According to a number of reports on Blizzard’s official forum, Diablo 3 players who game on Linux via WINE are being banned for using “unsupported third-party software”.

These banned users claim Diablo 3’s cheat detection system mistakenly identifies WINE as a bot or a trainer and auto-bans the user.

WINE is not an emulator or virtual machine as it allows Windows programs to be run via compatibility layer by providing alternative interpretations of dynamic link libraries.

The clause of the license agreement that regulates the use of third-party software with Diablo 3 reads as follows: “A third party program is any file or program that is used in addition to the game to gain an unfair advantage. These programs may increase movement speed or teleport heroes from one place to another beyond what is allowed by game design. It also includes any programs that obtain information from the game that is not normally available to the regular player or that transmit or modify any of the game files.”

As users who are being banned are doing so because of a license violation, Blizzard is not offering refunds.

Blizzard has refuted claims that users were being banned for using WINE, as the company claims it has done extensive testing for false positives.

“We’ve extensively tested for false positive situations, including replicating system setups for those who have posted claiming they were banned unfairly,” said Blizzard community manager Bashiok. “We’ve not found any situations that could produce a false positive, have found that the circumstances for which they were banned were clear and accurate, and we are extremely confident in our findings.”

“Playing the game on Linux, although not officially supported, will not get you banned – cheating will.”