Blizzard Entertainment has dropped more than 14,000 players from the online version of its Warcraft III game after catching them cheating.

According to US cyber-culture magazine Wired, the players used a hack that enabled them to see into their opponents' territories, giving them a huge advantage in web-based combat.

The cheaters were banned from online tournament play for two weeks and have had their accounts reset, wiping out months of win/loss records.

But many gamers felt that the ban was too lenient as players can still engage in private games on Battle.net, Blizzard's online gaming platform.

More than 63 per cent of those responding to a poll on fan site WarcraftIII.net said that the cheaters should be permanently banned from playing in tournament, or 'ladder', games on Battle.net.

Only a third believed that the two-week ban was enough.