Blizzard to get $6 million from maker of WoW bot
news.bbc.co.uk
news.bbc.co.uk
Most important part, in my opinion: "This is troubling and creates a chilling precedent. It basically says that the copy of the software created in your system's RAM is okay under the license, and when you break the EULA by using software like MMOGlider the license is revoked, and you are suddenly left playing an unlicensed copy of the game."
Blizzard has used its hammer numerous times on many people. Some small, some big... specifically calling to mind Blizzard vs. BNETD. What's unfortunate is that Blizzard is actually winning these arguments and its leaving us with precedence that EULA > The US Constitutions.... If anyone would take the time to read the EULA for World of Warcraft you'll find that some of the claims in it are completely outragous. More or less, if you do something that Blizzard doesn't like, you're liable to have to pay Blizzard for it.
I'm the kind of person who likes to have fun and use my imagination when I play games. I'll agree that I think it can ruin the game experience when players exploit to benefit themselves, but suing them for it just isn't right. It is the fact that not only did I risk getting my account banned but doing things like WoWGlider and writing programs that gave you advantage could also risk major lawsuits that I left WoW in the first place with the ambition of designing my own game where I could have fun with the game world and not have to worry about getting sued. I'm proud to say I made it decently far (though never got close to completion).
Personally, I view Blizzard as more ambitious than the RIAA at pursuing copyright infringements, and most of the infrignements Blizzard pursues aren't infringements at all. A lot of what Blizzard goes after are competitors who make money off Blizzard's product while not reproducing or redistributing their product. I just can't coprehend how Blizzard ever has justification to claim copyrights when a person or team, using their own knowledge and skills, writes their own programs from the ground up to alter the game's performance while not directly modifying any part of the game. In the terms of cheating, its justifiable to ban users breaking the policy, in terms of "3rd party servers" its justification to fix your own holes and make it harder to do.
At this rate, Blizzard's next EULA will say you can't install or play any other video game on the machine that WoW is installed or you'll have to pay three months subscription on the spot.
My post also is looking at a correlating problem in terms of "non-official" servers if you will. WoWGlider while in itself ruined the game experience when you were a player vs a player who used it. However, its ultimately ridiculous that someone who through their own might and knowledge can write a program that doesn't directly modify the actual content of the game, rather just controls outside variables to get it to behave differently than expected at a user's consent, and Blizzard can claim copyright and sue for millions.
The correct way to handle it would be removing players who are found to be using the product from the game and/or finding a way to make your program resistant to such outside influences.
Theoretically, the company shouldn't even be liable for "damages" since they didn't trick players into doing it, they didn't force them to do so, players went on their own and did it, knowing the consequences. The program itself had no direct effect on the protected files themselves, only indirect.
If you've ever played the game, you get harassed by gold farmers all the time. It has been a constant arms race between WOWGlider and Blizzard, and in the times that WOWGlider is ahead, gold farmers are a significant annoyance in the game.
And therein lies the problem: this isn't a conceptual exercise, it is a problem in practice. Blizzard will never be able to ban 100% of WOWGlider users, and they will never be able to make their software 100% secure to this stuff. So, they have to attack it from all sides: they ban cheaters (I personally know someone banned after running the WOWGlider trial just once), they secure their software (I'm sure you've heard of the Blizzard Warden), and they go after the people who make this software.
Like I said, I agree with everything you said in concept. But in the real world, it isn't so easy to generalize everything into black and white.
PS: They aren't suing their customers, they are suing a company that ruins the experience of their customers.
They're still suing a company for doing something they didn't do. They're going off on them on the DMCA which they didn't go against and the EULA (which they also didn't go against). That really would be the gold farmers and besides the gold farmers I'm sure nobody would complain about doing something about them specifically. Rather than taking care of the problem with farmers and direct cheaters, they're going after a mere background entity. Taking out WoWGlider, especially in the way they are, isn't going to stop the farmers in any way shape or form and it isn't going to stop people from cheating... all they're doing is ruining people's lives for creating something that is completely legal in its isolated form.
* World of Warcraft creator Blizzard looks set to get $6m (£3.36m) from the makers of a software 'bot'
* sold more than 100,000 copies of the $25 (£14) program.
So, estimated gross revenue is L1.4MM for the lifetime of the bot company, but Blizzard was awarded L3.33MM ---almost three times sales? I don't understand. Is this expected to ever be paid, or simply expected to crush the bot company?
Farming is much more harmful to the game than auto-leveling. Too much farming would ruin the in-game economy and cripple an essential part of the game. Farmers also often use the sale of gold and items as a pretense to phish passwords, which they then use for in-game spamming.
Blizzard should focus on fighting goldfarming and leave people who want to have a high-level character without spending weeks of their time on the game alone IMO.
There are a large number of people who agree with you, including me, but the bottom line is that the MMO grinding model works for the objective of keeping subscribers. Some people get frustrated, some people just hate the mechanics, but you can manage to keep the several hundred thousand subscribers you need to be profitable. You can't please everyone, so why not just please a particular niche market? The only downside is that MMO gamers are very, very, very, very, very whiny and hard to please, you could blame this on the fact that most MMOs are cookie-cutter clones of each other and thus gamers can easily get in a fit when their class is nerfed and join your competitor's game, without having to worry about actually playing a different game.
Some people just really /do/ want a 'second job' doing raids three or more times a week and dumping hundreds of hours of their life into a game.
Players, and probably moreso, game designers are also interested in combating farmers in order to maintain the 'purity' of their in-game economy. I guess what I'm basically saying is that gold farming is the real enemy in this battle. Players and designers could also be bothered that bots allow players to make progress in the game without actually having to put in the time to play, but this plays second fiddle to gold farming.
Happy to see his ass banned. MMOs aren't for everyone. Plenty games are designed for casual play. qq more - you have a real job and a real social life, unlike most MMO players.
Why'd I do it? Got bored watching friends raiding most nights when I could only play a few hours a week, I was estimating a few months for the last few levels — but using the bot, got to 70 within a week, and I now raid a few times a week, and having fun. I'm happy, didn't hurt the game as gold farmers do, and I already knew how to play my class before hand (so I'm not a noob). Win! :)
I can say I'm glad the bot is history, but there are a lot of people in my situation, and with an extra 10 levels being added soon (WotLK), its going to be even harder for people to catch up with their friends!
But without this one bot which Blizzard could track, gold farmers are going to develop their own bots. Gold farming could get worse! (though Blizz have tried to stop this by giving users gold easily via daily quests — but its still easier to buy! ;)