Massive AddOn Author Cataclysm Beta Key Give-Away!

[Vilkku]

Just a quick note, these are the new raid frames. In the latest patch notes, they said that the party frames were being replaced by the raid frames for testing purposes.

[Emythrel]

Originally Posted by Rumil_Dunemaul Well, border color indicators, corner indicators, prioritized text for specific info. Grid is pretty complex with a lot of options tbh hehe. But what I have seen of the new Blizz frames seems pretty decent yea.

I use grid for healing, and it is quite complex... but programmers at blizz's level should be able to make it work ;p

[Rumil_Dunemaul]

Well yeah of course, but I wouldn't expect it to be as sophisticated. They tend to keep a certain simplicity in the standard interface, so it can be picked up and used by just about anyone. I think people who want to be very specific about the way they see the raid will still use grid.

[Seerah]

I'm sure they weren't trying to replicate Grid and all of its features. Just something compact.

If players still wish to use Grid for all of the extra features it will provide over the new default frames, they will still be able to do so.

This has been the case every time Blizz has implemented similar functionality from an addon into the game. What they put in is the basics of the idea of the addon, which most if not all players could get a use from. If players want to add on top of that, they still have addons to do so.

[KanadiaN]

Originally Posted by Seerah I'm sure they weren't trying to replicate Grid and all of its features. Just something compact. If players still wish to use Grid for all of the extra features it will provide over the new default frames, they will still be able to do so. This has been the case every time Blizz has implemented similar functionality from an addon into the game. What they put in is the basics of the idea of the addon, which most if not all players could get a use from. If players want to add on top of that, they still have addons to do so.

I am sure someone will expand upon the default frame as well.. and I was not adding to if they had riped it off or not I was just saying that posting like that was not going to get them to do anything

[Rumil_Dunemaul]

Yeap indeed.

Now back to the matter at hand... *crosses fingers and hopes Blizz fixes the key problem tomorrow*

[Ardelia]

While some of us wait for them to fix the key issue, anyone want to post a screen of the new raid frames?

[ezarra]

Originally Posted by ricks322 Or how about this guy who started a thread with this and never another post about it.

Re-read the terms of use. Blizzard owns all the code for every addon every written. Period. So even if they did 'rip-off grid' it was theirs to rip off.

battle.net site is not working, maybe they're fixing it?

[Seerah]

Originally Posted by ezarra Re-read the terms of use. Blizzard owns all the code for every addon every written. Period. So even if they did 'rip-off grid' it was theirs to rip off. battle.net site is not working, maybe they're fixing it?

This is incorrect. Blizzard owns their code, and they have a right to say what addons can and cannot do in their playground, but they do not own any code that addon authors have written. Legally, they cannot, as addons are inherently under copyright the moment they are put down into tangible form (code) as All Rights Reserved to their respective authors.

Blizzard's TOS states that they own their code. It does not state that they own ours.


/edit: Windows does not own any and every program that is written for it, for example.

[Bluspacecow]

Originally Posted by ezarra Re-read the terms of use. Blizzard owns all the code for every addon every written. Period. So even if they did 'rip-off grid' it was theirs to rip off.

At this risk of further derailing the thread where does it say this in the terms of use ?

All addons and the code within them are property and copyright of those who write them. Protected under international copyright law the moment it is put into tangible form.

Where is your evidence Blizzard "owns all the code for every addon ever written"

My evidence is way back when the Wowmatrix debate was the hottest topic the question was posed to a lawyer, he was supplied with copys of the TOU, EULA and all other relevant documents . He come back and confirmed that yes addon authors do own the code for their addons.

Lastly Caireen our illustrous website admin lady has had to write many a DMCA "please remove this copyrighted work from your website" letter for many an author. She's also been involved in some legal action for addon authors as well unless I miss my guess. She wouldn't do any of that if the addon authors did not in fact own their code

EDIT : Seerah is faster and shorter then me in more ways then one !

[ezarra]

Originally Posted by Bluspacecow At this risk of further derailing the thread where does it say this in the terms of use ? All addons and the code within them are property and copyright of those who write them. Protected under international copyright law the moment it is put into tangible form.

Naw, your addons are written with blizzard's own custom version of LUA. Anything you write is considered a derivative work and Blizzard owns it any time they want to.

Originally Posted by Bluspacecow Where is your evidence Blizzard "owns all the code for every addon ever written"

Ask anyone who's ever tried to have a commercial addon. Blizzard has stomped all over that. If the author owned the copyright, the author would be able to sell their work. This is not the case.

Now, the fact that blizzard has ONLY stepped in in cases of commercial addons doesn't mean they couldn't in other cases. And they have taken addons and integrated their functionality into the game.

[luizofoca]

anyone found a blue post about the problem with the new battle.net page?
i couldnt register my beta cataclism key.

[ezarra]

Battle.net back up. Keys still don't work.

[Seerah]

Originally Posted by ezarra Naw, your addons are written with blizzard's own custom version of LUA. Anything you write is considered a derivative work and Blizzard owns it any time they want to. Ask anyone who's ever tried to have a commercial addon. Blizzard has stomped all over that. If the author owned the copyright, the author would be able to sell their work. This is not the case. Now, the fact that blizzard has ONLY stepped in in cases of commercial addons doesn't mean they couldn't in other cases. And they have taken addons and integrated their functionality into the game.

Again, you are mistaken here. You are free to sell your addons. Blizzard is also free to make it so that your paid addons do not work in their game. They haven't "stomped all over that", they have either asked or disabled. And in the case of integrating addons, it is either the idea of the addon (ideas are not copyrightable - see how many bar or bag addons there are?) and never the addon's code, or with permission from the author of any code they choose to use. You are acting under false assumptions.

Originally Posted by luizofoca anyone found a blue post about the problem with the new battle.net page? i couldnt register my beta cataclism key.

They are still working on it, and there has been no word on it since Friday. Possibly because of the weekend or in preparation for the StarCraft2 launch. Check the first post of this thread for updates - we will let you guys know as soon as it's fixed!

[Bluspacecow]

Originally Posted by ezarra Naw, your addons are written with blizzard's own custom version of LUA. Anything you write is considered a derivative work and Blizzard owns it any time they want to.

.......

Yes Blizzard has their own Lua interpreter built into the client.

How does this make addons a derivative work ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work

"A derivative work pertaining to copyright law, is an expressive creation that includes major, copyright-protected elements of an original, previously created first work."

Addons only use the function calls and variables Blizzard has made public in their API. These have been proven in Court to be not unique enough to be copyrightable. Nintendo brought a case against a company making an emulator and lost because the judge ruled that the function calls and varaibles used in an API could not be copyrightable as they weren't unique enough.

The code in the API is copyrightable but the function calls and variables are not.

Addons can't be derivative works as they don't contain any copyrightable Blizzard code inside them.

Going by your argument no program running under any operating system is copyrightable as it uses that operating systems API or parser to run. Do you see the illogic in that statement and in your assumptions ?

[tutti]

Originally Posted by Seerah Again, you are mistaken here. You are free to sell your addons. Blizzard is also free to make it so that your paid addons do not work in their game. )

As far as I know, you still can't sell your addon - but not because you don't own it (you do). It's because you've signed the ToU, which means you've legally agreed not to, and Blizzard can take legal action to stop you. If you somehow manage to develop an addon without ever having signed the latest version of the ToU, you can charge whatever you want and Blizzard can't touch you. They can still disable the addon, of course.

I could be wrong of course, I am not a lawyer and don't (and wouldn't) live anywhere near the US, but I believe this is how it works

[Bluspacecow]

Originally Posted by tutti As far as I know, you still can't sell your addon - but not because you don't own it (you do). It's because you've signed the ToU, which means you've legally agreed not to, and Blizzard can take legal action to stop you. If you somehow manage to develop an addon without ever having signed the latest version of the ToU, you can charge whatever you want and Blizzard can't touch you. They can still disable the addon, of course.

There is nothing in the ToU preventing you from selling your addon.

You missing the fact that many addon authors don't have active World of Warcraft subscriptions relying on Lua profiling tools , dry coding and reports from their users to maintain their addons.

Given it's not as nice as being able to run it in World of Warcraft but it definitely can be done. As they don't have an active World of Warcraft subscription they are not legally bound to an agreement they didn't sign.

What we are talking about here is Blizzard's "Addon Policy"

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...02301679&sid=1

It's pretty clear this covers Addon developers only. Not casual users who need to agree to the ToU and EULA to play.

Basically it's like this : The addon policy is what Blizzard would like to see addon developers doing.

If they don't do it they can either pursue legal action (unlikely) or they can simply ban the use of that particular addon (more likely) or even disable the functionality that addon needs to run (eg the whole AVR-E debate)

[Siku]

Originally Posted by tutti As far as I know, you still can't sell your addon - but not because you don't own it (you do). It's because you've signed the ToU, which means you've legally agreed not to, and Blizzard can take legal action to stop you. If you somehow manage to develop an addon without ever having signed the latest version of the ToU, you can charge whatever you want and Blizzard can't touch you. They can still disable the addon, of course. I could be wrong of course, I am not a lawyer and don't (and wouldn't) live anywhere near the US, but I believe this is how it works

Time to teach a friend of mine who never played wow, thus never accepted the ToU, about how to make an addon. I'm going to make him make an addon using all the function calls and API that Gearscore uses. Then he's going to legally sell for for never having signed the ToU....and Blizzard will disable it, by blocked a call or API somewhere. And Gearscore will sadly be a victim here.

...This a foolproof master plan! /wear Insane title proudly

[Mysticell]

Originally Posted by Seerah They are still working on it, and there has been no word on it since Friday. Possibly because of the weekend or in preparation for the StarCraft2 launch. Check the first post of this thread for updates - we will let you guys know as soon as it's fixed!

Hoping to get some answers, I gave Billing a call today, and it seems that they didn't even know that beta keys were being distributed at all - apparently they're only aware of the opt-in that automatically adds it to your Battle.net account (which I can understand to a certain point since I'd assume they're all in the F&F alpha/beta and didn't need keys either). However, the rep looked into it a bit for me and said that they had no record of my key. So maybe it isn't necessarily a problem with the code behind the new Battle.net site. However, he did say that the key wasn't normal length, which I would assume could be why it's telling us to use the code redemption page. *shrug* Maybe someone accidentally put the length check before the key was checked in the database.

I know I've done things like this a handful of times in the past with a site of my own - changed some code or took a service down and it caused issues for regular users that I would've never noticed if they didn't report it.

I wouldn't assume that getting addon authors into the beta is at the top of their priorities right now, especially since addons still can't be used in the beta. There's still a lot of testing to be done, and I'm sure we'll all get our fair share of time in the beta, which just started about a month ago, anyhow.

[voodoodad]

Wow! A totally derailed thread that I had no hand in the derailing.... Of....

What WAS this thread about, anyway?