Glider Bot earned creator $2.8m, Blizzard claims

According to this, World of Warcraft creator Blizzard is claiming that Glider Bot author Michael Donnelly has earned a total of $2.8m from sales of his software.

The bot levels up your avatar without you having to play the game. Blizzard isn't happy.

"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," said Blizzard in a legal statement filed last week.

Donnelly however, doesn't see it that way.

"We are fans of the game that want to try out a lot of different things," he said.

"Getting a bunch of characters to 70 is a pain. Getting money to equip them is a pain. Doing big instances, battlegrounds, raids, and generally socializing in the game is fun. We use the Glider to skip the painful parts and have more fun. Someone suggested we sell it, so..."

And sell it he did. The bot program sells for $25 with an extra $5 for "additional functionality".

The case is ongoing.

By Mike Bowden