Blizzard's Copyright infringement case got a pretty hefty counterargument the other week against the creators of Glider, a program that automates characters in WoW for the purposes of leveling and farming without player interaction. "Botting" has always, if not a legal matter, been a moral matter among players. By having competing players increase the value of thier own characters (as values in time invested) without investing the proper labour, it in a sense, lessens the value of their own accomplishments. As such, companies who fight against these programs are not only doing it in the effort to keep the intended gameplay relevant to all, but also for a fair and equitable playing field to those that are using the intended gameplay.
The argument boils down to the fact that glider can't be infringing on copyright rules, as it affects the legal copy of the game that is stored in the RAM of a user's computer. It's an interesting argument, one that I wonder is either going to open doors to more RAM copy tampering, or just a change in legal wording of EULA's...
If Blizzard fails to win the argument on this point, look for it to impose digital ownership of virtual goods as it's new standpoint. Botting is an illegal way of garnering digital property that is owned by blizzard, and as such, will be repossessed, for example. Much the way they do gold-farming. Gold selling has always been a rights issue. If you exert the time and labour to earn the items/money, shouldn't it be yours? I've been see-sawing on that issue. But when you Bot, you no longer invest the time...technically, the gold could be the software creators, as they hold intellectual property over the program. ...
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