Blizzard Declares LAN Will Be a "Footnote" in History

[RagnorakTres]

And I will be sad the day LAN goes away. No shiny new games for LAN parties

Ah, LAN parties...I miss those...two days of junk food, Mountain Dew and frags...stupid slow-ass computer.

 

[Ethereal]

Honestly, 99% of the people crying about the absence of LAN in SC2 were just going to try to pirate it anyway.

Sure there's some who don't have access to high speed connections AND have friends with the same problem who would use LAN. However, those cases are so few and far between compared to the number of people who would use LAN as a means of playing multiplayer on a pirated version of the game.

Your right, no one needs LAN as a first option for multiplayer.
That's not what this is about though.

LAN parties, small and big, would not be possible because when you have a lot of people on one connection, that connection gets eaten up.I have LAN parties with a couple of friends and there is a VERY noticeable lag when were all playing our own games online on my connection which really takes away the fun for all of us.
LAN allows us to play a game that is stable and experience a fun multiplayer side of the game that generally isn't found in the convectional online portion of games.

 

[Sporadic chaos]

I don't have any friends to play LAN with anyways *walks away sobbing*

 

[samsonguy920]

I seem to recall Blizz saying they were going to announce what Battle.net was going to offer justifying the no LAN choice. So far all we have to hang on is sitting in the same room, having to go online, and dealing with whatever lag our isp decides to give us that day.
Hey Blizzard! Yes you have awesome connection, since you are right there with the servers! Honestly, take this B.net experiment to BFE and tell us its still going to be awesome.
What's the point of giving us all three races for multiplayer when more than likely its going to be stinky laggy. Grrr, I just want to slap someone with a rubber chicken. Can I slap the Funk? jk DONT HURT ME!

 

[WrongSprite]

Footnote in history? Bullshit. LAN is still the most fun you can have while gaming, nobodys gonna drop it anytime soon. I'm LANning more than I ever have.

 

[jh322]

Use Hamachi, everybody wins.

Do that, and the only people that really win are the pirates. A real LAN party wouldn't be able to happen because everybody would be on the same internet connection, resulting in what would most likely be horrendous, unplayable LAG. Hamachi enables people to play with replicated CD keys, it doesn't remove the need for the internet.

EDIT: also, hamachi is a relatively simple program, which won't allow a game with no LAN support to facilitate a LAN game.

Concerning your edit, I was just thinking that. If they have their own servers as well, there isn't any legitimate way around this is there? Or if you buy one copy and acquire >_> <_< another, that could balance it out? I mean cap'n hook wins either way, right?

I'm not quite sure what you mean, but in answer to the question I think you're asking, piracy with a view to playing on Battle.net 2.0 sounds like a very, very difficult thing to do. Maybe impossible, my knowledge of CD keys and such is not extensive enough for me to really answer that. If you have a legit key, you can play online. If you have a duplicated one, only the first person to use it can.

What might be interesting would be LAN with the same sort of check. E.g. you can LAN but the game is incompatible with identicle CD keys. If that were possible, and piracy were ruled out, that would be a really interesting development, and I wonder if (Activision-)Blizzard would then impliment LAN capabilities. That depends, I suppose, on their motivation for the lack of LAN. If it's not piracy, then that wouldn't help.

 

[Destal]

Well good for them for staying the course of action planned. Honestly i would have respected them less if they had folded to what the masses were crying about. I respect sheer stubborness at times.

You make it sound like the Catholic church.

In the end, I personally still don't care. I'll be buying it. I hope that in the end it helps them out. They make really good games.

 

[KDR_11k]

Honestly, 99% of the people crying about the absence of LAN in SC2 were just going to try to pirate it anyway.

Sure there's some who don't have access to high speed connections AND have friends with the same problem who would use LAN. However, those cases are so few and far between compared to the number of people who would use LAN as a means of playing multiplayer on a pirated version of the game.

What about people who have fellow players in the same building and a LAN between their systems? Like any student dorm, for example?

 

[hamster mk 4]

I am sure some ingenious hacker will find a way of spoofing a battle net connection on a LAN a month or two after Starcraft's release. The end result might not be the same as if Blizzard had implemented it, but if enough people want something the internet usually figures out a way of giving it to them.

 

[Monshroud]

I think a good part of this probably relates to help stop piracy of the game. With online activation and play, Blizzard can "try" to curb the amount of people who pirate the game, and they have the right to do that. I wouldn't be surprised if some hackers put together a LAN package for the game though.

I agree that it will harm the LAN party though.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Use Hamachi, everybody wins.

Do that, and the only people that really win are the pirates. A real LAN party wouldn't be able to happen because everybody would be on the same internet connection, resulting in what would most likely be horrendous, unplayable LAG. Hamachi enables people to play with replicated CD keys, it doesn't remove the need for the internet.

EDIT: also, hamachi is a relatively simple program, which won't allow a game with no LAN support to facilitate a LAN game.

Concerning your edit, I was just thinking that. If they have their own servers as well, there isn't any legitimate way around this is there? Or if you buy one copy and acquire >_> <_< another, that could balance it out? I mean cap'n hook wins either way, right?

I'm not quite sure what you mean, but in answer to the question I think you're asking, piracy with a view to playing on Battle.net 2.0 sounds like a very, very difficult thing to do. Maybe impossible, my knowledge of CD keys and such is not extensive enough for me to really answer that. If you have a legit key, you can play online. If you have a duplicated one, only the first person to use it can.

What might be interesting would be LAN with the same sort of check. E.g. you can LAN but the game is incompatible with identicle CD keys. If that were possible, and piracy were ruled out, that would be a really interesting development, and I wonder if (Activision-)Blizzard would then impliment LAN capabilities. That depends, I suppose, on their motivation for the lack of LAN. If it's not piracy, then that wouldn't help.

It would not be that hard to have it check the keys and such but then you break that protection and you can lan without restriction. IMO they are focusing unreasonably on a natural occurrence in software, almost more natural than people buying it.

They are not even going to dent piracy with this tactic and yet they still do it anyway, it boggles the mind really.....

 

[Chrissyluky]

you would still be able to lan just wouldnt be as good.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

I think a good part of this probably relates to help stop piracy of the game. With online activation and play, Blizzard can "try" to curb the amount of people who pirate the game, and they have the right to do that. I wouldn't be surprised if some hackers put together a LAN package for the game though.

I agree that it will harm the LAN party though.

The trouble is it will curb nothing by going to the extreme you push more potential customers away.

 

[Bob_F_It]

They clearly don't know about LAN parties the way they keep harping on like this.
My ear's pressed against the wall for what they will say after seeing the 100,000 mark passed.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

I am sure some ingenious hacker will find a way of spoofing a battle net connection on a LAN a month or two after Starcraft's release. The end result might not be the same as if Blizzard had implemented it, but if enough people want something the internet usually figures out a way of giving it to them.

Ya since WOW is fully hacked there's no reason to think SC2 wont be and even faster because of Koera

 

[Samman]

Honestly, 99% of the people crying about the absence of LAN in SC2 were just going to try to pirate it anyway.

Sure there's some who don't have access to high speed connections AND have friends with the same problem who would use LAN. However, those cases are so few and far between compared to the number of people who would use LAN as a means of playing multiplayer on a pirated version of the game.

What about people who have fellow players in the same building and a LAN between their systems? Like any student dorm, for example?

Buy the game and play it on BNET.

Honestly, 99% of the people crying about the absence of LAN in SC2 were just going to try to pirate it anyway.

I trust you have a source for that outrageous statement?

No?

I thought not.

The only source I need is the fact that PC gaming suffers so much because of pirating.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Did the merger with Activision just bring out the stoopid gene in Blizzard?

Your fans really want LAN support, so you say it's dead.

Perhaps Blizzard just don't understand that a lot of the world is still on dialup?

 

[Monshroud]

I think a good part of this probably relates to help stop piracy of the game. With online activation and play, Blizzard can "try" to curb the amount of people who pirate the game, and they have the right to do that. I wouldn't be surprised if some hackers put together a LAN package for the game though.

I agree that it will harm the LAN party though.

The trouble is it will curb nothing by going to the extreme you push more potential customers away.

I am not sure if they are going to push more "potential" customers away. It might push away current customers. With the growth of SecuROM on more and more titles, people I hate to say it, are getting used to having some sort of software installed or having to go online to activate / play their game. Granted the PC versions are most likely a fraction of the overall sales. The fact is the games are still selling tons of copies.

I am not sure if there is a solution to that though.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Honestly, 99% of the people crying about the absence of LAN in SC2 were just going to try to pirate it anyway.

Sure there's some who don't have access to high speed connections AND have friends with the same problem who would use LAN. However, those cases are so few and far between compared to the number of people who would use LAN as a means of playing multiplayer on a pirated version of the game.

What about people who have fellow players in the same building and a LAN between their systems? Like any student dorm, for example?

Buy the game and play it on BNET.

Honestly, 99% of the people crying about the absence of LAN in SC2 were just going to try to pirate it anyway.

I trust you have a source for that outrageous statement?

No?

I thought not.

The only source I need is the fact that PC gaming suffers so much because of pirating.

You do realize its easier to soft mod a 360 and copy 360 games than wait and deal with PC DRM? For every 1 PC game there's a dozen 360 and wii titles....ya piracy matters.... only if you are snorting the bottom line....