Chilling affect on used computer hardware... (Valorant and hardware bans)(YT vid NSFW)

[VirtualLarry]

NSFW

Spoiler

Up to, and including HARDWARE BANs.

Cancel culture taken to the next level. Now you need to (seriously) ask, "Did that RAM belong to a racist", before purchasing used computer parts.

Edit: Now I remember, I think Valorant requires Secure Boot enabled and working, to play.

 

[H T C]

Ban them back ... or are they the only ones that can ban?

When i got UNFAIRLY banned by Blizzard for Diablo 3 (accused of something i didn't do, and banned for it), i picked up my 2* Diablo 2 + 2* LoD expansion packs + my Warcraft 3 CDs and used a box cutter on them (my Diablo 3 was a digital copy), then picked up my Battle Net Authenticator and used a hammer on that.


A few months later, when i was contacted by Blizzard about their newest game, i "spoke my mind" and told them to NEVER contact me again.

Problem solved.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Never heard of valorent. However, I think a hardware ban is not necessary. Just ban the WAN IP and the account, as well as VPN connections.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Ban them back ... or are they the only ones that can ban?

When i got UNFAIRLY banned by Blizzard for Diablo 3 (accused of something i didn't do, and banned for it), i picked up my 2* Diablo 2 + 2* LoD expansion packs + my Warcraft 3 CDs and used a box cutter on them (my Diablo 3 was a digital copy), then picked up my Battle Net Authenticator and used a hammer on that.


A few months later, when i was contacted by Blizzard about their newest game, i "spoke my mind" and told them to NEVER contact me again.

Problem solved.

Yeah you sure showed them! Destroy the shit you already paid them for so you can't ever use it again, that'll teach them! You should buy a physical copy of Diablo 3 and destroy it too, just to make sure they hear ya loud and clear!

I like how you think anyone at the company actually contacted you or heard you "speaking your mind", when both were automated systems. But I bet unsubscribing just made you jizz in your pants, so fucking badass, I hope you quipped about it as you did. And then I hope you made sure to not smash that 10 foot boner you had to have been walking around with in any doors, cause you're a goddamn sexual Tyrannosaur!

You know what would really show them? Buy this and then smash it with your ass, while flipping the bird, that'll really show them! Be all like, "how do you like me now mother bitchfuckdicklickas!

World of Warcraft Lich King Arthas Menethil 26in Premium Statue

Purchase the authorized World of Warcraft 26" Premium Lich King Arthas Menethil Statue from the Blizzard Gear Store. The Lich King is masterfully recreated in this intricate sculpture. Every fine detail has been captured in this piece of art, from his armor to his Frostmourne sword to the...

gear.blizzard.com

 

[H T C]

Yeah you sure showed them! Destroy the shit you already paid them for so you can't ever use it again, that'll teach them! You should buy a physical copy of Diablo 3 and destroy it too, just to make sure they hear ya loud and clear!

I like how you think anyone at the company actually contacted you or heard you "speaking your mind", when both were automated systems. But I bet unsubscribing just made you jizz in your pants, so fucking badass, I hope you quipped about it as you did. And then I hope you made sure to not smash that 10 foot boner you had to have been walking around with in any doors, cause you're a goddamn sexual Tyrannosaur!

You know what would really show them? Buy this and then smash it with your ass, while flipping the bird, that'll really show them! Be all like, "how do you like me now mother bitchfuckdicklickas!

World of Warcraft Lich King Arthas Menethil 26in Premium Statue

Purchase the authorized World of Warcraft 26" Premium Lich King Arthas Menethil Statue from the Blizzard Gear Store. The Lich King is masterfully recreated in this intricate sculpture. Every fine detail has been captured in this piece of art, from his armor to his Frostmourne sword to the...

gear.blizzard.com

Actually, i forgot to get the destroying of the games on tape ... you know ... to send it to them, when they sent that email about their newest game: "bigger effect" ...

Too bad i forgot ...


According to them, the ban was permanent ... for something i didn't do, with no appeal possible ... and i tend to react RATHER POORLY when accused of something i didn't do ... so there's that ...

 

[DigDog]

Never heard of valorent.

It's counterstrike for weaboos.

 

[brianmanahan]

It's counterstrike for weaboos.

whereas day of defeat was counterstrike for wehraboos

 

[nakedfrog]

Up to, and including HARDWARE BANs.

Cancel culture taken to the next level. Now you need to (seriously) ask, "Did that RAM belong to a racist", before purchasing used computer parts.

Edit: Now I remember, I think Valorant requires Secure Boot enabled and working, to play.

In what way is this taking it to the "next level"?

At any rate, I was curious to find details without watching some random YouTube video, and it seems like this has already been a thing for years? Is the new part just banning people for being "extremely toxic"?

https://www.reddit.com/r/VALORANT/comments/luq5pe/how_does_hardware_ban_works

 

[ch33zw1z]

The explanation in the video is worded in such a way it’s not clear if a single part can carry the ban over to a different system, or is it a combination of parts.

For example, I buy 2x16GB of ram, and these sticks were part of a banned system before. I install the sticks, and load up the game, so that enough to ban me too?

 

[Fenixgoon]

If this encourages people to not be assholes in online games, then I am in support.

You can do whatever you want in single player. Break the game as many ways as you'd like. Yell as many terrible things as you want. But you're in no way entitled to use someone else's services (multiplayer) to broadcast your hate.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

The explanation in the video is worded in such a way it’s not clear if a single part can carry the ban over to a different system, or is it a combination of parts.

For example, I buy 2x16GB of ram, and these sticks were part of a banned system before. I install the sticks, and load up the game, so that enough to ban me too?

That's ... not really possible... You can HWID components and create a HWID alphanumeric string or whatever that's tied to the internal components (windows does this) but if you start swapping them around, it's not gonna 'know' where the parts came from. I don't think any mfg serializes the component via internal IDs, that'd be very onerous at scale.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Gawd if I could pick up some dirt cheap hardware that was banned in Valorant or whatever GAAS/LIVE SERVICE/FOMO Trash MP game that I will never play I would be so happy.

Unfortunately that doesn't appear to be the case.

 

[ch33zw1z]

That's ... not really possible... You can HWID components and create a HWID alphanumeric string or whatever that's tied to the internal components (windows does this) but if you start swapping them around, it's not gonna 'know' where the parts came from. I don't think any mfg serializes the component via internal IDs, that'd be very onerous at scale.

CPU z will show you serials on the hardware itself, it’s free to use.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

CPU z will show you serials on the hardware itself, it’s free to use.

Ah, wasn't aware they actually did that.

Well this seems like a really obtuse way to ban people. Fix your shit so it can't be hacked, ban the account, move on.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Ah, wasn't aware they actually did that.

Well this seems like a really obtuse way to ban people. Fix your shit so it can't be hacked, ban the account, move on.

It’s really what I’m asking g tho, is it like the way you described, if so then not really a big deal at all. If they’re targeting hardware specific information then it could be a bigger problem for used equipment among gamers. Maybe a non issue for me in general, but since my kids are into newer games and we system build…could come up at some point

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Even if they could ban specific CPUs, RAM, or other hardware from specific online games, I'm not sure it would matter much.

I mean, you use something for a few years, you get banned from game X at some point. If you sell it to somebody who's going to use it, the chances of them wanted to play game X are minimal. (If the game is even still live to play.) And at that point it's old hardware, probably used to repair a non-gamers' Facebook machine, or get stuck in a NAS or a printer or something.

What I'd do is ban based on something fairly high level, but also specific to a user: say, a Steam ID or Windows Activation hash. (Or both. Or something else. I'm just spitballing here.)

Steam integration means you could do hyper-specific specific troll-ey stuff like "You have to spend 500 hours playing Starfield and get the BG3 achievement for romancing Minthara before we let you back in."

 

[mikeymikec]

If this encourages people to not be assholes in online games, then I am in support.

And if someone mentions a "bad term" while in game, say "adblocking", like "cisgender" allegedly gets you suspended on Twitter?

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I would have thought that hardware bans would only work with a combination of hardware IDs, otherwise it's absurd.

 

[Fenixgoon]

And if someone mentions a "bad term" while in game, say "adblocking", like "cisgender" allegedly gets you suspended on Twitter?

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I would have thought that hardware bans would only work with a combination of hardware IDs, otherwise it's absurd.

One, free speech doesn't apply to private companies. Their game system and servers, they can ban whatever words they want. But a company that wants a robust player base will endeavor to ban the worst offenders. Kinda like Twitter pre-musk.

Two, sometimes the threat of something is the most effective thing. Like sanctions - you don't actually want to have to enforce sanctions. But the threat of sanctions can be enough to get the job done sometimes, and that is the ideal scenario.