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Visitors play ''World of Warcraft'' at an exhibition stand during the Gamescom 2012 fair in Cologne August 15, 2012. The Gamescom convention, Europe's largest video games trade fair, runs from August 16 to August 19. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender

Blizzard Entertainment has banned a large number of ‘World of Warcraft’ players for six months after confirming the extensive use of third-party programs (bots) that automate gameplay. There is no declaration of the exact number of accounts blocked. However, various news reports are saying that over 100,000 accounts have been suspended for six months.

“We have recently taken action against a large number of World of Warcraft accounts that were found to be using bots. We will continue to take action against those found in violation of our terms of use,” said World of Warcraft spokesperson in a forum site.

Bots are third-party software program that help the players to undertake repetitive tasks to access fresh game content. The software program is used to play parts of the games and boost the user’s performance.

World of Warcraft Community Manager Micah Whipple issued a statement via Twitter. See his tweet below.

Blizzard had punished users for using bots in 2009. The company had even taken to court MDY Industries LLC, the seller of World of Warcraft bots, and marked a victory in its legal campaign.

A YouTube video of a World of Warcraft player testifies that almost everyone in his battleground is using the Honorbuddy bot. It not only exposes the dishonest practise, it also demonstrates a serious problem for any player who wishes to fight against other players in a player-versus-player mode.

Activision recently said “World of Warcraft” has lost three million subscribers since the launch of “Warlords of Draenor”, PCGames N reported. “Warlords of Draenor” had touched a massive subscriber base of 10 million. This information was based on its first quarter earnings this year. A recent report in statista.com revealed that World of Warcraft had a subscriber base of 9.6 million in the last quarter of 2012.

“World of Warcraft” was first announced by Blizzard Entertainment at The European Computer Trade Show (ECTS) in 2001. Released in 2004, the development of the game took almost five years including extensive testing. “The Burning Crusade” was the first expansion set of the game that was released in 2007. “World of Warcraft” is presently a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).

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