[G, SC] Video Games 2.0

Taiche

France1963 Posts

August 21 2007 12:00 GMT

Earlier today I was reading a very interesting article on a French gaming website (here is a link for the French readers) where the writer wondered if the whole "2.0" concept could be applied to video games. After some introduction, let's try to discuss this in the light of the upcoming StarCraft II.

2.0 ?

In case you've been away from the Internet these past few years, there's been a large "community effect" initiated by websites such as MySpace or YouTube. The idea is to build a sharing community where users will be the main content providers of the website ; of course, this has created a large hype and is still very popular.

2.0 in video games

So how can this be applied to video games ? Well it's kinda obvious : while online gaming is now almost impossible to miss for more than a decade, the most significant turn was made by massive online games like World of Warcraft or Second Life where millions of gamers regularly meet and act together.

Two important games where the community plays an essential role

But that's not exactly "2.0"-compliant

This is more "1.5" as the games rely a lot on the companies that made them and users cannot really create their own part of the game. So a better example of what the "Video Game 2.0" should be lies in Sony's upcoming Little Big Planet on Playstation 3. The idea of the game is quite simple : it's a platform game where you need to help your character find the exit of the level. Except that the level was created by another user. This concept looks attractive in the fact that it will make the game endless.

What about SC 2 ?

So is there any room for that 2.0 thing in StarCraft II ? Yes and no.
No because I don't think Blizzard is going to include such a new and risky concept in SC 2. I think it's now safe to say that Blizzard will NOT take many risks with SC 2 : same basics, almost same units, same concept... I know the game isn't finished yet but I don't see Blizzard releasing SC 2 with major changes from what it is now in its alpha state. They need to make a solid game to live up with fans' expectations and also keep up the e-sports work that has been going on for a few years. So no, I don't think there will be fundamental changes that will introduce major changes in SC 2's core.

But there are some aspects of the game that could benefit from this "community sharing effect". The most obvious examples are maps and third-party applications. How many websites out there have their own mapping section with many interesting maps ? What if Blizzard officially supported fan-made maps and allowed users to upload/download/tag/rate/(whatever you think is useful) them, wouldn't that be a good thing to finally have an official website for all these things ?
As for third-party applications, it would be a good idea to finally have some open-source code (or at least officially supported entry points) to let people build their own plug-ins to SC 2. What is the purpose of using exotic or proprietary file formats ? If it's to protect StarCraft's resources, let me tell you it was completely ineffective. It took years before people were able to reverse engineer most of Blizzard's file formats but it never stopped people from making tons of mods. So not only was it ineffective but it made modifications a hell lot more complex to build and distribute.

To me, it's time Blizzard realize that users really want to improve their gaming experience and they should support them. I don't know what's planned for SC 2 in this matter but I sincerely hope it will be much better as SC 1. They have understood that the community played an essential role during the whole alpha/beta phases so I think they won't let us down. And if they still do... well, we'll be there to reverse engineer the whole thing :D

Oak

South Africa114 Posts

August 21 2007 14:58 GMT

Interesting read. As you say there are many ways Blizzard could attempt to make SCII more "1.5" in nature. Some things I would like to see for example is a patch later on in its lifespan which adds noCD itself. This was done similarly with games such as Unreal Tournament and i have always regarded that as a very mature step to take when it comes to games. Unfortunately the situation is not directly compatible, for UT was also a game engine which generated money, whereas SCII would be a stand-alone game. I doubt the engine will be sold for use by other production companies, nor do I think the engine is special enough to be viable in such a sense.

Perhaps even (although this is very unlikely) late in its life, the release of the source code in order to establish open source versions of the game. This would greatly enable the small-scale user to host LAN competitions without running into copy right issues or resorting to BYOPC, and would facilitate the general spread of the game as a competitive gaming platform.

Lastly I would like to see continued and in-depth support for the game and its communities from Blizzard.

fanta[Rn]

Japan2465 Posts

September 02 2007 17:35 GMT

I'd like to point out various WoW community developed addons such as CTRaid, decursive and so on. Eventhough it's possible to create third party addons for the game I'm not quite pleased with how they handled the distribution of those addons. They didn't at all in fact.
They really should add some supports and a place to upload your addons and tag and rate them just as you said.

I somehow think Blizzard will take over this concept for SC2 aswell, I think they will make third party tool creation alot easier. Similar or even better than for WoW.

Taiche

France1963 Posts

September 02 2007 18:34 GMT

Yeah, that's the problem most third-party tools face : distribution. Of course, you can get known if you manage to be heard with big news website, but it's not like your tool gets an approval by the original game editor :/

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