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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsNew add-on policy makes selling add-ons against the rules
by Adam Holisky 
Mar 20th 2009 at 6:00PM
According to the policy, add-ons must be free of charge, may not solicit donations, and their code must be completely visible.
This means some leveling mods that charge for their use are now against the rules. Essentially if you develop a mod it has to be released and distributed for free – no charge is acceptable. And for those thinking "well, the developer could just charge for the download service then." Not true.
The complete statement after the break.
"All add-ons must be distributed free of charge. Developers may not create "premium" versions of add-ons with additional for-pay features, charge money to download an add-on, charge for services related to the add-on, or otherwise require some form of monetary compensation to download or access an add-on."
That is pretty specific to not allowing add-on developers to gain any money from the actual add-on. While this does not include revenue from ads on the developer's site, the policy does go on to say that add-on may not include advertisements or solicit donations in-game. They've pretty much covered up every avenue available to make money off the actual code.
The final point on the add-on policy says that Blizzard has the right to disable add-ons as they see fit. I read this in two ways: they reserve the right to disable all add-ons, and they reserve the right to disable certain add-ons. Of course this should be understood given that WoW is their game and they can do pretty much whatever they want with it, but seeing it spelled out is a tad... unnerving.
You can read their full add-on policy below, or head over to their site.
World of Warcraft User Interface Add-On Development Policy
With the continuing popularity of World of Warcraft user interface add-ons (referred to hereafter as "add-ons") created by the community of players, Blizzard Entertainment has formalized design and distribution guidelines for add-ons. These guidelines have been put in place to ensure the integrity of World of Warcraft and to help promote an enjoyable gaming environment for all of our players - failure to abide by them may result in measures up to and including taking formal legal action.
1) Add-ons must be free of charge.
All add-ons must be distributed free of charge. Developers may not create "premium" versions of add-ons with additional for-pay features, charge money to download an add-on, charge for services related to the add-on, or otherwise require some form of monetary compensation to download or access an add-on.
2) Add-on code must be completely visible.
The programming code of an add-on must in no way be hidden or obfuscated, and must be freely accessible to and viewable by the general public.
3) Add-ons must not negatively impact World of Warcraft realms or other players.
Add-ons will perform no function which, in Blizzard Entertainment's sole discretion, negatively impacts the performance of the World of Warcraft realms or otherwise negatively affects the game for other players. For example, this includes but is not limited to excessive use of the chat system, unnecessary loading from the hard disk, and slow frame rates.
4) Add-ons may not include advertisements.
Add-ons may not be used to advertise any goods or services.
5) Add-ons may not solicit donations.
Add-ons may not include requests for donations. We recognize the immense amount of effort and resources that go into developing an add-on; however, such requests should be limited to the add-on website or distribution site and should not appear in the game.
6) Add-ons must not contain offensive or objectionable material.
World of Warcraft has been given a "T" by the ESRB, and similar ratings from other ratings boards around the world. Blizzard Entertainment requires that add-ons not include any material that would not be allowed under these ratings.
7) Add-ons must abide by World of Warcraft ToU and EULA.
All add-ons must follow the World of Warcraft Terms of Use and the World of Warcraft End User License Agreement.
8) Blizzard Entertainment has the right to disable add-on functionality as it sees fit.
To maintain the integrity World of Warcraft and ensure the best possible gaming experience for our players, Blizzard Entertainment reserves the right to disable any add-on functionality within World of Warcraft at its sole discretion.
Edited to clarify a few things.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Economy, Add-Ons
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 10)
Xerous Mar 21st 2009 7:04AM
They could just put the same nag in, cept now it directs users to the website and there they request Donations...
Dreadskull Mar 20th 2009 7:37PM
Makes sense imo.
Honestly it's like if Warcraft 3 map makers started charging money to download their maps. Sure, they might have a ton of custom models they made on their own, but it'd still be using someone else's (in this case, Blizzard's again) game to make a profit using the game's stuff.
æsthetic Mar 20th 2009 7:40PM
This is pretty lame. Developers spend a lot of time working on their addons. While I agree code should be visible and documented, they should be able to charge a development fee, or at the vary least be able to say "hey, i do this in my spare time here is my paypal link if you want to help me out some".
Reinard Mar 20th 2009 7:46PM
They can. So long as it's not in-game. Which is why this quote from QuestHelper's developer, "I know how much I got before I added the in-client reminder - it doesn't pay a significant fraction of the bills," makes me chuckle.
Greeeeeeeeeeeedy :\
mazokuranma Mar 20th 2009 9:06PM
Yes, how dare he want people to voluntarily give money for his add-on. The very nerve of him not to happily allow everyone to leech off of his effort.
He isn't even trying to charge. All he wants is to keep the voluntary donation link in the game. That's hardly an objectionable request.
Raingod Mar 21st 2009 11:43AM
What is surprising, is it took Blizzard this long to do this. As for the developers getting screwed by them; as has been stated, they're making money off another company's property. Regardless of what some armchair lawyers are saying here, the code WoW uses is strictly for the game. It's not a programming language like C where you can make anything from it.
And if the QH developer is QQing, then he needs to do a better job of getting people to his website to donate and stop nagging people with in game donation requests.
seanfury Mar 20th 2009 7:48PM
Blizzard's game, they can do what they like.
Stop complaining.
moonknight013 Mar 20th 2009 8:14PM
you do realize that anytime you ever talk to a GM or tech support when you have an in game problem is to disable all addons and then i will help you. and to delete your wtf folder, what do you think the reason for that is. it sux, and doesn't ever fix the problem {or at least most of the time it doesn't fix the problem}. but that's because by having addons loaded, you have changed the game client and they are no longer required to support the game because you have have voluntarily changed the game. similar to opening up that tivo case and upgrading the harddrive removed the warranty on the tivo, because you changed the product from what it is that you bought. all of you crying out there just need to realize that alot of the mods that blizzard has incorporated into the game are from 3rd party sources and their not saying they can't get donations, you just can't require someone to pay for the mod to use it, and can't ask for donations in game.
jon Mar 20th 2009 8:17PM
for those wondering when this might have gone into effect, my rss reader's timestamp puts it at 2:00pm PDT
Renim Mar 20th 2009 8:19PM
Some of you got this wrong. This is not some conspiracy against coders. Nor is this to *screw* anytone.
When you code, you use tools provided to you. Those tools can be free, or you have to pay for them, it depends on who develops them. If the person that developed the tools wishes for everything that uses them to be free, they very well can do that(read certain licenses regarding software).
WoW utilizes the LUA scripting language, bundled with Blizzards API's for dealing with the UI. Blizzard developed the tools and supplied the documentation for how to use them and pretty much gave everyone a free pass to produce add-ons.
Therefore, these people are simply manipulating things via the scripting language with tools *originally* made by Blizzard to make a profit.
If it were not for the stuff Blizzard made, they would not have the chance to do this. They are simply piggybacking on Blizzards UI coders for free. Blizzard provided the tools for the UI coders for free, and now they are taking action to make sure people don't profit off of what their in-house coders developed.
I do not feel *any* remorse for any of them, they should have seen this coming.
I imagine that this is more for legal purposes than to *screw* some people over. They need to protect themselves from potential issues regarding how their tools are used. If they didn't, they open themselves up for some problems.
As for earning donations for Server payments and other such things, they can always advertise for that on their website without bothering the end users for it. There are Websites which hosts addons for FREE, and if they do not take advantage of them, then it is their problem.
Nosscire Mar 20th 2009 8:43PM
I like how some people are saying that addons really belong to Blizz because they run in Blizz's game. Thats not how it works.
The code written by addon makers are theirs, not blizzards. World of Warcraft isn't a microsoft product just because it runs on windows. It's also not an autodesk software because the models were made in 3D Studio Max, or a Adobe product because some of the image work was done in Photoshop.
However, blizz do have the right to say what can be run and what can not be run in their game, but not because they have any right to the code (it's not even a blizzard made scripting language, it's LUA) but because they have controll over the game.
To me, this is stupid, especially the asking for donations part, but also the paid addons part. If I released any of my addons, I would probably charge for them. Why? Because people demand updates, fixes, new features etc.
I could release an addon as is, but the day someone put demands on me, i'd say "sure, if you pay for it".
If you don't pay for it, you have no rights to make demands, remember that.
Hoggersbud Mar 20th 2009 8:55PM
Well, for me it's not about belonging. It's about being allowed. WOW is a closed box. If you want to play in it, you play by the rules.
If you want to write your own add-on code, and charge for it, go ahead, but Blizzard doesn't have to allow it to work
redstar Mar 20th 2009 10:07PM
Blizzard is following the linux (open source model)
Blizz will let you use thier tools..as long as you don't charge for it.
(Sooo ...instead other people just charge a fortune to support the code.)
PeeWee Mar 20th 2009 11:34PM
Hoggersbud:
That was a very nice simile, it should help people understand the situation a little better.
Kyro Mar 21st 2009 6:33AM
Actually, Redstar, that's not actually how Linux' use of open source works, since the GPL only dictates that if you provide the binaries you also *have* to provide the source code to those who get the binaries, and those who then get the source code are entitled to do whatever they want with it (even spreading it beyond how you did). You are still very much allowed to charge for the binary in the first place, or charge for support, or otherwise make money off of the code as long as you don't break the GPL otherwise.
I get what you are saying, tho. It's just not that clear a similarity, and a lot of people get the GPL wrong that way. :)
Skyshot Mar 20th 2009 8:52PM
"If it were not for the stuff Blizzard made, they would not have the chance to do this. They are simply piggybacking on Blizzards UI coders for free. Blizzard provided the tools for the UI coders for free, and now they are taking action to make sure people don't profit off of what their in-house coders developed."
thank you for saying that. that is the reason that I ran through my head while reading this and I'm glad I am not the only one who thought of it.
whether or not the code of the add-ons is legally Blizzards in any way, the game that those add-ons are used for is. any profit the guys who made these add-ons get would only be possible if this game, that blizzard made, existed.
for the people saying that Blizz stole some 3rd party add-ons, they didn't really. They did not take the code of these add-ons and just put them in the game, they made their own code to do something that an add-on does. nor did they take the idea. most ideas for add-ons came from people on the forums saying what they wanted. thats like trying to say "hey that restaurant sells hamburgers now, they stole that from us"
the burgers of one restaurant are not the same as the other, but they serve the same function.
another point on this issue is that like people have said, some of the code the 3rd party add-ons use does already come from blizz. and like another said about code, its like trying to say you leagally own the letter "A" becasue you used it in writing your name. code doesn't work like that. unless blizzard took the full code verbatim then you might have an argument. If they do then I would like to know as it would affect my opinon on the subject.
finally, why wouldnt you want blizz to incorporate addons into the game? it ensures that it will never be uncompatable with the game, that it will always be updated, you won't have to worry about whether or not it is trustworthy, and you wont have to pay extra for it. there are many people that dont download addons who play this game that like UI changes to make the game better.
Hoggersbud Mar 20th 2009 8:57PM
Actually to me it seems like Blizzard is worried about the greedy and unscrupulous add-on developers and is trying to protect us customers. Good for them I say!
If you've got a good add-on, well, you can still have a donation option on your website, or include it with your download, and still make some return from it.
But if you want to be developing add-ons for profit, go elsewhere.
Engel Mar 20th 2009 9:07PM
I feel for quest helper, I really do. I remember my third week playing, signing in and all my gold was gone and my bank empty due to a keylogger being placed in the code. Good times those were.
adys.wh Mar 20th 2009 9:20PM
I'm glad you got hacked because you are a complete tool. There's no possible way to put any keylogger or the like in any addon.
Hoggersbud Mar 20th 2009 9:48PM
OTOH, it is possible to put a keylogger in a file on the internet, claim it's an add-on, and let unsuspecting fools run an application that installs a keylogger.