Blizzard hands major private WOW servers DMCA.

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To register an account you must have a valid CD Key. Once associated with an account you can use one disc to install the game on multiple machines but; you make it sound as if you can create multiple accounts from one CD and that is not the case.

If it were the case, one person could have purchased WOTLK and let the rest of the world download an ISO because they already have valid accounts. As with most MMO you can install the game anywhere and access it using any account, but to create an account you still need that key.

As far as the free client goes, it is limited and you do not get full access without purchasing the game.
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Nope, you don't need a CD key to register an account. You used to, but not for a while now. It's completely possible to get the client software and setup a brand new account without ever having to even see a retail copy of World of Warcraft or have a CD key. The full client is free via direct download from Blizzards own site. Setting up a trial account only takes a few minutes also through the site and you can also upgrade that trial account to a full account (plus expansions if so desired) without having to purchase a CD or using any sort of CD/serial.

Most MMOs do this at some point. Major titles will often delay being able to purchase an account directly through the web in order to appease retailers, but at some point they all start offering free clients and the ability to purchase accounts separately. Some will even sell the client separate from any account purchase, at least for physical media. Game stores often have $1.99 trials of major MMOs which include the full client but no account (you sign up for the trial online).

The point is the client is free and you purchase an account to play. As for expansions, you're not paying for additional content you're paying for more account privileges. You can use a trial account to access a WOTLK client but you won't get full privileges. You need to upgrade your account not the client to get those.
 
Well me personally I will contiune to play on private servers I have legally paid for all the expansions and original. I play on retail during the weekends and during the week I play on private servers, I personally coulc care less about blizzard as I bought the game never having signed any contract or agreed to any contract. Now their is nothing stolen from blizzard on my own server (I am not a hacker) I just utulize the program that I payed for that I have on my own computer the entire game (from noob zones to Ulduar are 100% on your computer not their servers.) So as far as I am concerned I bought the product and will do with it as I please (legal or not)! However I do understand why blizzard goes after some of these servers (they can make alot of money off the back of blizzard with donations and other such things...advertising, etc.) me personally I do not advertise my server nor do I accept donations it is comletely free and I do not charge anthing ever, I have not banners or anything.
But this really is nonsense, has anyone here ever recorderd an NFL game or NBA game or an HBO movie on their DVR (this is technically illegal as at the beginning it states that no reproduction or copy whether for private use or commercial may be done, without the written consent of "xxx company". But the arguement for that is the same pirates argue (i payed for dvr/ cable service...I payed for internet/world of warcraft)
 
I personally coulc care less about blizzard as I bought the game never having signed any contract or agreed to any contract.
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While I don't think every person who breaks an EULA or TOS agreement should be prosecuted it does bother me that people have such a poor understanding of such things. Such ignorance is probably as big a part of the problem as is overzealous companies trying to squeeze every dime out of a product.

The idea that because you didn't physically sign something you are not responsible for following the terms of use is a really dated idea. Try telling your credit card company that when you buy something online and don't have to sign anything "I didn't sign anything agreeing to pay for that, so I'm not paying" - good luck.

If you installed the game you agreed to follow the terms of use. Chances are you checked an "Accept" box once or twice along the way. Ignoring those terms or finding some way to circumvent having to actually check "Accept" is about as legit as signing a fake name on a contract. Saying that you didn't agree to any terms when you purchased the game is just playing dumb. If acting ignorant makes you feel good about yourself fine but it's not an excuse. I tried that type of argument against a speeding ticket once. I told the cop that from the point I entered that road (from a side road) to where he pulled me over there wasn't a posted speed limit so I was driving at the state speed limit. Maybe I could have taken that argument to court but seeing as I drive up and down that road every single day I would had to have flat out lied in order to do so. It's the same with software. Unless you can honestly argue that you've never bought a piece of software then got it home to find an EULA inside your argument just won't hold up.

Honestly I don't have any problem with what you are doing - playing on private servers - and I'm certainly not saying you are a bad person for doing so, but don't play dumb.
 
In no way did I mean that I was not in violation of the terms of service (wjhen i installed i agreed to said terms) I said when I bought I did not agree so therefore the discs are my property. But when it all comes down to the end a violation of terms of service merely allows the contract holder to terminate service and their is technically nothing illegal about the act.
 
In no way did I mean that I was not in violation of the terms of service (wjhen i installed i agreed to said terms) I said when I bought I did not agree.
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Then what's the point of saying it at all? You hadn't agreed to the terms but you also weren't breaking them or even using the game, so what's the point of the statement?

But when it all comes down to the end a violation of terms of service merely allows the contract holder to terminate service and their is technically nothing illegal about the act.
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This is a huge misconception. A lot of people do not understand that there is a difference between criminal law and civil law. Sure you're not going to get arrested for violating a contract, but the other party may be able to come after you for legal damages.
 
Some people miss that it is stealing, or worseover, don't care. If you were the ones who made a MMORG or a game like it you would want to earn money for your product. Same goes for all software piracy... Monthly fee or not.

When I go to work I want a paycheck at the end of the week, don't you? Doesn't matter how much i'm making, and I don't care how much you make.

Its not ethical to steal someone elses product.

No I don't play Wow but I used to, and I don't work for blizzard either.
 
This is a huge misconception. A lot of people do not understand that there is a difference between criminal law and civil law. Sure you're not going to get arrested for violating a contract, but the other party may be able to come after you for legal damages.
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I am aware of the difference and the company would have to show that my actions had caused the company damages.

Some people miss that it is stealing, or worseover, don't care. If you were the ones who made a MMORG or a game like it you would want to earn money for your product. Same goes for all software piracy... Monthly fee or not.

When I go to work I want a paycheck at the end of the week, don't you? Doesn't matter how much i'm making, and I don't care how much you make.

Its not ethical to steal someone elses product.

No I don't play Wow but I used to, and I don't work for blizzard either.
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What exactly did I steal? I legally bought the game and both expansions I did not go and download the client (I have the discs). Software "piracy" is in my opinion media manipulation its called file sharing (same as you coming to my house and me burning you a mix-cd (completely legal both criminal and civil) but for some reason if i go to your ftp it becomes "immoral" and "theft".....gibberish!
As far as when u go to work you expect a paycheck, I do also, so does the company that I "steal" from as I pay them monthly and have been for years. So I am still confused about where I "ethically" am wrong.
As far as downloading of software that I do not own (via piratebay or whatever) I do partake on a daily basis ( games only) as this is how I test the game (in the pc industry there no longer are demos and there is no way to rent a game to try it out just drop $50 and hope its good....niot me if I like the game I buy it if not I delete it....simple concept....but once again it is not "stealing" it is "sharing" and yeah I know people will say something else but thats what it is.
 


It's always funny when somebody who hasn't been accused of something feels they need to so strongly defend their self. I pretty sure I reiterated several times that I wasn't making any judgments towards what you do and I don't see anywhere in the previous posters comments that suggest he is calling you a thief. So why so defensive?
 


The stealing defense was not towards your comments...it was towards
ome people miss that it is stealing, or worseover, don't care. If you were the ones who made a MMORG or a game like it you would want to earn money for your product. Same goes for all software piracy... Monthly fee or not.

When I go to work I want a paycheck at the end of the week, don't you? Doesn't matter how much i'm making, and I don't care how much you make.

Its not ethical to steal someone elses product.
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I don't think that was necessarily directed at you. If you're running a private server with more than a couple of friends playing on it - and especially if you are profiting off it then I would call it stealing. Using the work of another person (or a company) in a manner which is directly designed to avoid paying the cost they specified is stealing. From what you described you say you are paying the monthly fee so I can't really find an ethical problem with what you are doing even if it's against the user agreement because you are still paying.

One point I must correct you on is the spreading of the myth that PC game demos are non-existent. That's completely false. There are probably more PC demos available now than anytime before. Every couple of months I go through and have to delete literally hundreds of gigs of demos which I've downloaded. People like to try and spread this lie as a way to defend piracy but it's funny how often they do it in a thread which actually contradicts that claim (people who claim to have pirated Crysis because they wanted to test it on their hardware). In this case MMOs and WoW have probably the best demo system. You can download the game for free and play a 10 day trial. You could even just keep on playing trial accounts over and over again although you won't get too far into the game. And when you want to get the full game you just activate the trial and keep going. No need to reinstall or start over again. So lack of a demo is a REALLY poor excuse when it comes to WoW.
 


Never mentioned WoW as a demo I did he trial then bought the game (and yes you are correct about demo's of pc games being out there and I exaggerated that point...but playing one level of a game...at least thats usually what I find...is not the same as really trying out the game...like for my xbox i rent a game before i drop $50 because I have stacks of games I have bought and played for maybe a few hours and got tired ofit real quick and im out $50...my fault i guess bad investment lol)...as far as people downloading Crysis to check it on their system they can get benchmark software that will test their system far beyond what Crysis will ever be capable of....as far as my private server you are correct only about 40 or so people play on it...all friends and family that also play on retail but all play on different servers (for some stupid reason) so i launched my own server...not public...and I do not accept donations nor do I advertise on my website at all (I spend lots of money on the hardware and time (scripting etc.) and never recieve a single-cent off the back of blizzard and would say that doing so is wrong.
But like I said when I download .iso of games I install them play them and if I like them I buy them (long list of those...Fallout 3, Oblivion, EndWar, RainbowSix, Call of Duty...the list goes on and on) and if I do not like them I delete them.
 


That is a bad comparison. I get how you’re trying to take the justification comparison of “it’s only $15 a month which is cost of 1 movie” in the opposite direction, but it doesn't work. You see, when you pay your $15 a month, you get unlimited access to WoW.

I can almost guarantee you that a TON of people would pay $200 a year to have ANY movie they wanted (in theaters or out) to instantly stream to their TV.

$12-15 a month is more than a reasonable price to pay to play for WoW. You get continuous updates throughout the year, very fast customer service (compared to most other games), and tons of content. $15 a month is 3 hours of work for a minimum wage employee. Too young to work legally? Go do some yardwork for neightbors/parents for money.
 
That is a bad comparison. I get how you’re trying to take the justification comparison of “it’s only $15 a month which is cost of 1 movie” in the opposite direction, but it doesn't work. You see, when you pay your $15 a month, you get unlimited access to WoW.

I can almost guarantee you that a TON of people would pay $200 a year to have ANY movie they wanted (in theaters or out) to instantly stream to their TV.

$12-15 a month is more than a reasonable price to pay to play for WoW. You get continuous updates throughout the year, very fast customer service (compared to most other games), and tons of content. $15 a month is 3 hours of work for a minimum wage employee. Too young to work legally? Go do some yardwork for neightbors/parents for money.
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That is true it is only 50 cents a day pocket change really just get a jar and place your change in it and bang you can afford wow
 
I like the 50 cents a day break down. The way I always liked to break it down to explain how inexpensive it is, is this:

If you have a full time job you work ~20 days a month
$15/month = $.75/work day
Even at minimum wage (~$7.50/hr) $.75 = 6 minutes of work.

So if you punch in to work 3 minutes early and leave 3 minutes late each day you can afford a WoW subscription. Of course if you have a decent paying job and those additional minutes are OT then the total may be something like 30 secs of additional work per day. Not really all that expensive.
 


Exactly....I do still play on private but for someone to claim that wow is to expensive is quite confused...
 
This thread has to be the most epic on these forums. Purplerat, you have the most patience I have ever seen from anyone in the world. You've really got a hard time letting stupid people be stupid, don't you? My head would have exploded after the 3rd post from this guy (elbert). You honestly cannot fix stoopid.

The amount of time and effort that has gone into this entire thread (if going by the minimum wage analysis above) would probably have paid for about 3 or 4 years of WoW.
 


I initially really thought English was not elbert's first language and something was getting lost in translation - but you're right, you can't fix stupid.

You comment about the time spent in this thread paying for WoW is pretty funny. Look at how many threads on this forum, and a lot of other forums, are dedicated to bashing the game. Makes you wonder who's the bigger loser; the people who spend all their free time playing a game they love or the people who spend a lot of their free time worrying about a game they hate.
 
OK this topic is great i like how every one is ping ponging of the moral wall here, well im going to say this and take it how you like. I am not a person of high moral standards so i would play WoW for free if i got the chance or had the time to because hey looks like fun why pay if i don't have to and i know if i play for free none of the Blizz staff lead devs down to the janitors are not going to starve if i choose to play on a private server now am i the kind of person that would rob a bank or hold up a store... no im not but am i the kind of person that would keep a bag of money i found in the trash.... your darn right i would. The one thing that you have to understand is that not every thing is black and white there are shades of gray and to further make things complicated is an individuals perception on the matter.
Well that is all i have to say, i just wanted us less than moral people out there to have our say and i know im going to get alot of back lash from this but hey i never claimed to be the good guy im just honest with my self. well people its been fun but its back to the daily grind for me oh and for those people with egos the size of a small sun and three planets who like to flame others Opinions just remember If you are the ruler to Which you judge others by you will always come up short.
 
Here is something I think that you should all do:

1) Look at the case law regarding EULA's
A) Courts Of Law have deemed multiple EULA's nonbinding as they infringe upon rights of the people
I) IMO the EULA, TOS, ROC and general guidelines infringe upon the rights of individuals who expect a reasonable
effort of care to protect these a fore mentioned rights
B) Considering most of the players on WoW are under the age of 18 when first playing the EULA is non binding
I) look at the statistics regarding the average age of a WoW player
II) While yes even if the person(s) playing the game are above the age of 18, if they cannot comprehend the
agreement in its entirety, then they have not been fully advised and again the EULA is non binding.
a) Not all of the players have a degree in business law, nor do they all fundamentally understand the terminology
b) the courts have upheld this in numerous cases varying from Warranties to Implied consent clauses to warnings
regarding potential hazards
III) In my family we have discussed this and my grandfather as a residing justice has made commentary regarding
the EULA being non binding.
a) He has played WoW and enjoys it, He sucks, but he enjoys playing it with his great grandson as well as myself
ON A FREE SERVER NO LESS!!!
C) Please remember that while yes a EULA MAY HOLD in court, they have failed miserably multiple times in the past.
More often than not they either settle their case or lose because of lack of cause.

2) There are several states that have vetoed these claims and have created fail safes to stop abuse of the DMCA and have imposed fines for these "frivolous attacks on potential growth"

3) Remember not every country has the same rules and has harsher guidelines for showing cause.
A) The UK being a beautiful example as Blizzard has failed miserably to win a case. (That is from my research and
commentary from servers who have been targeted by Blizzard.)

4) My Private Server is up and running and they lost the battle. For the purpose of protecting myself from unwanted
flaming and abuse I will decline to divulge my server name and/or address.

5) In the end, PS's have been ultimately unfazed as most have found countries that will support their actions, or others have found loopholes and disclaimers to avoid infringing upon Blizzards rights. (I'm just the messenger so shoot the judges who allow these things to happen if you so feel the need.)
A) Example is the use of Copyrighted materials for use by groups who expect to make no profit except to improve
upon the mean of conveyance. This includes but is not limited to Non Profits; Government agencies; Entities using
the copyrighted material as a comparison for POS; Etc

Post Script
1) I use abbreviations... So sue me.
2) Don't undermine the ideals because of verbiage; just shows how much of a child you are.
3) I have played "Retail" and have played on, "PS's" a bit more mature on PS's then I would expect most to admit to easily.
4) If/when Blizzard goes under they might be able to save themselves with the sales that are from the Software that every single PS player uses. I bought mine just to make sure I wouldn't get any unwanted additions. As have every other single PS player that I have ever talked to (2000+).
5) Statistics show if you blow smoke you kill others around you faster than yourself. Same goes for words, think before you speak.

MOST IMPORTANT!!! HIGHLIGHT AND READ CAREFULLY AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!
It's just a game, lets just all have fun and enjoy life as its too short to waste on petty means. 😛
I'm Done and thanks for joining me on HC ICC, We wiped 3 times cause I was typing this. Hey I still got my .001 Drop so maybe karma shined on me tonight?


*EDIT: On my OEM XP it allows for installation on 3 machines???*
 
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