information. When you connect to S2 for the alpha/beta test, we will retrieve information from the computer used to log onto the beta test about the computer's hardware system and any data related to the computer's operation of S2. We will not collect any personal information about you, however, without your knowledge and consent as stated in our PP.

This is the only paragraph that stipulates the game account suspension (and to be hones I agree with the measure).

The important fact here is that the reference is made only for the alpha/beta testers and I agree with this even more. If you are a beta tester (or any kind of tester), you get your hands on confidential info and you break the NDA by willingly spread that info on the forums, you deserve to get your game account suspended.

However, you have no moral and legal right at all to punish a regular user anywhere outside the forums for infractions made on the forum. You may ban his forum account for breaking the rules of conduit or whatever, but restricting a person to play a game which he paid for and whose in-game rules he hasn't broken is abusive and even more - it's illegal. I'm pretty sure that if you do this with someone and that someone decides to take this matter to court, you will lose the trial.

Scenarios:

1 - I'm a beta tester. I sign a NDA and I'm permitted to see confidential patch notes and so on. I post that patch notes on the forums, hence I willingly break the NDA I just signed. Bottom line - I deserve to get my game account banned and even sued by S2 Gaming.

2 - I'm a regular user. Someone tells me - hey dude, I heard from a friend that they will port Techies this friday! I get all excited, I run to the forums and I open a topic - Techies will be ported tomorrow. For this, I may deserve to be punished on the forums but by any means, my actions on the forums should not jeopardize my game account. After all, I didn't know the info I posted was confidential and under any NDA because I didn't signed any NDA. I also didn't break any rules in-game or do anything illegal according to the ToS. I just committed an infraction (if you want to call it like that) on a forum board so my punishment should be on the forum board.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I agree with content leaking. I strongly disapprove that, but I also disapprove official declarations made in the unprofessional and threatening form you used for the first post of this topic.

[Naib]

No offense, but you should check with your lawyers before posting threats like the above on the official forums.

May I quote from your ToS:



This is the only paragraph that stipulates the game account suspension (and to be hones I agree with the measure).

The important fact here is that the reference is made only for the alpha/beta testers and I agree with this even more. If you are a beta tester (or any kind of tester), you get your hands on confidential info and you break the NDA by willingly spread that info on the forums, you deserve to get your game account suspended.

However, you have no moral and legal right at all to punish a regular user anywhere outside the forums for infractions made on the forum. You may ban his forum account for breaking the rules of conduit or whatever, but restricting a person to play a game which he paid for and whose in-game rules he hasn't broken is abusive and even more - it's illegal. I'm pretty sure that if you do this with someone and that someone decides to take this matter to court, you will lose the trial.

Scenarios:

1 - I'm a beta tester. I sign a NDA and I'm permitted to see confidential patch notes and so on. I post that patch notes on the forums, hence I willingly break the NDA I just signed. Bottom line - I deserve to get my game account banned and even sued by S2 Gaming.

2 - I'm a regular user. Someone tells me - hey dude, I heard from a friend that they will port Techies this friday! I get all excited, I run to the forums and I open a topic - Techies will be ported tomorrow. For this, I may deserve to be punished on the forums but by any means, my actions on the forums should not jeopardize my game account. After all, I didn't know the info I posted was confidential and under any NDA because I didn't signed any NDA. I also didn't break any rules in-game or do anything illegal according to the ToS. I just committed an infraction (if you want to call it like that) on a forum board so my punishment should be on the forum board.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I agree with content leaking. I strongly disapprove that, but I also disapprove official declarations made in the unprofessional and threatening form you used for the first post of this topic.

If you insist of cherrypicking from the ToS please do it correctly
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/tos.php



S2 MAY SUSPEND, TERMINATE, MODIFY, OR DELETE ACCOUNTS AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON OR FOR NO REASON, WITH OR WITHOUT NOTICE TO YOU.

IE a generic catchall

[Lava]

S2 MAY SUSPEND, TERMINATE, MODIFY, OR DELETE ACCOUNTS AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON OR FOR NO REASON, WITH OR WITHOUT NOTICE TO YOU.IE a generic catchall

Well, isn't that the "we can do anything we want and you can't do sh*t about it" paragraph :)

I'm sorry, I didn't saw that one.

Anyway, the moral aspect of the problem still remains (banning someone from the game for something done on the forums), not to mention the way the new so-called regulation was brought to our knowledge. I guess nice words cost way too much in California.

[Naib]

Well, isn't that the "we can do anything we want and you can't do sh*t about it" paragraph :)

I'm sorry, I didn't saw that one.

Anyway, the moral aspect of the problem still remains (banning someone from the game for something done on the forums), not to mention the way the new so-called regulation was brought to our knowledge. I guess nice words cost way too much in California.
http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/143241/Gamer-Banned-From-Dragon-Age-II-Over-Forum-Post



"Kotaku is reporting that a Dragon Age II gamer banned from BioWare's forums (http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6459941/1) for an allegedly inflammatory post has been locked out of the (singleplayer only) game for the duration of the ban (http://kotaku.com/#%215780876/how-saying-bad-things-can-keep-you-from-playing-a-video-game). This is a consequence of EA's backend systems, which link forum accounts to the accounts that players use to access their games. This would appear to be a worrying new development; while trolling forums has led to bans from massively multiplayer games in the past (arguably with some justification), the extension of the principle to singleplayer games, where an abusive player cannot affect the enjoyment of others, must surely be a step too far."

not new for forum related activity to result in multiplayer game ban - although this is now spreading to sp games

[Lava]

not new for forum related activity to result in multiplayer game ban - although this is now spreading to sp games

BioWare's attitude was received very badly by the gaming community. I really hope S2 is not trying to walk this road and I hope you don't consider this to be a valid argument - X company did it, we can do it too.

[Hate]

http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/143241/Gamer-Banned-From-Dragon-Age-II-Over-Forum-Post


not new for forum related activity to result in multiplayer game ban - although this is now spreading to sp games


And people wonder why piracy is rampant.

[ClamSlammer]

S2, yet again, fails at simple customer service. I guess you expect this to happen with a tiny company that even stole the idea for their game from someone else.

[Mecavity]

Can't say that I'm in favor of this, really. If someone decides to leak content onto the forums that he or she should not be in posession of, sure - ban them. If a SBT as an active party and under an NDA releases it - sure, ban them.

If I hear something, and decide to pass it on... meh. At that point, I'm hardly at fault. Once information passes into public domain, it stays in public domain. All the more, if what someone not under the NDA has heard is merely unsubstantiated rumors, then... well.

What I am getting at is this: unless the person posting the information is a SBT, this course of action seems unjust, by all merits of a modern society.

[Fadoramix]

I heard Lycan is gonna get ported in next patch =D

Serious face on it's very serious and I understand the punishment of this behavior.

[Wallabo]

Really Diva? why would you post this in General. Stop threatening your community and look at your staff for information about leaks. OP is pitiful. Work as a team and maybe you wouldn't have these problems.

Like Communist China in here. Mr mao

[cr1zz]

Release the banhammer!

[TheRockSays]

*waits for "Stwoleaks" account*

[FastNoobGo]

Kind of ridiculous, if you ask me. Agreed it's necessary to make your stance on leaking info apparent, but thats something that you need to deal with internally. Would you really ban someone's account from play if they heard some cool info randomly from someone and decided to post it on the forums, whether or not the info were true?

S2 makes themselves sound like children trying to run a clubhouse or something, lol.

[pixels]

http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/143241/Gamer-Banned-From-Dragon-Age-II-Over-Forum-Post


not new for forum related activity to result in multiplayer game ban - although this is now spreading to sp games
Just so you know BioWare/EA made an official apology and admitted that they made a mistake and unbanned the guy :)

[D3jsp]

Upcoming patch leak.
Devourer and Andromeda can no longer use Portal Key.

[Naib]

Just so you know BioWare/EA made an official apology and admitted that they made a mistake and unbanned the guy :)
for the SP game yes but forum activity linked to MP game isn't a new thing

[ubxp]

This is silly, what if i just say something like "i hear that PR will get nurfed next patch" and then he does.

[Gorb]

Then you're discriminated against as the small minority of psychic gamers that can accurately predict patch notes.

[Psyclone]

I dont understand why this is so secret?

People are HAPPY to see what is being released, what's gonna happen in the next patch, and so they're anxiously waiting for it.

People do NOT want to anxiously wait for something they don't know about.

EVERYONE should have their opinion, not just those SBT's you have chosen, you need different aspects of PoV.

Don't know but, maybe S2 is afraid of having a preview on the next patch because of people will be whining?

Well, that's what you need to expect....

[NecrosDk]

I play tower defense. I leak. Sorry. :blac:

[Naib]

I dont understand why this is so secret?

People are HAPPY to see what is being released, what's gonna happen in the next patch, and so they're anxiously waiting for it.

People do NOT want to anxiously wait for something they don't know about.

EVERYONE should have their opinion, not just those SBT's you have chosen, you need different aspects of PoV.

Don't know but, maybe S2 is afraid of having a preview on the next patch because of people will be whining?

Well, that's what you need to expect....

There are concerns with leaking infomation prematurely (as has been covered in this thread - please read it and not cherrypick this thread).
But one of the 3 concerns is that not everything that is done in SBT is actually released and thus leaking in an uncontrolled fashion (with none of the backstory w.r.t. direction).
Take for instance the recent accidental inclusion in the retail client of limited stacking. A passing comment was made that this was a mistake and they were testing things out to reduce pooling resource into 1carry.
GD latched onto this without seeing or knowing how this is being done.

[colondee]

What is banhammer?

[MiniQs45]

can normal ppl play sbt test games? :)

edit: nvm.. just read some more in this post and i see now that not any ppl can do it

[Mercy]

There are concerns with leaking infomation prematurely (as has been covered in this thread - please read it and not cherrypick this thread).
But one of the 3 concerns is that not everything that is done in SBT is actually released and thus leaking in an uncontrolled fashion (with none of the backstory w.r.t. direction).
Take for instance the recent accidental inclusion in the retail client of limited stacking. A passing comment was made that this was a mistake and they were testing things out to reduce pooling resource into 1carry.
GD latched onto this without seeing or knowing how this is being done.

As passing comment? You mean....the PATCH NOTES? LOL.

[LuckMuppet]

I dont understand why this is so secret?

People are HAPPY to see what is being released, what's gonna happen in the next patch, and so they're anxiously waiting for it.

People do NOT want to anxiously wait for something they don't know about.

EVERYONE should have their opinion, not just those SBT's you have chosen, you need different aspects of PoV.

Don't know but, maybe S2 is afraid of having a preview on the next patch because of people will be whining?

Well, that's what you need to expect....


Ya I don't understand this either. I play SC2 as well and Blizzard has set up an entire PTR server that anyone with an NA account can play on and test out the potential changes for upcoming patches. This gives opportunity for an open discussion for the entire community and speculation on what will actually make it to the new patch, what will be changed, and what will be scrapped entirely, and why.

I don't understand the need for the secrecy.

[kaiwaveS]

I wish i could be a SBT. :(

[Rordarok]

Point was made, there's no longer a need to have a discussion in this.

Locked.

[Nigma]

Re-sticking this thread as a constant reminder to people who have been leaking into General Discussion.

Let this thread serve as your one and only warning.