Not sure if many here follow pogo. but Niantic just won a huge settlement from 3rd party firms making software hacks similar to map hacks that have been discussed here. For pogo this software also did things like autowalking and spoofing.
The settlement was over copyright infringement and could be away for Blizz to target the makers of things like THUD and other similar packages which allow users to cheat.
~https://www.polygon.com/2021/1/13/22229541/pokemon-go-creator-hack-lawsuit-settlement~
“the hacking group called Global++ created three infringing programs: PokeGo++, Potter++, and Ingress++, each of which were hacked versions of the relative games using Niantic’s game’s code.”
Nowhere near the same as
“creating apps that can imitate human behavior and control your virtual in-game character, essentially playing the game for you” (bots)
“unlocking the entire map & showing you the locations of shrines & elite packs” (THUD)
The thing i dont understand is that apparently the creator of THUD was never asked or got an official statement from Blizzard to stop, and is why they keep releasing updated THUD with every new season. Making it sound like its okay to use and that its not cheating…
Yet back around November 2019, Mathew Cederquist, a Community Manager, posted that it is a cheating program because it gives players more of an advantage vs who dont use it, and continued on to say “TurboHud is seen as a program that should not be used in the game”. Yet no one from Blizzard had yet to send an email or something to the creator of THUD to stop? Apparently if the creator of THUD got a notice to stop they’d gladly shutdown. Seems really weird…
CM’s wouldn’t say anything they weren’t allowed to say.
Meaning, everything they say is a copy/paste statement from those above their pay-grade.
It’s hot-air PR junk.
That all depends on how they achieve their ends. if Bliz code is used for either of these without the expressed permission then it could be a copyright infringement for even using the API which ultimately utilizes Bliz code to achieve the automated actions and reveals maps and shrine locations. The same could also be applied to WoW as well.
If Bliz sells the use of their api to 3rd party vendors for development then care working about that development within specific parameters to not achieve the above mentioned functions that are considered cheating would violate those terms.
As far as Bliz communications, that is something that no one hear is privy to. Unil the Niantic case there was no precedent for this sort of legal action and could open the door for a more honest game.
2008 Blizzard vs MDY (Glider bot) - Copyright infringement and tortious interference. Blizzard won.
2017 Blizzard vs Bossland (Honorbuddy, Demonbuddy, etc.) Blizzard won $8.5M + legal costs.
2017 Blizzard vs Ceiling Fan (various WoW bots). Blizzard won $7M.
Those lawsuits took YEARS of court battles to win, but they did. So yes, Blizzard has been suing cheat makers and winning since at least 2008. Niantic did not set and precedent. I would argue Blizzard did.
I stand corrected…those cases just never made my newsfeed
They were pretty big news at the time, but especially the first one was a while ago.
They don’t talk about any of the legal stuff until after it is over usually, or at least until a court judgement has been issued. So there could be active legal cases going right now that we don’t know of.
I am glad to see that Niantic did win though. The parasites that latch onto other software/games to exploit it and make money are terrible.