INTRODUCTION:
So recently there was an article posted about how the maker’s of World Of Warcraft are suing small company MDY for copyright infringement.
· Blizzard and Videndi (WOW) – say that you cannot install the 3rd party software on the RAM when their programs requires you to use the RAM on your personal computer.
· MDY (3rd party software) – claims that they are allowed to use RAM on your PC if you so chose.
SUMMARY OF SOFTWARE:
The 3rd party software would allow player’s to earn point or money buy having your character continue through in the game while you are away from your computer.
What does the Little Wet Dog think about that?!?!?
In essence, this is 100% outright cheating! Why should anyone be allowed to have their character build points while the person isn’t really doing anything. And by anything I mean not even sitting at the computer! It is the equivalent of putting a plastic dummy (no jokes please) of your body type with wig and business suit sitting in your office cube pretending to work. You can even place a robot there if you like clicking on the keyboard. Is that working? Nope. Cheating!
Remember back to the 80’s and 90’s – Super Mario Brothers, Legend of Zelda, Startropics, Metroid, Contra, Mike Tyson’s punch-out, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Debbie Gibson, Madonna (before she become a hot yoga babe), Bugs Bunnies Crazy Castle, Castlevania (and I’m not talking about my adventures through England), leg warmers and hair sprayed walls of bangs? You know you remember, just admit it!
So did you ever pay someone $100 to play Super Mario Brothers for you through the first 7 levels so that you could finish off the big boss at the end? Did you ever hire a grade school kid to play Tetris or Dr. Mario to get you speed and challenge? Did you hire the star athlete at your high school to run on the plastic matt while doing the running or Olympic games on the NES?
In fact, what would the Princess Zelda or Princess Toadstool have to say about that outlandish behavior? However, it does beg for the question of how this differs from using the Game Genie designed for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) back in the 1990’s. A person could have infinite lives to get through the levels or even finish the game. This took away from the spirit of the game and the competition itself. Do we really need an “Easy Button” for everything? Windows for dummies, computing for dummies, writing for dummies, and now world of warcraft for dummies? What is next, breathing for dummies? My point is not to dis the dummies books (heck I even own a few books myself). My direct point is to support the spirit of healthy education and competition. Gaming is about growing your skills sets in that world (imaginary or not) and then becoming a better character or better person. Now there is a short cut through that which gives some people an unfair advantage.
What makes this company get allowed to do this?
So if the robot sitting in your cube tapping keys is actually more productive than you would be is it still cheating? Or clever use of technology?
You can stretch the rules very thin and say having someone else play for you just saves you the trouble of wading through the boring stuff. Since it is a game after all, why should you be bored for however long it takes to get to the good part?
Ah, but even back in the day things were not always what they seemed.
Did you play Metroid?
Did you know ‘Justin Bailey”?
Check this out, if you dare.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=h7gRTqQQ_D4
Consider yourself warned.