Maphack

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A maphack is a cheat in real-time strategy games that enables the player to see more of the map than the game intends them to see. A common feature in multiplayer real-time strategy games is the inability for the player to see outside the visibility range of the individual units and buildings that the player controls. This concept is called the fog of war. Maphacking enables a cheating player to bypass the fog of war, giving them an advantage over a player who is playing legitimately. This advantage is quite large for most of the real-time strategy games that rely on the rock-paper-scissors dynamic to balance out the units' varying strengths and weaknesses.

Maphacking has also been used to cheat in other games where map visibility provides an advantage, most notably in Blizzard Entertainment's RPG Diablo II and the RTS Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

In recent years people using maphacks on Battle.net have been caught. Maphacking is a violation of Blizzard Entertainment terms of use, which condemns the use of any third party software. Thousands have had their accounts banned; in extreme cases, those caught cheating have had their CD key banned.