Blizzard Sues Bot Maker For Copyright Infringement

[SixFootDuo]

I talk to Apoc all the time, I know these guys. I've provided artwork for some of the rotations. He has already talked with an attorney and the attorney has talked with Blizzard. I don't know all the details but they are making it sound like Blizzard basically cannot do anything.

They write code for the automatic rotations for different classes and have nothing to do with the company.

However, Apoc does make money from the rotations / code he provides in the buddystore. All those guys do. Some make 5k a month, some make 3k to $2500 a month selling rotations. After the massive banwave, all of their revenue is down to 1/3. Many have quit supporting their rotations.

There is also Soap Rotations and Botpipe and a few others. There is also a bot that sits on a secondary PC an acts as a man in the middle and is totally undetectable, very similar to an online poker bot.

All this information is out there on the web for anyone to research and find.

But before people pass judgement, a lot of people are forced to use these rotations for medical reasons.

I'm 47 and have diabetes, one of the side effects of having diabetes is trigger finger. I have a few stiff fingers and cannot physically pull off the rotations to any great effect so I am basically forced to use bots.

I first heard about bots from a few retired military personal who lost digits / hands and sometime limbs during the 1st and 2nd Gulf War and or training accidents. The only way they could enjoy World of Warcraft was with a rotation bot.

Yes, people also use bots for bad things as well

 

[lcpiper]

dont see where copyright infringement comes in... unless Bliz can show the code they use... have the SC ever ruled on those EULAs?

The code doesn't have to be the same or even remotely close. Someone else is infringing and making cash off of Blizzard's IP and it's no more difficult then that.

They should have gone for this rabbit 20 years ago.

 

[lcpiper]

That's right, they ruined a non-competitive single player game that has a co-op mode.

Yes, they did.

 

[lcpiper]

Think this is more along the lines of going after a realistic target. There's no way they can stop all instances of cheating, but they can go after the money, aka the company PROFITING on making Blizzard's customers miserable.

ding ding ding. Yes, when someone starts running a business off their cheating then they give a company like Blizzard a handle to grab onto. They don't even have to do anything directly to stop the offending code, just keep taking money from the profiteer's pockets and it'll have an impact or at the very least, make some money.

 

[munkle]

So, you didn't like the totality of the way the game was set up, so you cheated to gain an advantage? WOW is an MMORPG, everyone isn't meant to have equality of gear.

Some people just need instant gratification, working for something in video games is fading away sadly. I found the grind to be satisfying, as you get gear quickly if you get a team organized.

Because time spent grinding is greater than skill right? ... Yeah... this is why wow is losing subscribers, people don't want to grind, they don't play to grind, grinding is something thrown in there to keep you paying each month and it must be done to progress anywhere. Why should there be a gear imbalance in pvp at all? It's pvp, peoples' skill should speak for themselves not their gear. I make no comments on pve as I do not play pve, you can have your grind fest there. I could care less if I had all greens as long as everyone in pvp has all greens.

 

[jimmyb]

The code doesn't have to be the same or even remotely close. Someone else is infringing and making cash off of Blizzard's IP and it's no more difficult then that.

That's not how copyright works. If they're suing for copyright violation they have to show that their copyrights were violated. There is no copyright infringement unless something was copied.

Copyright does not grant an exclusive right to all revenue remotely related to the work; it prevents unauthorized copying.

If you read the court complaint you'll see that the counts are specifically regarding breach of contract (ie. the EULA) and copyright infringement (ie. copying the game in an unauthorized way).

 

[Azphira]

The excuses people use to cheat, download stuff they didn't pay for, steal...murder, it's all the same to the morally bankrupt.

I hope blizzard destroys them, Too bad they are GmbH and it can't run deeper.

 

[SvenBent]

it seems like people don't know the different between bugs and exploits in the code and bots.

bots don't rely and errors in the game. its simulates player behavior. its has to be actually monitored for and know n by blizzard, to find and combat against.
But the shit'er is that this detection code runs on the cheaters machine in the cheaters environment ,so under the cheaters supreme control.

You will never be able to defeat bot'ers 100%
its is physical impossible unless you have control on who is actually sitting at the machine and everything running on the machine.

 

[SixFootDuo]

The company behind honorbuddy has already been sued and won ( in Germany ) by Blizzard. This is still playing out in the courts but I think the Honorbuddy guys are still ahead in the courts.

This might be a case of Blizzard going after the little guys to scare them or force them to spend money.

 

[Darunion]

Because time spent grinding is greater than skill right? ... Yeah... this is why wow is losing subscribers, people don't want to grind, they don't play to grind, grinding is something thrown in there to keep you paying each month and it must be done to progress anywhere. Why should there be a gear imbalance in pvp at all? It's pvp, peoples' skill should speak for themselves not their gear. I make no comments on pve as I do not play pve, you can have your grind fest there. I could care less if I had all greens as long as everyone in pvp has all greens.

Nothing about using a bot to obtain gear speaks of skill, it speaks of laziness. I gear up quickly because I will actively engage the group and also run with friends or meet new people to play regularly with. Skill will topple gear, it is very satisfying to drop an arena player while myself wearing blue pvp garbage. Instant gratification pvp is not this style of game, this is a game of playing and being rewarded for wins. Maybe that isn't for you, fine but don't ruin the experience for others by botting because you are lazy. Why should my team struggle because there are afk players that are 'way too overly skilled to grind gear' using bots to collect honor/conquest points?

 

[SilverSliver]

The excuses people use to cheat, download stuff they didn't pay for, steal...murder, it's all the same to the morally bankrupt.

I hope blizzard destroys them, Too bad they are GmbH and it can't run deeper.

I've played a lot of games, and I've seen a lot of cheating. I have not died yet. A lot of worse things out there. Online game companies have a responsibility to try and police this as much as possible. There are a lot of ways to do that. Trying to make examples of the people who make the cheats? One of those ways. They don't need a brigade of white knight neckbeards on a forum frothing at the mouth over people who do cheat, however. Regardless of why they do.

I like hearing the partial disability standpoint. Would you be angry if you had to climb 5 flights of stairs and the elevator was handi-cap only? Fucking cheaters in that wheelchair, right?

 

[m33pm33p]

The excuses people use to cheat, download stuff they didn't pay for, steal...murder, it's all the same to the morally bankrupt.

I hope blizzard destroys them, Too bad they are GmbH and it can't run deeper.

I talk to Apoc all the time, I know these guys. I've provided artwork for some of the rotations. He has already talked with an attorney and the attorney has talked with Blizzard. I don't know all the details but they are making it sound like Blizzard basically cannot do anything.

They write code for the automatic rotations for different classes and have nothing to do with the company.

However, Apoc does make money from the rotations / code he provides in the buddystore. All those guys do. Some make 5k a month, some make 3k to $2500 a month selling rotations. After the massive banwave, all of their revenue is down to 1/3. Many have quit supporting their rotations.

There is also Soap Rotations and Botpipe and a few others. There is also a bot that sits on a secondary PC an acts as a man in the middle and is totally undetectable, very similar to an online poker bot.

All this information is out there on the web for anyone to research and find.

But before people pass judgement, a lot of people are forced to use these rotations for medical reasons.

I'm 47 and have diabetes, one of the side effects of having diabetes is trigger finger. I have a few stiff fingers and cannot physically pull off the rotations to any great effect so I am basically forced to use bots.

I first heard about bots from a few retired military personal who lost digits / hands and sometime limbs during the 1st and 2nd Gulf War and or training accidents. The only way they could enjoy World of Warcraft was with a rotation bot.

Yes, people also use bots for bad things as well

Tell me more about the morally bankrupt, retired, active duty soldiers who are missing digits?

 

[c3141hf]

Tell me more about the morally bankrupt, retired, active duty soldiers who are missing digits?

The only one morally bankrupt here is Blizzard for finding new ways to abuse copyright law.

Going after botters is one thing. But using the courts to create a precedent in which modifying data in your own computer's memory is now a "copyright violation" is wrong.

 

[WangChung]

I'm 47 and have diabetes, one of the side effects of having diabetes is trigger finger. I have a few stiff fingers and cannot physically pull off the rotations to any great effect so I am basically forced to use bots.

In other words

I'm claiming a disability, so I have to cheat and society should excuse my cheating.

Seriously, choke on a bag of dicks.
Signed,
- A guy that lost use of his hand for a bit so he learned how to play with his FOOT.

 

[Darunion]

In other words


Seriously, choke on a bag of dicks.
Signed,
- A guy that lost use of his hand for a bit so he learned how to play with his FOOT.

Big difference between an accessibility aid for people and an automated bot that plays the game while a person watches or does something else because they want the reward without the work. I don't group handicapp aids with lazy people by any stretch.

 

[lcpiper]

That's not how copyright works. If they're suing for copyright violation they have to show that their copyrights were violated. There is no copyright infringement unless something was copied.

Copyright does not grant an exclusive right to all revenue remotely related to the work; it prevents unauthorized copying.

If you read the court complaint you'll see that the counts are specifically regarding breach of contract (ie. the EULA) and copyright infringement (ie. copying the game in an unauthorized way).

think that as smart as you think you are in regards to copyright infringement, Blizzard's Lawyers are better

They can effectively win the case without ever having to go to court just because they have really deep pockets and know the other guy doesn't. It's like raising a poker bet cause you know the other guy is tapped out, a sure win and the cards don't matter at all.

 

[munkle]

Nothing about using a bot to obtain gear speaks of skill, it speaks of laziness. I gear up quickly because I will actively engage the group and also run with friends or meet new people to play regularly with. Skill will topple gear, it is very satisfying to drop an arena player while myself wearing blue pvp garbage. Instant gratification pvp is not this style of game, this is a game of playing and being rewarded for wins. Maybe that isn't for you, fine but don't ruin the experience for others by botting because you are lazy. Why should my team struggle because there are afk players that are 'way too overly skilled to grind gear' using bots to collect honor/conquest points?

I never said a bot = skill, its used to level the playing field. Why should I suffer because the system is broken in favor of those who have more time instead of those who are better? Skill can topple the gear imbalance but it doesn't always and usually in those cases its a pretty bad player against a highly skilled player. You take a moderately skilled player with good gear and highly skilled player with bad gear and the moderately skilled player is probably going to win everytime just because of the gear difference. Basically you want the game ruined for people with less grinding time. Has nothing to do with laziness, I don't enjoy getting destroyed just because you have 40 hours a week to waist grinding for gear and I don't because I have a life outside of WoW, I bot to level the playing field so I can have fun playing against equally geared people to see who is better. Grinding is not fun.

And you are also proving my point here:

Why should my team struggle because there are afk players that are 'way too overly skilled to grind gear' using bots to collect honor/conquest points

Your team shouldn't have to struggle because there should be no gear imbalance in pvp. Remove gear grinding/imbalance and all those problems go away. No reason to bot a BG if there is nothing be gained other than the satisfaction of winning.

 

[Vladias]

Are you Kidding me Go get them Blizzard !!!

Blizard has made PvP bgs soo easy Now since wod has come out its insane inabout 1 and half week you can have a full set of honor session gear as before legion and about 2-4 weeks of non stop requeing for bgs to get conquest gear all doing SOLOING BGS !! just turn on some internet radio and turn off all ingame Chat then youll be golden ! this is one resion i have stopped playing World of warcraft do to the fact it has gotton way to easy with pvp drop boxes and pvp bonus events soo if its some lazyness it would be on the ppl using the bots witch in my book makes no sents cuss its super EASY NOW !!