That's a tough one.

Noted blogger PlayNoEvil weighs in on the recent WoW Glider controversy and examines the role of both WoW Glider and Blizzard's Warden software which sniffs out programs like that on your computer.

Warden vs. Glider

Warden is Blizzard's security tool that they generously install on your computer with World of Warcraft. This tool allows Blizzard to monitor what is happening on your computer. The program acts very much like a rootkit - hiding itself from you and the operating system (INTERESTING NOTE - why don't people's security tools ever detect Warden?). You have Blizzard's "word" that the program is not collecting any information on your activities, but only looking for programs (like Glider).

In general, I think programs like Warden are more dangerous to their creators than their foes. It should be noted that Warden is pretty much in line with game industry standard thinking on anti-cheating. It works very similarly to competitors from Valve and the commercial products nProtect's GameGuard, Ahn Lab's Hackshield (both fairly commonly used in Korean MMOs), and Even Balance's PunkBuster (mainly associated with First Person Shooters, but they are now used by Ultima Online).

Continue reading and share your own opinion here.

[Via PlayNoEvil]