Prof. Dr. W. Broll
Gutachten zum Einfluss von Bots auf Spielspaß und Ökonomie in MMORPGS
20
for the provider.
6.5. ConclusionsThe players who ultimately decide to use bots do not do so out of a wish to maliciously manipulate, as is perhaps usually the case with a hack, but to improve their own gaming experience. Necessary time and effort is substituted for bot software with financial means in order to ensure that personal gaming pleasure is maintained.
Many games providers, especially those who work to the free-to-play principle (for example most browser and social games) but also providers of MMORPGs therefore make it possible to obtain game objects (item selling), gaming progress or gaming currency by buying them with real currency (RMT). As Lehdonvirta & Ernkvist (2010) note, the motivation behind this is not primarily to see real gaming success squeezed out by monetary payments by those who are financially better off but rather compensation to maintain the gaming balance (see also Bates 2008) for those players who do not have the same amount of time available as other players. It is therefore remarkable that providers such as Blizzard in the case of WoW have at least not yet considered such a possibility.
Especially against this background, the successful technical and partly judicial enforcement of the closing off of WoW game infrastructure for providers of software tools (see Glider und Spiro bots) is at best questionable in relation to their lawfulness bearing in mind the resulting limitation of use potentials for players in relation to their lawfulness. Just Article 6 of the EU’s Computer Programs Directive of the EU, implemented in Germany in Section 69e
of the Copyright Act, is mentioned here as a possible starting point. As has already been demonstrated, the lawfulness of the EULA is just as questionable at the very least. However, even if players are notified of validity in terms of the general terms and conditions before they buy, this would not necessarily have any effect due to a unilateral discrimination against the end user in excluding the use of tools in conjunction with the acquired or licensed client software by exploiting a position which could be regarded as monopolistic in the field of games infrastructure.
In
conclusion, it can be said that bots relieve the player of work which they could also do themselves. They do not do this any more intensively than a hardcore player. It has been proven that there is a demand for such tools for an at least not insignificant number of players for the possibilities for maintaining gaming fun which they offer. The use of bots can thus even positively influence customer loyalty and the use duration of MMORPGs.
Ultimately, providers such as Blizzard in the case of WoW have so far failed
Prof. Dr. W. Broll
Gutachten zum Einfluss von Bots auf Spielspaß und Ökonomie in MMORPGS
22
Share with your friends: