Well perhaps not, but it seems that Blizzard have really got the bit between their teeth. Following their victory against RMT company Peons4hire (what a great name), they’ve now extended that challange to BOT programmes as well. The BBC has reported that Blizzard has filed a lawsuit against the creator of the MMO Glider programme.

The reaction to their first victory over Peons was universally well received, with a few obvious exceptions, and whilst this case seems a lot more ‘personal’ as it’s taking on an individual rather than a company few will question the validity of their action. The aggressive stance on the use of BOTS, and RMTing  is something that will have impact through out the industry, World of Warcraft carries such a large amount of weight these days that any large scale action it takes is felt across most of the MMO world.

RMTing and BOTS are something that plague all MMO’s and something that causes a huge amount of love/hate between players. For some they ruin the game and defeat the purpose of an MMO by allowing individuals to cheat their way to power and in-game success. Others see them as harmless and if people want to get their kicks by letting others play the game for them then so be it. From an insider point of view, they have the potential to do a fair amount of damage to the game including the economy,  camping areas to the point of ruining it for players trying to play the game legitimately and dilute & agitate a community.  It’s a provocative subject amongst MMO players but it’s an important one, and it seems that Blizzard have decided to push on and make a fairly aggressive stand. It’s going to be an interesting year if it carries on like this.

(Also yes  I caved to the corporate beast and added Google Ads, hopefully they’re not to intrusive but throw me a bone and click on them if they interest you)