ESEA Client Mining Bitcoins in the Background

[Stevary]

This may not be important if you don't use ESEA, but if you do, and run the client in the background a lot this is important for you to know. 

 

The ESEA Client has code in it that makes your GPU mine Bitcoins. If you don't know what Bitcoins are you can go [url="http://osgamers.net/forums/topic/1040-bitcoins/"]here[/url].

 

And I guess the ESEA admins have admitted that this is true.

 

 

Important to read: http://play.esea.net/index.php?s=forums&d=topic&id=492134

Part 2: http://play.esea.net/index.php?s=forums&d=topic&id=492152

 

 

This is how it was discovered:  http://play.esea.net/index.php?s=forums&d=topic&id=492102

How I found out about this: http://www.reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive/comments/1dgad2/esea_client_basically_a_virus/

 

 

This is some pretty fucked up behavior from a company like ESEA. I find it ridiculous. 

People have been making viruses that mine Bitcoins. This isn't any better.

[Tubbsmcgrubs]

I saw this on reddit, I'm not sure what a bitcoin is to tell you the truth but it seems like a big deal based on the outrage. Is there really any competitor that someone could switch too?

[Merle_Haggard]

Just cancelled my subscription and uninstalled.  Thanks for the heads-up

[Hollow Clipz]

pretty crazy and sad since it would have been a good idea if implemented correctly. I don't know if that was posted in the premium forums or not so here is a quick run down if you can't read it...

 

Everything is just spinning out of control now since first it was:

 

Part 1: An idea to have ESEA client users mine bitcoins while their computer were idle. Users would be given free ESEA and the bitcoins mined would be sold for more LANS (prize money) to encourage growth, basically the gamers and community banding together with little effort to create money flow for gamers. It was not implemented, but a server restart with an old config caused this to legitimately get released but for only 48 hours and 1.9XXX bitcoins were mined which came out to a value of $280. 

 

Part 2: Way more shady than lpkane thought it was in his first post. Turns out it was active for over 2 weeks (started April 14th) and 29 Bitcoins were created resulting in around over $3600 dollars. Not sure how this is going to turn out, but I'm sure plenty of people are going to be suing. 

 

Sucks that some people that had older gpus had their cards fried since the gpu was being run so much. I'm OCD about having the ESEA client blinking in my notification area so I always had it closed when I wasn't using it so I never got any mining done.

[T.o.o.LBoneSAW]

how does everyone feel about this? as a result i am unlikely to play in esea now....

[Stevary]

I saw this on reddit, I'm not sure what a bitcoin is to tell you the truth but it seems like a big deal based on the outrage. Is there really any competitor that someone could switch too?

It's an online currency. It shifts in value a lot like a stock. A few weeks ago 1 Btc was about 270, then it had a crash and went down to about 140 per Bitcoin. 

You can either buy Bitcoins or mine them. The way that mining works is that you have your GPU do a shit ton of work to get parts of a Bitcoin. It takes a lot of time to mine bitcoins as an individual, but in a pool like ESEA made, it's pretty damn effective.

 

 

 

 

pretty crazy and sad since it would have been a good idea if implemented correctly. I don't know if that was posted in the premium forums or not so here is a quick run down if you can't read it...

 

Everything is just spinning out of control now since first it was:

 

Part 1: An idea to have ESEA client users mine bitcoins while their computer were idle. Users would be given free ESEA and the bitcoins mined would be sold for more LANS (prize money) to encourage growth, basically the gamers and community banding together with little effort to create money flow for gamers. It was not implemented, but a server restart with an old config caused this to legitimately get released but for only 48 hours and 1.9XXX bitcoins were mined which came out to a value of $280. 

 

Part 2: Way more shady than lpkane thought it was in his first post. Turns out it was active for over 2 weeks (started April 14th) and 29 Bitcoins were created resulting in around over $3600 dollars. Not sure how this is going to turn out, but I'm sure plenty of people are going to be suing. 

 

Sucks that some people that had older gpus had their cards fried since the gpu was being run so much. I'm OCD about having the ESEA client blinking in my notification area so I always had it closed when I wasn't using it so I never got any mining done.

Holy shit. I read the one where they said it was only 2 Bitcoins. I thought that it would have been more but 2 weeks and 29 Bitcoins is fucking ridiculous. 

And it really sucks that some people's GPUs got fucked up, but what's worse is that now you're they're gonna get a bunch of douche bags telling them that they fucked up their GPU and that they want a free ESEA subscription.

 

 

 

 

 

Just cancelled my subscription and uninstalled.  Thanks for the heads-up

how does everyone feel about this? as a result i am unlikely to play in esea now....

 

I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's extremely unprofessional for a company like them. I'm not subscribed myself and wasn't running the ESEA client in the background, although I have an account. This will make me think twice before giving them my money. But I'm not sure if I would go as far as canceling a subscription if I had one. This is fucked up, but there aren't too many good alternatives to ESEA.  :/

[FallenHoot]

Fuck it.... I am still going to play esea because I just can't find players and practice anywhere else. 5v5 practice that is.