Following the successful hack of the PC beta for Battlefield 3, EA and DICE have issued a warning that joining in a hacked server could result in a ban from not just Battlefield 3, but all EA games purchased through Origins.
It began the other day when hackers found a way to increase the player cap for the Paris Metro map, which is the only map currently available via the ongoing beta for Battlefield 3. Currently the game is limited to 32-players, although that is expected to increase to at least 64 when the game is released. Hackers, however, managed to up the player cap significantly, allowing 128 players at a time. To access the hacked games, players didn’t have to do anything special, just join the server with a 128 limit, which were quickly becoming more and more common.
DICE was not amused.
In response, DICE issued a notice on Battelog–which according to VE3D has since been removed, but not before being screen-capped and reposted through Reddit–claiming that gamers caught in one of the hacked servers could face a ban, which would be effective across all EA games on Origin.
We are aware that a number of servers have appeared and are running game modes and player counts that have not currently been seen. Please try to remain on the official servers.
Official servers run the following configuration
Max Players: 32
Map: Operation Metro
Mode: RUSH
Please avoid temptation and remain on -the] official servers while we work to have these [rogue] servers dealt with.
Playing on those servers can cause your account to become compromised, stats to be altered or other issues to arise which may lead to having your account banned by EA.
A second post a few minutes later confirmed the severity of what a ban would mean:
If your account gets banned, it does mean any EA games you have on your account would also be unavailable.
That means that any EA game purchased through Origin would also become “unavailable.”
This is certainly an overreaction, the question is from which side? Are DICE and EA overacting to the hacking, or is everyone else overreacting to what may just be a fairly generic reply that simply reiterates standard terms of service? There’s only one, really awful way to find out…
Battlefield 3 hits PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on October 25.
