Zynga Threatens Mafia Wars Auto Play Script Over Copyright Violations...
from the but-what-copyright? dept
I have to admit to massive disappointment with Zynga. The company who was founded by and invested in by folks who I tend to think are rather "clueful" has been involved in all sorts of questionable activity, from virtual goods scams to ridiculous trademark lawsuits against competitors. The latest, sent in by reader Eric, is a case where it looks like Zynga is really stretching copyright law as well. Specifically, Zynga has sent a cease & desist to the folks who make an autoplayer script called Mafia Wars Auto Player. MWAP appears to do what you would expect: which is allow a player who has installed it in his or her Firefox browser (it's a Greasemonkey userscript) to "autoplay" the game Mafia Wars based on parameters set in the tool. Seems pretty straightforward.Now, Mafia Wars bans the use of such scripts in its terms of service, and has apparently been known to ban users caught using such scripts. I don't quite understand why this is a big deal (admittedly, I don't play the game, but I don't see how this is different than if a player sat there and played repetitively themselves), but if Zynga wants to ban players, so be it. But what isn't clear at all is how the makers of this userscript are violating Zynga's copyright. You can look at the full source code of the user script here, and I'm at a loss to see where the copyright violation occurs. I can understand that Zynga doesn't like that this userscript exists, but I'm not clear how "we don't like it" means "it infringes our copyright." Instead, it has the feeling of a (now) big company using the threat of copyright law to try to push a small community to shut down. And, it appears to have worked, as the MWAP people have decided to comply with the C&D rather than fight it.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: copyright, mafia wars, threats
Companies: zynga
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: bots playing simple games
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Contra?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
It's different then someone just sitting there playing. It's different then sitting there playing yourself, because you can have it on permanently and for very little effort. It devalues the time/effort other people put into the game. That matters in a social game, and it ruins the fun of 'legit' players. It can also wreck havoc on the in-game economy (if there is one, I don't play).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
It's a social game, and the social element is a big part. I've met some really cool people playing some of these games and the robots ruin the fun.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
It isn't a social game in any real sense, you click a button over and over. No discussion, no personal interaction. The only social interaction comes from your own mafia and that is outside the game.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
what about the option to spend money and buy godfather points to make the game faster.... is that fair for people that dont have money to spend? theres people that blow thousands of dollars on this game because they have the money to do so...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
so if the script randomly clicked ads as well, it would be ok?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Never seen any though, mied be because of adblock in FF who knows, so that is a lousy excuse for banning an autoplayer.
I logged in to facebook the other day from IE, the shit is full og ads, made me even more glad for adblock :D
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
If you come to my house and cheat at cards, can I sue you for copyright infringement? Can the inventor of the cards? Of the game? No.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Another good reason to quit
Most important, though, is the one alluded to in comment #1 above: it's just not that much fun. It's a lot of repetitive clicks in order to gain a few experience points so you can gain a level. Gaining a level occasionally gives you different things to repetitively click on. Whee! It's something a very mindless bot can do quite well, which saves the well worn part of my right index finger. And if a bot can do it, why bother at all?
Unless endlessly spamming your real friends with endless Mafia Wars news is your idea of great social interaction.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Another good reason to quit
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Another good reason to quit
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Scripting that would bypass the annoyance and remove the reasons for buying points / money / credits would kill their business model.
Their games are great examples of social pressure marketing.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Why would you defend scammers? TOS? Pffffft!!! TOS of a scammer??!?!??! How can that be a valid TOS? pffffttt!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Depends on what the bot does
That being said, while banning users for these kind of bots is acceptable, generally encouraged by players, and usually made VERY clear by the companies that it's standard practice, suing the maker of a bot is completely groundless. All the program is doing is submitting command packets (or forms in the case of a browser game), and the program is completely useless sans the game.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Wow
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The reason it is a big deal is that, in some games, like WoW or Eve Online, these scripts are used to gain virtual resources in the game world which can be sold for real money in the real world. At best, it leads to cheating. At worst, it leads to money laundering by organized crime and sweat shop operations in the third world.
These game hacks are a bad thing that leads to other bad things and that's why they piss off game developers.
You haven't linked to anything showing the copyright claim, so I'm not sure if the claim is legitimate or if it's just strong-arming. It ended with the script development being shut down and that is a good result. Most gamers hate these damned things - many of the ones who don't are using them to cheat.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
scratch the word "don't" from that.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Rooker
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Rooker
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Rooker
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Rooker
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
its like someone robbing a bank with a gun and then shutting down gunshops because of it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Zynga can bite my butt! LOL lates!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Honestly, if you can't see how tools like this ruin the game, then you are incredibly ignorant or don't understand the basis of game design. It is cheating, it's against their Terms of Service and it unbalances the game. It doesn't speed up the game much, as there are various limits in place to exactly how far a dedicated player can go in certain time frames, but it does speed the game up. Farmville has a tool as well, which allows you to grow, plow and pick all of your plants with one mouse click and away your little farmer goes. There isn't much chance that this can be malicious as farmers can't go to war with each other (yet) but it does make for a depressed look at why you are playing the game in the first place. If you have to cheat, then why even play? It's like playing Solitaire and hitting hint every move, yea you'll win, but was it engaging? No! Did you really enjoy it? Probably not! Was it more of a chore than a game? Probably so! Honestly, if you find that you have to play this game and cheat just because you are either too lazy to play it regularly or because of real life, you need to get you priorities straightened out.
Just because it's a Facebook game, and that you have 29 invites to be someones neighbor, gangster, family member, doesn't mean you are forced at gun point to do it (though if you are, blink twice and we will send in the feds).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
OMG you people get bullied way too much in the game, who gives a frogs fat ass? Quit the game them LOL
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I'm disgusted with Zynga. They steal other developers games and then threaten people like the Mobsters devs or MWAP dev while banking money on another persons idea.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Mob Wars sued Mafia Wars, they lost.
This is the first time Mafia Wars is threatening anybody.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
The blizzard situation was totally different, the ToS says you're not allowed to profit off of the game in anyway look at the addon carbonite for example, used to have to pay for it blizzard cried and now it's free
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
And yes, of course bots ruin certain games. But no, that doesn't give the game operators license to rewrite copyright laws. Their business models simply reached their limits.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
MWAP made MW more fun
Instead of having to mindlessly click on one link 100 times a day or hour or whatever, the script allowed me to focus on the interesting parts of the game. The mindless clicking can be done by the bot. The bot also got rid of the spam that Zynga liked to send to everyone. I got to concentrate on parts of the game that was fun - collecting virtual items and trading with others to get them. In fact, MWAP actually made the game more social for me.
Instead of just clicking links, I actually interacted with others to do things.
In any case, this is not the end of MWAP. The source code is out there and others will pick it up and take it forward. The current/last version of MWAP still works without any errors. Once it stops working, I know someone will release another version.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: MWAP made MW more fun
Instead of having to mindlessly click on one link 100 times a day or hour or whatever, the script allowed me to focus on the interesting parts of the game.
What mwap user is saying is true. And i want to add that a lot of people get RSI from all that clicking. I did before using mwap player.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: MWAP made MW more fun
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
KC Me
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: KC Me
I stopped going to both sites until I figured out that I can block all the damned spamming from mainly Zynga and it's less powerful and popular competitors.
Once again free from application "join my mafia" and "sally, just leveled up" crap on my feed. I can now actually interact with my friends and meet new people, rather than being requested as a friend by total strangers that mainly have no interest in me other than being a "neighbor" or "mafia family member" or other generic minion that is simply on the friends list to boost one stat or another.
It is no way Copyright Infringement, they just have millions of dollars to throw at lawyers and that little community of lazy Mafia Wars Players do not. The bully wins.
For now...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: KC Me
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
So, in essence, Zynga only made things worse, not better for them by shutting down this one script.
Only time will tell how bad things will get for Zynga.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Zynga
My son has no use of his arm's do to an accident a few years back, He's on facebook book and through the use of scripts and adaptive software he's able to do thing's like all other children. Saying that using a Bot, a Script or whatever to make life easier is cheating is morally **WRONG**.
6
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Use of "Scripts and Bots"
My son has no use of his arm's do to an accident a few years back, He's on facebook book and through the use of scripts and adaptive software he's able to do thing's like all other children. Saying that using a Bot, a Script or whatever to make life easier is cheating is morally **WRONG**.
6
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
At first Mafia Wars was fun, until I grew up a bit and was killed all the time by people with more 'friends' than I had, because I only played with my real friends ... But that is what Zynga is all about : forcing you to add more and more friends, forcing you to click more and more and in the end forcing you to spend lots of $$$ to stand up to the ones bullying you.
But then came MWAP a simple, well-coded and genious script, that did all those stupid things Zynga forced you to do ... without having to spend lots of $$$.
May MWAP live long and prosper ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
used to play...
Secondly, you missed a point here. They are banning ALL scripts. Yes I used MWAP in the past and when it was banned and taken down I figured I'd just play without all the bells and whistles, and I am not talking about the bot playing for you. I mean more like the handy hospital button where I click once on the medic symbol and am healed. Or where it tells me exactly how much XP I need to the next level. Or which property it recommends I buy next. These are just handy tooltips for me where I don't need to get my brain all worked up with math. Okay that sounds bad, but hey it saved me time to look at all those pretty Zynga ads than my calculator. ;-) Oh well.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: used to play...
I think the lame part of things is people that just set it to fight 24/7 or juice energy in order to level.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
One of the affected...
The script will most likely be carried out in some sort of REBIRTH. ;)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: One of the affected...
Thank you so much and hope I can do something to get this great script back.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: One of the affected...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
i can think of many projects, such as bnetd, that the EFF took up representing in court. in the end bnetd devs didnt spend a dime, on legal fees or the judgement against them in the court case they eventually lost.
im not sure what they were citing in the cease and desist order. im not sure how its copyright infringement, reverse engineering or anything that could be covered by the dmca. that along with the negative reputation that zynga has im sure the EFF would have left zynga with their foot in their mouth.
the last script i have is of course still running fine. there were a few features i wanted such as boss fights that i can live without. however, the principle of this whole matter infuriates me. please contact the EFF, it wont cost you anything. its not a matter of saving a bot or as some on here call it, "a cheating script". its a matter of making sure people like zynga cant misuse laws and fear to bully people.
thanks for the work you did. i wish you much success in life. please keep up the fight.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Realistically, who wants to spend hundreds of stamina points one at a time on fights? It's dull, dull, dull. MWAP lets you concentrate on the strategic elements of the game and ignore the monotony.
This will be it for me - no more MW. It's not that important to me, and really - it's not actually that good a game.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Copyright
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
MWAP
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
MWAP
From the company side of things, sure i understand. Bots/scripts downplay the need for human attendance, causing you to miss out on Ads,and additionally doing away with the need to purchase extras in order to keep pace with others in a "game" that has no beginning, no end, no reward worth anything. Zango spent over $39 mil developing many games like this that have no directive, or objective for the player, except to produce clicks (traffic), and purchases for thing that have no reward except "1st Grade Gold Stars".
I personally now play a game - mobsterboss.com - not saying you should, but at least in games like MB, you are shooting for a real goal with a defined end and reward. I have actually won money there with no purchase on my part. Again, I am not saying that you should play it, but at least a game like that seems more geared to a real strategy and competition. But I have noticed that they (MB) will not allow bots/scripts in their game. But then again, it is a real competition, and they seem to realize the need to cut that out because of the competitive nature of their game. Like I said, I am not trying to encourage anyone to play MB, but since I have played both, I am just comparing the two with regard to the bot thing.
So, I agree with the company in the case of MW not allowing scripts and bots in their thing, because the overall goal of MW is to create traffic, Ad Views, and encourage you to purchase things to get your "Gold Stars". So, it's their game, let them run it as they see fit.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: MWAP
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
MWAP
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Copyright infringement?
Zynga MAY have to right to stop players from using MWAP, and they MAY have the right to ban players caught using MWAP, I give them that much.
But to carry the issue all the way to the people who create scripts and declaring those scripts "copyright infringements" is going way too far beyond the boundaries of the law.
Copyright infringement (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works covered by copyright law, in a way that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_infringement)
The creation of a script, in my opinion, is not a reproduction of the copyrighted work. The authors of the script DID NOT create a Mafia Wars clone. They merely created software that automated the job of a human player. Call the player who uses MWAP a cheater if you will, but that's his choice. Besides, MWAP isn't something that you just simply slap on and it'll play the game perfectly in the best possible way. The human player still has to correctly configure it, otherwise, it's gonna end up doing worse than the human.
Yes, it is indicated in Zynga's TOS that the use of scripts are not allowed. So what they should have done was just ban the players using MWAP, IF they can prove that they were really using the script.
The problem with Zynga is, they were so hell bent on creating the game and putting it online in the soonest possible time that they didn't debug it properly. They didn't even make gameplay fair and balanced between the 3 types of characters that players have to choose from, one of them being severely handicapped after around 20 levels in the game.
They were probably afraid that someone else would release a similar game and that would have meant a loss of profit for them.
So now that they're raking in the clams, they don't care if the game has more bugs than a rain forest. In fact, they haven't even addressed or fixed most of those bugs.
And now they go after people who exploit those holes that they won't or can't plug with a criminal lawsuit?! Thank God Bill Gates didn't think like that, otherwise, there would be no Linux, Mozilla, Adobe, or any other software company. And worse, we'd probably still be stuck with Windows 3.0...
Zynga, you're barking up the wrong tree. Clean your house first, because that's where the bugs are at...
Besides, stopping the people who wrote MWAP won't stop players from using the scripts already installed. Until Zynga plugs all them holes and writes a major revision of the code, those scripts will still be functional.
Or at least mine still is...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cheating...
OK, I think I've got the rules now... Same as gov't, but without the actual threat of deadly force. Thanks ;)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Stupid
I cheat like a banshee on MW and I've used the script for several months now. I don't get what the big deal is, I played for months without cheating, even spent money on points to get ahead at one point. What Zynga doesn't realize is that for people like me: 30 something, with kids, a wife, a real job and a social life. Is that without the script, I wouldn't play anymore because it is too mindless for me to do anymore. Nobody wins anything of actual tangible value so who the F cares if we cheat? It's not like taking roids to hit homeruns, those guys were playing for millions, this game is supposed to be fun.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
..
There are the tools that determine EXP/Energy, gifting, property purchases et. Those are permitted.
The issue lies with bots that run 24/7 hit listing people, auto fighting etc.
Many people and some clans are using them to the extent to make the game unplayable for others (targeting) and they are trying their best to stop these practices. Not only because of this issue, but because of the server draw. A relatively free game on a social server assumes bandwith and server needs by the number of people playing multiplied by a certain number of hours a day.
Is Copyright the way to go? No. But a better choice may be to cite those using the script with a DOS attack charge. That is what a bot does IMHO, it sucks up bandwith via automation and limits the access for people who actively play the game.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: ..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
MWAP
I will miss the game.. but I cant afford to keep buying the GF Points.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
MWAP
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Rebirth is well and truly working
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Autoplayers are the only way to go...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
MWAP Rebirth
http://www.mafiawarsplayer.info
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Zynga
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Copyright & Such
However, what I feel compelled to say is that I was adamantly against using MWAP for profit. There was no gifting component built into MWAP so you couldn't use it to trade. We were concerned about end users too, so even though an auto hitman would have been a really neat feature, we didn't include that either.
But ultimately we felt like we were making a good game better. I wrote an article on the front page of mafiawarsplayer way back when... That article was a response to zynga about why MWAP was good for MW. I still believe the statements I made back then. Not everyone enjoys every element of the game. MWAP would allow folks to enjoy the elements they liked most. In addition, for the stat lovers, we had elements that MW didn't have.
Anyway, it was fun... But it didn't end because of copyright issues...
StevenD
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I like this
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
access code on mafia wars
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
It's all about advertisement
It's all about them thinking that they're losing revenue due to the scripts.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Mafia Wars
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
MWAP
It's not like it changes any stats or makes it any easier to win anything. Even the most ardent players must admit there is a lot of mindless clicking in the game that is much better handled by a bot. -- It doesn't stop you from clicking manually if you want to.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Mafia Bot
From a devoted player and MW payer!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I use it
It´s depends on how you use this bots, harass another players attacking or something like that is a bad behavior that I avoid, but I don´t see the point where level up fast will make my enemies/friends sad...
Besides, it´s about personal if you want a "legit" level and enjoy the road to be there or want to power level and enjoy stay there.
No flames, just opinions
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"Social Games"
First of all, there are purposely MANY more clicks than are even remotely necessary in these Zynga games-it's tiring, can be physically injurious (carpal tunnel), and is a backward step in computer programming entirely.
I did NOT originally sign onto these games to add 500 strangers to my FRIENDS list. I started playing for the graphics, the game, and to enjoy it with my REAL friends and family.
You want Social THAT badly? Join a website of forum.
You want to worry about what OTHERS do, how they play games, or conduct their business? Join the local 'Nosy Old Ladies Society' at your hometown church...or just STOP minding other peoples' business.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Zynga
Thank you
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Zynga
me? Head of playerscripts.com - the people who code MWAP. Still do, will always do.
We even had a mock war a couple of weeks ago, would you belive Zynga supported it on their official mafia wars blog and had a debate about it on their forum. So long as we did not mention that you had to use one of scripts to play. lmfaooo
But we did rais over $1000 for a good cause too.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
MWAP then, FGS NOW
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-727662
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
MWAP then, FGS NOW
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-727662
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Scripts = Cheating?
I tend to agree with the sentiment that there's something wrong with a game, not if a game can be played by a script/bot, but if there is enough demand for so many people to use them instead of playing manually. To tell the truth, if it weren't for the script, and the game was still as tedious to play manually, I would not have played it for so long, personally. Trying to keep up with my clanmates can take the better part of my day, now, thanks to the disappearance of the autoplayer.
I will admit that I did once sell some loot to a needy friend who had more money than free time, since I was racking up a lot of useful extras at one point. But that time is long past, and I used the money to buy medicine, not run a sweatshop or anything nefarious.
If scripting is cheating, perhaps paying Zynga for skill points and fight loot is also cheating?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Still here, never went away..
We did not go away, still here, still going strong... and nice stiff middle finger to Zynga.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Freicoin Mafia - Play the game
Freicoin Mafia is a new RPG game, where you have to fight, to become the most powerful of the mobs. You can make illegal actions like crimes, car theft, blackmailing or you can play gamble games like blackjack, roulette and many more. Follow us on FB for coin giveaway code & Redeem cupon.
Play Game here:> http://bit.ly/1wGaF2a
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
tread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]