Blizzard bans several thousand Diablo 3 players for using bots and cheating

Blizzard has banned several thousand players of its action role-playing game Diablo 3 for using bots and cheating programs and "undermining the spirit of fair play," according to a post on the Battle.net forums.

"We've recently issued account bans to several thousand Diablo 3 players who were found to be using botting programs while playing," wrote community manager Lylirra. "In addition to undermining the spirit of fair play, botting, hacking, and other forms of cheating can also cause technical problems with the game as well as contribute to performance issues with the Battle.net service."

Lylirra wrote that maintaining a stable and safe environment for Diablo 3 players is high on developer Blizzard's list of priorities, and that the company is working on a future patch that will add the ability to report cheating and other destructive behavior directly through the game client.

For now Blizzard encourages players to report use of bots and other cheat programs through a designated forum on Battle.net.