Well, here's my two cents...
I went on some unofficial WoW fan sites and people are uniformly upset about the leak, for varying reasons. The major reason seems to be for the leak itself, which would at the very least involve violating an NDA and at worst involve felony break-in to Blizzard's servers (unlikely though it may be). I can't say I blame them on that score (what can I say, I have a lot of friends in law enforcement). Most of the others are concerned that it might push the beta back or hurt Blizzard financially. It's possible, but since there is zero content with the leak (as there would be since it all has to reside on the server), I think that's unlikely in the extreme.
This concerns me in other ways:
I'm sure we're all aware that third-party servers are indeed 100% legal. If no one believes me, go look up Title 15, section 14 of U.S. Federal code (Title 15 covers antitrust law). There's a law that's been there since 1914 that says it's flat-out illegal to sell (it's termed "sale, etc." to make it even broader than that) anything with any stipulation that the buyer can't use competitors' products. Simply put, third-party servers are competing products and no vendor can legally bar you from using them. I'm not a lawyer, but the language in the law is plain enough to me to say that any such language is simply void. That doens't mean we can stand up to a lawsuit brought anyway (though we might win). No money, no defense. I dread a legal crusade by Blizzard on the leakers, because it might become a crusade against third-party servers in general.
What worries me is the blatancy of the leak and the "sandbox" effort stemming from it. Building a server based on illegally-obtained information is almost certainly not legal, but I'm concerned that we might be lumped in with them. There's a lot of talk on WoW message boards that EQ emulators exist as well. The talk is mostly non-judgmental, only judging EQEmu in terms of how fun (or not fun) it is to play on the servers, but that doesn't mean it will stay that way. I wonder if this might be a good time to consider if there's a way to make sure people understand that we're not like or associated with the people that leaked WoW.
On another note, regarding the servers: on the WoW boards there's a lot of talk about third-party servers in general, and the talk I've been hearing vis-a-vis EQEmu is that it doesn't compare to live. I think, though, that the ones saying that are missing the point: from what I read here, the most widely anticipated and lauded servers are the ones the intentionally *deviate* from live servers. Custom quests, reconnected zones, different rules, and other custom content are only some of the ways where EQEmu gives players a new, fresh experience, but somehow the message isn't getting out. I don't know if that's good or bad -- the universal opinion I saw was that we were decidedly no threat to SOE (which is true) and perhaps that perception is at least a good thing. However, I think customization is definitely the single best feature EQEmu (and third-party servers in general) offer. Perhaps it's not easy enough for the casual user yet, but I do think it should be our first mission.
Okay, that was a lot more than two cents -- it's just the mishmash of thoughts I've formed so far on this issue.
Wind
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so anyone who has a copy or benifits from a copy of the "leak" is just as guilty as the person who leaked it.
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