Blizzard Sues Michael Donnelly Over his WoW Glider Bot

[malware]

Blizzard is suing Michael Donnelly, the creator of the MMO Glider program, which performs key tasks in the game automatically, such as fighting and other game actions. Both sides have submitted legal summaries to the US District Court in Arizona. Blizzard says Glide is a software bot which infringes the company's copyright and potentially damages the game. In its legal submission to the court last week, the firm said: "Blizzard's designs expectations are frustrated, and resources are allocated unevenly, when bots are introduced into the WoW universe, because bots spend far more time in-game than an ordinary player would and consume resources the entire time." Blizzard argued that Michael Donnelly's tool also infringed the End User License Agreement that all parties have to adhere to when playing the game. As result Blizzard wants Michael Donnelly to stop selling Glider and return all profits that he made from its sales. More than 100,000 copies of the tool have been sold for the time being. Mr Donnelly says his tool does not infringe Blizzard's copyright because no "copy" of the Warcraft game client software is ever made. The two parties are now awaiting a summary judgement in the case.

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[driver66]

His tool does not infringe on the TOS ,the end-game users do:shadedshu /fail blizzard

 

[ShadowFold]

I hope Blizz wins. I hate people who bot.

 

[panchoman]

blizzard will fail. its obvious. it doesn't infrigne copyright and doesn't damage the game and you cant sue someone cause they found a way to play the game automatically.

 

[driver66]

Also sorry to say they have been trying to sue him for years not new news, yet they just keep renaminig the charges/lawsuit to try something else.

 

[driver66]

I hope Blizz wins. I hate people who bot.

Hate me then I make very good money from it

 

[Fhgwghads]

Glider was a kick-ass program, left it on in this certain part of shadowmoon valley every night, I would wake up with a couple hundred gold and a full bag every day. Was one of the first peeps to get my flying mount on ma server, good times

 

[Azazel]

they will probably settle it before it goes to court

 

[Steevo]

Not that I play or would play WOW but this is crap that you play auto, your account should be banned, as it makes it unfair for those who play when they have time get killed or kicked around by peeps doing this. This is no better than having wall hacks or the like in CS or shield hacks in Halo, both make the game unplayable with certain servers/people, and killed Halo online.

 

[Azazel]

yeah makes the game unfair

 

[ShinyG]

Yeah, only people with absolutely no life at all should have the highest ranking characters!
^sarcasm

 

[Solaris17]

i hope blizzard fails...this guy may ruin the game experiance to the characters his comes in contact with but WoW ruins lives.

 

[Azazel]

wow hasent ruind any more lives than any of the other big mmo

 

[farlex85]

Automatically play the game, good stuff. Just pay $50 have an algorithm in action pissing people off. Good fun. /sarcasm

I mean, I will admit that the experience is a little ridiculous (I've been playing on and off for 6 months or so and still haven't hit lvl 60), but I would wager I get more enjoyment than many out of the game because I actually play it and am not just simply trying to lvl up. A good MMORPG isn't about just gaining a bunch of levels so you can have everyone look at your gear in awe (and pity), its an immersive experience. Wow doesn't accomplish this fully, but they are on the right track. But crap like this can mess it up.

 

[TheGuruStud]

South Park showed it best

Except it's even more lame than that. :shadedshu

 

[Solaris17]

wow hasent ruind any more lives than any of the other big mmo

this is true thats why i hate online games...closest i get to online gaming is playing a round of ut3 with the guys on here.

 

[ShinyG]

The way I see it (like most of you guys actually):

1. Blizzard is not breaking any laws/agreements even thought WoW can cause addiction and can lead to breakups and lack of social interaction!
2. Michael Donnelly is not braking any laws/agreements with his program. It might be cheating, but he's not to blame.

That is why I think only users are to blame for using it!

 

[farlex85]

That is why I think only users are to blame for using it!

True, and its not mmorpgs that ruin lives, its the people who don't use in moderation that do.

 

[AddSub]

Great news. Permanently banning individuals who use such applications and taking legal action against the ones who make them is a great idea. Third party automation "tools" have ruined or helped ruin more than one MMOG. Asheron's Call being one of them.

 

[WarEagleAU]

The whole ordeal is stupid. If Blizzard made the bot program and was selling it and making cash, they wouldnt be pissed. However...that is another story...

 

[Ravenas]

His tool does not infringe on the TOS ,the end-game users do:shadedshu /fail blizzard

So cigarette companies can't be sued for selling products that cause cancer because it's the customers choice to smoke?

Blizzard will probably win this.

 

[OrbitzXT]

blizzard will fail. its obvious. it doesn't infrigne copyright and doesn't damage the game and you cant sue someone cause they found a way to play the game automatically.

How does it not damage the game? I'm not certain exactly but what it does, but I guess it can be used to level, grind, farm items? The reason I quit WoW the two times I played it because it felt like the game had no sense of accomplishment compared to some other MMOs I played, where there was harder amount of work and you could be proud in a nerdy sense. This makes what legit players are doing even more meaningless.

 

[xu^]

utterly pointless addon/mod/bot whichever u prefer ,waking up to find a bag of gold for u ? i mean wat is the point ? it wasnt even you that did it lol
some achievement that is.

should ban any prog like this in any game imo ,ruins it for every1 inc the person using it as it isnt his hard work thats got u there.
no point playing it if ur gonna let the pc do it for u lol

 

[Azazel]

gold bots= richer people who didn't have to work for it(quicker and easier) = higher auction prices and higher auction prices = more bots...its a cycle

 

[Azazel]

this is true thats why i hate online games...closest i get to online gaming is playing a round of ut3 with the guys on here.

i love online games....but some stupid people can distinguish between reality and a game