Massively

Glider was cheating, as per the ToS. MDY was making money selling this cheat, also illegal. This cheat affected gameplay of everyone who isn't using the cheat. Blizzard had a right to not only shut them down but to seek damages because of the effect it had on its customers. Sure, they wanted to make the financial damages high enough to not only assure MDY was finished but to send a message to anyone else to tries to make money off of their product.

This isn't about shafting the little developers out there. Blizzard fully supports people who legitimately make add-ons and such that enrich the game without violation their fair use policies. MDY decided, on their own, to disregard these rules, and they lost in court.

They developed a program specifically designed to circumvent gameplay...they deserve what they get. They're no better than gold sellers.

Lets face it. The guy knew what he was doing was attempting to cash in on lazy players and circumvent game play. He played with fire and knew it. And he got burnt.

I have no sympathy at all.

While I understand what you are all saying, the numbers don't add up. Are we 100% sure that the 6 million dollars to be paid by the developer is justified? Did blizzard really spend 6 million to combat this? If I was the developer I would both be flattered and frightened at the same time.

When a cheater is found in Vegas they get banned, or at the worst they get their knees shattered. To my knowledge there has never been a civil case based like this brought to the stage by a casino.

Let's not overlook the method in which was used to pinpoint the cheaters here. The tactics can only be described as an intrusive privacy violation. WoW is one big hunk of spyware, find me something to the contrary.

Sending a message to other would-be persons doesn't do a thing. If you haven't read up on Kevin Mitnick, do it now. The courts used him as a scare tactic to dissuade new hackers. Yet the last time I checked, we still have people breaking into computers.

Please remember he did not DO the cheating himself, he provided a product that many users used for cheating. Why not blame Microsoft for providing the C# framework which was used in the development of this application? Oh yeah, that's absurd...Right?

I dont think the fine was so much because they just wanted money, I think blizz has enough of that but more likely to make other botting companies think twice about selling or making bots fr the game. after all 6 mil isnt much for a company such as blizz, but it's huge for small botting companies. And then you call blizzard "Disgusting" and make no mention to the fact that this company made all of it's money from illegal activities and cheating. You have to seriously rethink your views my man.

Arshavir, you essentially said what everyone else said in reply to me. I understand you want to jump on the bandwagon too, but please, have something original to bring to the table.

And to answer your last comment "rethink your views", maybe you should rethink yours as my view seems to be the minority. The arguments that have been brought to the table to combat mine are weak and overplayed, and you have brought nothing more.

You are all failing to realize that this case is not just about botting. This case has set the precedence for all future TOS cases. This could be you one day, Arshavir. Make sure you don't break any rules in that 30 page terms of service.

Please, for 5 seconds stop being the anti-bot zealots (which wreaks of uneducated patriotism), and think of the developer in this case. Put yourself in his shoes. He's a developer, not the botter. Something is very very wrong, you must admit.

How about you drop the 'Crusader for the Downtrodden' act? The man attempted to profit off of a program specifically designed to circumvent gameplay in direct violation of the rules, oftentimes at the expense of honest players. As someone else already said, he played with fire and got (deservedly) burned.

Affects them financially how? I'm not defending glider, just curious. It doesn't pay for your account for you, it just plays a video game that you pay for.. for you.

Doesn't make sense to me to to pay for a program to play a GAME for you, but I don't see how it hurts Blizzard financially.

Some of the pertinent text from the official ruling by the courts about the basis of Blizzard's suit.

Blizzard contends that Glider diminishes the value of WoW and causes Blizzard to
lose customers and revenue. Blizzard asserts that WoW is a carefully balanced competitive
environment where players compete against each other and the game to advance through the
game’s various levels and to acquire game assets. Blizzard claims that Glider upsets this
balance by enabling some payers to advance more quickly and unfairly, diminishing the
game experience for other players. Blizzard also contends that Glider enables its users to
acquire an inordinate number of game assets – sometimes referred to as “mining” or
“farming” the game – with some users even selling those assets for real money in online
auction sites, an activity expressly prohibited by the TOU.

Basically, it boils down to 'Glider allows people to circumvent certain parts of the game, meaning they will be potentially playing for less time and therefore paying for less time.' Also the loss of revenue from people quitting due to botting.

It's all pretty grey area legally right now, which is the whole point of this case and why it's such a big deal. Since nobody's been taken to court for video game cheating before, the ruling here sets a precedent that will be used in any other similar lawsuits.

I imagine Blizzard's argument was that bots detract from the gaming experience of "normal" players, thus making those players less likely to renew their subscriptions. After having played through some WoW battlegrounds with what seemed to be a 90% bot population, I can attest to the accuracy of this claim. In an MMO, the real benefit from play is the interaction with other players and if those people are all bots, well, you wont really experience the content the way it was designed.

For the one questioning how WoW Glider affected Blizzard' financially' consider how Asheron's Call's reputation as a place where cheating and exploits were commonplace likely repelled a good many potential customers.

The cheater? No, it does not at all. The person using this software will just find something else to use.

Rather it teaches a company a lesson not to make anything to run on top of Blizzard's client.

Most of all, it encourages those people who are enthusiasts for this type of thing to find ways to beat Blizzard. I predict that next year Blizzard won't be fighting one company with Glider but rather an active open-source movement to provide the same functionality with even better tools to hide itself.

It is sort of like a giant being swarmed by bees. At least with WOWGlider they knew where the hive was. Now they have to deal with unknowns, but the stinging won't stop by a long shot. Eventually enough stings will win. Swatting only gets you so far.

If I could cheat I'd still do it. Fuck grinding. I got 3 70s on a pvp server by hand. Only reason I used glider (on a throw away 2nd account) was to see other classes, improve my strategy. Don't need to mindlessly grind to know a class - stop every 10 levels, play some BGs.

I 100% understand Blizzard going after these guys and shutting them down. Taking money, sure, but 6 million though...

These things usually involve profits + damages. It isn't beyond the scope of imagination that MDY pulled in a few million off of this.

"Real Man's MMO" is an oxymoron.
And you're a huge nerd.