Talk:Equipment template format

Has anyone succeeded in decoding the Equipment Templates? As i see here http://gwshack.us/forums_small/viewtopic.php?t=366 some attempts have been made but not too great yet. --Phoenix 06:33, 8 November 2006 (CST)

Legal issues

I just wanted to point you all towards this thread on the GWGuru forums. The guy mailed GW support about creating a tool to edit template files and was told that it is considered a violation of the TOS and EULA to create, edit, modify, or display the template files used by GW by anything other than the GW client, and a bannable offense. -- 08:13, 24 November 2006 (CST)

Where do you see anything besides a random person spouting crap? --Fyren 09:51, 24 November 2006 (CST)

If doing this is illegal then surely so is gwShack with its skill template creator. I've not seen anyone complaing about that one yet. Also http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Skill_Template_format should go if Equipments one goes.

Has anyone read the EULA that says we can't do this? I've looked and can't see anything regarding templates or files that are created by GW. (Such as Skill Templates, Equipment Templates or even screen shots.

WNxTilly 09:51, 24 November 2006 (CST)

Don't get me wrong, I'm not NCsoft's advocate here. I'm merely pointing out that somebody (Theosebes) asked NCsoft and was clearly told that it is not permitted. Quote from the thread:

"I wrote support because sections 3 and 7 of the EULA can be interpreted either way. Support let me know in no uncertain terms that the template files are part of the GW client, and cannot be edited (manually or otherwise), displayed by an outside program, or created by anything except the GW client."

Section 3 of the User Agreement says:

"3. LICENSE TO USE [...] You may not [...] (b) modify, adapt, reverse engineer or decompile the Software, or otherwise attempt to derive source code from the Software ..."

The key point is: According to NCsoft's understanding, templates are part of the "Software", and decyphering them can be seen as "reverse engineer / decompile". Creating 3rd party tools (web-based or downloadable EXE) may also violate clause 7.

If there is any doubt about it, we should at least ask ANet for confirmation. That gwshack is doing it too means nothing. They are not even an official fansite, and I doubt that they asked for permission, or that it even occured to them that what they do may be against the ToU/EULA. -- 10:27, 24 November 2006 (CST)

Ok, I guess we will have to see. I suggest then that if the page gets removed then you would also have to remove the skill template page as well as that is basically the same thread as the one I wrote but equipment instead of skills. All I can say is if these things were so condifential then why are they so easy to access? Why make them text files instead of anything with a different extension? Seems very odd to me. If people are allowed to share these files then they should at least have some better deciding than what they chose. WNxTilly 10:32, 24 November 2006 (CST)

Yes, correct, whatever we decide here is also valid for Skill Template format.

As for the justification, don't ask me, I'm not a lawyer. I think it was stupid and unnecessary to encrypt the code in the first place. ANet could have used a simple plain text format, similar to a windows INI or SYS file, and allow people to edit them freely. I guess the main reason why NCsoft are so cautious about it is because they do not want to allow ANY kind of 3rd party tools interacting directly with the game because such 3rd party tools always bear the risk of trojans/keyloggers. They may tolerate manual editing, or even web-based tools, but not downloadables / executables. And since they cannot use different standards they had to declare it illegal for all. -- 10:46, 24 November 2006 (CST)

And that just sucks :( I think if we can get as many of the top fan sites & fan programs people to compain to Anet such as gwonline, gwguru, here, gwfreaks, gwshacks, theEdge etc, then we might be able to get somewhere as I feel no actual harm can come from a file created by these codes. I mean, you have to dl gwfreaks & theEdge and they could contain keyloggers. Anet always warm people about keyloggers and they should just keep doing that but just allow us to do this one thing! I mean, can't we edit the screenshots made by the GW client? As they are created by it so I guess we are all done there as well! WNxTilly 10:55, 24 November 2006 (CST)

FYI: I sent an email to ANet and asked for clarification. I'll let you know if I get a reply. -- 11:15, 24 November 2006 (CST)

Thanks, Was it just a basic is this illegal or not? Or did you say that many many people are wanting this to be made legal.....etc? WNxTilly 11:23, 24 November 2006 (CST)