|
put this on reddit why? don't make in unhelpful. a single line "blizz is good/bad" is unhelpful.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note from former DS/DH admin and Fish operator SEBUNS:
Hello, I'm translating this on behalf of fish_radio. Blizzard Korea is very disrespectful to the entire community.
This has been an issue for quite a while. Many of us disagreed on posting this given how valuable StarCraft is to us, but in light of recent issues we agreed it was time to say something to the foreign community.
For more, please contact me (SEBUNS*Op) on KakaoTalk, ID gc1999
If you want to talk to fish_radio, DM him on TeamLiquid for the ID fish_radio.
This will not be posted to the Korean community, but we're sure it'll make its way there somehow.
It has been a few months since I've talked about the background of the Korean StarCraft, and almost six months since SC:R was officially released. For almost fifteen years Fish Server served as the ultimate gaming platform to Koreans, who have recently been forced to Blizzard servers, or iCCup. Neither of these are ideal for several reasons, but we've heard that echo chamber long enough so do some research if you aren't already informed as to why.
Contrary to popular belief, StarCraft 1.16.1 with Fish Server was what most would consider stagnant for the last two years of its existence. The player base was always rising, but not enough for it to really matter. Even so, the player base was strong. The remaster was supposed to take a very old product propped up by the community, and provide basic but extremely important features. The deal was simple and acceptable; pay fifteen dollars, get the remaster. Sweet. Realistically speaking, only an idiot would complain about paying fifteen dollars for an overhaul of a game known to have horrible code. Sadly, this didn't turn out to be the case. Licensing fees, tournament fees, online-only restrictions, and bugginess continue to plague the remastered copy of the game.
Fish served no purpose after the remaster. Despite having clan features, channel features, icons, a point system, and more, it simply was no match for the 1v1 matchmaking system. With the ad panel removed, Fish had no income. Blizzard didn't mention the ad panel from the closed beta was going to be removed upon release. You know, the one that advertised the release date of the remaster. Fish was entirely non-profit and paid for out of pocket. We accepted no donations and did our best to provide the ultimate StarCraft experience. Blizzard did not include Fish in the matchmaking system nor did they provide Fish with any funding whatsoever.
Despite a very buggy release, Fish had high hopes for the game to grow on its own and shut down due to poor funding, lack of assistance from Blizzard, and a 1.16.1 server running on a (moderately) updated network that was closed source and never seen by the admins.
After seeing all sorts of issues on the remastered client like hackers and frequent crashes, some Koreans started going back to 1.16.1 using iCCup, CYaRon, and DragonHeart (DragonSquare). DH/DS shut down, as the player base did not justify the server's existence. CYaRon is an old clone of Fish with a very small player base. Koreans on iCCup are having trouble finding games, which hurts the foreign scene as well because the Join list is filled with Korean titles.
It is now 2018 and the StarCraft player base is shrinking. StarCraft's big draw before the remaster was how the community powered the game. Without being at the mercy of a corporation, StarCraft was free to be whatever the players wanted it to be. Blizzard has added too many fees for unknown LAN tournaments to start. The tournament licensing fee imposed by Blizzard on AfreecaTV has driven many sponsors away.
Us developers can't help but wonder why Blizzard thought an iron grip on the community was a good idea when before the release, they said SCR was going to be released and left at the mercy of the community. Blizzard told us it would only be touched if it needed updates in the far future. It has now been 160 days since the release of StarCraft Remastered. Many of us have quit altogether in frustration.
Patch 1.21.2 was just released...
- No 2v2 ladder
- No 3v3 ladder
- No 4v4 ladder
- No clan system
- No ranks
- Hackers are back
- No sign of custom server support
- No acknowledgement of critical security issues devs have repeatedly reported
- Random lag, even with Koreans in the same city
- Lots of crashes
There's much more I can add to this list. StarCraft Remastered is starting to feel like a cash grab. Support and popularity for the game is dropping fast, even on AfreecaTV where StarCraft was once considered invincible.
To make things worse, Blizzard Korea is horrible. Not only were our concerns and complaints ignored, but Blizzard Korea swore at us and told us to just play something else if we're so unhappy. We were sworn at then later removed from the Blizzard Korea chat on Skype. Blizzard Korea is also infamous for censoring and calling out users on the Korean Blizzard forums, sometimes with stickied posts giving personal information of users they don't like.
Me, SEBUNS, and other developers hope to receive some sort of acknowledgement from Blizzard. TeamLiquid is the last place we can ask for help. We can't grow a game that's out of our control. StarCraft needs a different approach as a game, a program, and a sport.
Thank you for reading this. I ask with the utmost respect that all replies are constructive. Please no one liners about Blizzard being evil or something.
|
Hearing those licencing fees driving away sponsers relly hurts....the pro circuit was a huge deal for fans and the scene  i hope they remove some of these licencing fees or even better contribute to the funding and prize pool of tournaments
|
On January 20 2018 18:44 Shock710 wrote:Hearing those licencing fees driving away sponsers relly hurts....the pro circuit was a huge deal for fans and the scene i hope they remove some of these licencing fees or even better contribute to the funding and prize pool of tournaments
sad to see overwatch and star2 get prize money. starcraft gets fined instead ==
why is it different for starcraft?....
|
I can't say I care about 2v2/3v3/4v4 ladder or ranks or matchmaking, but the existence of hacks is a major concern. Blizzard has a pretty poor track record of handling hacks. It's also pretty clear that the third party developers were much more successful at keeping the community going than blizzard itself: simply compare the official server population to fish prior to the release of remastered. It's hard to support a company like this, when the most they ever did for starcraft even when it was still massively popular was try to shut down tournaments in favor of SC2.
What's sad to me is that it didn't have to be like this, there were so many different ways that blizzard could have approached SC2 and SC:R. That they chose an approach that basically shut down the existing community is very sad.
|
Well, people are bitching about ASL being killed/bugs/etc. on the English battle.net Starcraft forums too. Very sad to hear about how Blizzard Korea is treating you guys also. Hope blizzard removes their head from their ass and starts doing positive things for the community.
|
Thank you very much for the post Fish_radio. It's is disappointing that this is a happening to our loved game and it's community. I'm not sure what can be done exactly though. I sometimes feel Blizzard just wanted a quick cash grab from Brood war. Blizzard Korea swearing at you seems really rude indeed. I would think they'd have better customer service people then that.
|
On January 20 2018 19:25 NoS-Craig wrote:Blizzard Korea swearing at you seems really rude indeed. I would think they'd have better customer service people then that.
it's not customer service, it's the Blizzard Korea team.
|
United Kingdom12027 Posts
On January 20 2018 19:40 fish_radio wrote:Show nested quote +On January 20 2018 19:25 NoS-Craig wrote:Blizzard Korea swearing at you seems really rude indeed. I would think they'd have better customer service people then that. it's not customer service, it's the Blizzard Korea team.
Customer relations/service are part of the Blizzard Korea team.
|
Hatred towards blizzard just keeps growing....
|
sooo why is this exclusive for tiny portion of SCR fanbase, english fanbase, when almost all the fanbase is in korea?
Doesnt make sense to me.
you can say that it smells.... fishy
|
Are there really no legal loopholes that can make OpenBW run as an independant game?
|
This is all very frustrating to read. I was really starting to enjoy SC:R since joining a clan and playing some non ladder games and small tournaments. But nonetheless this post is 100% right.
|
i still literally can't even que in 1v1 match making, it just bugs out.. i'll always side with fish given how much fun and time i have spent on their servers, and i can't wait to see the next 1.16.1 server pop up. also, i feel like between foreigners remastered lags a LOT. like if i'm playing a 3v3 on usw, it's sure to need to go to extra high.. if i'm playing a 3v3 on korea (from the US) the lag isn't normally an issue.. very annoying.
|
how the mighty have fallen
|
One can only wonder in what way this is supposed to make Blizzard more money. If nothing else, a ccompany wants that. All these decisions just seem odd and achieve nothing except pissing people off? Shameful display.
|
Is there a way that Fish can run again if playerbase are willing to donate or will it get shutdown by Blizz? F.e. many vanilla WoW servers running because of donations. I don't think for a 20 year old game amount to run a server will be really high, especially on old patch.
I'm really sad SB abandoned, let's see if OpenBW can become something.
|
Blizzards reputation gets worse and worse...
I can only convince my friends to never purchase any blizzard related stuff ever again but that will be like 5-6 less copies of... I don't know, Classic WoW?
|
United Kingdom12027 Posts
On January 20 2018 20:27 jinjin5000 wrote:
sooo why is this exclusive for tiny portion of SCR fanbase, english fanbase, when almost all the fanbase is in korea?
Doesnt make sense to me.
you can say that it smells.... fishy
That's what I want to know. Not sure who you are but you can call this a message from Fish, but once again like last time there's actually 0 evidence to back up this claim what so ever. You're just spouting your opinion and hiding behind the Fish moniker when this has nothing to do with them. There;s never been a single iota of proof that you're from Fish itself.
Also you're ignoring that the people who ran Fish were shady as all hell. Jinjin can confirm
|
On January 20 2018 23:17 Qikz wrote:
Also you're ignoring that the people who ran Fish were shady as all hell. Jinjin can confirm.
At the end of the day, we know what happens when Blizzard takes over. So i prefer everybody else but Blizz.
|
United Kingdom12027 Posts
On January 20 2018 23:40 [AS]Rattus wrote:Show nested quote +On January 20 2018 23:17 Qikz wrote:
Also you're ignoring that the people who ran Fish were shady as all hell. Jinjin can confirm. At the end of the day, we know what happens when Blizzard takes over. So i prefer everybody else but Blizz.
We get 2 massive twitch events that had over 30,000 viewers and a vastly renewed interest in the game?
The player count outside of Korea has gone up considerably since the iCCUP days and although Afreeca are having issues with Blizzard we don't know what those are so we shouldn't judge Blizzard on things we don't understand. Put your pitchforks away and just try and enjoy playing the game.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
