Guys, I know it's fun to just jump on the band wagon but you should read this interview with he CEO where he explains exactly what the patent is. It's not just "players interacting in a 3D space" it's more specific about how it does that. Also, a Patent Troll is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_troll
They've developed and marketed/licensed their technology to others. They are hardly patent trolls.
here is a link to the interview for anyone interested in finding out more about what's actually happening here:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngau...zard-over-world-of-warcraft-and-call-of-duty/
Yes, they are still trolls, and I'll explain why:
When Thomas Edison invented the electrical light bulb, the biggest achievement was coming up with the best material for the filament. However, the filament's composition would cease to be a secret as soon as the bulbs were put on sale. The patent system protected Edison's research from being stolen by others.
With Worlds' patent, as well as most other software patents, there's little no to R&D involved. Most often than not, the patent application itself might have took more effort to write than the idea (not product) that was patented. There's also often no implementation that can be stolen or reverse engineered: a company could save significant time and money by copying Edison's light bulb, while the same cannot be said about Worlds' patent.
Whatever implementation Worlds have for sale is worthless for most software projects, which have wildly different requirements and development environments. If I "license" their product, I will not get ready-to-use source code that saves me several man-hours in work. I'll just be allowed to use the
idea of "using the client's 3D position to limit the information sent from the server" and would still need to develop the entire thing on my own.
They are licensing an idea. Not a product, not technology, not even knowledge. An idea. Thus, trolls.
And BTW, they should also be suing: Valve, Epic Games, ID Software. Because all those companies are using the idea of limiting the data sent to clients based on their 3D position on the server too.