Addon devs respond to Blizzard UI policy changes
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 23rd 2009 at 1:00PM
Blizzard dropped a bombshell on the addon community last Friday with their new addon policies (among a few other clarifications, addon developers can no longer charge for their addons or even ask for donations in-game), and developers are reeling. Already, the creator of the popular QuestHelper has responded on his changelog, saying that the addon is "dead." He says that he has tried to get donations without having an ingame link, it doesn't work, and that without any money coming in, he doesn't see any reason to keep the addon in development. Likewise, the developer of Outfitter has pulled his addon from the usual outlets, saying that he "will no longer add value to the World of Warcraft" and that Blizzard is trying to "continue a system of treating addon developers as if their time and products are worthless."Blizzard may not be too worried about Outfitter -- they're planning to add an official Equipment Manager into the game soon (and Tobold makes a point that Blizzard may want addons to be worthless). As far as we've heard, there's no word from the folks behind Carbonite yet -- there's lots of speculation on their forum, but we've contacted them to try and get an official statement. They are the addon that's believed to have kicked this all off -- they were actually charging (and holding up full time jobs) for their addon, and word is going around that Blizzard released these new policies to put the kibosh on them.
We'll have to wait and see on the long term policies of these changes -- a few developers have already called for a strike, though who knows how successful an idea like that would be. We'll definitely see a few devs hold back from working on their addons, but it's unlikely changes like these will shut down the community completely.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Blizzard, News items, Add-Ons, Quests
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 14)
Oppel Mar 23rd 2009 1:08PM
This is disappointing to say the least.
Cat Mar 23rd 2009 4:30PM
Gotta wonder... does saying "You should visit my donation site! It's really cool!" constitute soliciting donations? It isn't, "Please donate to me! " after all... So, maybe not.
Just sayin'. Tit for tat, and all of that.
It's all about the wording, you see...
Numos Mar 23rd 2009 3:06PM
people develop stuff all the time for free. Just look at the opensource community like Joomla.
Kassu Mar 23rd 2009 5:34PM
Asking someone to pay and asking someone to donate, there's a big difference.
It would be sad if Questhelper died, I really think Blizz should take back the change that covers donations, that's just unjustified and fucking stupid...
sanotehu Mar 23rd 2009 1:25PM
You can lay the blame for this entirely on Carbonite's feet. Blizzard cannot allow in-game advertising that they are not in control of; Blizzard had to do something to prevent add-ons from advertising in game. What if Carbonite started putting x-rated in-game ads or gold-farming ads? Do you really think that even half of the players who have carbonite installed are intelligent enough to understand that the ads are coming from carbonite and are not approved by Blizz?
Dave Mar 23rd 2009 1:28PM
But they're allowed to sell premium versions, or charge for support services or any number of other ways to recoup for development costs.
This is basically taking every way away from anyone wanting to actually devote real time towards making a WoW addon that's not some crappy 10-minute after school special project.
LostOne Mar 23rd 2009 1:40PM
Ah damn...QuestHelper is my favorite addon for leveling. Carbonite can burn for all I care. If that is what Blizzard had a problem with, they could have specifically blocked Carbonite in the game somehow, not banned addons like QuestHelper that has occasional unobtrusive donation nagware.
Hoggersbud Mar 23rd 2009 1:47PM
Unfortunately for the developer of Questhelper (whose donation plea isn't that obtrusive), Blizzard knows that if you give unscrupulous folks in inch they'll take a mile.
exiled247 Mar 23rd 2009 2:43PM
i find carbonite to be better than questhelper, but i digress... as far as addons that charge a fee, none of it is mandatory... they're donations that you don't have to give so who cares... i personally don't mind a donate button on an addon simply because i never click it and it's not something that's in my way as i play.
Mr. Gerbz Mar 23rd 2009 2:37PM
I fully agree with Blizzard. People are making money of something they (Blizz) have put sweat and tears in.
If they only care about making money, then we don't need their addons.
There are a lot of great addons of which the makers aren't asking for any money at all.
Aigarius Mar 23rd 2009 1:07PM
Learn from free software community and learn to survive in a flat and free market.
jay Mar 23rd 2009 1:51PM
"learn to survive in a flat and free market"
Interesting statement. In a flat and free market, how does one pay their rent/utilities and feed their children without charging for their services?
Heilig Mar 23rd 2009 2:09PM
They take a job from a person that pays them to perform a service or create a good that doesn't infringe on someone else's intellectual property.
This is Blizzard's game, not the addon developers. They know they can't charge, that's why they "ask" for donations. The fact that carbonite wasn't asking but was putting in-game ads up was going to be a problem, and you can bet the folks at Carbonite knew it and were just hoping Blizzard wouldn't drop the hammer.
It sucks that one set of people ruined it for the rest of us, but really, what did they expect? The fact that WoW is even as moddable as it is always completely blows my mind. No other company allows their game to be changed as heavily as Blizzard does, and expecting other people to not make money off their game is the only thing they are asking, especially when people start putting in ADVERTISEMENTS.
I mean seriously, who do these people think they are? IT'S BLIZZARD'S GAME! They ALLOW you to change things at their whim only. If they wanted ads in the game they would be there, and THEY would pick the companies, not some addon developer.
There will be plenty of people who are working a normal 9-5 job that will pick up the slack for these addons in their spare time. Can't live without QuestHelper? LightHeaded is an outstanding replacement and I have preferred it to QuestHelper for a long time. Outfitter is great, but ItemRack works just as well.
Just because Blizzard doesn't want people making money off their IP doesn't mean people will just stop making quality addons.
Horris Mar 23rd 2009 2:14PM
Just because a piece of software is free doesn't mean the developers aren't paid for their time on it. There are a lot of companies that pay developers to work on free open source projects.
As a developer, I expect to be paid for my hard work and I don't blame the WoW addon community for wanting the same. If an in-game donation button is the only effective way for them to see a return on the time they put in, they have every right to be upset by this change.
Elrodi Mar 23rd 2009 2:18PM
@Heilig: What you have written is complete bullshit. At least in Europe. Commercial add-ons are completely legal. They are using a public API and cannot infringe Blizzard Copyright because users cannot use the add-on if they do not own a legal copy of the game.
Making commercial add-ons for WoW is as legal as making commercial software for Windows.
Kakistocracy Mar 23rd 2009 2:23PM
Heilig, I don't mean to be rude...
but if you think "No other company allows their game to be changed as heavily as Blizzard does" you really need to check out a game called Half Life.
The bigger loss is not the addons we have now that may cease to be, but rather the addons that people decide not to make because some of the incentive is gone, after all, with fewer people making addons, whose ideas will blizzard crib? Not saying they steal all their ideas, of course that would be drivel, but some of the features they are adding clearly are adopted.
PopeJamal Mar 23rd 2009 2:47PM
"In a flat and free market, how does one pay their rent/utilities and feed their children without charging for their services? "
By getting a real job like the rest of us.
Making addons for a videogame as a hobby is one thing, but trying to pay for your rent by doing so is, quite frankly, really stupid.
These guys had no reason to expect to do this and they have absolutely no legal ground to stand on. Blizzard makes the rules as it pertains to WoW, and if they don't like it, then they can take their addons and go home.
"But now I can't pay my rent!"
Lots of stupid people can't pay their rent. Deal with it. Hopefully you'll learn from your mistakes and get a real job next time.
Aigarius Mar 23rd 2009 2:49PM
How much value to the society are addon developers actually creating? Not much I would argue - not enough to provide a full-time work pay even to the best addon developers. A lot of good software is developed in the free time - for the enjoyment of challenge and recognition. After all the for-profit developers leave, the addon community will come back with much the same motivation as the free software movement.
As an added benefit, people using addons will be sure that they are not breaking addon writer copyright by using the addons.
Aykwa Mar 23rd 2009 4:19PM
Value to society? That's the entirely wrong argument to take on this one. If you start with that argument, the WoW should not even exist. It has no "value to society" either, but is purely entertainment. As such, by your logic, nobody who works for Blizz should be paid a salary and they should all just develop and maintain the game out of the goodness of their hearts.
The value to society has nothing to do with it. Something is worth what it's purchaser will pay for it. Plain and simple. If they want to pay you to sit around and twiddle your thumbs, who are we to say that a full-time thumb-twiddler is not of value to society and should not be paid for it? That completely removes people's freedoms to pay who they want for legal services or products.
Grubba Mar 23rd 2009 4:24PM
"How much value to the society are addon developers actually creating?"
I'm just quoting this because I can't believe what an asinine question it is. You must be living an awfully moral, chaste, healthy, productive lifestyle to be able to make a statement like this without irony.