New posting on the legal side of private servers

[darklyth]

Hey all. I was debating whether I was going to open my lan server up to public, but decided it wasn't worth the headache to me. I saw an article today when I was looking for server ideas. Thought it might be helpful. I didn't even know why Blizzard had won that lawsuit a few months back. Looks like it was never proven that private servers are specifically illegal, which we already knew.

Free Private MMORPG Servers. Are WoW and Everquest servers legal?

[Thetruecrow]

Learn to read.

[stoneharry]

Learn to read.

Constructive criticism only.

It costs Blizzard Activision a lot of money to bring somebody to court, it's not even worth the hassle for private servers. They won't even give you a second glance, run a private server how you want. The only reason they took action against WoWscape is because they were making a ridicules ~$100,000 each month. It may be hard to prove that emulators themselves are illegal, but it's pretty easy to be accused of violating ToS, extracting data from client (DBC's, Map's, Vector Map's etc) and damaging Blizzard Activision.

[FrostyC]

The only reason they took action against WoWscape is because they were making a ridicules ~$100,000 each month. It may be hard to prove that emulators themselves are illegal, but it's pretty easy to be accused of violating ToS, extracting data from client (DBC's, Map's, Vector Map's etc) and damaging Blizzard Activision.

And how do you think Blizzard got that information about how much they were making? Inside sources. Peyton was being an ass about everything & her own crew gave her up. So if you want to keep your server alive & profitable, don't treat your crew like dogs.

[Terrorblade]

Constructive criticism only.

It costs Blizzard Activision a lot of money to bring somebody to court, it's not even worth the hassle for private servers. They won't even give you a second glance, run a private server how you want. The only reason they took action against WoWscape is because they were making a ridicules ~$100,000 each month. It may be hard to prove that emulators themselves are illegal, but it's pretty easy to be accused of violating ToS, extracting data from client (DBC's, Map's, Vector Map's etc) and damaging Blizzard Activision.

Vector Maps aren't in the client, those are generated from the wmo's and other things in the client.

[notburlex]

Vector Maps aren't in the client, those are generated from the wmo's and other things in the client.

Maps are generated too. For being an "emulation expert" ( let's disregard the fact that wow servers are not emulators ) you are not a very bright one, are you?


As for the OP:
Wowscape was sued in California, not in GB, as the article claims. They either need to update their maps, or they are incompetent.
Also private servers are totally illegal under U.S. law (DMCA) since when you host a private server you work around Blizzard's copy protection (that is that you need their server to use the client) and therefore you are aiding privacy, that itself is a criminal charge that is prosecutable. So I guess topic can be locked?

[Terrorblade]

Maps are generated too. For being an "emulation expert" ( let's disregard the fact that wow servers are not emulators ) you are not a very bright one, are you?


As for the OP:
Wowscape was sued in California, not in GB, as the article claims. They either need to update their maps, or they are incompetent.
Also private servers are totally illegal under U.S. law (DMCA) since when you host a private server you work around Blizzard's copy protection (that is that you need their server to use the client) and therefore you are aiding privacy, that itself is a criminal charge that is prosecutable. So I guess topic can be locked?

I know that maps are generated from the client, don't judge someone's intelligence from just one post.