For example, the Autobar developer has a updated version for 8.2 behind his Patreon paywall?
Yes it is against Blizzard Policy!
Since Muffinman only hides devopment forum behind the Patreon paywall he may not be in violation. He released the 8.1.5 via Curse but if he only allows his paying members to download further versions than it will most likely be a violation.
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Yeah that’s what he’s doing. He said on his forum that his 8.2 update of the addon is only available for Patreon subscribers and that he will eventually release it to Curse/WoWUI at a later time. I can’t post links directly the post but it’s in the public forum under the 8.2 update thread.
Given that that addons like Zygor (premium service) have been in violation for a long time with apparently no consequence, I doubt very much anything will happen to this one… beside maybe trying to shame them into releasing properly
Zygor gets away with charging for their “Premium” content by charging for the use of their outside the game content and not the in-game addon. Basically their pathing suggestions for leveling website!
Muffinman is using code that is wholly owned by Blizzard and whose licensing for use of said code requires no payment be charged for addons created from it.
Zygor isn’t actually a premium addon. The addon is available for free from their website. As is the client to install it.
It is only the content that is available for paid subscription.
As for Autobar, since it is just the beta versions behind the patreon wall, it should be fine by Blizzard.
(Also I’m pretty sure Blizzard’s policy wouldn’t hold up in court since Blizzard doesn’t own any of the code used in the addons. They only own the code used in WoW)
Since no Addons can function in WoW without the use of the LUA System, which Blizzards owns the copyright and licencing rights too, as well as the scripting used in macros Blizzard hold a big hammer when it comes to going to court and has used it!
Don’t think any addon author has ever been sued by Blizzard but trust me you don’t want to be sued by Blizzard 
Not according to the UI policy which states an addon must not have premimum versions of addons that you pay a fee to access. Autobar putting beta versions behind a pay wall squarely violates this policy.
Which is up to Blizzard’s UI team to enforce.
All Blizzard can do is either ban the addon or change the Lua API in such a way as it won’t run properly anymore. I don’t think it’ll ever go to court.
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Blizzard doesn’t own the copyright to the Lua parser they are licensing it.
Your also wrong about the no addon can function outside of world of warcraft - LibStub is a versioning addon that you can use in World of Warcraft. As well as a few other games that use a Lua Parser - it has no code in it that’s unique to a particular game.
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He posts BETA versions for patreon folk to test before releasing a final, finished version. This is so that errors can be tracked down and fixed before being released to the masses. I don’t see why anyone would/could have a problem with this as it results in a clean, working release version.
And yes, I am a patreon subscriber. I’ve used autobar since the day I found it way back when and while it isn’t much I am happy to contribute for his coffee or soft drink fund.
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FYI, hiding a working update behind a payment is what is against the TOS. Asking for donations isn’t. Every other developer doesn’t do this. They put their alphas and betas out there to be tested by those who will give them feedback. I don’t care how you want to spin this, the TOS are pretty damn clear and, once again, hiding a working update behind a paid service is against them.
No it isn’t
The UI development UI policy is not the terms of service. In fact the ToS doesn’t exist anymore - it was replaced by the battle.net EULA. Which doesn’t have anything in it about not being able to put addons behind paywalls.
And while the policy does state “no premium addons that you need to pay to download” the most Blizzard can do is
- Contact the addon author to get them not to do that
- Ban the premium addon
- Change the Lua API breaking said addon
And please check the date on threads before necroing a thread.
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