They don’t just watch vods all day, they spend a little time analyzing vods in order to figure out some real cheaters from which to implement algorithms to catch more cheaters, and mostly are building cheat catching algorithms.
Cheating is handled entirely differently from Gameplay Sabotage, Abusive Chat, or Spamming… it is automated, of course, but not on the basis of reports received, on the basis of algorithmic cheat detection.
Reports don’t directly cause a cheating ban the way every other category* causes action, but identify the useful examples for building better algorithms. (You will, of course, be guaranteed to get banned if your were one of those examples, so reports do get the reported individual banned too, eventually).
*Except maybe Bad Battletag? It’s just a name, surely someone takes the time to actually read the name and see if it’s actually bad, right? right? … Maybe not.
no, that is automated too, someone on the forums was named one of the generic names that you can get from the name changer without thinking one yourself and his name got forcefully changes.
This is the person it happened to, it was automated system too, and it was a default name not one he made up.
This doesn’t conclusively prove that the system is automated at all. It’s not a very good test either.
For example can these questions be answered?
How many reports were made?
Were they all for cheating?
It was a fairly low level account
The report rate for players encountered would have been unusually high, compared to a real account
It was a custom game
All this proves is that there is some kind of automation for an overwhelming amount of reports. I’ve seen lots of suspected “cheaters” on ladder get reported heavily each game based on suspicion and yet they never receive a ban.
Report and ban reasons are totally separated: you can be at your last suspension before being banned for toxicity, going for a full throw streak and being mass reported for gameplay sabotage and guess what? you’ll get the first sanction level for throwing, meaning 3 days.
I think its widely accepted and agreed upon that the other reports reasons are automated.
I’m just pointing out the inadequacy of this “proof” and why its not a controlled conclusive result that specifically the whole cheating reports are automated in their entirety.
Nothing against Carter, or anyone else in this thread, it just doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.
Sorry if I offended you Moira-21906 by pointing out the failings of the test.
Long ago blizzard used people as bots for Wow, they were just answering text messages and had no authorization to get out the GM island unless emergency.
Now everything is fully automated, unless emergency. You got a first pass with the anti-cheat system then a second pass via the massive reports from players, with a number set high enough in their mind to avoid most of the false reports. And once you’re left with only 1 or 2 unjustified ban once in a while you can allow your little company which make almost no profit (that’s what every corporation says), to spend the expensive 8$ an hour for a guy to check the validity of the complains.
(and yes those 8$/h are considered as lost because you cannot value them as pure rentability numbers)
I had to go check it out lol