Project guardrails
Build conservatively.
Ant Trail’s design goal is fun character history, not cleverness around Blizzard’s rules. Compliance is an implementation constraint, not a slogan.
Standing rule
If a feature needs a questionable data path, redesign the feature.
- Use information the WoW addon environment legitimately exposes.
- Do not circumvent protected or unavailable information.
- Do not automate gameplay.
- Do not treat social-history features as permission to surveil or enumerate players.
- Re-check Blizzard policy when a feature changes the technical data path.
In-game addon
Visible, free, and player-facing.
Ant Trail should remain distributed as a free addon with visible code. Website/community funding, if ever considered, must not turn addon features into a paywall or insert advertisements/donation solicitations inside the addon.
Player-triggered social actions should remain explicit. The addon should not silently convert communication features into automation.
Companion / uploader
External software is the highest-risk boundary.
Blizzard’s EULA prohibits unauthorized processes or software that intercept, collect, read, or mine information generated or stored by the Platform. That makes the data-acquisition design for any companion/uploader a first-order compliance question.
Ant Trail therefore excludes process-memory reading, packet interception, protocol emulation, and hidden client-data extraction from the current website architecture.
Distribution
The addon itself stays free.
Ant Trail’s website may eventually need ordinary operating costs, but the in-game addon cannot become a premium/paywalled product. Any future funding model should be reviewed separately and should never gate addon functionality behind payment.
External references
Primary rules worth re-checking
This page is a project engineering posture, not legal advice. Blizzard can change or interpret its rules; policy-sensitive features should be re-checked at implementation time.