A swell of Linux users, specifically those using the WineHQ compatibility utility to help them run the game on their systems have reported being unfairly banned from Diablo 3 by Blizzard, through no faulty actions of their own in game.
The mass of complaints first surfaced on the WineHQ forums, before eventually spilling over onto the Diablo 3 forums themselves. Users insist that they did nothing illegal while playing the game, yet have been slapped with permanent bans by Blizzard's cheat detection algorithm, which they claim is randomly identifying Wine as a cheating tool.
Blizzard has denied the allegations, and stated that anyone who has been banned suffered their fate because they were actually cheating, and not simply because they were running the game on Wine. While Linux and Wine are unsupported by Blizzard, it is not a bannable offense to play the game on them according to the company.
"We've extensively tested for false positive situations, including replicating system setups for those who have posted claiming they were banned unfairly" posted Diablo 3 Community Manager Micah 'Bashiok' Whiple in one of the threads on the Diablo 3 forums. "We've not found any situations that could produce a false positive, have found that the circumstances for which they were banned were clear and accurate, and we are extremely confident in our findings. Playing the game on Linux, although not officially supported, will not get you banned; cheating will."
Despite the adamant refusal by Blizzard of any unfair bans having been slapped on Linux users, several posters continued to blame Blizzard and their anti-hacking algorithm for their bans after Bashiok's post.
Which side do you believe? Is Blizzard's cheat detection tool faulty, with Blizzard defending it to save themselves embarrassment? Or are cheating Linux users concocting a fanciful story to try and get themselves out of legitimate bans? Share your thoughts below, and if you're a Linux/Wine user, let us know what your experiences have been with Diablo 3 thus far.
