Reddit User Believes Guild Wars 2 Uses Spyware

Guild Wars 2 Reported to Install Spyware

When it launched in 2012, Guild Wars 2 again attempted to be the alternative to World of Warcraft. Offering free play for an initial purchase charge, the game attempted to tap into that part of WoW fans who enjoyed the game but got fed-up with the subscription prices.

It’s initial success was quite strong and while it remains popular, in recent years users levels have declined. I personally used to play the game but stopped several years ago. I still regularly get e-mails from them telling me that some chap in Hong Kong is trying to access my account. Bless him.

Following a Reddit thread though, it seems that the game might be packing more than we expected. In the thread, it is suggested that Guild Wars 2 is installing spyware on our PC’s.

Spyware on our computers?

It sounds crazy, but it wouldn’t the first time a seemingly legitimate program snuck something on our computers. The thread was initially designed to try and understand why some people were getting banned from the game. The investigation conducted has come to the conclusion that it is due to spyware the game uses.

Before you panic, it is believed that the spyware is only used to attempt to monitor background applications and therefore to detect and/or monitor cheaters. It does, however, have many worried about what other information it might be taking. For example, when using a web browser with the game open in the background. In addition, it is believed that the spyware uses insecure channels and as such could potentially be open to exploitation.

The developers, ArenaNet have yet to comment on this, but we will, of course, keep you posted.

What do you think about this? Do you play Guild Wars 2? Does this worry you? – Let us know in the comments!