Blizzard Banning SC2 Single-Player Cheaters Too?

Cheating offline could lead to to an unfair advantage online so neither will be tolerated.

So you're partial to cheating just a smidge when playing StarCraft II in single player. You don't cheat during multiplayer games, that's just bad form, but you sometimes indulge in a little unlimited minerals while playing offline. Well, perhaps you should think again, as Blizzard may be banning those who are cheating in singleplayer too.

Last week Blizzard swung its almighty banhammer, permanently banishing 5,000 cheaters from Battle.net. However, it seems the publisher is also banning cheaters who have never played online. Kotaku reports that gamer gm0ney claims his StarCraft II account has been suspended for using "unauthorized cheat programs."

Gm0ney apparently used a trainer developed by CheatHappens.com. Blizzard's defense is that single player games "only appear to be you and a computer" and that a player's achievements and gamer score actually carries weight and prestige in their online play. Though gm0ney says he's never played online before, there's no way of knowing for sure that he never will, which is probably why his account was suspended. Still, it's food for thought, especially when Blizzard has been criticized for making Battle.net such a necessary part of StarCraft II. It's also important to note that you're allowed to use the built-in cheat codes that come with StarCraft II. It seems that Blizzard just has a problem with third-party programs.

Read more here.

[Update] Blizzard contacted us this morning with a statement regarding the banning of users for using third-party cheats. This is what Blizzard's Bob Colayco had to say on the matter:

Blizzard Entertainment is not banning StarCraft II players just for using single-player cheats. There's been some confusion in the last couple of days about the suspensions and bans meted out to players caught cheating in StarCraft II. It's important to point out first, that many of the 3rd-party hacks and cheats developed for StarCraft II contain both single- and multiplayer functionality. In order to protect the integrity of multiplayer competition, we are actively detecting cheat programs used in multiplayer modes whether there are human opponents or not.
 
That said, players who opt to use any type of 3rd party hacks do so at their own risk -- there are already built-in cheat codes for StarCraft II single-player that can be used safely. Blizzard Entertainment has always taken cheating seriously and will continue to aggressively crackdown on players who cheat in our games.