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World of Warcraft contemplates a compromise for its fans

The company behind World of Warcraft has responded to a petition asking it to host servers for the original version of the video game.

Blizzard Entertainment no longer operates servers for WoW. WoW therefore some players have set up their own.

The company stated that giving its approval to pirate servers would erode its legal rights, however, it was looking at adding an unrestricted realm to please fans.

One former WoW developer called for the original game to be “preserved”.

World of Warcraft is an online multiplayer game where players explore the vast world, complete quests and interact with other players.

World of Warcraft was at its highest in 2010, with more than 12 million players. Today World of Warcraft has five million paying users.

The game’s original release came out in 2004 and since then has been updated with new games that some players claim have drastically altered the game experience.

Although technically illegal, some players have set up their own servers to play vanilla WoW.

On the 10th of April the popular fan-based server, Nostalrius, with over 150,000 active members, was closed due to the threat of legal action by Blizzard Entertainment. This led to the creation of a petition with 240,000 signatures.

Blizzard has stated in a forum posting that “The truthful answer to this question is that failing to protect against intellectual Property violations could be detrimental to Blizzard’s rights.”

“There is no clear legal way to protect Blizzard’s intellectual property, or grant an operating license to a pirated server.”

Due to the nature of intellectual property law, turning a blind eye to pirate servers would make it difficult for Blizzard to fight other infringements of its franchise in the future.

The company stated that it was unable to operate its own server for the original game “without much difficulty” but was contemplating whether it could open the possibility of a “pristine world” within the new game to please the fans.

A pristine realm would simulate some of the gameplay of the original WoW in the most recent version of the game.

“In essence, this would shut off all levelling acceleration , including transfer of characters as well as heirloom gear, character boosts, Recruit-A-Friend bonuses …” the company wrote.

“We aren’t certain whether this version of a clean slate would appeal to the public and is an issue of discussion.”

The suggestion received a mixed reaction from fans on WoW message boards.

One user said, “I would love to see a pristine server that was updated to the latest version of WoW so you could create a community around it , without being stuck on the old version.”

However, other fans were less favorable: “From a personal stance that a perfect world isn’t even what I want. A pristine world isn’t anything that fixes the major issues of WoW retail for me.”

Another added: “When you actually start listing all the improvements made to the game since its inception, you realize why it’s a shame to let it die… the number of people influenced by nostalgia is staggering.” Tsa club

The closure of fan-run websites like Nostalrius has revealed the difficulties in preserving video games of the present for historical record.

Mark Kern, a game developer who was involved in the creation of WoW told reporters on Tuesday: “WoW’s an important game It’s part of the history of gaming however there’s no legal avenue for people to enjoy its older versions or see where it all began.

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