SC2Mapster

Quote:

Blizzard is having a tough time creating its promised Marketplace for Battle.net – so much so that it's not sure it'll ever launch.

Blizzard is currently hard at work trying to implement the feature, but admitted to Eurogamer that it's "struggling".

"As you can imagine there is an immense number of challenges for us to overcome," StarCraft II design lead Dustin Browder told Eurogamer in a new interview.

"We're trying to deal with those issues. I don't know how we're going to solve some of the player rights issues. How do players protect their own maps so they don't get ripped off by other players? What are the rules of how much you're allowed to charge? There's just a ton of work for us to figure out.

"We've never, ultimately, built anything like this before. Some of our competitors have and more power to them. But we haven't done it yet. So there's going to be a bunch of work for us to figure out how to get this done. But it's something we're working on."

Real-time strategy game StarCraft II launched to critical and commercial success in July last year. With it came an editor that has allowed users to create a raft of eye-catching mods.

The Battle.net Marketplace, announced at Blizzcon 2009, would enable StarCraft II modders to publish both free and "premium maps".

It was supposed to launch soon after StarCraft II, but in classic Blizzard fashion the Marketplace will be done when it's done.

"It's definitely a distance down the road," Browder said. "It's not in the next month. It's going to be some distance before we get this in the hands of the fans."

Is there a chance the marketplace may never release?

"Who knows, dude? Anything is possible," was Browder's frank response. "We've cancelled whole games before. Warcraft Adventures never made it out and that game was basically done.

"But we are working very hard on it. We have a bunch of people dedicated to it. I have every hope and belief and faith in its success and we're absolutely committed to getting it done."

Source

Not too surprising actually. We have all witnessed their incompetency with BNET. Why should this be any different? So far it looks like they are only good at making the game and fail when it comes to support services.

Yeah this doesn't concern me a huge amount... we all knew it would be at *least* one full year after the launch of SC2.

It takes a long long long time for anything of quality to pop up anyways, up until this point, no custom map/mod released would be close to a "premium" one. This stuff takes time, and there's plenty of mod teams working away on some really good looking stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if this comes with heart of the swarm - who knows...

I do hope they fix it...

I actually kind of feel like this is good news because I never liked the marketplace idea to begin with. I felt it was just a tool for them to get money from map maker's efforts. It's true that they provided the engine and assets and that the modders will also get some money out of it too, but I still didn't like the way they went on about it.

It was something that was all talk; there was never any previews for it, not even a really rough one like of alpha screenshots. So it's not like it was much of a realistic goal to begin with for the first year or so of release. Besides, there is an expansion which is supposedly in development for a release in the next couple of years. That should be taking preference.

This is something towards the end of the list for the needs of the community anyway. For starters, releasing the assets promised from alpha would be nice. Yay! It's a Nullifier icon with no model to go with it. Weren't they already complete from alpha? Or perhaps they could work on the 7 month problem that is the popularity system.

It's amazing how they are able to admit when they're unsure of the quality of their product. How many other companies are willing to cancel games or features because they know they aren't perfect, especially when they know they could make more money from just releasing a game in its sub-par state?

This type of attitude is very rare in the industry. They deserve immense respect for it.

The market place was never really a "core-component" it was more of just a possibility they would like to see.

I think the realization about certain draw-backs to the custom content creation system such as "map-protection" have them second guessing themselfs. The cons of bringing thier system up to par to handle it may out weight the pros.

In the end I believe we may see a "store" where you down-load custom-campaign packs and such but at no fee.

lol@blizzard

@Vexal: Go

It can be hard to admit you are wrong and I do agree that Blizzard should be respected for this, however I also find it annoying when they promise things at major conventions such as Blizzcon and then don't deliver after you have purchased the game.

While my previous post may sound a little harsh, I intended it to be more realistic than anything. From memory, there were no updates or previews about the marketplace since Blizzcon 2009.

@SouLCarveRR: Go

I think that the existing system would need a tremendous amount of work to cater for this system. As you mentioned, map protection needs work, but that is only one of the pieces in the puzzle. The way they seem to describe the premium maps is something similar a big custom campaign. It is is not currently possible to do that kind of mod with the current user upload limits.

Even the sales of the maps will have to be handled delicately, because there is no way to fully ensure that the uploader of a map is the legit creator. Another issue to consider is server resets wiping the map database, losing your past map transactions.

If a user removes their map that others have paid for, just imagine how many people will demand their money back. If Blizzard take control of the ownership of the map on the server to prevent this, updates will be much harder to deal with as well.

@VoidPotato: Go

I suppose another issue is the maker of the map is able to update the map however he or she wishes at any time. If you purchased it at some point when you liked it, you might not like a future update.

Even in the Apple App Store, you can choose to not update an app and still use it.

@Vexal: Go

Broken maps were a bit of a problem in Warcraft 3. Maps could be locked effectively, so if it was no longer maintained then good luck playing it in the latest patch! Most of these problems occurred with the patches that addressed vulnerabilities which could not be reversed for security reasons.

Just imagine a situation where you pay for a map and it is broken due to a recent patch and but the modder no longer plays/ updates the map. Now imagine that happening to a player base equal to the entire DotA community.

Bank protection is another problem, because when you start paying for maps cheating becomes much more of an issue. Modifying bank data already annoys plenty of players in free to play maps and without secure map locking, encrypting the bank is just another delay instead of a roadblock.

I'd like to see the marketplace no earlier than Legacy of the Void.

Blizzard should take their time and not just put out a shitty marketplace just because they "promised" to have it. Take your time IMO because once people pay even a dollar for a custom map they will feel as if they are somewhat invested and complain even more about all that posted above^^

So take your time Blizzard .... I would rather have a fully functional working marketplace than anything half done with little to no support.

Agreed. Blizzard needs to take as much time as possible to make sure it works 100% before it comes out. Anything less than a perfect implementation will drive people away from the marketplace, and that's not good if you want to release content there.

Before they get to the Marketplace they need to fix things like map protection. Unless something changed recently, it's still very easy to steal someone's map.

@Kanaru: Go

Which is what I believe one of their biggest issues is. iPhone (non jailbroken) prevents this issue quite easily... but we can't exactly lock out peoples computers lol in the same way that an iPhone does (no file browser or CMD).

I understand their pain, and wish them luck as it's something I'm looking forward to. They have a million angry customers waiting to bash the marketplace because they were used to free maps for 10 years. Hard position... but ultimately I think the best one for the future. Blizz is usually ahead of the game with their products, even if they release quite late :D

no no no

Blizzard:

FIX THE CUSTOM GAME LIST BEFORE YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT THE MARKETPLACE.

Thank you.

no no no

Yes, and also the maximum allocated space. 2 gigs per applicant would be a start.

Besides, not all SC2 players make maps, and so their servers can prioritize actual map makers who need the space. Map makers will submit an application to get the space. I'm sure there is a way to optimize this setting and minimize unused space.

I suggest they address these issues too. Also, I would suggest revamping the Join Game panel.