Blizzard, creators of World of Warcraft, Diablo and StarCraft, dropped a bit of a bombshell on the RTS community when it announced that there would be no LAN (Local Area Network) support for its upcoming sequel. Instead players will have to use Blizzard’s Battle.net online service, a move which the developer says was a “difficult decision” but a necessary “safeguard against piracy.”
Most players’ first experience with StarCraft and the earlier Warcraft strategy titles was over a direct LAN connection between computers – either on home networks, in offices or at organised LAN parties. To drop it as a networking option completely is a pretty surprising and sure to alienate those who maybe don’t have an internet connection up to the task of fast-paced online multiplayer.
Blizzard has blamed piracy and cited its desire to “ensure a quality multiplayer experience with StarCraft II” as the reason for the move, but is piracy just a scapegoat? While it’s true that some games suffer from punishing amounts of piracy, a game as world-renowned as StarCraft is unlikely to avoid it by simply handcuffing players. If anything it’s more likely to anger skilled hackers into creating workarounds and players into downloading it illegally in protest.
So is there more milking going on? Or has piracy really got so out of hand that removing features is the only answer? Hopefully Blizzard will shine more light on the subject once more details of the enhanced Battle.net service are made available.
