World of Warcaft as ONLY a game engine

[iindigo]

So after seeing the news of the private server owner who got sued into oblivion, I've been wondering something.

Private servers, for the most part, come in two flavors: Blizzlike and funserver. Blizzlike is as its name implies; it's as close of a mirror of the official servers as can be achieved with emulated servers. Funservers have their XP, gold, and drop rates increased to absurd amounts and make gear available to pretty much anyone.

Both have something in common, though. They're still using Blizzard's models, maps, music, quests, and items as a base for it all.

While it's next to impossible to do, what if WoW was only used as a game engine? That is, the models, maps, music, quests, items, everything - was the creation of the server owner instead? Wouldn't it be more similar to the various FPS mods out there which completely change the game but use the same engine? Would Blizzard have as much legal ground to stand on in this situation?

I mean at that point, it's almost an entirely different game...

[Confucius]

Been done before irrc and yes they would

[Killalots]

Been done before irrc and yes they would

Indeed they would, but I am wondering as to who has done it before.

[iindigo]

Really? I would have thought that would make it impossible for them to accuse you of giving unauthorized access to their content, since their content no longer exists...

[Confucius]

Really? I would have thought that would make it impossible for them to accuse you of giving unauthorized access to their content, since their content no longer exists...

The game itself is their content, doesn't matter if you remove the fun part. The environment was still made by them, as was the code for the game to run.

[iindigo]

Ahh, that's quite unfortunate. The WoW client is a very nice, feature-complete engine (even if it is aged). Using it would cut a TON of the time out of game creation, allowing one to skip most of the technical work and go straight to the creative stuff.

That's not even mentioning how programming one's own game client and getting it to the same level, at least as a single, untrained individual is pretty much impossible... oh well. At least you could write the client to mimic World of Warcraft's packets so you could use it with Ascent and family instead of have to create your own server software too...

[Castseven]

You could write a game from the ground up - your own client, your own server, 100% of your own code and data, and simply call the world "Azeroth" and you'd be infringing copyright. There's no way you can make it WoW without it being infringement.

The only alternative would be to make a WoW "clone" with unique lore - which, let's face it, you're simply developing your own MMO at that point. People with a lot more time and money and resources than any emulator writers have been doing that for years just to make simple and / or bad ones with the hope of scraping some of the WoW fans up.

[iindigo]

You could write a game from the ground up - your own client, your own server, 100% of your own code and data, and simply call the world "Azeroth" and you'd be infringing copyright. There's no way you can make it WoW without it being infringement.

The only alternative would be to make a WoW "clone" with unique lore - which, let's face it, you're simply developing your own MMO at that point. People with a lot more time and money and resources than any emulator writers have been doing that for years just to make simple and / or bad ones with the hope of scraping some of the WoW fans up.

Well yes, of course. Perhaps I should have clarified.

When I mentioned writing one's own client, I didn't mean it as a WoW clone or anything of that nature. I meant it as part of writing a brand new MMO (which a colossal task, that as mentioned before, has an extremely small chance of being completed by a lone individual).

Even if the effort is futile, I think it would be fun to at least dabble with my own MMO... even if it was just a patch of dirt the size of a bedroom that would be a pretty huge accomplishment to me. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I have the patience (or skills needed... math, ugh) to go from a "Hello World" project to something as complex as a 3D multiplayer online game.

[euanc]

Well yes, of course. Perhaps I should have clarified.

When I mentioned writing one's own client, I didn't mean it as a WoW clone or anything of that nature. I meant it as part of writing a brand new MMO (which a colossal task, that as mentioned before, has an extremely small chance of being completed by a lone individual).

Even if the effort is futile, I think it would be fun to at least dabble with my own MMO... even if it was just a patch of dirt the size of a bedroom that would be a pretty huge accomplishment to me. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I have the patience (or skills needed... math, ugh) to go from a "Hello World" project to something as complex as a 3D multiplayer online game.

You could try to use an engine like UDK or UNITY... UNITY would be easier to program for since UDK does not allow access to source code but UDK also provides better graphics.

[benjiang]

Different peopel like different things. I tried some private servers before,
yes, some of them are fun, especially when leveling your char,
but after I played for some hours, maybe 3 or 4 hours,
I got bored with it, it's actually not as interesing as Blizz's.

If you can develop your own MMO, that's another thing. lol
And if you want to attract some more people,
it should be not only a clone, but it needs to be a little more creative.

[Herbalism]

I think they can't touch you if you change the launcher, login screen, character creation, the zones, yadda yadda.. I mean completely custom quets, npcs, etc...
You get my point, I don't think blizzard can attack you if you do all this but itäs a hell lot of work.

[D3NiZ]

but itäs a hell lot of work.

y.. That'll take sometime

[Castseven]

I think they can't touch you if you change the launcher, login screen, character creation, the zones, yadda yadda.. I mean completely custom quets, npcs, etc...
You get my point, I don't think blizzard can attack you if you do all this but itäs a hell lot of work.

If you start with their engine and only change data you'd still be screwed. The lore, content, and art assets aren't the only things protected -- and that doesn't even begin to discuss the issue of the EULA which forbids reverse engineering (and you can't legally have a copy of the game without agreeing to the EULA).

Again, what you are ultimately talking about - to avoid any repercussions - is to make something completely new from the ground up. That's not just a "hell of a lot of work", it's simply not possible for one person to do in their lifetime (to have an "MMO" scope and scale), even if you could find a single person that had enough knowledge in every area which I am pretty sure there isn't a soul alive who does, just people who think they do.

At the end of the day, it wouldn't be WoW anymore, at all, so it's kind of moot.