Glider down for the count
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 13th 2009 at 4:00PM
We knew this would happen after that last big Glider decision, but the judge's ruling has turned into action, and Glider has suspended their sales and operations. They're still hoping to bring it back up at some point -- there's still an appeals process to go through -- but that seems unlikely. Keep in mind that using Glider or any other botting software like it is a breach of Blizzard's terms of service and will most likely get you banned from the game.The company also has a FAQ up (which includes a PDF link to the latest ruling), and they sound hopeful there as well, saying that they'll know in a little while whether they'll be "back within a month or... gone for at least a year." Just in case you have (against Blizzard's rules) purchased and used Glider and are concerned that your information is being passed on to Blizzard, worry not -- they say that the ruling doesn't require them to give up any sales information, just shut down their operations and sales of the program.
As Blizzard posted last month, they see this as a clear victory for both the company and players of the game -- Glider undermined both the wishes of the designers and the experience of other players in the game. Blizzard apparently feels the battle is over, while we're sure Glider is planning to continue the legal fight for as long as it takes. It seems unlikely that we'll see this software (or any bot software) back up for sale legitimately again, but if we do, we'll let you know.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tricks, Blizzard, News items, Hardware
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
LostOne Mar 13th 2009 4:06PM
Good riddance. Hopefully this hurts the goldfarming industry some and helps the server economy stabilize some.
Chuck Mar 13th 2009 4:45PM
maybe a little, but i'd bet that a large majority of gold these days comes from account stealing versus botting.
Mike Mar 13th 2009 5:54PM
You need to understand economics. People who bot, typically do it to level reputations and their on characters, not to sell them. Those that sell their characters have no impact on the economy as they level an 80 toon and sell them for $500-800 and a make a profit basically playing WoW (good for them). The last portion, sell gold to 3rd parties. They make very little real world money for their efforts, and in the end, it doesnt hurt the economy at all. It actually stimulates the economy by driving down the price, providing a steady stream of needed items to the Auctionhouse, etc. If they didnt exist you would find it more difficult to find the items you want, they would cost more, and you'd would likely be complaining about the amount of hours it takes to create X crafted item.
Thank you Glider and other companies who have made a wonderful application that not only enhances World of Warcraft, but has also brought countless hours of pleasure to your members. I hope you can appeal this decision and make way for more innovative technologies in the realm of Massively Multiplayer Online Games.
slayer Mar 13th 2009 6:19PM
Mike... you sir fail. And the reason why the game is ruined for many of us.
The Claw Mar 13th 2009 7:01PM
Mike, your ignorance is astounding. Try considering BOTH sides of the equation, and consider how it affects your ability to buy a rare item when the demand for it is being fuelled by people who have purchased gold for RL cash.
Psy Mar 13th 2009 8:26PM
Actually The Claw, YOU are extremely ignorant for not being open-minded enough to see Mike's point of view.
I do not agree with Mike's last statement, I don't care much for Glider either way but I highly doubt it'll be appealed and win, that'd be a really retarded thing for the courts to do.
However Mike is right, it doesn't matter how you think, he is right. The people who bold guy stimulate the Auction House and subsequently, the in-game economy (happens on other MMO's as well). The people who sell it stimulate it as well because they allow people gold to buy.
Even if botting didn't exist people would just farm manually, and trust me, a lot of people do. And while it isn't as efficient, it still works.
tagashi Mar 15th 2009 10:14PM
I am predicting that this will have little to no effect on the gold farming industry. Gold farming is hugely profitable in China (and possibly other places) at the moment, so they will most definitely find other ways. For example, instead of 1 man monitoring a few botted accounts at once, they could just switch software and turn him in to a multiboxer. The macros and setup would be a little complicated, since using multiboxing for farming is a lot different than using it to PvP. I realize that this is probably not the method they would use, I am only using it as an example.
Now that I think about it, it would be even easier if they just hired the programmers that wrote Glider to work for them. According to articles on both BBC and Wired, gold farming in China is a multi-billion dollar industry. The stakes have risen far too high for them to just quit, no matter how much we (well, most of us...) would like them to disappear.
DavidC Mar 16th 2009 3:35PM
Mike and Psy ... your both wrong.
The position "pro-gold" farmers always take is one of "drives prices down" or "supplies you with things you would not get otherwise".
The problem is that both of those positions are untenable as a matter of economics in a closed system and completely ignore a basic tenant of a virtual economy: Blizzard sets Prices and Drop rates.
Eliminate the gold farmers and Blizzard can replicate their production by adjusting a few settings in their databases. Poof! more of everything rare drops. Blizzard has magical powers don-cha-know!
Reality is that drop rates are set lower then they should be BECAUSE OF FARMERS. Once they are gone, then Blizzard can tune stuff "up" so normal schmoo's like you and me can get a piece of the action.
Professional Offshore Gold Farmers are BAD for the general populace of WoW and once they are gone, things will actually get better for the average player.
Ed (Sindarin, Hydraxis US) Mar 13th 2009 4:10PM
It makes you wonder if they'll release the source code for free if they think there's no hope though, which could increase the level of botting. We shall see, I suppose.
Alex Mar 13th 2009 4:11PM
Oh I'm sure it'll be released in some form, legal or not.
LostOne Mar 13th 2009 4:12PM
I have a feeling that would get them another lawsuit from Blizzard, this time seeking monetary compensation since you can't shut that down once it's leaked.
Allison Mar 13th 2009 5:54PM
Not that I'm a legal expert, but I don't think Blizzard could go after them for simply releasing the code. If they were smart about it in the first place I'm pretty sure they could go so far to say they weren't even the ones that released it. Intelligent code-writers would be able to duplicate it to some extent, or make another code similar to it at any rate, who's to say it could be legally pinpointed to the extent that Blizzard could pursue a case against it?
Hoggersbud Mar 13th 2009 8:11PM
You think maybe Blizzard's lawyers might have also sought an injunction against the makers of Glider doing just that?
Cuz y'know, it seems like the obvious thing to do.
And you violate an injunction, courts can and will do things about it. Including fines and jail time.
Al in SoCal Mar 13th 2009 4:14PM
I really hope it cuts down on farming, but honestly I wouldn't mind if people just used it for leveling. Now that Blizzard lets you simply buy your way to lvl 60 - why not let others in on that action?
RetPallyJil Mar 13th 2009 4:17PM
Ha! Go get 'em Blizz. Ban every one of those cheating bastards while you're at it.
NonBlizzFriendly Mar 13th 2009 4:19PM
People will still cheat. It's human nature for people to find quicker routes to get to the same place others have worked to get to. Want to stop something.. STOP THE DEMAND
Tumleren Mar 13th 2009 4:24PM
There is no doubt in my mind that Glider will continue in some form or another.
If the company stops, someone will get a hold of the sourcecode or something that is very similar. This will likely just make it even worse for Blizzard, since it'll probably get released for free.
Thander Mar 13th 2009 4:33PM
Yeah, that's probably what will happen.
Doug DeJulio Mar 13th 2009 4:53PM
If it returns for free, one of two things will happen.
If it returns for free with the source code, Blizzard will finally see the source code, and understand how it works, and Warden will start to detect it.
If it returns for free without source code, and without any company backing it... it's going to have back doors and stuff in it, and people who use it are going to be at extreme risk of having their WoW accounts stolen and their machines added to botnets.
To restate: if it's free, the folks providing it are not making money directly from providing it. If they're going to stay ahead in the arms race versus Blizzard, they need a financial incentive. That'll either come from somewhere else (like selling spammers access to the botnet your machine is now in, or harvesting gold from your account), or it won't come at all, and Blizzard will win the arms race.
Phazzer Mar 13th 2009 5:08PM
It pisses me off that they lost. Not because I bot, but because of the grounds. Glider was stopped because it supposedly violates blizzard's copyrights on wow which is just totally not possible. Also, blizzard has known how glider works for a long time. Not only are they very open on how the program works, but it's also relatively easy to figure out without MDY telling people. Glider WILL be back since the court ruling is such utter bullshit.