End-User License Agreement Requires You To "<<<<<†<<ày" Before Letting You Play World Of Warcraft
One of the bloggers at BoingBoing attempted to install World of Warcraft on his Ubuntu Linux laptop, but first he had to agree to... something. Full picture inside.
We don't see how Blizzard could enforce being that much less than dagger, but we'd like to see them try.
Hardest-to-understand EULA *ever* when you install WoW on GNU/Linux [BoingBoing]
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I see you've amassed a carrot army. Let's see how they do against my Shaolin bunnies!
From BoingBoing: "While installing World of Warcraft on my Ubuntu Linux laptop (using the WINE compatibility software), I found myself confronted by this license agreement. Ain't that a pickle? I wonder if I'm bound by the license terms now that I clicked "Agree"? "
Looks like this is a level from Rogue or Nethack you must complete to test your skill level before proceeding.
ASCII FTW!
LINUX installs aren't supported ... success using WINE has been kinda spotty.
I tried it on ubuntu and couldn't even get that far.
@Oranges w/ Cheese: You still need wine, but that fact alone doesn't make that "EULA" any more enforceable. The question is, does the one you have to agree to when you open the game show up correctly? It did for me last time I attempted this.
That's a perfectly cromulent EULA.
You found a scroll Looks like the licence agreement for Rogue .
The licence agreement should be a with in the installation package PDF and the EULA is on Blizzard's site. [www.worldofwarcraft.com] . Another EULA will appear if you sign up for online services. I bet if you dropped Blizzard legal a note, they would get back to you quickly.
It could be a glitch with the OS, the installation procedure, etc... I am sure that Blizzard would love to know about the error.
I am not sure the point of this story, can someone explain? Installing a game on a OS that is not supported is sort of "use at your own risk". The game requires a Windows copy to be installed using WINE so it's pretty much expected that you will have some issues.
The fact that the EULA screen even displays(no matter how badly) and that you can actually play on a linux OS is a real feat.
Installing a game on linux via WINE and getting unpredictable results would be considered the same as hacking the game to bypass the EULA. Running the game in a non standard way isn't going to mean you don't have to agree to the real eula. This is really a non-story.
Oh no! License agreement text got mutilated! Blizzard must pay for this!
@kbarrett:
I've been playing wow on Ubuntu for a year and a half on 5 year old hardware getting 30-60fps.
@DeadWriter: Regardless if the installation is supported you can contact Blizzard through the web here -> [us.blizzard.com] or send a letter to
Blizzard Entertainment
P.O. Box 18979
Irvine, CA 92623
They may send you a canned response, but perhaps not.
I would suggest posting this to a relevant forum. Say thedailywtf.com
- This hardly applies to the masses viewing Consumerist.com.
They would? Blizzard doesn't support that OS and all of my experiences with their customer service have been rather shoddy.
You're just missing the relevant font for it to render. The same thing happens when you have crazy fonts installed and you try to install the lego builder software.
How is this a WOW problem when the user was installing it on an unsupported platform?
Follow the instructions that are posted everywhere, and install the correct fonts.
@Confuzius: I played it on Ubuntu, too, but I installed it on my External drive using Windows and ran it using Wine. It ran surprisingly well! I have not tried actually installing it in Linux, though... have you?
@rpm773: See my above post. Just copy your World of Warcraft directory to an External USB/eSATA drive. Then you can just run it in Linux whenever you want.
And it's portable!
Windows emulation is spotty at best, clearly it didn't emulate that dialog box properly. Boohoo. Is this news because the editor thinks it is circumventing the agreement? Regardless, it isn't news that WINE sucks, and no agreement was circumvented.
@J. Gov: DeadWriter did qualify that with, "if the installation is supported." But they probably would reply with a canned response telling you that the operating system is not supported, and if they were feeling helpful, pointing you to forums that help people set up World of Warcraft on Wine (they do want your monthly subscription after all).
Here ya go BoingBoing!
Also, Wine is buggy which is not Blizzard's fault, HTH.
@Oranges w/ Cheese: He did install it from Wine. Still, this seems like the kind of thing I would expect with Wine, so I think this is just showing off a bug. If the Windows installer did this naively, then we'd have something funny.
WINE is not an emulator. Actually, that's exactly what WINE stands for, since it's a recursive acronym like GNU.
WINE Is Not an Emulator. There's no emulation. Don't call it an emulator -- you make Tux cry.
EULAs are unenforcable anyway, so who cares?
Man, someone cast seed of corruption on you before you even got the game started... fastest pwnage ever.
The Hoard are many, many things. Being literate - or cunning calligraphers - is not one of them.
"We don't see how the Blizzard could enforce being that much less than dagger, but we'd like to see them try."
I laughed so hard at that it made me cry and then start coughing and now my chest hurts. Thanks, jerks.
You still have to accept the EULA and TOS when you load the game and try to login. I don't see why this made a post on consumerist.
@kbarrett: No way, 8800 is MORE than enough. I ran mine on a 6800GT, and now I run it on my 8600GTS. It runs perfectly.
Something's wrong. You do have the 3D accelerated drivers installed, correct?
@Oranges w/ Cheese: Wine is not the only Windows emulator out there. There is also Cedega, which is designed for gaming and another one that is designed for productivity apps like office, etc.
@Corporate_guy: Installing a game on Linux via WINE . . . would be considered the same as hacking the game to bypass the EULA.
It "would be considered" otherwise by me. Wine is well-respected, and using it is hardly hacking. (Wine is often a PITA, but that's another story.) And who gets to decree the "standard" way to run the software?
@evilghost: Yes, it's a "compatibility layer," but for the life of me I couldn't tell you what the difference is.
This makes the second post that this Alex guy posted that makes no sense to have on consumerist.
Since it's incumbent upon the company to make their documentation readable, does this mean if the reader can't read the "licensing agreement", they can't be held to it if they press "agree" and then disagree later?
@grimdeath9740: Because it's amusing. I recommend [thedailywtf.com] for weekly What The Bug features. And if you don't find it amusing, well, I guess just set me on fire.
@DataRaider: Actually, Cedega is basically just WiNE X, plus a bunch of APIs to run specific popular games.
And I will also, dickishly, point out that WiNE stands for "wine is not an emulator"
Check out their system requirements page:
[www.worldofwarcraft.com]
Supported operating systems are:
Windows XP (w/latest SP)
Windows Vista (w/latest SP)
Mac OS X 10.4.11+
Funny, I don't see Ubuntu (or any Linux distro) listed there.
@Microshock: Can we please get an option to disable viewing this 'disemvowelment' stuff, mod-types? It's nothing but a stupid distraction.
If you think a comment is in violation of whatever policies are in effect today, just delete the thing instead of having people devote more attention to it.
Since when can you install WoW on Linux without WINE?