I understand Blizzard's stance on this, but it really is silly. They'd better have amazing custom map and game support as well as hosting support in StarCraft 2 or third party programs will be made again.
The reason things like Warkeys and LC have been made are because of advances in technology and deficiencies in the game. Almost any modern game allows you to change hotkeys to those of your choosing in an easy-to-use interface. It doesn't make the game easier or give you an unfair advantage; it's just something that's become expected. (Adding "always show healthbars" to the game removed my need for warkeys entirely and I no longer use it. Thanks for listening to the community on that change. I hope that's also an option in SC2)
And a great number of people have fast internet connections now. Custom games being hosted at 250ms feels like molasses when so many of us are used to sub-50ms pings. All of the TDA DotA games are hosted with LC, and for good reason. The game doesn't play nearly the same without it.
So I understand the hard-line company stance, but to be honest things like LC and the DotA bot are increasing longevity of the game and increasing sales of the game, and banning accounts using those would be horrible from a business standpoint. WC3 would not still be going nearly as strongly without the strong custom game community.
Yes, banning cheating programs is important to keeping a game community vibrant, but really, closing the holes that make those cheats work in the first place should be a priority over just banning third-party apps, and I hope the stance changes for SC2. If a lot of people are using a third party app (that doesn't involve cheating), then there's probably a good reason why. Update the game to include the improvement so the app isn't needed. Add in-game custom hotkey changing and a delay selector for hosting custom games, etc.
I love Blizzard, and they consistently provide a high level of polish, and I understand wanting to control servers and IP, but it would be nice if they had a better modding/third party stance a la Valve.
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