Banhammer

The term banhammer, is a satirical term for the banning or blocking of users of Internet forums or online games. The term is often used as a nickname for the actual anti-cheating software that performs the banning action.

Overview

Punishment is usually a form of ban from the service, either by deleting the guilty party's account or suspending it for a period of time. In extreme cases, the person's IP address may be blocked from the server to prevent them from simply creating another account, sometimes indefinitely; however, this particular action is rarely taken, as most Internet Service Providers allocate dynamic IPs to their customers which can change from time to time.cite news | first=Michael | last=Lasky | coauthors= | title=AT&T's CallVantage: Excellent Phone Service on the Cheap | date=2005-05-23 | publisher=IDG | url =http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,120900-page,1/article.html | work =PC World | pages = | accessdate = 2007-06-07 | language = ] These actions are usually invoked for such offenses as violating the website's Terms of Service, trolling, promoting prejudice, disrespect of moderators, or promoting illegal acts.

Gaming usage

Its concept has since expanded into more mainstream venues, such as Bungie's "Halo 2 and Halo 3" video game for the Xbox console. A patch released in July 2005 -- required for future online play -- scanned the user's hard drive and summarily restricted them from joining Xbox Live without possibility of appeal or leniency if it was determined that their copy had been modded. [ [http://www.bungie.net/Games/Halo2/page.aspx?section=FAQInfo&subsection=cheat&page=cheat "HALO 2 & CHEATING: How does the Bungie "Banhammer" actually work?"] , "Bungie.net", 2005-06-10, URL retrieved 2006-12-29.] [ [http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=46969 "Halo 2 and Halo 3 Online Cheaters Get Smashed by Bungie's Banhammer"] "GamePro", 2005-07-21, URL retrieved 2006-12-29.] News site Slashdot began using the term at that point and has subsequently applied it to multiple instances of similar housecleaning occurring on World of Warcraft. [http://slashdot.org/search.pl?query=banhammer "Searching For: banhammer"] , "Slashdot".]

In other games such as Blizzard's "StarCraft", the host has a hammer icon next to their name and is able to boot people from the chat for being disruptive. The banhammer has even made an appearance in the RPG "", where it can be found on the corpse of an NPC. [Velvin, Sinder, [http://til.gamingsource.net/dogate/mw_easter_eggs.shtml#Arlowe,%20Kyanka%20And%20The%20Banhammer "Morrowind Easter Eggs"] , The Imperial Library fansite, URL retrieved 2006-12-29.]

"Banhammer" is a term used by special accounts such as moderators or administrators in a game, website, or forum. This term means depriving a user of access to a specific area because of abuse of user rights or the user not adhering to the terms and conditions.

ee also

*Cheating in online games
*Exploit (online gaming)
*4chan

References