Blizzard's decision to
leave local area network play support out of
StarCraft II has generated a flurry of controversy among fans since it was revealed yesterday, with concerns centering on possible latency increases. Now a
petition has appeared, in the process garnering more than 6000 signatures. The petition begins by imploring Blizzard to reintroduce support for LAN play, in the process addressing some of the concerns that the developer brought up yesterday. In particular, the letter focused on piracy, suggesting that removing LAN play would do little to alleviate any such problems.
Competing services like iCCup only exist because they add features that players want (functionality and lag-free play in this case). You will most likely improve battle.net way beyond iCCup's current functionality, thus automatically encouraging players to avoid these pirate servers, the letter says.
A very important thing to point out here is that iCCup does not use LAN. Enabling LAN play would have no effect on this type of service at all.
It goes on to list reasons for keeping LAN support, saying that it birthed StarCraft's popularity in the first place, and that it makes you feel you have more freedom of choice.
Meanwhile, signatories like Shane Trammell said, I live in a part of the US that is not served by any form of low latency broadband and is not likely to be anytime in the next decade. I love your products, but without LAN play I will not purchase Star Craft II.
When announcing that StarCraft II would not be supporting LAN play, Blizzard representative Bob Colayco explained, While this was a difficult decision for us, we felt that moving away from LAN play and directing players to our upgraded Battle.net service was the best option to ensure a quality multiplayer experience with StarCraft II and safeguard against piracy, while touting new features like improved stat tracking and achievements.
Internet petitions have historically had little success. But with the open beta reportedly scheduled to begin soon, and a 2009 release date supposedly in the offing, such controversy comes at an inopportune time for a developer hoping to match the success of the popular original.
