Last week it was reported that Blizzard had gone after a rogue World of Warcraft server that allowed players to play the vanilla (read original) version of World of Warcraft. Given that this server basically allowed players to play the game for free without paying a subscription, it is understandable that Blizzard wasn’t too thrilled by this.While the shutdown might seem like a pretty straightforward process, gamers have since launched a petition to keep the servers alive and the good news is that they might be getting help from a former World of Warcraft developer. The game’s former developer Mark Kern has recently expressed his support for the movement.
According to Kern, “If we can get 200k sigs on this petition, I will personally send it to Mike Morhaime. But if we’re going to convince Blizzard, we need more than 100k. 100k is well, not enough to move them. My guess is that if Nostalrius can do 850k signups, then there are probably a couple million who would do legacy.”
He goes on to add, “It doesn’t matter if Blizzard cares, it matter if we care enough to push them to do it. So please send a message to Blizzard to listen to their fans. Sign the petition so I can bring it to Blizzard.” Of course there’s no guarantee that Blizzard will listen even if 200,000 people signed the petition, but maybe Blizzard and the group could at least open up discussions for a potential compromise. In the meantime gamers interested in keeping the servers alive can sign the petition here.
Filed in . Read more about Blizzard and World of Warcraft.