Renowned game developer Blizzard has filed suit against a man named Michael Donnelly, the creator of a software program that allows users to automate play of the company's popular title, World of WarCraft. Blizzard is arguing that Donnelly's tool, entitled "MMO Glider," infringes on the End User License Agreement (EULA) of WoW. Donnelly contends that because the game client is not copied, it does not infringe on Blizzard's copyright. Blizzard has countered by saying that the tool actually copies the game into RAM in order to circumvent WoW's anti-cheat protection.

"Blizzard's designs expectations are frustrated, and resources are allocated unevenly, when bots are introduced into the WoW universe, because bots spend far more time in-game than an ordinary player would and consume resources the entire time," Blizzard's statement reads.

"Blizzard permits its licensees to load the WoW game client software into RAM to play WoW. As such, Blizzard's licensees cannot violate Blizzard's exclusive rights under the Copyright Act to make copies simply by loading a copy of the program into RAM to play WoW," Donnelly's statement contests.

Donnelly reportedly decided to fight in the courts after what he describes as "audacious threats" from Blizzard. He says he was made aware of the potential legal repercussions of his Glider application after a private investigator and lawyer from Blizzard's parent company Vivendi Universal showed up at his home. "When they arrived, they presented Donnelly with a copy of a complaint that they indicated would be filed the next day in the US District Court for the Central District of California if Donnelly did not immediately agree to stop selling Glider and return all profits that he made from Glider sales," he wrote in his statement.

The basic version of the MMO Glider application runs $25, and Donnelly has sold more than 100,000 keys thus far. An "Elite" subscription service is also available, which further expands on the functionality of the application by background gliding, scripts, automatic login, and, in the future, even remote monitoring.

"Botting," as it's known in the world of MMORPGs, is not a new thing. Players use a software program to automatically play the game while they do something else with their time. Many of these programs are best used for the more mundane aspects of these games, such as crafting items or gathering materials from the world. Donnelly's Glider follows a long line of botting programs that go back as far as the genre itself.

However, Donnelly's bot is particularly powerful. While many popular bots, such as the infamous Fishing bot from Final Fantasy XI or the crafting macro-botting of Star Wars Galaxies, are limited to a single task, Glider can automate the majority of the game. "Glider works a lot like a regular player. It looks at your health, mana, energy, etc. It moves the mouse around and pushes keys on the keyboard," the software's web site explains. "You tell it about your character, where you want to kill things, and what to kill. Then it kills for you, automatically. You can do something else, like eat dinner or go to a movie, and when you return, you'll have a lot more experience and loot."

The case is still in its early stages, but it's likely to take some pretty deft maneuvering on the part of Donnelly in order to tip-toe around the EULA. Historically, these cases have not ended in the favor of the bot-makers.