General EQWatcher Concepts > Is This Safe? > EULA

The first question that comes to any EQ player's mind is this: Does this violate the EQ End User License Agreement (EULA)?

The most common misconception (please notice the bold red word) is this "You may not use third party programs"

However, this is not what the rule says nor is it what the rule is intended to say.  The EULA can be read at the following URL http://everquest.station.sony.com/support/security/eula.jsp, but because the EULA is long and boring and it is a common practice to skip most of it and just look for key words, rumors get started such as "You may not use third party programs".

What the rule actually states is this: "You may not use any third party software to modify the Software to change Game play." (again, please notice the bold red words)

Keeping this in mind, any rumor such as "You may not use any third party programs" should now be dispelled.

Now, a list of what the EULA and Rules of Conduct are intending to say, in words that most of the population should understand, cross-referenced with the corresponding rule numbers:

  1. You may not view, alter, or interfere with the actual transmissions from the EverQuest game to or from the EverQuest servers. (rules of conduct #11)
  2. You may not "HEX EDIT", HACK, OR CRACK (i.e. MODIFY) the EverQuest software to change game play. (rules of conduct #5, EULA #9)
  3. You may not run a sever emulator, nor play on one (rules of conduct #13 & 14, EULA #9)
  4. You may not look at the EverQuest software to see "exactly what it does" (i.e. REVERSE ENGINEER) (EULA #7)
     

You want to know what they're banning? ShowEQ and all of the little 10 year olds on those message boards sharing their information on how to make your character run at maximum speed, or make every class have mend. That's what is banned. Not log parsers.
 

EQWatcher does not, and will not, modify EverQuest.  Nor will it act as a macro program for you.  EQWatcher is designed specifically to NOT violate any of the rules, while providing some excellent features.  EQWatcher's only method of input is reading from the EQ log file (which contains EXACTLY what you see in the chat window while playing, with the exception of a time/date stamp for each line), and reading from the EQ notes file (which contains notes that you yourself type while inside EQ by typing /note and then whatever you're noting).