Has anyone addressed this issue from the point of view of the game publisher, Blizzard?

Most game companies encourage or tolerate modding, community fan websites etc., probably everything short of pirating the original binary or artwork.

But what happens when a venture capital backed "A List" company says to your competitor: "Reach millions of Blizzard's most dedicated subscribers with an ad for your new online game"?

At that point does Blizzard have to act to protect the subscriber base of its game from being raided? Does it need to withdraw the tacit permission that allows websites like WoW to operate? (Any negative "blogosphere" blowback could probably ameliorated by Blizzard hosting the WoW material on an "official" WoW wiki, _without_ ads).

I would also guess that many other WoW websites probably have Google ads or the equivalent to help pay the bills. In effect, allowing other gaming companies to reach Blizzard's subscribers, or profit from association with WoW. But that is obviously small beans, and not worth the effort to police.

But when major news media start trumpeting the ability of your competitors to reach your subscribers through community websites dedicated to your games, you probably have to do something.

A comment from Blizzard would be interesting.

anon: I don't know if Blizzard has gone down that path, but I do know that some big companies have not been happy about fan sites, sometimes viewing them as stepping over the line into copyright infringement.