#1 - April 25, 2011, 3:19 a.m.
I was in the middle of developing an app for the Android platform when I saw that many of the WoW related apps, including WoWTalents (both paid AND free) and the donation version of Droid Armory, on the Android Market were removed. As a developer for the Android, this concerns me. Where is the legal line on things we can/can't do with these new and upcoming APIs? I understand that both of the aforementioned apps had paid/donate versions. While I can't speak for WoWTalents, as I never did get a chance to use it, I know that the Droid Armory did not contain any new features in the donation version. The only thing the donation did was remove the ads as a thank you for donating. I was planning on following a similar model, but again, now I'm concerned because Blizzard seems to take issue with apps like this. I can understand that WoW is a Blizzard property and they have the right to say "No, you can't make money off our property" (however, many websites do make money off WoW, so even this confuses me a bit...guild websites come to mind. Maybe they pay royalties?), but people still spend a ton of time developing apps/websites and they should have the right to get something out of their work, no?
The TLDR:
1. What can we/can we not do while developing websites/apps in regards to Blizzard IP?
2. Can we charge for our work (ie: paid apps)? Can we provide a free version, but with ads?
Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.
