March 24, 2008 -
You may recall that, about a year ago, World of Warcraft publisher Blizzard sued computer whiz Michael Donnelly, creator of a popular WoW botting program known as Glider.Last week, both sides filed new motions in U.S. District Court for summary judgment, essentially seeking to have themselves declared victorious without having to go through a trial.
We note that in its motion, Blizzard claims that Donnelly sold $2.8 million worth of Glider. That's a lot of bots. For the legal-minded, here is Blizzard's motion and here is Donnelly's.
Comments
An MMO is by and large a service, and really in a lot of instances people expect a little too much for their dollar. I'll say it again, you don't own anything when it comes to WoW or any other MMO. The content is all owned by the company and you're leasing it for fun.
You can cry out that Blizz is a terrible company but what it ultimately boils down to is that they are looking out for the majority of their 10 million customers at the expense of the minority. It's not some evil plot to control your computer or to keep you from enjoying the game. It's a perfectly legitimate plot to keep something they are constantly investing resources into under their control. Want a comparison? How about this, if you own a computer (which I'm assuming you do) how would you feel if you're neighbor decided his bandwidth would be better if he "fiddled" with your internet wiring a bit. He's a customer of the same IP company, he pays his money just like you do, and since he's only online on his computer 3 hours a day, while you're home and online a lot more (for arguements sake making the assumption) he sets up the wiring in your apartment complex so when he signs on, you lose signal. When he signs off, you get full service.
In a world without some kind of agreement between the service provider and the service reciever, he has every right to do this, because who is going to step in? Who has authority? Without an agreement of some kind the company can't take any action, and since you have no agreement with him you would have no recourse save trying to fix the problem yourself. You have no agreement with the company, thus they have no incentive to fix it for you.
Even a basic "I pay you and you make it work." is an agreement. In Blizzard's case, their CUSTOMERS have cried out against this program, and thus they're taking action. I say good for you Blizz, and good luck.
i've been playing LOTRO recently, having given up on the WOW grind, and i have to admit, i will not miss the gold-farmers spamming chat every five minutes if the game companies get an edge with which to shut them down
I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with the way EULAs are structured but even though it's an idealistic view, I think if more gamers voted with their wallets rather than their mouths then game companies would definitely start taking notice. And to a degree I think the standards SHOULD be stricter for MMO games like WoW.
That said, aside from a couple of posts I don't see much discussion of the specifics so far. How much of the negative opinion is really because of Blizzard's specific defense and how much is just because it's an EULA?
@puddington: I'm not a tech whiz by any means and I know almost nothing about Glider specifically, but my guess is that there are probably some nuances of RAM loading regarding what gets loaded and when. Things like Glider loading parts of the software that wouldn't otherwise be loaded, or altering the data contained in the RAM. As far as monitoring your RAM, even in detail, I don't see why that would be a problem as long as you're not altering whatever WoW keeps in RAM. And even if it were technically against the rules, do you think Blizzard would ban you for monitoring your RAM? I doubt it, personally.
@jds: My solution to the grind is simple: When it gets boring, stop playing. There's a good reason why after three years I only have one 70 and one other character above level 30. ;)
But I'm wondering just how bad the grind is in WoW that people would really use bots to skip on it. Most of the stories I've heard are from people on crazy big raids with very little mention of collection quests, and most of the botting activity seems to revolve around people who get behind in the game and discover that their friends have moved on to saving helpless tigers from angry princesses while they're still stuck with getting cats out of trees. I agree that grinding is a necessary, time-wasting enterprise, but you'd think that Blizzard would be aware of that and work the mechanics to favour the exciting stuff. Then again, you'd also think they'd know how to g-line the gold farmers by now. There's a lot I don't know about this modern MMO stuff. In my day the social-nerds had their MUDs and they were happy with 'em, dagnabbit.
Fangamer
Ah, but there's the rub. It is only a game- but it's a game that people pay to play, both in dollars and in time. It's a very easy game, in fact. However, you still need to know how to play.
This is a problem my roommate has re: easy availability of character respecs, and a similar problem with a botter- let us say that a person has botted up to level 70. Unless this person has done it manually in the past, I don't expect them to know what they are doing at all. What sort of end-game content is he going to participate in? Probably the kind where he fails at his character's job and gets the party killed.
This effects other players, frustrating them. Frustrated players are NOT a thing Blizzard wants. Frustrated players are players that might stop giving them dollars.
Not at all. You're assuming there's no checking at the server end. Instead what we have, is, without user input, the app is requesting that the back make a 2nd transaction, after noting information received from the 1st. Say it notes that the bank says you've been paid today, so it send back a request that you pay Mastercard $100. No money is created or destroyed.
"Please tell me HOW it would be legal for someone to create and distribute a program which incrementally increased the amount of money in their bank account without any actual deposit from said person?"
You're talking about server-side hacking, which is a completely different issue.
Like I said, Glider was designed specifically to violate Blizzard's EULA/ToU. What Blizzard HAS been doing is shutting down every account that they found using Glider. However, this is an endless battle, and Blizzard now is turning to other options (like Copyright/DMCA) to nail Glider's developers. The most the EULA is brought up, from my understanding of Blizzard's position, is that the program was designed with the intent to break the EULA/ToU. So, Blizzard also is pointing out that the system was made for that explicit purpose -- but that is not a strong position to argue from, that's for sure. Fortunately, it isn't the only leg they are standing on.
It does cause an unfair advantage. Namely -- botting helps provide for goldsellers, it is a cheap and effective way to get gold or items to sell for real-world money, to make a profit on Blizzard's game by selling things that a) have no real-world value, and b) are notowned by the goldsellers. It is effectively a scam to rip off players, and one that Blizzard is strongly against. Botting makes it so a single person can work on grinding out gold and items for multiple characters simultaneously -- increased volume.
That is the main thing Blizzard is protecting against.
"I’m sorry but frankly if you’re attitude is that my time and effort working on building this experience for you is worthless, I don’t want you to play the game I made."
As long as I'm paying you money why the hell do you care whether I play it or not?
Another quip. If you guys honestly think that shutting down Glider is going to do a single thing to the availability of bots, it's not, it's just going to outsource it overseas where Blizzard can't touch the botmakers. Meanwhile, we're stuck with the shitty ramifications of this law.
While we all hate bots, and I can see Blizzard wanting to use this as precedent to slap down farmers... I don't think this is the right route.
I don't know the details of MAI v. Peak, but in the circumstances of this case, based on HOW A COMPUTER WORKS, the WoW software, and content, must be copied into RAM anyway in order to be executed. So, how far does Blizzard's case reach? Am I still allowed to monitor my RAM while WoW is running? In how much detail? Am I allowed to know how much RAM WoW currently occupies? It gets a little ridiculous.
This is one of those situations where nobody sides with the perpetrator, but nobody wants to see the legal arguments used by Blizzard prevail; yes botting is undesirable behavior, but so is legally enforcing a draconian EULA.
That being said, I also hate just how much power is behind those bloody EULAs. I understand that they're there to give the companies the ability to effectively police thier game and make it a fun environment for most customers. But so of the things we agree to when we click that "I Agree" button is insane! They definitely need trimmed down significantly.
Personally, my monthly charges have been driving me nuts lately, I've got too many people dipping into my account once a month, if you're not actually going to play it, turn it the (beep) off. Doesn't have to be any more complicated then that.
Bots are cheating and buying from farmers is cheating. I think Blizzard should have the right to stamp both out. If you don't have the time to play the game legitimately, too bad for you. It doesn't give you the right to go ruining the game experience for others.
Case in point. A while back I replayed the original Dragon Warrior on the NES. I was playing out of nastalgia. I got all the way to the end where the only thing left to do was beat the end boss. The only problem was that I was nowhere near a high enough level to beat him. I had about 8-10 evels before I could be strong enough.
I had three options:
1. Quit playing as I had played and beaten it before.
2. Grind for days to gain those levels.
3. Use a Game Genie to speed up the leveling process.
I didn't want to quit the game, but would have been willing. I have quit games I have never beaten, so no skin off my back.
I didn't have time to grind for days. My schedule is such as I have limited time to play games and didn't want to waste time on something that was not engaging.
I decided to go with the Game Genie. I wanted to beat the game again just to say I did. I had played the game legitimately up to this point so I had no qualms wit hinflating xp gained. Took me about 2 hours to max out my level and I beat the game. I have moved on to other games.
So using this as an example, I can see why regular users would be willing to use a bot to level for them so that they can play the quests when they have time.
Some folks would like to play the game but get real tired of killing five dorks, then killing seven nerds, then going and killing ten geeks, then collecting eight dork rings to give to Dick-Tar, then doing the same old grind for hours upon hours. They are the ones that are primarily doing this. I did it, and loved it. It kept me from having to kill five dorks, then kill seven nerds, then killing ten geeks, then collecting eight dork rings to give to Dick-Tar.
Go Modder!
If you don't like it, go kill twelve Dick-Tars and bring me eight Flerp Feathers and two Slup Slapper skulls... we'll talk.
However, it is Blizzard's game and when I was visited by the lovely Ban Hammer, I didn't complain.
However, farmers suck. When I want my mats for something, I hate flying around looking for one of the hundreds of nodes and seeing someone who is obviously farming to sell at a website. Let people play the game.
Zach - You bring up a good point, but there is a big difference between using cheats in a single player game and using a bot or mod on an MMO.
In an MMO these activities CAN have a direct impact on other players. Case in point the use of botting programs to farm items and then sell them for real life money. Not only are players who have not gone through the process of earning those items getting them, which gives them an advantage over legitimate players, but the legitimate players lose out on drops that the botting programs are getting. Especially when these drops come from rare, non-instanced mobs.
I fully support Blizzard's right to slap down the modders and botters in this instance. Do I like the amount of control they exert through the EULA? Not terribly, but it doesn't bother me enough to stop me from playing. And that's what the issue really boils down to. If the restrictions they place on us aren't enough to stop us from clicking the accept button on the EULA, then we really have no place breaking those rules. If you can't agree to play under their terms, you don't get to play the game. Plain and simple, playing is not a right, it's a privilege we're granted, in part because we pay for it and in part because we agree to abide by Blizzard's terms.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Why’s Blizzard’s undies all in a bunch? They are still getting their monthly fees. Billions and billions of dollars of monthly fees.
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Because it is screwing with the on-line economy of the game and that messing is up for other honest paying customers. Are you saying that Bot users and gold farmers have a right to mess up the game for honest players?
Billions and Billions huh? Last I checked 10 million times $15 is still only 150 million. And about a 3rd or more of that is used up in costs (yes it really does take 50 million dollars a month to pay all their staff and pay for buildings, servers, bandwidth, upkeep, etc.) Even after that a large chunk of the money goes to Vivendi Corp.
Also, why si the fact that they profit any defense for people breaking the rules of the game? That's like saying it's ok to break the law because the government charges taxes.
This goes beyond the already not-simple matter of enforcing a problematic EULA. Claiming that those actions constitute direct copyright infringement and claiming copyright circumvention are not the right tools to be using to stop botting. One, it stretches the already broad copyright laws into places that they shouldn't be. Two, it makes this behavior CRIMINAL. It seems that Blizzard is attempting to use the overly harsh criminal penalties of copyright infringement to stop cheating at a game- and there must be better and more reasonable ways to do that.
People are paying to play a game and paying to not play it.
That's pretty messed up right there.
Blizzard Entertainment has a history of bullying/hostility and throwing a corporate temper tantrum (look at how they reacted with "Star Hack" for more information). The DMCA is one of their favorite things, and they use it very aggressively any way they can. Note-the last product I bought from them was Warcraft 3 The Frozen Throne and as they have notched up their bullying tactics, I'm not 100% sure I'll buy or even play Starcraft 2 when it arrives. I don't like financially rewarding companies who are so blatantly pro-DMCA.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
My only contribution is that I agree with everything EZK and jds said. However, I hate MMO’s, so it doesn’t matter to me. But if I were to somehow lose my brain and join one, I would totally use a bot.
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EZK was playing a single player game. That is different. His actions do not effect other players. Bot users and gold farmers do. They cheat and it effects everyone around them for their own benefit.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I personally take the view that if you don’t agree with an EULA, you shouldn’t be clicking the “I Agree” button.
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QFT, end of story
But you don't want to have to deal with the constant grind that wastes your time and money.
Seem's perfectly fair.
Btw I don't play WoW, I don't have the time to waste on something thats just going to end up stealing my soul.
"This goes beyond the already not-simple matter of enforcing a problematic EULA. Claiming that those actions constitute direct copyright infringement and claiming copyright circumvention are not the right tools to be using to stop botting. One, it stretches the already broad copyright laws into places that they shouldn’t be. Two, it makes this behavior CRIMINAL. It seems that Blizzard is attempting to use the overly harsh criminal penalties of copyright infringement to stop cheating at a game- and there must be better and more reasonable ways to do that."
Ok first off technically copyright law is not criminal, it's contractual. It fits more closely into civil law I believe.
Moving beyond petty technicalities however, why is this a bad thing? Blizzard spent a lot of resources building a program. To put it simply. This person has gone outside the scope of their legal rights and abused this program for personal gain. Thus (by our standards) all the money they've accumulated is not legally theirs. The way I see it Blizzard is protecting it's investment, nothing more. This is the exact same thing as someone suing someone else for stealing their game program, just on a much larger scale. Blizzard is protecting a multi-billion dollar project. This project is the basis for hundreds of jobs and almost the entire income of the company right now. I'm sorry but I don't feel at all sorry for the guy who decided he was going to steal all those people's work for his own profit.
When WoW launched, it was criticized for being "too easy" and things going "too quickly" -- that the grind was almost completely done with, since there was a feeling of accomplishment from doing quests and such. Compared to basically every other MMO on the market at the time, WoW's grind was short, sweet, and quickly blown through to the highest level.
It only has gotten faster, what with entire quest series having been added in areas and level ranges that were missing or short on quests, and then a ton of the quests that used to require groups to do were made soloable across the world, and then the amount of XP you get for doing quests was bolstered considerably for most levels, as well as the amount of XP you needed to go from one level to the next was significantly reduced for most levels, the grind is incredibly quick any more.
Which they have. It now is faster than ever to get up to the "end-game" level (currently 70), and get into raids, battlegrounds, arenas, and other things that are "end-game". Raids were opened up to be more accessible to a wider range of players, etc. Which all of this has resulted in a lot of bitter resentment from a few of the players who felt that it is not fair how "easy" the game is now for people.
A botter can play as much as a regular player with one big and unfair advantage, when a legit player is sleeping/working/etc, his character doesn't advance. When a botter isn't playing his character keeps moving, killing and growing stronger.
Mi guess is that blizzard not only sued for the creation of the bot system but for his creator making 2.8 millions dollars, that's a pretty large sum of money for an individual and we all know that large corporations hate when people get rich on their expenses
Also, I'm going to go against the flow and say "I don't hate botters", at least ones that use this "Glider". Apparently Glider sucks for farming anyway, and it's only good for leveling. I DON'T have a lot of time to play, so I would feel it's perfectly fine to use a bot to get through a lot of grind to get to my friends' level. It's not hurting anyone, so why should it be illegal?
Botting for farming is perhaps a different story if its taking goods away from actual players. Even then I don't have much sympathy, since if your profession is that easy to farm then it's your fault for doing it. Plus, it's only a game so get over it.
Yeah, level 20 is about the minimum that you can beat the Dragon Lord with a whole lot of luck on your side. About level 25 is where it is pretty effortless. Considering the game caps at level 30 I was not far off. I think I was about 18 when I got Erdrick's sword on that last play through.
The problem was with the fact that the max XP you get from any enemy is 105, it takes a while to get the 10,000 xp needed for each level after 20.
@ Dennis
Where's the rest of the article?
On the other hand it gives some people an unfair advantage over others. This also helps gold farmers and others and frankly gold farmers are never a good thing in any game.
So maybe they need to make the grind and ingame money less important in the game itself.