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03-30-09, 01:21 PM   #661
Slakah
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ZAM: Since the LUA programming language is open source and free to the public,
Eugh!

Also more conspiracies to the mix, maybe someone should have told her, Blizz are doing this for the advertising monies.

The MDY case is going to be appealed by MDY to the Ninth Circuit. Until the 9th Circuit rules on it, Blizzard will use the MDY case and its new policies as precedent to support shutting down the commercial add-on developers if they do not comply with the new Blizzard UI/add-on policies and the TOU/EULA.
It's good to see we have an impartial lawyer here.


Under the new policy, the add-on/mod developers must make their code available to the public (including Blizzard). Blizz can use this information to create something similar and can probably do so without violating copyright laws.
Because Blizzard can't break the Carbonite obfuscation and/or create something better without looking at the code. Clearly Warhammer online created a Cabonitesque system by stealing Carbonites code.


Folks I think we all now know the reason Glider lost their case.

Last edited by Slakah : 03-30-09 at 01:37 PM.
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03-30-09, 01:27 PM   #662
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Gah. I certainly hope she is wrong in this case. Monetizing addons and extras in a free-to-play MMO is a great business model, but not in a pay-to-play MMO. If Blizz was to restrict all/most/some addons, and then sell rip-offs of those same addons back to the community, so we wouldn't have to deal with the hideous default UI would be a heinous crime imho.
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03-30-09, 01:30 PM   #663
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Some lawyers really make the others look bad, don't they? Really now, I've seen better thought-out conspiracy theories in Trade chat.
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03-30-09, 01:33 PM   #664
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So her theory is, they always wanted to monetize addons, and the glider case gave them the legal ground to do it. Hate to say it, but I think she's biased towards that case since she was involved. Pretty much everyone here is in agreement that this was was a reaction to the ad version of carbonite, which she seems to have to have no idea existed. Think you guys can get a second interview with her reactions to our reactions?
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03-30-09, 01:35 PM   #665
Slakah
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It's good to see that it's not only wowinsider who can come up with insane wow related conspiracy theories.
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03-30-09, 02:38 PM   #666
Yhor
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Originally Posted by Slakah View Post
It's good to see that it's not only wowinsider who can come up with insane wow related conspiracy theories.

I have a dozen or so that I haven't voiced, but I'm sure you all are better off not hearing them . I have 17 documented bans from the forums, 8 being my own; all staying marginally within the ToU, CoC, eULA, and ToS. Sometimes, I think they really enjoy banning you for the simple fact that you disagree. To be fair though, I really enjoy most of the conversations (forum discussions) that I've had with Blues. Blues aren't evil, they just work for the evil .

Enough from me, and my opinions are solely opinions, and of my own making. Much <3 from Yhor friendly conspiracy theorist.
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03-30-09, 03:13 PM   #667
Zyonin
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Originally Posted by Slakah View Post
It's good to see that it's not only wowinsider who can come up with insane wow related conspiracy theories.
That lawyer sounds like some of the commenters on Slashdot , usually the ones that get voted down.
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03-30-09, 05:01 PM   #668
Martinus
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Ohhh I can see it frome here.

We buy Addons à la Rockband for sounds.

Or addons packs that Blizz stole the idea and code from the comunity.

Mart
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03-30-09, 05:19 PM   #669
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ZAM chose to speak to the same lawyer that represented the creators of Glider? Really?
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03-30-09, 09:39 PM   #670
Landrell
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If they're planning to "monetize" add ons against the open community that is basically driven by the imagination and creativity and willingness to share, they are going to be losing a lot of "paid" support. By that, I mean subscribers. I can see why they would want or even think this, but the concept in and of itself is a very dangerous line they are about to tread. I can only think of a couple of ways to handle this situation and I fear it's going to go down hill from here:

1) Leave the open and free community alone and the API/LUA free license to the authors and people who have new and innovative mods to write. Have Blizzard continue to do the things they're doing by implementing and blending in existing mods/add ons into their own default UI.

2) Completely close the LUA/API coding capabilities to the community, preventing people from loading their own add ons and using only default; forcing subscribers to basically fork over even more money to use their brand of add ons since this seems to be a money issue and it's slowly becoming the case.

3) Let Add on Authors buy a 6m/1yr author license key to have full access to the ability to code mods and etc. Provided that their mods follow the guidelines stipulated by Blizzard, they are still able to share their work. Now one of two things happen here: Either they can only post their mods on a Blizzard dedicated site, or they still allow them to post on sites such as WoWI and etc. They would have to submit the code first to Blizzard and have it reviewed though before it can be posted anywhere, and if not, they won't let it go through.

These are just some ideas that kind of popped into my head after reading this a little bit. I've not kept up entirely on this situation and don't know what you can and cannot do with a free license API/LUA base of coding and what the deal is with all this. All I know is that if they do follow suit with their intentions of "monetizing" the add on industry, it's going to get ugly real fast real quick.

My main concern out of all of this is that they are basically alienating their driving community by even considering this option as a norm. I could be jumping the gun, but again, I'm trying to see what kind of outcome that can happen should they follow this.
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03-30-09, 10:57 PM   #671
Tekkub
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I really don't think this is a drive to monetize addons at all, it's actions by the legal dept, not the UI dept. If UI was involved in this I frankly would expect Zoot and/or slouken to speak up at least a little bit to set things straight and let the community know the general plan here. But the fact that they completely avoid the issue says to me "I can't comment" which totally stinks of legal dept (plus the wording of the policies makes it quite obvious that the UI guys didn't even have a say).

Seriously, people are jumping to the worst possible outcome here :P
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03-30-09, 11:30 PM   #672
Landrell
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Tekk, not jumping to any conclusions. I'm just reading what I'm seeing and just thinking of some possible scenarios. I try to think of the most outlandish scenarios of what "could" or "might" happen since it's definitely not out of the realm of possibilities here. However, yes I do agree with you on the fact that them not saying anything about this situation does stink and I would rather have them at least give something rather than, like you said, "No comment". The community does at least deserve some form of explanation.

Please don't get bent out of shape about my "thoughts" on the matter. People really shouldn't take what I or anyone has to say on this seriously since it is just a game and that what we do is for fun. My only concern about all of this is them actually thinking about monetizing the mod industry and taking it away from the community. I'm not even saying that's going to happen, but again, still not out of the realm of possibilities should the issue be pressed further from those that choose to not follow the policies.
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03-30-09, 11:46 PM   #673
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Originally Posted by Landrell View Post
Please don't get bent out of shape about my "thoughts" on the matter. People really shouldn't take what I or anyone has to say on this seriously since it is just a game and that what we do is for fun. My only concern about all of this is them actually thinking about monetizing the mod industry and taking it away from the community. I'm not even saying that's going to happen, but again, still not out of the realm of possibilities should the issue be pressed further from those that choose to not follow the policies.
Tekkub is the last person to take anything seriously, generally he only posts something thats non serious and/or a joke!
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03-31-09, 12:23 AM   #674
EVmaker
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And personally I don't believe that they have any intention of 'monetizing', that was simply put out in the interview with a lawyer that has every reason to thow out outlandish and unlikely things blizzard might do since they have/had a personal interest in a case against them (ala Glide).
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03-31-09, 12:46 AM   #675
Tristanian
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That interview is so wrong and so biased on so many levels, I won't even attempt to further comment on it. Zam made the worst possible choice of a lawyer, the analogies with the Glider case are not accurate and all in all there is very little substance in that article and too many things that we already knew about and have been beaten to death.
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03-31-09, 12:47 AM   #676
Landrell
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Originally Posted by Shadowed View Post
Tekkub is the last person to take anything seriously, generally he only posts something thats non serious and/or a joke!
My apologies then for making that assumption. I just don't want people who read what I type to get the wrong idea of what I'm saying of my interpretations and opinions and etc...

EVmaker, good point and thank you for clarifying this. I'll have to reread the article again. Apparently there is more going on than I thought. :\
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Last edited by Landrell : 03-31-09 at 12:50 AM. Reason: added stuff...
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03-31-09, 12:56 AM   #677
Bangerz
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I see blues reading this thread!

Tell us what you think! Cmon, there's a good blue!

/poke /poke
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03-31-09, 12:59 AM   #678
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I highly doubt they are allowed to say anything at all. Any comment Blizz would be making would undoubtedly have to go through Legal, then through Community, then maybe a CM or UI Dev could post. And they certainly wouldn't post it here, it'd be on their site/forum. And all of that presuming that Legal/Community allows any sort of comment at all in the first place.
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03-31-09, 12:59 AM   #679
Bangerz
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Originally Posted by Cairenn View Post
I highly doubt they are allowed to say anything at all. Any comment Blizz would be making would undoubtedly have to go through Legal, then through Community, then maybe a CM or UI Dev could post. And they certainly wouldn't post it here, it'd be on their site/forum. And all of that presuming that Legal/Community allows any sort of comment at all in the first place.
Thats what the poking is for
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03-31-09, 01:28 AM   #680
Landrell
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After rereading the article, I must say that I'm blown away by her assumptions of Blizzard wanting to 'monetize' the add on industry. Furthermore, she needs to know the difference between an add on and a hack.

I'll wait this one out and see...
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WoWInterface » General Discussion » Chit-Chat » WoW UI AddOn Development Policy discussion thread

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