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Affecting Change in Starcraft 2

Blogs > Treetop
Post a Reply
Treetop
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States140 Posts
September 12 2011 05:48 GMT
#1
There's been quite the buzz lately about controversial topics in the SC2 community of late. Most notably the name change/clan tag/replay sharing/everything BNet 2.0 and the cheaters and so on.

No matter what gaming forum that covers this game, you'll see outcry for change. Whether it be Bnet issues, balance issues...or anything, there are hundreds upon hundreds of threads of people upset with the experience they are having.

Personally, I'm not one of the "torch and pitchfork" people myself. I would however like to see a number of things added to our service that would normally seem like no-brainers to the majority of us.

The fact of the matter is: We live in a world of business. Everything that comes from SC2...or basically anything, is all about business. Obviously, Blizzard did very well with the release of SC2 numbers wise. They made their money back and then some. Making the game an obvious success in normal gaming standards.

The big issue with Starcraft 2 is that it has the same follies that all interactive media does. It's cost for upkeep vs. what they are still making off the game. Obviously Blizzard is still making some money off of Starcraft 2. As I believe I read, player numbers have gone down a fairly decent amount from release. That's understandable. Not all people are competitive or moderately invested into the E-Sports scene. They do still make money from larger tournaments. Each that occur, Blizzard gets a pretty nice cut from the company running the event. That's fine. It's their baby, they can let it be used in any way they see fit for broadcasting.

Video games have the sad fate of not having the ability of resale. Movies, for example, have a theater release. They have DVD release. They have HBO release. They have basic cable release. They have Blu-Ray, extended edition, directors cut, 3d versions, all that can be sold over and over again. Games get bought once. The money that it makes comes in and that's the end of the story.

Used games most obviously don't show any profit back to the original publisher or developer so they don't even have that means of an outlet.

Getting back on point after that rather long tangent, there is one way and only one way that you can really make a difference in the world of business. Hit them in their wallet.

In the history of Letters to the Editor, magazine articles, forum posts or any other feedback, what has really, really made serious change in anything that's happened?

For a more modern and semi-relevant perspective. Look at the TV show Family Guy. The show was cancelled due to idiotic program directors. The show went to cable and then the show came back to network. Did the show come back due to online petitions or spamming the Fox forums complaining about how it should be brought back. Or how stupid they are to have cancelled it in the first place?

No. The show came back because people strapped themselves to their couches every night at 11 (that was my time anyway) and they went and bought the DVDs like mad. They spent and they spent and they spent. Fox couldn't ignore it. The money was there. People were clamoring for it.

Conversely, what is going to make Blizzard change anything they are doing right now? They look at their spreadsheets and see people are still playing. They see stream viewer numbers. They see their 2.5 seconds of Blizzcon ticket sale time before sellout.

Opening dialogue and discussing issues is obviously a good and healthy thing to do. However, if you think complaining and spamming message boards bitching about something you don't like is going to make an impact; It won't. Blizzard has absolutely no reason to stop doing what they are already doing. They have you on Bnet, they have you attending MLGs, they have your open WoW accounts. They have all of it.

If you, the individual reading this right now actually want to really make some change in a world run by business, stop putting money in the pocket of someone you are not happy with. You want Starcraft to really be looked at? Don't log into Battlenet. Don't buy Blizzcon tickets. Suspend your WoW accounts and don't buy Diablo 3. Instead of seeing "There are currently 750,000-1,000,000 million people on Battle.net" Blizzard saw, "There are currently 50,000 people on Battle.net. They would take notice.

You keep giving them all of these things, nothing is going to change. There is just no incentive to until a $40 patch comes in the form of HotS or LotV.

I am not personally advocating such things. I'm not trying to pull a rally together to boycott Blizzard. I'm just some guy, you know? I have no bearing on anyone's opinion. I won't be buying Diablo 3, not because of reasons stated above but because of another questionable policy. That's what I can do.

You want to make some change, show the stuffy jerkwads in the suits at Activision/Blizzard that something is wrong, and you'll start seeing your issues addressed with the quickness. Or their potential cash flow will fall exceptionally fast.

Not proofread because I'm lazy and crap. Sorry if words are wrong or misspelled or punctuation sucks. I can't be bothered.

***
Truedot
Profile Joined August 2011
444 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-09-12 06:09:56
September 12 2011 06:06 GMT
#2
thats what I've been trying to tell people on these forums and the bnet sc2 forums.

Money = votes.

You don't buy a product and grit your teeth because some of the product or marketing is shit. you simply don't buy the product because you aren't 100% satisfied.

Unfortunately, its a trend. Like anything in the gaming world, big name games that have huge companies and advertising behind them become trendy to buy, and thus the world of THX1138 style consumers (mindless drones buying blue cubes just for the sake of capitalism, because consumerism is "good"), arrives with its droves to gobble up anything put out on the market. The more intelligent realize they're being sold something thats moderately good or decent, but that it contains some bullshit packaged with it (DLCs for call of duty rip offs anyone?), and they grit their teeth and bear it. Not because they aren't smart, but because they don't want to NOT be playing the game and experiencing it with their friends/other people that have the same interest in the game.

I know people that keep playing the same old games from the late 90's and they're ok with that. They continually find sources of enjoyment from older products. On the other hand, there's people that are NOT happy unless they have the newest most up to date product, regardless of how much it turns into a money printing scheme for the company, no matter how far the business ethics have gone 360 degrees from just two decades ago.

Companies are becoming the same "fly by night" schemes people used to abhor, and they're being applauded for their genius.

Things run in cycles and balance, so i suppose after so much time of people being critical thinkers in business and consumer life, they've started the opposing trend.

The bigger you are, the more you can convince people that your way is the right and good way, and should be supported, even if it would be horrible business practice that would kill a small business.

This is what you're seeing when there isn't competition in the field. This is why capitalism and free market need competition, and what happens when a capitalist free market has naught but one watering hole.

This is why im not buying HoTS, or the new CoD, even if HoTS would supposedly fix the zerg game. Like I've said before, why should I pay more money for something they didnt get right the first time. If a mechanic messes up and gets the wrong part or the diagnosis for the car wrong, he doesn't charge me (this happened to me recently). And if he did I'd take my business elsewhere.

its turned around in the world at large mostly. Now customers have to let companies know what they expect from a service before they buy it. And eventually companies will have to take notice, because when people stop paying for services that they feel has some parts wrong with it, companies have to change.
I used to spend my time not caring about people's language in chat. Until I got hit by blizz. Now I spend my time instigating people to verbal abusive levels, so I can ban them in turn. The circle of life.
Demonhunter04
Profile Joined July 2011
1530 Posts
September 12 2011 06:12 GMT
#3
Blizzard takes 50% of the ad revenue generated by any tournament with a prize pool of over $5000, so they make a lot of money through that.
"If you don't drop sweat today, you will drop tears tomorrow" - SlayerSMMA
Truedot
Profile Joined August 2011
444 Posts
September 12 2011 21:57 GMT
#4
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/3123036950?page=4

A bnet forum page that might be relevant as well.
I used to spend my time not caring about people's language in chat. Until I got hit by blizz. Now I spend my time instigating people to verbal abusive levels, so I can ban them in turn. The circle of life.
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