Blizzard Probably Envies This Fan-Made StarCraft MMO

[kouriichi]

Looks like WoW might have some more competition this year.
This looks like an amazingly fun thing to play with a group of your best buds.

 

[Charli]

Well...damn. I would play this.

Oh and everyone crying foul on the suing, Blizzard slapped Activision down and told them to stop being so silly and rewarded this guy, read with care folks!

 

[Canid117]

Knowing Kotick, these poor modders are probably going to get sued and then have their idea stolen.

You may have missed the part where Blizzard gave the modder the official thumbs-up and invited him to their studios to meet the SC2 team, then.

I did miss that, and I'm very surprised.

Its because kotick has almost no control over the Blizzard side of ActiBlizz as far as I can tell.

 

[Nurb]

Knowing Kotick, these poor modders are probably going to get sued and then have their idea stolen.

You may have missed the part where Blizzard gave the modder the official thumbs-up and invited him to their studios to meet the SC2 team, then.

I did miss that, and I'm very surprised.

Its because kotick has almost no control over the Blizzard side of ActiBlizz as far as I can tell.

Just because he has them continue their business plans, doesn't mean he doesn't have control. When you own a developer, you control them completely in the end.

 

[BottleOfAwesome]

I'm actually pretty sure that Blizzard was encouraging the people creating this.
Look what happened with DotA.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

While I can certainly appreciate the effort that went into making this using only the map editor. I certainly hope no inspiration for an SC flavored MMO come from it. As much as I like Starcraft, if it played like WoW, I wouldn't go near it.

 

[Canid117]

Knowing Kotick, these poor modders are probably going to get sued and then have their idea stolen.

You may have missed the part where Blizzard gave the modder the official thumbs-up and invited him to their studios to meet the SC2 team, then.

I did miss that, and I'm very surprised.

Its because kotick has almost no control over the Blizzard side of ActiBlizz as far as I can tell.

Just because he has them continue their business plans, doesn't mean he doesn't have control. When you own a developer, you control them completely in the end.

That said Vivendi is the one who owns Activision and Blizzard in the end. If Kotick wants to do something that Blizz doesn't want to they are perfectly capable of walking upstairs and getting shit rained down on Kotick for trying to mess with the most profitable part of the company.

 

[Bostur]

Can't say I'm surprised, Warcraft 3 had an official scenario that played very much like a single player RPG, and many traditional RTS scenarios have distinct RPG mechanics.

But I'm impressed with the video. He managed to recreate the feel of MMOs very accurately and it may seem that a persistant world is the only thing lacking. Looks awesome.

 

[Strazdas]

this reminds me of the times i first discovered starcraft 1 tower defence maps. i was hooked isntantly and it felt like the ultimate mod. maybe ill be getting star craft 2 after all.

 

[Febel]

Huh. I normally loathe MMO's but that actually looks pretty interesting.

 

[thiosk]

Are there NO single player mods for starcraft 2? I've found Nothing. I want to play these new games this mod engine can build. I just want to play with myself.

Its not a crime.
To want to play with myself.
At night.

 

[Master10K]

Eh, from what I understand, this is basically just a collection of maps that you can jump into. I don't think the characters are persistent. It's more of a PvE MOBA, not really an MMO. Also it doesn't look better (but then it's a mod so why should it?). Also what is this axe people have to grind against TOR? I see people trying to make digs at it in the most random places. Seems like almost any time there's a post about Blizzard or anything even slightly MMO-related, I see someone bringing it up this way.

Eh, whatever. Haters gonna hate.

Well I actually I would compare Starcraft Universe to Guild Wars 1, a sort of lobby based Co-Op RPG, where you form a party and go on PvE missions. The world won't have any persistence to it but the characters will (leveling & maybe looting).

As for the hate on SWTOR, I think it's mostly because of two things:
1. They are spending a ridiculous amount of money, just to do the same that's been done for years, in MMORPGs, with nothing truly innovative. It would be ideal if those people would focus their attention on those MMOs that are innovating the MMO space (I'm focusing on Guild Wars 2) but we do not leave in the ideal world.

2. Because EA is involved. Compared to companies like Valve, people just hate EA and anything to do with them.

Now back onto the Starcraft 2 Mod... I can't wait to play it, since I've had tons of fun [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlOjuYAYMuQ] with the mods the community has produced.

 

[Mr Pantomime]

I will say this. Mounts will be so much cooler.

 

[LorienvArden]

Well, at least it looks nice. It will really depend on the gameplay weither this will fly or not.
Kotick can shut it down of course, but given the fanbase, this would result in such a tremendous backlash that he could lose his position over it. "Shutting it down" would go against the pr policy for SCII of empowering creators. Their "map marketplace" could only work if maps like these are allowed and supported.

Also, please stop missusing acronyms. This is not a "massive multiplayer online"(thats not even making sense) It is a Hack and slash -type of game.

 

[JordanXlord]

This is Epic...and think on the fact this was made on a MAP EDITOR

Blizzard Hire these guys

 

[fieryshadowcard]

Also, please stop missusing acronyms. This is not a "massive multiplayer online"(thats not even making sense) It is a Hack and slash -type of game.

Technically, it'd be an MMOHnS if it came to full fruition. MMO (massiveLY multiplayer online) does not necessarily imply that RPG comes after it. Nor does being a hack-n-slash automatically disqualify something from being an RPG, or at least possessing RPG elements.

On-Topic: I'll reserve judgment. On the one hand, I've never played SC or SCII. On the other hand, I enjoyed WCII (when I was still young and un-jaded) and WoW (when I still felt my soul belonged to me and me alone). But on the other hand I've gathered from this thread that the trailer for this was merely presented really well, as opposed to showing something particularly awe-worthy. Yet on the other hand, what I saw looked fricking awesome even if it apparently was more the map editor than the modder. While on the other hand, I'm not sure I should be visually impressed by what I perceived as a graphically updated PSO genetically spliced with one of Blizzard's love children.

...

I have many other hands, but not enough indecisiveness for them. Just so you know.

 

[LorienvArden]

Technically, it'd be an MMOHnS if it came to full fruition. MMO (massiveLY multiplayer online) does not necessarily imply that RPG comes after it. Nor does being a hack-n-slash automatically disqualify something from being an RPG, or at least possessing RPG elements.

If you define massive multiplayer by the amount of people able to interact with one another in the same game it certainly is NOT massivly multiplayer as the limit of players per map is around 12-16 people (not quite sure right now). To make an SCII MMO - you'ld have to find a way to store player data on a central server and move players from one Map to another.
It would be technically possible if Blizzard included those options into the editor.

WoW and most of its Minion followers are MMOHnS - the Roleplaying has been faded out with each successive iteration of "MMORPG" releases. The "RPG elements" people keep refering to are mostly just technicallities found in rpgs. By that logic, games would have "RTS elements" because they feature minimaps or "FPS elements" because they implement first person perspective or crosshairs.

That said, SotR looks more like an MMORPG then most other releases - as it focuses on character development (Actually playing a character instead of a bunch of numbers) and storytelling.

It is a misnomer that gets overused far too many times, and I think gamingjournalists should avoid falling for it.

 

[Niccolo]

Color me surprised Kotick didn't put his big fat foot down on this. It's even more surprising than the cool gameplay.

Wait until some poor bastard suggests it can make money.

Nah. Blizzard are generally ready to punch Kotick in the testicles if he pushes them around too much.Kotick doesn't really want to annoy Blizzard - they're his golden-egg laying flock of geese.

At least... That's how I hope it plays out. Blizzard seem to genuinely like this thing, so hopefully they'll keep Kotick distracted with some shiny object.