[MUD-Dev] UI scripting gone too far?

[Johan A]

Derek Licciardi <derek at elysianonline.com> wrote:

> Recently a friend of mine showed me a site that was cataloging the
> item and monster database of WoW.  My first thought was that this
> is not a big deal because we see it in every MMO release.  It's
> not long after a release that warcry.com and other sites begin
> housing large databases of information.  The thing about the WoW
> database (www.thottbot.com <http://www.thottbot.com/> ) is that it
> is populated through a custom Lua scripted UI interface; Cosmos, I
> think is its name.  I'm not sure this is a good thing to have what
> is in effect a distributed computing system cataloging everything
> the game knows.  The error rate and speed through which humans did
> it on other sites has grown to be a comfort level for me as a
> designer.  This, however, seems a bit too efficient me.  On the
> other hand, there's the argument that the users will do it anyway.
> What are your thoughts?  Is a popular scripting engine a good way
> to release player tool functionality or are you inviting trouble
> because the language isn't specialized enough for your developers
> to control?

In Anarchy Online there are sites that are extracting the patches
for all new items and nanos (buffs spells etc) http://www.aodb.info/
is one. I don't know how WoW works but shouldn't the same thing be
possible?

I think it's great that you can do it. I mean if I am going to buy a
new monitor I research all the monitors and go for the one I
like. Same thing in a MMO. If I am going to spend gold on a new
sword I want to know what else is out there so I know I am making
the right decision.

When Alien Invasion came out and it shipped a few days early, I
extracted the database to see what new items came with the
expansion.  The people who were in beta did this way early and all
of a sudden, very highly though of items came up for auction in big
numbers. It didn't take much to figure out there were new items that
were better coming in the expansion and people tried to get max
amount of credit from the items before they would go down in value.

This I would say is a kind of "inside trading" so to speak. But if
people extract information from patches from test server then its
fair game. People who research should have an advantage. That
information is free for all though the website just like browsing a
site about what spells are available etc.

It does not destroy the game. It might take away some surprises but
not all. You don't get the information of who drops the item when
you extract the DB. This will of course creep out on various forums
and websites as people find them but its only natural.

Ps. I think Blizzard took out the hooks Cosmos used to record this
information recently anyway. I hope it is possible to extract the
patches. I won't know untill WoW in released in EU.

-- Johan
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