WoW User Interface Mods

Grog asked me to write something about World of Warcraft interface mods. I must confess I'm not very qualified to do so. But here is the little I know: World of Warcrafts interface is XML-based and can be modified without calling the wrath of Blizzard upon you. Thus hundreds of user interface mods have sprung up.

There are even websites just about WoW UI mods, you might want to have a look at .

But frankly, for many of us this is scary stuff. You should know that for using a "bot", for example for fishing, you can be banned, your account closed, and you losing your virtual existance. And some of these UI mods are walking a thin line between making the UI more friendly and cheating. Furthermore the first Trojan programs have turned up, disguising as WoW UI mods. And finally the installation of these mods is not always trivial. With every patch you risk the mod becoming incompatible with the new version of WoW.

The easiest solution is to use Cosmos, which is a collection of many different UI mods, and covers all the essentials. Like adding an extra hotkey bar, making fishing faster without using a bot, adding notes to the map, or giving you a better view of the health and mana status of your group. By running Cosmos.exe you also automatically update your UI mods. You can also upload your data collected with Cosmos to Thottbot, the most complete database site.

Of course there is a hidden downside. It turns out that Cosmos / Thottbot is owned by OGaming, which in turn is owned by IGE, the leading company in the secondary market of virtual worlds. That has caused some outcry, as IGE is considered by many to be the driving force behind the infamous "chinese adena farmer" type of player. By using the Cosmos / Thottbot link you are providing game data to a company that might potentially use these data to make a profit. As profit is a dirty word on the internet, some people shrink back in horror from the prospect. Me, I realize that nothing in life is really free. And I was aware that I was sending these game data to somebody, and that these data have some value. But I considered that as fair payment for the use of the otherwise free Cosmos and Thottbot.

And the fact that IGE is behind those is not changing my attitude. Because I do not think that it is IGE's fault if there are farmers in MMORPG. It is the fault of the game developers if there is an activity in the game which is so necessary and so unfun that you prefer to pay real world money to somebody to do this activity for you. IGE is just the middle man in this trade, not the driving force. But I haven't bought anything from them yet. And in WoW I really don't see the need, earning enough gold in WoW to pay for your training and gear is fun enough. And that is the correct solution of the problem, make achieving virtual currency and gear so much fun, that nobody would be willing to pay real money for it. No buyers, no farmers.
- posted by Tobold @ 8:18 AM Permanent Link