Blizzard loses a round in the fight against botting
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Mar 20th 2008 at 11:00AM
In Blizzard's attempts to get rid of gold farmers and hackers, one of their most annoyingly persistent enemies has been the WoWGlider bot, now known as MMOGlider. They've been throwing suits and countersuits at each other for a few years now, but the latest salvo seems to have gone against Blizzard, the Game Activist reports. Blizzard was trying to subpoena Joe Thaler, owner of Lavish Software LLC, maker of programs such as EQPlayNice. While Lavish Software's programs do not appear to be cheat programs on their own, they did make a deal with MDY Industries, maker of MMOGlider, to use the programs within MMOGlider.
According the judge's decision, Blizzard was hoping to obtain all documentation related to the deal, all communication between Thaler and Lavish and MDY and its owner, Michael Donnelly. They also wanted a list of all WoW accounts owned by Thaler and Lavish, as well as the contents of the WTF folders of every installation of WOW used by Thaler and Lavish Entertainment. Unfortunately, the Judge ruled that Blizzard was demanding information that could compromise Lavish's trade secrets and client confidentiality, and that the demand for the information within 9 days did not give Thaler and Lavish enough time to respond an gather information.
It's worth noting that the judge did specifically say that Blizzard could file another subpoena that would be more narrow in scope and allow more time for Lavish and Mr. Thaler to respond, so this is probably not a fatal blow to Blizzard by any means. I personally hope not. I've never had much patience for bots, or people who feel they have a civil right to cheat at games, so I'm rooting for the big bad corporation on this one. What about you?
Thanks for the link, Tyrsenus.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cheats, Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Lizardking63 Mar 20th 2008 2:08PM
All the analogies don't matter. The real point is that Blizzard can stop botting if they want to devote the time and resources and doing it. They should not be asking the court to solve the problem. Believe me, if they really wanted to stop it they could. Give me 8 hours and I could rid a server of all bots on that server. They are really not that hard to spot.
As for all of you saying that you tag and skin their kills, I call BS on that. Glider will sound an alarm and move on to another mob as soon as you tag a target. So, that doesn't work anymore.
Get real people! If Blizz wanted them gone they would be gone. They make way too much money off of them to get rid all of them. They just do enough to keep all the "OMG get rid of the bots" people happy.
matt Mar 20th 2008 2:12PM
"I'm rooting for the big bad corporation on this one."
I'm rooting for the correct application of the law. :)
Crypt King Mar 20th 2008 5:35PM
Ditto really.
Jon H Mar 20th 2008 2:29PM
As it was said before it isn't against the law to provide software to cheat at video games. There is no correlation between the two at all. One is legal one isn't. The fault lies upon the user and the company and does not belong in our court systems. Also are bots really robbing banks? If you played this game for over 5 minutes you would see how absurd leveling is or gaining materials to do the fun parts of this game.
If nothing else Bots are a Enhancer as you want to have a second account to farm and those accounts enhance your main accounts career. If you go through the MMoGlider forums you will see exactly what it does for people. It keeps them from quitting and keeps them playing usually with more than one account. I personally have 5 running monthly atm and if it wasn't for MMoGlider I wouldn't have any.
It reminds me of the old school Game Genie, remember the one where you your nintendo games into it gave it cheat codes and you then got all the cool stuff? That wasn't illegal, why is botting? Its the same principal.
MRuiz Apr 18th 2008 7:08AM
Current bots are unable to quest they just grind. Therefore they hit 70 with all factions at neutral/friendly. Blizzard could spot them just by datamining their databases. Not to mention those bots running 24x7, no human can do that.
But right now i dont think they are really concerned so they just sue companies in case it ever gets as bad as it did with Diablo.
Hotball Mar 20th 2008 2:32PM
Because WOW is "virtual" does not mean it's ok to abuse the service. For example, in many countries it's a crime to DDoS attack a website or sending spam e-mails. Of course, they can have some measures of protection, but nothing is perfect. If it's that easy we won't have spam e-mails by now. The responsibility should not be only on the service providers.
The botting program is designed for abusing the service, just like some trojan horses are designed for taking computers as zombies. They have no other (legitimate) purposes.
Jon H Mar 20th 2008 3:12PM
Not true glider can also play solitaire. Bots are like someone making macro's to automate stuff, except they take the automation a bit further.
Botting is like cheating at any game, it is up to the officials to find it and do something about it. Think about it like this. Warden is like the baseball commision in the Steroid cases against the baseball players. What they are doing is asking the gov (court) to rule over the proceedings. But instead of asking the steroid producer(MMoGlider) they are asking the baseball players(Glider Users) if they are using it. Now if anything that would be the way to do it. But honestly that wouldn't be worth the tax payers time since World of Warcraft can't even point out those who use the bots with their own software.
So trying to do the spanish inquistion on all 10 million players who play they are trying to blame the producers of the steroids(MMoGlider). The problem isn't with the maker of the program, the problem is with the users who use it.
Jon H.
MMoGlider - Affiliate
Hotball Mar 22nd 2008 2:02PM
John H:
Most anabolic steroids are controlled substances in most countries. So yes, they are going after the manufactures, just to make sure that only doctors can prescribe them for legitimate usages. What is the legitimate usages for MMORPG bots?
jaydlaw Mar 20th 2008 2:43PM
Botting = Farming pure and simple. we all farmed for that recipe or pattern so that we could produce the goods and sell them. we all farmed that mob because the their drops. that is all a bot is doing. granted there isnt' a person interfacing it, but hell i wish i would have thought of downloading some software and letting my toon bot rather then spending hours waiting for drops when i could be doing RL stuff.
I also see no problem in buying gold, if a person wants to spend x amount of $$, to enhance his/ her enjoyment of the game then so be it.
there isn't an unfair advantage there when anyone can download something to bot or buy gold.
I'll tell you something else, blizzard will never do enough to get rid of this issue, why cause they are making money from it. how?
a) botters need accounts.
b) people who buy gold probabally do not have the time to farm, and buying gold allows for them to enjoy the game in thier casual spare time, you get rid of botter you get rid of gold selling you get rid of approximately 1/6th of wow subscriptions because not everyone has the time that is needed to invest in the game if they had to farm.
It wouldn't suprise me if Blizzard put together a company or 2 to sell gold. It would make sense from a profit standpoint. if people are willing to buy, they'll find someone that sells.
Theserene Mar 20th 2008 3:29PM
Decent casual players do not need to buy gold. Only lazy gits buy gold.
Matt Mar 20th 2008 3:47PM
you really think it is sooo hard to farm a little bit of stuff...i work 5 days a week 10-6, and still have a epic flyer, kara/SSC gear and full professions
375 tailoring
375 First Aid
385 Enchanting
do it the right way damnit...stop being SUPER lazy, being to lazy to farm for food in RL is one thing...too lazy to farm in a game is ridiculous!!
andyjay220 Mar 20th 2008 6:27PM
I've heard a lot of people make this argument that blizz won't eradicate botters because of the money it makes from the accounts of both botters and people who buy gold.
I'm sorry, but that argument does not hold water.
Let's start with the fact that blizzard is not hurting for money or accounts at all. Even with no botter or gold buyer accounts WoW is the most ridiculously popular game in history. Blizz can burn sacks of cash in the winter to keep warm. There are other ways to make money than just "zomg get more accounts", and there are ways businesses can cut costs to make up losses like that.
Secondly, many people who bot or buy gold would probably still play wow without those options. I know many ppl who have bought gold, and they would still be here without that extra money. I imagine that some percentage of botters would also still play.
Finally, while blizzard is a for-profit business, that doesn't mean that the developers and employees don't want to have a creation that is run with integrity and fairness. Even if blizz employees are blood-sucking money-grubbers, any businessperson knows the value of a good reputation. Blizzard is always going to be interested in maintaining a good name to the best it can. That is worth more than the money they get from those accounts they (might) lose.
J0ust Mar 20th 2008 8:09PM
You see nothing wrong in spending real money on fake money?
Wow. Your bank must *love* you.
Al in SoCal Mar 20th 2008 2:50PM
While I don't really support bots - or the people who use them - it exposes lame boring parts of the game - namely farming things you need to make things and leveling by going through the same quests over and over again.
I think Blizzard is finally realizing that with some of their latest patches (boosting quest xp / lessening the xp it takes to level) but until they can come up for innovative and FUN solutions to rote tasks within the game - bots will flourish.
Matt Mar 20th 2008 3:14PM
/agree with the above poster
if you allow people to take the easy road into the game, if brings options for the people selling the gold. They can...
A. Farm all day stealing mats that other people need for actual gameplay. DESTROYING the economy
OR
B. Keylogg, steal gold, shard equipment, and steal from guild banks. (faster quicker money)
This leads to hacked accounts, crappy ingame economy, lack of progression, and lots of spam. The ultimate selfish thing to do is buy gold. Even if you dont get hacked, chances are someone you know, or someone your friend knows will be hacked as a result of their being a demand for people to buy ingame currency.
Theserene Mar 20th 2008 3:31PM
People who buy gold should have their accounts taken away from them and far far stricter enforcement of the rules against gold selling/buying and botting.
If this means Blizzard can look at the processes on your machine and ban you for running a bot program, I'm fine with that.
I have little time for cheaters. Cheating is pathetic, grow up.
chantron Mar 20th 2008 6:18PM
If there are more people willing to give up your right to privacy so easily (and for protection against cheating in a game no less), then you've damned this country.
Matt Mar 20th 2008 3:49PM
/cheer!! /golfclap
MechChef Mar 20th 2008 4:07PM
This whole topic makes me want to stop doing boring things, and skip to the good parts. I wouldn't mind a couple more 70's. I feel like paying someone to level one for me.
Jon H Mar 20th 2008 4:24PM
Tedium is what World of Warcraft is. Players choose to eliminate the tedious parts of World of Warcraft and play the fun parts. Who really wants to get home from work and go ohh goodie I have to farm for 2 hours before I can raid for another 4. There is NO POINT in that. If Blizzard found other ways to eliminate time sinks like having to farm to raid there would be ALOT LESS farmers. Because whether you believe it or not 70% of the gold buying population if not more are the high end raiders.
I personally know one guild that in takes about 100kg a month for their members to eliminate the tedious farming. Even the raiders don't want to do it. Why spend 4 hours to make 1,000g when you can buy it for 20 bucks? That is what less than 1hr RL for most people. People use bots to make their life easier and better in real life and give themselves more time outside the game.
Bots are Real Life / Game Enhancers and not some plague that is ruining the economy.
Jon H.
MMoGlider - Affiliate