Using Steam remote function and botting

[Deviner]

Anyone ever tried using some sort of pixel bots while using the remote stream functionality in Steam?

I've been using the "stream" option in Steam to play WoW on a crappy laptop and I figured, there's no way warden can detect anything I'm running on the laptop.

So, in theory, you could run a pixel bot on a second PC pretty easily and warden would only be scanning your main PC which would be clean?

Almost everyone would have Steam running on their PC's so wouldn't draw any attention like if you were running a VM or something.

Any ideas?

(I found some "RemoteDesktop" thing online for Steam that I manually added into Steam and it basically acts as a remote desktop session, except it's realy quick/snappy and much better than something like VNC or Teamviewer etc).

[lilsniff]

I've heard that remotely controlling the PC that's playing WoW could get you banned, although Blizzard haven't been very clear on the subject.

The "official" response is that it might be in the gray area, and that it's probably not a good idea.

Here's a copy of a blue post:

I delved into this one a bit more because I don’t want folks getting in trouble. Under our EULA the following section: >

Cloud Computing: Use the Platform, including a Game, in connection with any unauthorized third-party “cloud computing” services, “cloud gaming” services, or any software or service designed to enable the unauthorized streaming or transmission of Game content from a third-party server to any device.

With the remote access, you might be treading very closely to this, so it might be a bad idea and at this point I’d recommend against the activity.

I’m going to update my previous statement to avoid any trouble down the line if someone were only to see that quote.

Source: Is it banable if i - Customer Support - World of Warcraft Forums

[Deviner]

Thanks for the reply lilsniff - yeah I was aware of this but I don't think anyone has ever been banned for it.
Also, they've specified cloud-gaming in that post which specifically removes local remote access from the picture (which is what I'm referring to).

You would imagine the thousands of multiboxers that use VM's and stuff to play WoW would have been banned by now.

There is also the Geforce Now side of things as well, which is clearly Cloud, and they had no issue with people playing their games remotely.
They've removed their games from GNow at the moment but that's unrelated to T&C's as far as I'm aware.

So, I don't think Warden could detect what I'm running on the second PC, so I reckon it's an extra layer of security.
Unless they've some other methods... .but it'd be nice to hear from anyone that's tried it out.

I'm using the below as a means of playing WoW on an old Surface Pro 3, streaming off my desktop and it works flawlessly.
Steam Remote Desktop : Steam

[lilsniff]

Thanks for the reply lilsniff - yeah I was aware of this but I don't think anyone has ever been banned for it.
Also, they've specified cloud-gaming in that post which specifically removes local remote access from the picture (which is what I'm referring to).

You would imagine the thousands of multiboxers that use VM's and stuff to play WoW would have been banned by now.

There is also the Geforce Now side of things as well, which is clearly Cloud, and they had no issue with people playing their games remotely.
They've removed their games from GNow at the moment but that's unrelated to T&C's as far as I'm aware.

So, I don't think Warden could detect what I'm running on the second PC, so I reckon it's an extra layer of security.
Unless they've some other methods... .but it'd be nice to hear from anyone that's tried it out.

I'm using the below as a means of playing WoW on an old Surface Pro 3, streaming off my desktop and it works flawlessly.
Steam Remote Desktop : Steam

Since Blizzard doesn't have a clear stance on it, I would be careful if I were you. People have been banned for using third party software to connect to their computer to play/login. These instances might be people who use remote access to put themselves in queues or similar things.

On a final note, you should just contact Blizzard Customer Support and ask for an outright answer to your question. If you don't, I wouldn't do it if you treasure your account.

[Deviner]

Since Blizzard doesn't have a clear stance on it, I would be careful if I were you. People have been banned for using third party software to connect to their computer to play/login. These instances might be people who use remote access to put themselves in queues or similar things.

On a final note, you should just contact Blizzard Customer Support and ask for an outright answer to your question. If you don't, I wouldn't do it if you treasure your account.

They do have a stance on it though, they have no issue with remote play as long as it's not related to cloud gaming.
See Can I use remote desktop to access my computer and play wow or login queue? - Technical Support - World of Warcraft Forums for a blue post on local remote play.

Besides, people have been doing this for a long time without any issues and I've been using the Steam remote play for a while too... there's nothing dodgy about it and it wouldn't look like anything is out of place to warden as well, seeing as you're just playing the game via a manually added Steam game.

[lilsniff]

They do have a stance on it though, they have no issue with remote play as long as it's not related to cloud gaming.
See Can I use remote desktop to access my computer and play wow or login queue? - Technical Support - World of Warcraft Forums for a blue post on local remote play.

Besides, people have been doing this for a long time without any issues and I've been using the Steam remote play for a while too... there's nothing dodgy about it and it wouldn't look like anything is out of place to warden as well, seeing as you're just playing the game via a manually added Steam game.

The blue post I linked to was not very clear, and had no good answer to it in addition to warning the player. The one you linked to was not 100% clear either, saying it SHOULD work, and he finishes with:

That said Customer Support cannot approve or deny specific software.

Sounds like anything else than a clear stance to me.

[Deviner]

Yeah I guess they don't want to leave themselves open for any abuse.
But what I'm using is Steam and that's clearly not bannable seeing as probably 90% of people have it running in the background while playing WoW.

Anyways, lets get off that debate as I started the thread to see if anyone has run anything remotely before and what will/won't work.

Local machine running WoW + Steam.
Remote machine running Steam Remote + whatever bot etc.

I've been using an older Surface Pro 3 which gets terrible FPS by itself, so I've been using the Steam remote function to connect to my main PC and play for the last 2 months without issue.


EDIT: Looking at this, I'm not sure it'd be possible with Steam remote as it goes fullscreen and you're effectively in a remote desktop session.
I've tried to use -windowed as a launch option in order to run some sort of pixel based bot on the secondary PC but it maintains fullscreen mode which kind of scuppers this whole thing.