SC2 and the ghost-town effect - Page 6

On March 06 2012 03:29 tenklavir wrote:


Ease of access - There's a button at the bottom of the screen that you click on to open the interface. I assume you want SC2 to open public chat for you as soon as you come in, which not everyone does

Struggle to find people - See above

Channel operators - I assume you mean mods. Private channels maybe though you can always move to a new channel if someone somehow finds you and bothers you. Also, what other options specifically?

Management of channels - ? What better way is there than a list of channels? That's common to both

UI - There's a big box of text, and a list of people to the right. This is different (and according to you, worse) than BWs UI how?

On March 06 2012 02:41 TheRabidDeer wrote:

It is not a matter of social or competition, it is that they want both. Between grinding games they want to chat with friends.

On March 06 2012 02:42 Charger wrote:


It's the same reason I don't like to go play golf by myself, it's just less enjoyable. The game (golf) is the exact same, hell I think I even play better alone but by the end of the afternoon I am basically sprinting to my car to get the fuck out where as if I'm with my buddies having a few cold ones I don't ever want to leave the course. That's how it used to be. For me personally I used to spend hours just idling in chat channels on D2 bnet, doing other things but keeping an eye out for that one trade I needed. It was worth my time to leave the game open because there was a community there. Now, with SC 2, there is absolutely no reason at all to leave the game open after I play a few games.

Some days I feel like you do; I want to just hop on and ladder in peace. But it would be nice to at least have the option of hanging out in a real chat channel or watch a replay with my buddy or whatever. And it's not JUST the chat channels, it's a combination of all of the incredible shortcomings of Bnet that contribute to the lack of community within the game such as no shared replay watching, to clan support, shitty chat channels, etc.

Thank god for TL.

On March 06 2012 04:28 fraktoasters wrote:


Ok people seem to be way too caught up on just chat channels when what we're really talking about is clans + chat channels. I don't think anyone really just wanted public chat support. It's the chat in combination with the clans that made it a real social environment.

I never went on public/private chat channels in WC3. All I did was go to clan channels. People in the clan can moderate the channel. Just being in the same clan as someone makes it easier to socialize. You have some thing to work towards because your wins go into a collective clan stat. It's way easier to find practice partners; if you're in the same clan everyone is much more willing to practice and obs and give feedback. People naturally have a place to go to find like minded people because clans would usually be focused on 1v1, dota, or arranged teams.

I can't express how important clans are. Can you imagine playing an MMO without clan support?

And FYI, the chat boxes in SC2 are really small.

On March 06 2012 04:43 drcatellino wrote:
Nowadays it is so easy to just alt-tab and go to TL or whatever online community site to chat with people. So many streams, topics, guides. It might not be in the game itself, but honestly I'm happy to just hit "PLAY", do my ladder game, then go to TL if I feel like I need to be connected to the community.

On March 06 2012 04:36 R3DT1D3 wrote:


And you can in the current system. You can use the in game chat or some other third party program like almost every other community does. I don't see how Blizzard dumping you into a cesspit of open chat would be preferable.



Golf doesn't require 2 people to play though. Amateur golfers don't golf to get better, they golf to hang out. I play SC2 to get better and if my friends are on, I'll chat with them on Steam or Ventrilo. Blizzard isn't the bottleneck here.

The shared replay thing would be great though.

On March 06 2012 04:50 TheV wrote:


I agree with this, I know there are a lot of things SC2 could be better at, but more community touch won't solve anything, I care about playing. I think in deep statistics are way more important, maybe clan support would be nice.

On March 06 2012 02:19 Alacast wrote:
Just because the social interaction doesn't exist within the confines of the game program itself, doesn't mean it's not there. For example, you're on TL, a primarily Starcraft related website with more depth and content than any in-game chat program could ever provide. I have never found public chat channels in any game to be rewarding or fun; more often than not I read them with a sense of terror at the sheer stupidity and ignorance of the human race and eventually fled, never to return.

I honestly think Starcraft suffers from the fact that it's simply difficult to learn, and while its predecessor was able to single-handedly capture a majority of the gaming community, it also came at a time when "social" games eg: easy shit that requires more time than effort (read World of Warcraft) didn't yet exist. Gamers were a small sect of "basement dwelling" nerds who were smart and dedicated to their passion. Those people still exist and they continue to dedicate time and effort into learning and improving their skills, but they are overshadowed by a larger community of social games and gamers.

My entire last paragraphs was opinion and anecdotal, so back to reality. Starcraft lacks the tools to teach people even the basics of playing the game. Yes, it teaches people how to make and control units and buildings, but there is absolutely no higher-level information available within the game to help people. All of my friends are afraid to even try to learn it because they don't know where to start-that's why people don't play. It's hard and it takes a significant amount of effort to even find a guide on what the hell you're supposed to be doing. Sure chat channels might help in this aspect, but how much constructive criticism can you expect from a public chat channel that isn't flippant or disrespectful?

I'm rambling, but my point is that the learning curve is steep and there is no method INSIDE THE GAME to actually figure out how to play. Campaign is terrible and the challenges are a joke (except for opening gambit, which is alright but really lacks the information on how you should do things and why).