Blizzard wins a 7 million dollar lawsuit against a bot company

[Deleted]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/bli.../1100-6415695/

According to a report on GamesIndustry, the suit was originally filed by Blizzard Entertainment against Ceiling Fan Software in December 2011. Ceiling Fan Software was allegedly behind a number of World of Warcraft bots, including Shadow Bot and Pocket Gnome.

A California Court has ordered Ceiling Fan Software to cease operations and pay Blizzard Entertainment $7 million in damages. A statement posted on the Ceiling Fan Software website cites "two years of legal battles" by the organisation to "both pursue our right to operate and our customer's right to play WoW as they choose".

Ceiling Fan Software is accepting donations to assist with "outstanding legal fees".

Parent company Activision Blizzard revealed a drop in World of Warcraft subscribers earlier this year. Despite dipping to 7.7 million active players, the publisher revealed that the game remains the most popular subscription-based MMO in the world.

This is very good, seems they are actually doing something about the bots. The lawsuits just progress extremely slowly. Now with Shadow Bot and Pocket Gnome gone, can we please get rid of a certain Buddy-bot next?

Oh and, "both pursue our right to operate and our customer's right to play WoW as they choose" must be the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard from such people.

[Salech]

Won't help at all, more/new will come they have definitely made shitloads of money and more than 7 million.

And blizzard should get rid of bots entirely instead of letting them be there for 5 years ++

[Tya]

Glad to see that Blizzard are taking steps to crush foul play.

[Hottage]

"Hell, it's about time."
- Terran Marine

[Jibjabb]

fuck bots and the companies that make them

[Zeras]

Good to hear was in a bg the other day and bots are really screwing it over alot lately. Saddly dont think it might stop others from making more companies like em.

like lord jaraxxus these two companies are like "another will take my place, your world is doomed!"

[wych]

I wonder how many people who use bots/buy gold would get mad if WoW became pay to win?

[Coar]

those bots are so old i dont even know their names, they havent worked in years.

[Blueobelisk]

Well the company has to cease operations so that's good, but there should be worse legal ramifications for hurting a game.

[Brooxi]

Well the company has to cease operations so that's good, but there should be worse legal ramifications for hurting a game.

Blizzard has done far more to damage the game then every other company combined x1000. That's why they have lost almost 50% of their subs now since TBC.

Don't start derailing the thread

[Deleted]

Blizzard has done far more to damage the game then every other company combined x1000. That's why they have lost almost 50% of their subs now since TBC.

Gosh, not this nonsense again. The subs hovered at 8-11M during TBC and now we are at 7,7M. That's not nearly 50%. And besides, this is off-topic.

[Santti]

Blizzard has done far more to damage the game then every other company combined x1000. That's why they have lost almost 50% of their subs now since TBC.

You expected a game to just keep on growing? They all mature at some point and then keep losing players. That's normal. And wow hit it's peak during Wotlk, not BC.

[Deleted]

good to see blizzard is working on removing botters, shame it wont have much of an effect as new ones pop up quickly.

[Deleted]

they will just open under another company name, operated by a different person.
Whilst its a good step in the right direction, it will not stop the botters.

[nomorepriest]

Bots actually make the auction house stable... Get rid of bots and mats for farming will be ridiculously high.

[Deleted]

Wish we could do something similar to the pvp devs.

[Deleted]

Blizzard has done far more to damage the game then every other company combined x1000. That's why they have lost almost 50% of their subs now since TBC.

Actually I'd say the opposite. Name any other game that after 10 years is still running.

[Pann]

Won't help at all, more/new will come they have definitely made shitloads of money and more than 7 million.

And blizzard should get rid of bots entirely instead of letting them be there for 5 years ++

The judgement states "As of early 2013, Defendants received in excess of $289,000 in revenue in connection with the Bots." Although this is nothing to sniffed at it is a far cry from the $7 million Blizzard have been awarded, no doubt much of this will be legal fees.

What is interesting in the judgement is "In the past two years, 185,000 complaints related to botting were received, and over 91,000 were written complaints that specifically mentioned “botting.” Investigation of these complaints cost in excess of $390,000." Which suggests that botting is either not as a big problem as some believe or players are not interested in reporting them.

It is always going to be difficult to remove bots and litigation against bot makers is always going to be slow process which is only viable in countries that recognise Blizzard's TOU.

[Firefly]

"Hell, it's about time."
- Terran Marine

This.

And the Quote is from Tychus Findlay, not some generic Marine.

[Gimlix]

Actually I'd say the opposite. Name any other game that after 10 years is still running.

People who post that have no idea what they are talking about Briga, just ignore them =)