4 ms·

I'm not going to argue that in many senses cheats ruin the game for the greater good... I'm saying there's a better way to handle it than suing your customers.

I'm not going to argue that in many senses cheats ruin the game for the greater good... I'm saying there's a better way to handle it than suing your customers. Simple bans would work. 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.

zain 18y ago
I agree with you in concept on everything except for one thing: "Simple bans would work." They don't. Not by a longshot. 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.
- bigthboy 18y ago
  I've played the game for 2.5 years and then some on and off, and I just recently stopped playing regularly as I started getting more involved with both school and my venture. Like I said, I won't disagree with you that gold farmers are ruining the game (though you used the term harassment and I've never been harassed on anything besides buying gold), but that's besides the point. 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.

zain 18y ago

I agree with you in concept on everything except for one thing: "Simple bans would work." They don't. Not by a longshot. 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.

bigthboy 18y ago
I've played the game for 2.5 years and then some on and off, and I just recently stopped playing regularly as I started getting more involved with both school and my venture. Like I said, I won't disagree with you that gold farmers are ruining the game (though you used the term harassment and I've never been harassed on anything besides buying gold), but that's besides the point. 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.