nUI's considered response to Bliz's new addon guidelines...

[spiel2001]

Let me start by expressing my sincere thanks to everyone in the nUI community.

With the exception of one person, everyone’s support and understanding in this matter has been exceptional and I am humbled by it. I have received many e-mails of support and encouragement as well as online support and more. It really is moving in a very deep way to know that so many of you feel as you do. I thank you for that.

That said, let me get to the heart of this message and that is my response to the new rules that Blizzard has set forth for addon authors. To that end, let me be perfectly clear that I am generally in agreement with the rules as set forth, what I have an issue with personally is their insistence that authors may not ask for support for their work in-game, which is the only place we can be assured the player will see it, and that we cannot offer a “premium” or “for-pay” version of our work to those who voluntarily choose to donate for it, or pay for it, as the case may be. It is my personal belief that policy infringes on my rights as a software author and your rights as a consumer.

However, I’m not interested in debating that here… I’ve done that on the public forums for the last 24 hours to make sure the author’s point of view is clearly and openly stated, and now I’m moving on to dealing with the problem head on… and that’s what this letter is about… how I’m going to deal with the problem and what my intentions are.

The first thing, and perhaps the most important thing, is that I have chosen to take the high road on this… I am not going to boycott Blizzard and I am not going to shut nUI down. Blizzard could care less and the only people who get hurt are you and I. That said, Blizzard has seriously handicapped me. I am not permitted to ask for donations and I’m not permitted to offer the user any incentive to donate (special version, special services, special download access, etc.). The question is how do I stay inside those boundaries while still ensuring that nUI is a viable endeavor.

I trust by now that most of you who have supported nUI realize that I treat this in as professional a manner as I can. To me it is, for all practical purposes, a business and I have treated it as such from day one. I take pride in the quality of my work, the quality of my code, the quality of the product and my treatment of the people who make it possible for me earn a dollar doing what I love… you. However, and quite obviously, for me to be able to justify the hours I invest in this, they have to make sense. I can’t spend 30 hours a week working on nUI if there’s no gain. The trick is finding a way to make that gain sufficient to justify the effort while simultaneously treating you with nothing but respect and adhering to the rules Blizzard sets out.

So, I have two problems… one is asking for donations in-game, the second is dealing with the Pro version.

As far as asking for donations in-game, the bottom line on this one is that most players do not go to the author’s web site or download pages to get their mods… they use an autoupdater like the clients at Curse, WoWI, WowMatrix, etc. So, if that’s the only place I can ask for donations, then pretty much no one ever sees them. My solution to this problem is to split semantic hairs with Blizzard on this policy. I’m not going to ask for people to make a donation in game. I’m going to tell them where my web site is and list the things they’ll find there… which includes the ability to make a donation. For that purpose, I’m going to use the language I already have in place…

For the user guide, galleries, the latest downloads, nUI's FAQ, technical support forums or to make a donation to support nUI, please visit |cFF00FFFFhttp://www.nUIaddon.com|r

I have no idea how aggressive Blizzard wants to get on this, and I know I’m splitting a fine hair on that, but technically I am not asking for a donation, I’m telling you where you can make one.

That leads to the issue of the Pro version… that one’s trickier… the new terms specifically state I cannot charge for the Pro version and I cannot charge you for downloading it, restrict access to it, etc. However, I do not see, nor can I imagine, any way in which Blizzard could enforce a policy that I have to publish every addon I write in a place where everyone can find it and that I have to tell the entire world where that place is.

So… I’m going to continue to make nUI Lite available for download on all of the public download sites… WoWI, Curse, WoWUI, etc. and I’m going to continue to maintain a Pro version. I’m going to host the Pro version on nUIaddon.com and I’m going to make it freely downloadable by anyone who knows where to find it. I’m just going to choose to only tell the people I feel like telling where that download can be found. It’s freely available, I’m not charging for the program and I’m not restricting free access to it. I’m only refusing to publicly publish the address it can be downloaded from and, again, I just can’t see where Blizzard has a legal position from which they can demand I have to just because I wrote the program and I choose to freely share it with the people I choose to share it with. I’m working on that page now with Deb’s help (my new web site slave … I mean code monkey … I mean volunteer ~grin~) I’ll update you all on that at a later date.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to send fixes to you and I’ll continue to grow nUI. I’m going to leave it to Blizzard to decide if they want to (a) accept the way I’m doing this, (b) sue me for it or, (c) explain to several thousand of their customers why they blocked access to one of their favorite mods.

We’ll see how this plays out as we go forward. For now, so long as Blizzard doesn’t choose to sue me or shut nUI down, we can all just assume that everything is pretty much as it was before the announcement of these new guidelines yesterday. There will, obviously, be some changes, but I trust you all understand.

Again… I thank you all for your support.

K. Scott Piel
kscottpiel@gmail.com
http://www.nUIaddon.com
http://www.ScottPiel.com

[Kimmik]

I have had some real life tragedies this year so money is damn tight.. but I have been up all night reading here and the official forums... and you know what... just to spite blizzard..... and because..... your feisty I am going to get the pro version.... but only if you promise to stay feisty...

Kimmik aka tibbles

[Tehryn]

Originally Posted by Kimmik I have had some real life tragedies this year so money is damn tight.. but I have been up all night reading here and the official forums... and you know what... just to spite blizzard..... and because..... your feisty I am going to get the pro version.... but only if you promise to stay feisty... Kimmik aka tibbles

On ya Kimmik (also known as tibbles)

[spiel2001]

Originally Posted by Kimmik Ibut only if you promise to stay feisty

First... thank you Kimmik.

Second... oh yeah... that's not a problem

~evil grin~

[ZakHawk]

I am going to donate to you anyhow for this fantastic Mod.

[vewdew2]

Originally Posted by Kimmik I have had some real life tragedies this year so money is damn tight.. but I have been up all night reading here and the official forums... and you know what... just to spite blizzard..... and because..... your feisty I am going to get the pro version.... but only if you promise to stay feisty... Kimmik aka tibbles

Me too (just donated). Actually, I didn't even know there was a pro version until now.

I'm one of those lazy people who gets his updates through wowmatrix.

[gman265]

I believe this is absolute rubbish. I have posted on the same WoW forum thread with some of my thoughts on this new policy.

you can read it here.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...9115&sid=1#890

I will continue to speak my thoughts on this insane policy.

Keep your head up Scott. I am sure Blizzard will come to their senses. I just hope its not too late when they do.

gman

[Kimmik]

Originally Posted by vewdew2 Me too (just donated). Actually, I didn't even know there was a pro version until now. I'm one of those lazy people who gets his updates through wowmatrix.

Oh no WOW MATRIX is the bad... it steals bandwidth from places like here... and does not respect the authors wishes... Helps support the mod community by avoiding them... even if it is a pain to click and up date manually... please and thank you.

[Doubleosix]

As I have said before, you have a pretty good handle on practical and sensible. I support you in all of this.

Thanks for deciding to continue on nUI. I actually lay awake last night trying to figure out what I am going to do if nUI does not exist any more.

I hope other authors take the same approach.

Originally Blizzard's concepts made sense, WOW and the community around it has grown beyond what blizzard could envision originally, and now they are being anal.

[Aerador]

I'll be spreading the word in game about nUI as well as your website with everyone I group with and the guild.

[Doubleosix]

Originally Posted by Aerador I'll be spreading the word in game about nUI as well as your website with everyone I group with and the guild.

Good idea. I have told every one I come across about this addon in the past. And will do so in the future plus the donation bit.

[seebs]

It sounds to me like you're complying with the spirit of things; I would be pretty surprised if Blizzard decided they didn't accept your policy.

Hmm.

Just a wild thought:

Have you considered selling support? I don't see anything in Blizzard's policies governing whether or not you can charge people for answers to questions. I know that people have often used support as a way to get money for software they can't easily charge for directly.

[spiel2001]

Originally Posted by seebs Have you considered selling support? I don't see anything in Blizzard's policies governing whether or not you can charge people for answers to questions. I know that people have often used support as a way to get money for software they can't easily charge for directly.

I'm pretty sure, at least without clarification, that #1 precludes selling support...

1) Add-ons must be free of charge.

All add-ons must be distributed free of charge.Developers may not create “premium”; versions of add-ons with additional for-pay features, charge money to download an add-on, charge for services related to the add-on, or otherwise require some form of monetary compensation to download or access an add-on.

(emphasis mine)

Support is a service related to the add-on, ergo, I cannot charge for it.

[seebs]

D'oh, you're right. I missed that part.

Fits with my theory (they don't want anyone suing them when their livelihood goes away in a new patch), but it's a shame.

[Martinus]

Hello Scott,

Very happy that nUI will live. When ya sent the e-mail with the title "The death of nUI..." That kinda freaked me out.

I even tried to play wow in the default UI. Ish! Can't go back lol.

Soo I'm a very happy player. Don't give up! WE NEED YOU!

Martin

[Tehryn]

What is behind the reason to disallow mod authors to charge for their mod or kindly ask for a donation? Is it to maintain a level playing field, i.e. those who cannot/will not pay for a mod should not be disadvantaged as far as playability is concerned (this assumes that donated to/paid for addons actually give an advantage)?

If that's the reason than I'll just continue to scratch my head that Blizzard is going after a "soft target", while at the same time still allowing gold selling.

After all these years Blizzard hasn't found a way to stop these guys dead in their tracks. Why? Is there someone(s) higher up who's leaning on them to look the other way? 0r do they secretly see gold selling as beneficial to the WoW community?

I would have thought that Blizzard would consult with the addon authors instead of dropping a bomb on them.

[neuralassassin]

Scott just out of curiosity what if you were to kind of revert back to the way things were and make the people who donate "bug testers" for the newer features. I am not a lawyer but I would say done the right way it may just be doable.
Anyway I've been up the last two days posting anywhere its been talked about it really is a shame the way blizzard has decided to trample on the add on authors rights and the response from the community as a majority has made me sick "it doesn't effect me". Their indifference is just as bad if not worse than what blizzard has done.
As for the decision that you have made to continue that's is just awesome news for us all. Had you gone the other route I would not have blamed you to be honest.
Thanks as always
Eric

[Mazzlefizz]

Originally Posted by spiel2001 I'm pretty sure, at least without clarification, that #1 precludes selling support... 1) Add-ons must be free of charge. All add-ons must be distributed free of charge.Developers may not create “premium”; versions of add-ons with additional for-pay features, charge money to download an add-on, charge for services related to the add-on, or otherwise require some form of monetary compensation to download or access an add-on. (emphasis mine) Support is a service related to the add-on, ergo, I cannot charge for it.

That's what I thought too, but Carbonite is doing exactly that. They now have a support forum right here on WoWInterface that only people who donate can access. I even asked Cairenn about it using the same quote you did with the exact same part underlined, and she said that people are misreading the policy and that she was certain providing a support forum for paying donators doesn't violate Blizzard's policy. I really can't fathom the logic of it, but perhaps she knows something that we don't. Maybe you should set something like that up too.

[Petrah]

Originally Posted by Mazzlefizz That's what I thought too, but Carbonite is doing exactly that. They now have a support forum right here on WoWInterface that only people who donate can access. I even asked Cairenn about it using the same quote you did with the exact same part underlined, and she said that people are misreading the policy and that she was certain providing a support forum for paying donators doesn't violate Blizzard's policy. I really can't fathom the logic of it, but perhaps she knows something that we don't. Maybe you should set something like that up too.

You are misunderstanding.

[bruner39]

Enough Said.