Is it illegal...
 

I'm sure this is answered somewhere, but my searches were bringing up like 50 posts.

Is it against the EULA of Everquest to run and distribute an emulator program such as EQEmu?

Im just curious...not like I want this site closed or anything, just wondering what you smart people think about this.

Yes and no.. It is against the EULA to USE an emulator, but you can distribute anything you want. <see below>

Is it Illegal?

NO.

The only thing that can happen is verant can ban/suspsend your EQLive account. But the only way this is going to happen is if you make a post that has a char name, servername, account name, ect along with a confession that you use EQEmu.. OR you brag/talk about EQemu while playing EQLive (because guides/GM's can read your chat).

Great!

Let the army of EQEmu rise up against the greedy VI people and come up with a better and more fun Everquest!

Not to start a flame war, but open source software doesnt pay salaries... I dont see Verant as being overly greedy, they didnt have a cost hike on EQ for over 3 years despite all the new content and servers they added, and when they did, the price is still below alot of the other MMORPG's.

There are alot of people that feed their families with the work they do on EQ, so even if you don't like the company, at least respect what it represents. Hundreds of thousands of people spend MUCHO hours weekly playing that game, and net result, they pay around 10 bucks a month, less than the cost of a movie with popcorn and drink.

I wouldnt want to see Verant go under, I wouldnt want people to leave the live servers to play the emulated ones. Be glad that they are in business and successful, if they werent, there wouldnt be a DaoC, Star Wars Galaxies, Shadowbane, Earth and Beyond, etc.

Yea, I believe Varent really started the online RPG games. If you do compare there price with a couple other online RPG's, you will be glad you stuck to EQ. I think that online racing games costs $20 a month to play, just to race and build a car!!! I would NEVER pay that much for a damn racing game, even though I love racing games. Not sure how much the others costs, but I know its more than $13 a month, the quality Varent is putting into this, is very very good. I don't see why people hate them so much, "damn they nerfed an item, this game sucks now" I honostly hate people like that, like the druid epic, who cares? Play the damn game! Emulators are fun, but they will never be up top like EverQuest or any other online RPG.

Not going to start a flame war now.

I am thinking of VI as greedy in the sense they want everyone to play on their game. Not talking about money, 10 bucks is very cheap and worth the product. But this project you guys have created is amazing, and I think it is only right that you would want to make this "different/better/whatever-you-want-to-call-it" than what the Live servers offer.

I didnt mean to make it sound like I wanted VI to go under...they created a genre that is taking over the world, literally!

Heck, they HAVE influenced all the new MMORPG's out there. Im sure by what they have done they will make many games better because they pioneered this field.

...lets not forgot to mention World of Warcraft............*smiles thinking about WoW*

Well, its' the goal of every company producing a brand of software to get someone to use their software. Apparently VI isn't having to try too hard to get "everyone to play on their game" I mean, look at how many registered users' EverQuest has. Verant and sony don't even have to advertise. They let their fan base, and their software do the talking. -shrugs-

Straight from the attorney
 

Straight from the attorney, although on a different subject..

If you are bound by any contract, regardless of how lame it may be; as long as it's a legally binding document, (Like, the paypal's required Arbitration clause is not binding) you could be sued for breach of contract.

But, then they'd have to define their damaged incurred by you via means of a breach of contract. There goes the $12ish a month payment! =(

Theoretically, it is illegal to run an emulator and or develop it while bound by the EULA. But, what damages were incurred?

Really interesting stuff if ya do some reasearch.