World of Spycraft

A Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Game (MMORPG) is a game in which a large portion of the players play on the same game server. Usually, they are built more like a persistent world rather than a more traditional game, creating an environment to live out your virtual fantasies.

World of Warcraft (WoW) is a great MMORPG. Me and my girlfriend have been playing WoW for 7 or 8 months now, and we've enjoyed every second of it. However, there's a bit of controversy in WoW's world of Azeroth.

Recently, it was uncovered by the gaming community that the game executable was scanning the end users computer for hacks used to cheat in the game. Blizzard, the game company that created WoW, issued a statement to quiet down the backlash. Here's a shakedown of how things transpired.

A post appeared on the WoW General Forums exposing that the scans were taking place. In the same post and many others, the players often refer to the End User License Agreement. Basically, the EULA is a contract that the player must sign in order to play the game.

Hidden deep within the Terms of Service, which is part of the EULA that the gamer has to agree with, I found these:

B. Blizzard Entertainment has the right to obtain certain identification information about your computer and its operating system, including the identification numbers of your hard drives, central processing unit, IP addresses and operating systems, for identification purposes without any further notice to you.

C. Blizzard Entertainment has the right to obtain "non-personal" data from your connection to World of Warcraft in order to make certain demographic assumptions regarding the users of World of Warcraft without any further notice to you.

D. In order to assist Blizzard Entertainment to police users who may use "hacks," or "cheats" to gain an advantage over other players, you acknowledge that Blizzard Entertainment shall have the right to obtain certain information from your computer and its component parts, including your computer's random access memory, video card, central processing unit, and storage devices. This information will only be used for the purpose of identifying "cheaters," and for no other reason.

Blizzard is a game company that I trust wholeheartedly. The company itself has nothing to gain from stealing anything more than what they say they are looking at; heck they already have our credit card numbers. However, this sort of practice is something that makes me uneasy.

Even more disturbing to me than the scanning (hell, EBay and Amazon do this sort of stuff every time you log on) is the EULA itself. Here's the scenario that I have lived many times: The new hot game I have been waiting for arrives on store shelves. I drop up to $60 of my hard earned cash on the counter and walk out with a shrink wrapped box. After driving home, I pop the cd into the drive and install the software onto my PC. Once that's finished, I start the game for the first time and I'm presented with a bunch of legal crap. What is this? I wanted to shoot some aliens not go to law school. After NOT reading the EULA, I click accept and begin playing away.

There's several problems with the way this is working. I'll list them out in EULA format:

A. No game player in his right mind ever reads this stuff. We don't ever know what we're agreeing to. Why don't we read it? Because it's silly to have to sign a contract to play a game, and gamers know this.

B. The EULA isn't printed anywhere on the box. Lets say I just paid $50 for a brand spanking new copy of WoW. Once I get it home, I open the shrink wrap, install the game, and input the special code that's printed on the cd case or manual to "register" this copy of the game. Once I boot the game for the first time, I'm presented with the EULA. OK, I read the damn thing and decide I don't agree with their scanning policy. Guess what folks, you can't return the game. Either you accept their terms, or you ain't playing their game. Once the shrink-wrap is broken and the code is entered, the game cannot be returned. Blizzard just walked away with your $50 and there's nothing you can do about it.

C. How are they enforcing these things when minors are involved? Thanks to our good friends at the ESRB, I know that WoW is rated T for Teen - meaning that someone under the age of 18 can purchase this game without parental consent. Correct me if I'm wrong (jm11744@hotmail.com), but I don't think a contract signed digitally or otherwise by a minor is legal.

D. How does this work when the player of the game doesn't own the computer it's being played on? Little Johnny who's 15 just bought WoW at Wal-Mart. He brings it home and installs the game onto Dad's home office PC. Dad sees little Johnny playing a harmless game and thinks nothing of it. Johnny agrees to the Terms of Service, giving Blizzard permission to search a PC that doesn't belong to him. Blizzard scans some things on the PC without Dad's permission - but dad wouldn't want his computer scanned because it has all of his personal and business information on it. This seems like it should be illegal somehow.

E. Blizzard and any other game company has the right to change the contract at any time (and they do). Here's the words right out of their mouths (warning - this may be a bit long)

10. Our Administration of World of Warcraft; Changes to the Terms of This Terms of Use Agreement.

Blizzard Entertainment reserves the right, at its sole and absolute discretion, to change, modify, add to, supplement or delete any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement at any time, including, without limitation, access policies, the availability of any World of Warcraft feature, hours of availability, content, data, software or equipment needed to access World of Warcraft, the amount of, or basis for determining, any fees or charges for World of Warcraft, and institution of new fees or charges for World of Warcraft, effective upon prior notice as follows: Blizzard Entertainment will post notification of any such changes to World of Warcraft on the World of Warcraft website and will post any revised Terms of Use in this location, and may provide such other notice as Blizzard Entertainment may elect in its sole and absolute discretion, which may include by email, postal mail, pop-up screen, or in-game notice. If any future changes to this Agreement are unacceptable to you or cause you to no longer be in compliance with this Agreement, you may cease to use your World of Warcraft account and terminate the Account. The continued use of World of Warcraft by you following notice of changes to this Agreement will mean you accept any and all such changes. Blizzard Entertainment may change, modify, suspend, or discontinue any aspect of World of Warcraft at any time. Blizzard Entertainment may also impose limits on certain features or restrict your access to parts or all of World of Warcraft without notice or liability. You have no interest, monetary or otherwise, in any feature, content or availability of World of Warcraft, any Game Data (defined in Section 13(J), below) or in any terms or conditions of access to or use of World of Warcraft.

Of course, you could terminate your subscription. I'm sorry, but in the good old days when you bought a game you got to play the damn thing.

There are no real regulations or even unwritten laws concerning this stuff. Every time a game company is taken to court, it's heard by several judges each handing out different verdicts while a: not understanding what's going on or b: not knowing what to do even if they do understand.

I mean, it's a contract signed and delivered, right?