My Dearest Blizzard Entertainment: Fuck You.

[Thespeckledkiwi]

I was planning to buy SC2 (I hardly ever buy PC games anymore), but now it looks like another trip to piratebay.

I suck at RTS's, so no multiplayer isn't a big deal to me.

So... you're going to pirate a game because you'd have to pay if you wanted to use the multiplayer which you aren't going to use anyway?

No. I'll pirate it because of Blizzard's policy of selling one game for the price of three.

Why do you consider it one game for the price of three? It could be THREE separate games.

So, I'm guessing you didn't buy Warcraft III: Frozen Thrones since that content was suppose to be in Warcraft III?

BTW I wonder if they had a lot of content that they couldn't just put in one game, that they knew that they were going to come up with other content after the release and decided to not only split the game but also review the content and the reception and such to work on it later?

You got to remember, Blizzard has a bunch of games in development or working on. While they might be becoming a large gaming company, they are still small compared to others.

 

[NCC1701]

Fuck me. Best case scenario sees the Protoss campaign coming out in 2012 - this is Bilzzard after all, I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't come out til 2015. To put this into perspective, I was 12 when StarCraft was first released. If Wings of Liberty is released next year as planned, I'll be 23. I've literally been waiting half my life for SCII, but that apparently isn't enough for Blizzard

 

[LitmusDragon]

Considering the multiplayer will be fully functional (all 3 races) in the first release, I really don't see what the big deal is.

 

[Cain]

Considering the multiplayer will be fully functional (all 3 races) in the first release, I really don't see what the big deal is.

Some of us enjoy single player campaigns much more than multiplayer. So, as someone who likes the single player campaigns, I have to wait 4 or 5 or maybe 6 years to play a Protoss campaign. That's fucking annoying. Furthermore, since I don't really enjoy multiplayer, I'll have to wait 4 or 5 or 6 years to extensively play the Protoss. It's just stupid.

I'm much more excited about Dawn of War II now and Starcraft II has dropped down on my expectation list.

 

[darthraidr]

here's the first minute of the 4 minute intro cinematic:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41396.html

 

[CaptJimboJones]

I'm always puzzled by this notion that people think can demand particular prices on items. That's now how capitalism works, folks. They company charges as much as they estimate people will pay, and in this case, Blizzard clearly thinks people will pay three times over for SC, so that's how they're pricing it. If they're wrong, and nobody buys the game, believe me, they'll lower the price right away.

Yeah... that's how capitalism works. If a company charges too much for a product, then less people buy it. This is, in essence, people demanding particular prices on items. So I'm puzzled that you understand the relationship between prices and demand, yet don't think popular opinion on pricing matters. Even if they make a profit on this... which is pretty much assured, really... that doesn't mean that people don't have the right to be disappointed in this pricing model.

Oh, I agree. I think people have every right to be disappointed if they don't like the price. My only issue is when they demand a certain price point, as if they have some legitimate right to set product prices, because they're big fans of the particular franchise/series, etc. Like the previous poster who thinks its fine to steal the game because he doesn't like the price.

Trek fans are notorious for this - they screamed and insisted that Paramount "screwed the fans" by pricing Star Trek DVD sets at $100 or more when, in fact, it was the fans who screwed themselves by marching out en masse and paying that much for it.

Blizzard isn't going to voluntarily reduce its profits because fans think they "deserve" lower prices. It just ain't gonna happen.

 

[firehawk12]

here's the first minute of the 4 minute intro cinematic:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41396.html

Ahhh, the ending.

 

[dragunzng]

I was planning to buy SC2 (I hardly ever buy PC games anymore), but now it looks like another trip to piratebay.

I suck at RTS's, so no multiplayer isn't a big deal to me.

So... you're going to pirate a game because you'd have to pay if you wanted to use the multiplayer which you aren't going to use anyway?

No. I'll pirate it because of Blizzard's policy of selling one game for the price of three.

I hope you're joking, if you're not you deserve to be banned. This new age net-born attitude of "entitlement to everything or bust" is really irritating.

If you feel something violates your principles so strongly why not just boycott whatever it is rather than resort to stealing.

On a side note, from what I hear Battle.net isn't going to be pay to play, they're looking at charging for things like realm/server transfers and name changes, which seems prefectly reasonable to me.

 

[firehawk12]

As it stands now though, B.n has no real features that would need to be made premium... at least on the Starcraft 1 end of things.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

So... you're going to pirate a game because you'd have to pay if you wanted to use the multiplayer which you aren't going to use anyway?

No. I'll pirate it because of Blizzard's policy of selling one game for the price of three.

I hope you're joking, if you're not you deserve to be banned. This new age net-born attitude of "entitlement to everything or bust" is really irritating.

If you feel something violates your principles so strongly why not just boycott whatever it is rather than resort to stealing.

On a side note, from what I hear Battle.net isn't going to be pay to play, they're looking at charging for things like realm/server transfers and name changes, which seems prefectly reasonable to me.

Who says it's net-born? Game piracy has been around since you could just tape them.

 

[dragunzng]

Who says it's net-born? Game piracy has been around since you could just tape them.

I wasn't speaking about game piracy specifically, but rather the general feeling that seems to have become widespread with the adoption of the internet that just because the item doesn't exist physically, it isn't really stealing.

Also, there seems to be a growing sentiment among consumers that they're always getting ripped off and they demand "X" despite the fact that this isn't always true, case in point, Brett's intention to pirate Diablo 3 despite the fact that Blizzard has been fairly good to its consumer base .

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Who says it's net-born? Game piracy has been around since you could just tape them.

I wasn't speaking about game piracy specifically, but rather the general feeling that seems to have become widespread with the adoption of the internet that just because the item doesn't exist physically, it isn't really stealing.

Also, there seems to be a growing sentiment among consumers that they're always getting ripped off and they demand "X" despite the fact that this isn't always true, case in point, Brett's intention to pirate Diablo 3 despite the fact that Blizzard has been fairly good to its consumer base .

I can only speak for myself, but I am sick of being treated like a criminal, despite being a paying customer. Anti-piracy ads on dvds, and the cinema, DRM on CDs and video games. These sort of things are more likely to drive me towards piracy. I'll happily pay for music, dvds and games, but these sorts of things just limit paying customers, and don't do a thing to stop piracy.

 

[ATimson]

As it stands now though, B.n has no real features that would need to be made premium... at least on the Starcraft 1 end of things.

Asides from still being operational ten years after launch, yeah.

 

[dragunzng]

I can only speak for myself, but I am sick of being treated like a criminal, despite being a paying customer. Anti-piracy ads on dvds, and the cinema, DRM on CDs and video games. These sort of things are more likely to drive me towards piracy. I'll happily pay for music, dvds and games, but these sorts of things just limit paying customers, and don't do a thing to stop piracy.

I'm not referring to DRM in any way though.

To my knowledge Blizzard hasn't done anything shady or underhanded, at worst they might be guilty of milking the franchise, that doesn't give Brett a license to pirate, at best it gives him a reason to boycott.

Despite my better judgment though I'll comment on your DRM statement. Shortly after Spore was released it was pirated and the torrent posted on various websites. The pirate included a note in the readme that "excused" piracy of the game by saying something to the effect of, "if you're angry with EA's dracononian DRM policy for Spore, let them know about it by pirating the game instead of buying it".

To me that's just as evil, if not more so than the draconian DRM. Companies have a right to do whatever the heck they want with the products they make, we have a right as consumers to tell them to sod off and NOT buy their products.

We don't have a right to pirate them under any cirucmstances, "oh I just use it as a demo to see if I like the game..." etc. etc. If you're so up in arms over principles then stand by them.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I can only speak for myself, but I am sick of being treated like a criminal, despite being a paying customer. Anti-piracy ads on dvds, and the cinema, DRM on CDs and video games. These sort of things are more likely to drive me towards piracy. I'll happily pay for music, dvds and games, but these sorts of things just limit paying customers, and don't do a thing to stop piracy.

I'm not referring to DRM in any way though.

To my knowledge Blizzard hasn't done anything shady or underhanded, at worst they might be guilty of milking the franchise, that doesn't give Brett a license to pirate, at best it gives him a reason to boycott.

Despite my better judgment though I'll comment on your DRM statement. Shortly after Spore was released it was pirated and the torrent posted on various websites. The pirate included a note in the readme that "excused" piracy of the game by saying something to the effect of, "if you're angry with EA's dracononian DRM policy for Spore, let them know about it by pirating the game instead of buying it".

To me that's just as evil, if not more so than the draconian DRM. Companies have a right to do whatever the heck they want with the products they make, we have a right as consumers to tell them to sod off and NOT buy their products.

We don't have a right to pirate them under any cirucmstances, "oh I just use it as a demo to see if I like the game..." etc. etc. If you're so up in arms over principles then stand by them.

.
After Spore, I emailed EA and complained, said I would be thinking twice before purchasing any of their games again. Did I received even an automated "thanks for your feedback, we're sorry to hear that" reply? No.
There are people out there who will pirate regardless of price, regardless of policy, and regardless of whether the product is worth it, those people are not lost sales, they're never going to get money out of them. Is that right? No, but it's the truth. Anti-piracy measures are actually losing them sales, from people like me, who would buy the product.
That's not to say people have a right to pirate, but I think a certain amount of piracy is a good thing. It creates new fans who may buy in the future, and lets people spend their money more wisely on games/music/movies that they actually deserve the popularity.
Again, I'm not saying that makes it right, or gives people the right to do it, but it does happen, and businesses should be glad of that avenues of free exposure, too.

 

[dragunzng]

After Spore, I emailed EA and complained, said I would be thinking twice before purchasing any of their games again. Did I received even an automated "thanks for your feedback, we're sorry to hear that" reply? No.

That sucks but what does that have to do with what we're talking about here? Crappy customer service doesn't give anyone the right to pirate, but as you rightly stated, it gives you the right to boycott.

There are people out there who will pirate regardless of price, regardless of policy, and regardless of whether the product is worth it, those people are not lost sales, they're never going to get money out of them. Is that right? No, but it's the truth. Anti-piracy measures are actually losing them sales, from people like me, who would buy the product.

I don't dispute that point, I think by and large current approaches to DRM are messed up to a ridiculous degree.

That's not to say people have a right to pirate, but I think a certain amount of piracy is a good thing. It creates new fans who may buy in the future, and lets people spend their money more wisely on games/music/movies that they actually deserve the popularity.

I don't disagree with you here, but I hesitate to call it a "good thing". I grew up in a third world country (Nigeria) and pirated games were pretty much all we could afford, actually, you pretty much couldn't find non-pirated games. The proliferation of piracy cemented the PlayStation brand as the defacto gaming platform. This continued into the PS2 era. As a result it could be seen as a "good thing" for Sony, similar to how it's possible PSP piracy might be seen as a "good thing" for the platform in the long run.

But, what about the individual development houses who suffer at the hands of piracy?

Again, I'm not saying that makes it right, or gives people the right to do it, but it does happen, and businesses should be glad of that avenues of free exposure, too.

This is such a skewed viewpoint though. Consider something like Joss Whedon's recently released web-only product Dr. Horrible, paid for out of his own pocket, yet it gets pirated just as any other TV show might. Pirates are pretty indiscriminate, and its hard to argue the benefits of greater exposure if the act ends up running you out of business.

I'm not saying that Blizzard is in danger of going bankrupt, but it would suck beyond belief to pour 2 years of work, sleepless nights and 70 hour work weeks into a project just to see it being downloaded hundreds of thousands of times for free, weeks before its even available in stores. (I'm talking about Fallout 3 right now).

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^I guess the way I was looking at it, boycotts probably don't work, because the publishers will just put the resulting lack of sales down to piracy anyway, and come up with something even worse to "protect" their games. Which will then also be cracked.
I think whoever said these DRMs are more about stopping you selling on your used copy than stopping piracy had it right.
I don't really suppose this has any relevance to Blizzard and Diablo, or Starcraft though.

I suppose good thing depends on whether you're viewing it as a business or artistic venture versus an effort to keep ahold of your own intellectual property.
As a business venture exposure that may lead to more fans and popularity, and more good word of mouth is probably a very good thing. Although I suppose that would work the same way for bad word of mouth.
As an artistic venture any exposure would be a good thing.
But if you're trying to keep the IP, rather than sell it, or increase it's popularity then it would be a bad thing to have it spread without your consent.

I would likely have downloaded Dr. Horrible, if it hadn't been available in this country to watch, but either way I planned on buying it when it's available, and have bought the soundtrack off iTunes. So if it leads to sales, is it really a bad thing?

I can't say I support piracy for the sake of it, but I can understand getting something because you want to try it before spending a lot of money on it, or because you plan on buying it but it isn't available in your region.

 

[Arrqh]

^I guess the way I was looking at it, boycotts probably don't work, because the publishers will just put the resulting lack of sales down to piracy anyway, and come up with something even worse to "protect" their games. Which will then also be cracked.

If your two choices are boycotting and pirating, which one do you think is more likely to get amicable attention from the company involved?

 

[dragunzng]

^I guess the way I was looking at it, boycotts probably don't work, because the publishers will just put the resulting lack of sales down to piracy anyway, and come up with something even worse to "protect" their games. Which will then also be cracked.

If your two choices are boycotting and pirating, which one do you think is more likely to get amicable attention from the company involved?

This is the point I was trying to make in the most long winded way possible.

If everyone just didn't buy their stuff and we told them why we weren't buying their stuff, they'd probably fix what we wanted fixed, because... well, they want to sell their stuff.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^I guess the way I was looking at it, boycotts probably don't work, because the publishers will just put the resulting lack of sales down to piracy anyway, and come up with something even worse to "protect" their games. Which will then also be cracked.

If your two choices are boycotting and pirating, which one do you think is more likely to get amicable attention from the company involved?

This is the point I was trying to make in the most long winded way possible.

If everyone just didn't buy their stuff and we told them why we weren't buying their stuff, they'd probably fix what we wanted fixed, because... well, they want to sell their stuff.

That is true enough. But I still have the feeling a lot of it would be blamed on piracy, without acknowledging the boycotts.