WoW's EULA and Blizzard's OS support
by Mike Schramm 
Jan 9th 2009 at 1:00PM
Cory Doctorow posted on Boing Boing the other day about WoW's EULA being unreadable when installing the game on Linux. And obviously he's right -- Linux doesn't always have the font that Blizzard's installer uses, and so when you try to run it on Linux, you get gibberish, at least during installation. But there's more to this story here -- running WoW on Linux is actually unsupported by Blizzard: you can do it, and it's not against the EULA or ToS (in fact, Blizzard actually worked with the WINE guys to make sure the game ran correctly), but obviously any issues you have are an "at your own risk" kind of situation. So Doctorow's pretty much out of luck (or in luck as the case may be -- it's unlikely a EULA could be enforced on an unsupported system).And Linux isn't the only unsupported major OS out there -- Microsoft will release the beta of Windows 7, the new version of Windows, into the wild on January 10th, and Blizzard has made it clear that they won't support that, either, at least until it gets out of beta and into a release state. Of course, Microsoft has an interest in making sure old versions of Windows software work with the new OS, but if you only have one computer and absolutely need to play WoW on it, you should stay away from Windows 7 until the bugs are ironed out.
Then again, there are worse OSes to deal with.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Hardware
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Kuroyume Jan 9th 2009 1:12PM
for those wanting to try WoW on Win7, i offer my experience:
I've been doing it since the pre-beta leaked online, and never had any issues, except for some driver instability on my laptops GMA950 chipset, that were sorted out on the latest build.
Verit Jan 9th 2009 4:21PM
Having worked in the software industry for 10+ when most engineers and technicians say "not supported" that means - it wasn't developed on, or tested on and they are not fixing bugs (yet) on the version you are talking about. Oh and they generally won't offer support for said version of windows as well.
Doesn't mean it won't work ;).
Gongonzabar Farbin May 21st 2009 11:30AM
I have been using WoW on Ubuntu since July. I have only had minor issues and inconveniences with it.
The most predominant however are sound/mic issues, but with an updated PulseAudio, it seems to be working fine now.
However, I haven't figured out how to use Vent and WoW at the same time yet. That comes next.
It is a little work to get WoW working with Linux, but I find it fun to work a little to get WoW to work. I realize it may not be for everybody though. But I'm glad I don't have to restart my computer everytime I want to game now!
dpoyesac Jan 9th 2009 1:23PM
This link helped enormously getting Vent to work under WINE/Linux:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=2200220013&sid=1
It's still not perfect (I have to go in and change the WINE audio configs each time, and I cant get Vent to play through my speakers but not my headset...) but now I can at least listen to the blabbering idiots in my guild as they refuse to listen to the raid leader explaining the fight.
Tim Jan 9th 2009 4:32PM
Where can I get Pulseaudio? I have issues with my sound and that is about it though.
Aigarius Jan 10th 2009 5:53AM
Playing WoW on Linux for almost two years now. Sound issues with Vent and graphical glitches with ATi video cards are the issues that I had seen. Nothing mayor.
Currently I run Vent (with alsa driver) and then start WoW with a -nosound switch. Unfortunately I was not able to get stable microphone in Vent, so I am listen-only. Not a Linux problem, because it works fine in other software, but not Vent.
I wish they would make a Linux native client. Vent client on Linux has been promised for 3+ years now.
Arras Jan 9th 2009 1:15PM
thorny issue there...is botting in wow running on Linux (or other unsupported os) against the EULA/TOS? Blizzard doesn't offer support and you can't read the EULA, so you have ignorance working for you as well. Interesting
oh and the public* beta of Windows 7 is out today, 1/9
*public being the first 2.5 million downloaders
Putts Jan 9th 2009 1:21PM
Yes, you are still bound to the ToS even though you can't read them. Just like if you go to France but can't read French, you're still required to follow the laws over there. Inability to read the rules is not a legal excuse for not following them.
hold up Jan 9th 2009 1:25PM
But the author states that the EULA will likely not be enforceable on an unsupported system. Plus we don't know if the Warden program is even functional on Linux.
Anyone here a lawyer? I really could use some extra gold / honor points. Yay for bots.
Mj Jan 9th 2009 1:41PM
You have to navigate through and agree to the agreement (unlike some software where you just choose agree), AND you are clicking on the "I Agree" option of something you have not read.
Because you click that you are agreeing, you could be agreeing to anything. Blizzard could, if it so chose, argue that since a positive action is required to agree (scrolling and clicking the I agree button) the weight of knowledge rests on the hands of the person clicking the buttons, not on Blizzard. Depending on the severity of the offense, should they so choose, they could certainly have a case against anyone for not following the ToS and EULA.
This is why most companies are going towards a specific "positive action" requirement to continue the installation - that puts the responsibility in the hands of the installer, not the software company, to ensure that you have sufficient knowledge to read and understand the agreement. You would be held to it as much as anyone who had actually been able to read through it and simply chose not to is held to it.
Osc Jan 9th 2009 1:16PM
I wouldn't want to support a new MS operating system until a good 3 months after it hit the shelves, let alone during its beta.
Prophetik Jan 9th 2009 1:17PM
Windows 7 is fantastic...been using it the past week and WoW has been working just fine on it. Blizzard has better support it in the future though, seeing as its replacing Vista.
Moody Loner Jan 9th 2009 1:22PM
Got WoW working on Ubuntu 8.10 via Cedega this morning put performance was awful. Sound worked, though.
I'll have to keep messing with it. I'd just love to get rid of Vista.
Ben Jan 9th 2009 2:26PM
I had an issue with it running with a horrible frame rate in Ubuntu. Turns out that ATI graphic cards don't work well with it. I purchased a 512MB Nvidia card to resolve the issue. The game now runs smooth as can be on the Good Graphics setting.
Moody Loner Jan 9th 2009 2:33PM
@Ben:
I ran into the same issue.
Sadly, I use my work-provided laptop which has onboard ATI video.
Now, if I could sneak my workstation and a flat-panel display home... :)
Ben Jan 9th 2009 4:25PM
That's how I play :) 30in LCD monitor at home. I loaded the game on an external HD as well and play after hours at work from time to time as well.
DarkAudit Jan 9th 2009 4:21PM
With an Nvidia 7800GS and a midrange HP Pavilion running an Athlon 64 x2 4200, I could get frame rates of 100+ in Eversong Woods with just a moderate tweaking of the graphics settings using WINE 1.x (whatver was current at the time) and Ubuntu 8.04, Fedora 9, or Arch. Make sure you have the -opengl flag turned on for the launcher command.
Evi Jan 9th 2009 1:27PM
"And Linux isn't the only unsupported major OS out there -- Microsoft will release the beta of Windows 7, the new version of Windows, into the wild on January 10th, and Blizzard has made it clear that they won't support that, either, at least until it gets out of beta and into a release state. "
I'm not surprised by that at all. I wouldn't expect them to support a new OS until it's out of beta and officially released.
SaintStryfe Jan 9th 2009 1:32PM
Just for balance - at the NY Wrath opening, I thanked Mike Morhime for Blizz' long standing and continuing support of Mac OS, and said he was happy to be working with Apple.
It's why I'm planning WoW and not anything else - they took the time to develop a Mac client.
Frank Jan 9th 2009 3:58PM
thank you for doing that. blizzard has always been supportive of the mac community, and i bet it was very nice for him to get some recognition and feedback from us.