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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 6 of 10)
laughtrey Mar 20th 2009 9:09PM
What does the pay-for version of carbonite have that the free one doesn't?
Tridus Mar 21st 2009 6:44AM
You can see a list on their website: http://www.carboniteaddon.com/
The paid for version adds a lot of functions that you can get from other mods if you know where to look. But for some people, it's pretty convenient to get it all in one package, so for them that might be worth the fee. (People who know their way around addons are not the target market of the paid for version.)
I feel bad for the author, actually. Blizzard yanked the rug out from under him.
Krick Mar 20th 2009 9:32PM
I'd love to use the full version of the WoWEcon addon, but I'm not going to pay for it. This is good news, I think. Maybe it will start being free.
...
Krick
http://www.tankadin.com
mazokuranma Mar 20th 2009 9:37PM
Or maybe they'll just abandon it completely and you'll have no way to use any of it.
mazokuranma Mar 20th 2009 9:37PM
This is stupid, pure and simple. If an add-on costs money and you don't want to pay for it, then don't. If an add-on requests an in-game donation and that irritates you, remove the add-on. None of these add-ons forcibly install themselves on your computer, and none of them are in any way difficult to remove.
QuestHelper is already dead. More are sure to follow. Thanks Blizzard. That single line when I loaded WoW asking for a QuestHelper donation was completely destroying my enjoyment of the game, but it would've taken me many seconds of effort to remove the add-on. I appreciate you taking the time to kill it off completely for me so I no longer have to worry about it.
This requirement is absurd. Support the add-on developers. Otherwise soon there may be no add-ons.
PeeWee Mar 20th 2009 11:42PM
Or make it even easier -- remove the code that pops the Donation-begging in your face as you login. Took almost five minutes to download the addon and figure that one out, and I don't even know how to code LUA.
Cyanea Mar 21st 2009 9:54AM
I wasn't aware QuestHelper was dead. It just updated about a week ago, and is free for use...only asking for a donation on login. That'll have to go away, but that's it.
Leviathon Mar 20th 2009 10:21PM
There is currently a file called bad addons in the MPQ and in a folder in the directory which I assume will be what Blizzard will use when they ban a addon.
Jaybird Mar 21st 2009 9:05AM
This is fairly standard stuff across most games. You can not charge money for these things because the code or interface is not yours, and the company who created it owns the rights. They usually make this clear, but apparently blizzard didn't feel the need to elaborate. It doesn't matter if it's compiled code or not - it's the same deal.
Take it from someone who wrote one of the most popular mods for ET :)
Wolftech Mar 21st 2009 1:16PM
You modded ET? Wow.. how did you mod an Atari 2600 game?
Jaybird Mar 23rd 2009 2:45PM
ET stands for Enemy Territory, as in, RTCW: Enemy Territory. It came out quite a bit after the Atari 2600 :)
Kalerender Mar 20th 2009 10:51PM
There's an easy way to enforce this.
The instant that revision to the EULA goes live, any carbonite creator has to click accept if they want to ensure their mod continues to work.
If they continue to charge after that date, Blizzard's legal team descends.
Pål Mar 20th 2009 11:16PM
Blizzard obviously has a right to stop any addon from running. I
doubt they have any legal rights here, however.
No matter what, Blizzard does not own the code written by someone
else. They also did not invent LUA or XML, the two coding languages
used by addons, they simply implemented them; thus, they do not have
a right to dictate the licenses of those two.
Blizzard has provided nothing but functions. An addon uses the
functions, but it isn't made from them. An addon is a set of
instructions to a machine, if you give them to a different machine
then that machine might not make sense of it, but the instructions
are unchanged by the lack of the original functions. Also, the
functions are not used to MAKE the addon, they are used to RUN it.
As for the license, this paragraph will be a bit longer... what is illegal is running a program you are not licensed to run, because it copies the program into your computer's memory. The Glider case was won because the Terms of Use were violated, and people kept running the now unlicensed program. Glider was designed to do this, and so it got hit. Licenses can't, however, be revoked retroactively; if you violate the ToU, then running WoW for all the time you did doesn't turn illegal, only if you play AFTER breaking the ToU are you breaking the law. If they put this legal business into their ToU, then once you start charging for your addon you're violating it. But you only start charging after the addon is finished. Which means, as long as you're still developing you're legally clear, and once the addon is finished and you've squashed the nasty bugs, you start charging for it. Now you're no longer licensed to run the game, but as long as you don't you're still legally clear. Granted, most addon developers will likely keep playing even if they do charge for their addons, but this is still very shaky legal ground for Blizzard.
If Blizzard wants to stop an addon from running in the game, they
can. If they want to take legal action against those who made the
addon... I doubt they can.
Pål Mar 20th 2009 11:16PM
Urgh, the formatting of that got ruined by copypasting v_v
Chris Anthony Mar 21st 2009 12:02AM
Blizzard has no need whatsoever to take legal action in this case. It's fundamentally different from the Glider situation. With Glider, there's an actual third-party application running; Blizzard can't prevent that without mucking around more with your computer than they're allowed to. When it comes to addons, though, Blizzard can just block wholesale any addon whose author charges; in fact, there's already a mechanism in place to do so. They don't have to go after the add-on developers legally, and it'd be silly to do so when they have such effective methods of controlling the situation internally. The only reason they're pursuing Glider in court is because they *can't* control the situation internally.
Pål Mar 21st 2009 12:04AM
"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."
Quoted from the terms listed here - the sentence in question is the one right before point 1).
Chris Anthony Mar 21st 2009 12:11AM
Just because they reserve the right to sue you doesn't mean they have any desire, inclination, or reason to. ;)
Pål Mar 21st 2009 12:13AM
No, of course not, but it's the reservation I'm criticizing :)
Hoggersbud Mar 21st 2009 10:25AM
Legally they own their servers. The use of those servers is governed by a contract which does give them the authority to not allow a lot of things to happen.
That includes altering the game client and hiring lawyers.
Pål Mar 21st 2009 10:31AM
Addons do not alter the game client. They are part of the input to the client, just as the player's controls or the communication with the servers are. When addons change the output of the client, that's because they alter the input to it (with Blizzard's permission, as they implemented the addon system), not because they alter the actual client.
And I did say they are perfectly allowed to not let addons run. It's the line in this document about them taking legal action I'm disputing.