World of Warcraft may not be experiencing the titanic growth of its early days, but over the last 5 years, on average the number of players has continued to grow. Despite this growth, many players have flocked to private servers as a way of changing the fundamental World of Warcraft experience. Wow and private wow servers If you've considered using a private server, you might be curious about the legality and longevity of such servers. What are the chances that Blizzard will seek out your favorite server and shut it down? If they do, will you be liable? Disclaimer: This article does not constitute legal advice. Join private WoW servers at your own risk. MUO does not accept responsibility for your actions. What Are Private Servers? Technically, the term private server describes any server that is privately owned. That's it. However, in World of Warcraft, private servers are those that emulate the gameplay experience of online games. Server emulator is another term that's used interchangeably to refer to the same thing. Why would anyone play on a private server? Official servers would offer the most enjoyable and rewarding experience, given that they are managed by professionals and have the highest populations. Theoretically, yes, but it isn't always that simple. Private servers are free. They are usually free. Down below we'll see an example of a private server that employed a microtransaction model that backfired on the owners. But if we ignore those exceptions, the most appealing aspect of private servers is the ability to play subscription games for free and we all know how popular free-to-play MMORPGs are. Private servers are different. Most private servers implement unique gameplay rules that deviate from official servers. Private servers might have experience rates that are 100x faster or new characters that start at the maximum level. Other differences include custom items, special mobs or unique in-game events. Private servers are convenient. Private servers allow you to play games that you might not be able. For example, if a developer does not offer a particular game in your region, private servers could fill that void. Similarly, if a game dev discontinues a game and takes all official versions down, private servers allow fans to keep playing. We're not saying that these reasons are appropriate and we're not saying that these reasons justify the act of playing on a private server. These are simply explanations for why private servers are so popular. Private Servers Are Incredibly Popular The history of private servers is almost as old as the history of World of Warcraft itself. Skull, an anonymous user in the early days of World Of Warcraft, was able to obtain an alpha version for the WOW client. This was before Blizzard officially launched this game. Thanks to their sharing-iscaring attitude, the game ended in the hands almost anyone who wanted. With some reverse engineering by an MMO bot programmer called Lax, they cracked the game wide open. Many people began working on different versions of the game. Once they produced cracked server software, the private server scene took off. There's a lot more detail to the history of World of Warcraft private servers, but this brief snippet should give you an idea of how they came to be. Suffice to say, these private servers enjoyed an incredible amount of success. To this day, there are 100s of different private servers available online, each with its own special rules and changes to alter the base version of the game. We have listed some of the more popular servers and their modifications below to give you an idea of the breadth and variety of these servers: - Project Ascension: Project Ascension is an illegal World of Warcraft private server that removes classes from the game, allowing players to choose any spells and abilities that they want. This server's USP is its ability to create any character you like, rather that relying solely on archetypes. - WoW Circle: Claiming to be the biggest World of Warcraft private server host with over 45,000 players logged in at once on average, WoW Circle is an enormous group of different servers. These servers offer a variety of expansion pack compatibility options, as well as 1x-5x and 100x experience point boosts. - VanillaGaming: One of the oldest vanilla servers, VanillaGaming offers players the chance to experience World of Warcraft on a private server with no additional content or gameplay changes from newer updates. This server has been superseded in some ways by World of Warcraft Classic, but it is still extremely popular with a large Discord community. These are just a handful of the hundreds of World of Warcraft private servers currently available online. The Bottom Line: Lawsuit Threats Which brings us back to the original question: are these private servers legal? It's a valid query that many players find difficult to answer, especially given the number of emulator-related lawsuits that have occurred in the last decade. One of the biggest examples of legal action against a server was the case against Scapegaming in 2010, which saw the company sued for $85 million in damages. Part of the reason for the colossal figure was the $1.5 million in "donations" that the company received from players of their private server. It's not just limited to lawsuits. Even if your chosen private server doesn't make money, Blizzard has targeted servers with a cease and desist purely for existing. Nostalrius was one of the biggest vanilla WoW servers, and Blizzard took it down in April 2016, resulting in much fan outcry. Whether it's a for-profit private server or not, if a server becomes big enough, Blizzard will take notice and have it shut down. Most private servers rely on cracked or patched versions of the base game, and so are susceptible to copyright infringement suits. So, are private servers illegal? It's not an easy question. It is illegal if the server is making a profit. It is illegal to use stolen or leaked software as a server. It is illegal to distribute client files from the server. Even if you find a server that doesn’t violate any of these rules (which is difficult enough), you’re not in the clear. Large companies often have powerful legal teams that can get servers taken down. Are Private Servers Illegal for Players? The big question is how liable are players who use private servers? This is a difficult question. Blizzard requires that you agree to their EULA conditions in order to acquire server software legally. These conditions include that you will not modify the software. Although it is unlikely that you will be sued for breaking the EULA due to the difficulty in enforcing the law, there are still consequences. If you currently play World of Warcraft, Blizzard may permanently ban your account, losing any of your progress in the game, though as far as we know they've sued no one for playing with a private server. All-in-all, private servers occupy a legal and moral gray area. If you use a private server you risk losing all of your progress if Blizzard targets the server, or could even have your account on legitimate World of Warcraft completely banned. We at MakeUseOf cannot condone the use of private servers.