3.1 LIVE this week. End of WoWMatrix?

Well, as far as it goes I’m a bit of a.. what’s the word I’m looking for.. skeptic. There is nothing stopping WOW from simply going over all the current add-ons, taking what they want, and closing the code, disabling and removing the tools given to make the add-ons by the public, and incorporating the collected add-ons into the game them selves. IF anyone is going to make money from the add-ons, who do you think it will be? Do you think the artists will get credit for their add-ons if that happens? Doubt it. So much for current artists and the battle over who gets to do what.

I’ve always been amazed when I see a gaming company allow their code to be open to the public and to allow game fans the opportunity to even make an add-on. I always get this “you don’t get nothing for nothing” feeling every time I see it. Last company I worked for was quite explicit that ANY ideas discovered while employed by the company was the property of the company and you were not allowed to sell, post, or give that idea away until you were release from that company for x amount of months or years. I seriously doubt there is much change here. I think that what the artists fail to realize is that when its all said and done WOW still holds exclusive rights to the game code and they can do what ever they like with it.

The only point I was trying to make is that making an add-on is in fact very hard work. Some are simple and can be done in a matter of a week. Other are very complex and can take several months to perfect. Most are ongoing works that require constant tweaking and maintenance. Maybe even have a few people working on one project. IF an author is going to take that kind of time and put in that kind of dedication into his/her work, its foolish not to insure that your name is not prominently listed in the description/detail of the add-on. Even if its not a full blown release.

I mentioned Carbonite deliberately because they are a perfect example of what I was trying to get across. They have what I consider to be a GREAT mapping add-on. But like some of the other artists decided it was time to charge a monthly fee for their maps. And I could understand why. Obviously they spent many man hours developing that add-on WOW crushed that idea quickly. Now, they could have simply said fine, and just yank the add-on completely off the web and gone off and done something else. But they didn’t. Instead, to my surprise, they not only put the full blown version up, they have announced on their website that more updates are scheduled to be released. This did three things for me.
1. I am more inclined to donate to their cause because they’ve shown they are in fact professionals
2. Made me deliberately suggest to all my guild members to actively seek out Carbonite and use it
3. Made me wonder what else they do relating to software.
Obviously not everyone is going to donate to use this program but by word of mouth they have a much better shot at it now. AND when you click on the hyperlink just as you do any other add on in wowmatrix it brings you directly to their web site. Don’t hear them complaining about bandwith.

Now I mean really, You spend all that time and effort to make an add-on to be used by the public. Do you “really” care where I get it? If your name isn’t on the add-on.. who exactly are you pointing your finger at to blame? Carbonite has its name fully blasted onto their program. You see it every time the game loads up for approximately 15 sec. They know how to do that but no one else does? Or is it more like other programmers just aren’t as serious about having their names displayed on their work… You can’t place blame on someone else because you didn’t take the time to put your name on your work

My other point was that if I was going to put that much effort into making an add on and the hosting site started complaining about bandwith, Id be the first in line to see if wowmatrix or any other site would be willing to host my add-on. How much of a heads up do you need?! I would WANT as much exposure as possible. If my current host was screaming about bandwith obviously there not the right place for my add-on to be hosted at. The more people I can reach the more chance of getting that gratifying donation for my work. You don’t really think they care if your add on is seen or not do you? There goal is to get as many hits for there advertisements as possible. Plain and simple.

And you guys don’t shake your heads at that. You know its true. Some things in life will never change. Anyway you look at it your being used by someone who plans on making way more money than you’ll ever see.

It makes a person a little weary when they see a website offering “premium” download service offers. It does to me anyway. And if there offering such a service, exactly how much of that money will the artists see? In theory none. Because only the idea is theirs NOT the code or the tools given to create the idea. An artist can go from being a respected artist to pirate very quickly. Getting money for something that isn’t there’s IF anyone wanted to draw that line is still pirating. As with almost all things, a handful of greedy artists could be just enough to push WOW to the point of simply closing the code and calling it a day. For the sake of a few, every one would lose.

And my opinion hasn’t changed at all. I’m a potential consumer.. so to speak. You want me to use your product, fine, present it to me on MY terms. And my terms are simple. I use wowmatrix, Unless they close the site I have no intentions of leaving it. if your add-on isn’t listed there, I’m NOT going out of my way to find you. I really like simple.