As expected, there are a number of players of Diablo III that can't play by Blizzard's rules. For a group of them, they have found that their access to the game has been cut off. In a post on the game's official message board forums today, Blizzard announced, "We recently issued a round of account suspensions and bans to several thousand Diablo III players who were in violation of the Battle.net Terms of Use for cheating and/or using botting or hacking programs while playing."
In addition to the fact that using bots and cheats while playing the game simply isn't fair to all those Diablo III players who enjoy the game while playing by Blizzard's rules, the company said that such cheating actions also affect the performance of the Battle.net service. It added, "As always, maintaining a stable, safe, and fun online-gaming experience for legitimate players is a top priority for us, and we'll be continuing to keep watch on Battle.net and take action as needed."
This first ban hammer comes as Blizzard has yet to launch its paid auction house feature. It was supposed to allow Diablo III players the use of real money to pay for in-game items. However, due in part to Diablo III's launch issued in May, Blizzard announced that the paid auction house feature would not launch as planned. No new date has been announced.
Update: Blizzard has now launched the paid auction feature for the Americas region of Diablo III
Source: Diablo III forums
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