Overwatch is in the news today with a pair of interesting stories. In one, a South Korean hacker was sentenced to a year in prison and two years probation for a cheating program that "violates the country's Game Industry Promotion Law". In the other, Blizzard has received an approved patent for a Play of the Game system after originally filing for it in 2016.
The South Korean player is the first to receive a prison sentence after the country enacted strict anti-cheating laws that came on the books late in 2017. The convicted man reportedly made $180,000 through sales of his cheating program. Prior to his sentencing, others charged with violating the new policies had been fined or given probation.
A Play of the Game System is now officially patented in Blizzard's name after a 2-year wait. "The game server then selects a play of the game category and determines the top aggregated score for that category. Once determined, the game server sends one or more instructions to the game clients which causes the game clients to display a replay of the events that occurred during the time window increment corresponding to the top aggregated score for the selected category." You can read the full documentation here.
