*sigh, rant on*

Hello, I am an add-on addict. If a game allows modding of any sort, I seem drawn to them and in some cases find it hard to play the game with out them.  I have always thought games were made better or at least had their lifespans increased by allowing the community to contribute to the game via such mods/addons. That all said, I do believe that mod authors need to play by the rules, even if those rules change mid-stream.

I only bring this up because recently Blizzard made an announcement about its Addon policy where some new rules were inacted. I find the new rules (basically: Don’t hide code, don’t charage, and dont advertise in game) to be good and actually sort of felt they were common sense sort of things.    Apparently I was wrong, and the idea of keep code open, and addons free had been brushed aside by authors and which forced Blizzard to set up new rules.

Well since the announcement there has been some fall out, but thus far it like a few authors throwing a tantrum and making me think of them as greedy whiners. Yes, I know a good mod takes a lot of time. Yes, some mods have millions of users. Yes, some people by implementing in-game advertising have apparently made a business out of the mod.

But I have always felt mods were community driven projects and you should be writing a mod because you love the game and the community not to make money.  I don’t think creating mods should have become a job/business, it should have stayed a hobby, one you participating in because you were passionate about the game and your project and not the money you gained.

I have yet to donate any money to a WoW author, though there are several that I would gladly, if I had an income, buy a pizza for or send a gift to. Not because I feel the should get paid, but as a thank you for their passion and work.

If the only reason you were working on a mod was for the money, and are going to quit now because you can not charge people then I say with a smile, “goodbye and good luck.” Â Â I will adapt to playing without your mod, or someone else who is passionate will come in and take over.

*Whew, rant off*

Now since I mentioned wow mods, I thought I would list some of the ones I use. While long, yes I know I use a lot of mods, you should note this is not a comprehensive list. I am sure I have other mods installed, some I only use with some characters and many that I only try for short while, but these are the big ones I use.

• Pitbull (currently testing v4, very slick)
• Clique
• macaroon
• Auctioneer (does anyone with mods installed, not use this)
• Deadly Boss Mods
• Prat3
• Recount
• Rating buster
• Omen (though I have not actually opened the display in months)
• Bagnon
• Quartz
• Elkano’s BuffBars
• Item Rack (might not need this after the next patch)
• Fishing buddy
• SexyMap (not really for the art, but for the square frame and hiding of buttons)
• Mapster
• Gathermate
• Mounted
• Atlas and AtlasLoot

And yes I could have linked them all, but many are available on multiple mod sites and I don’t want my links to be an advetisement for the hosting sites. So only the ones I know have their own sites got links.