This is an open discussion post about one of the more controversial, yet somewhat overlooked points of the recently unveiled Battle.net 2.0 feature list. The pay-per-game/mod/map marketplace slated to be integrated within the upcoming platform. Even within the tight circle of SC2Blog editors and contributors, there has been some disagreement regarding the Marketplace’s benefits to the modding and gaming community, and so, we have decided to publish two opposing opinion pieces on the subject, as well as a new poll, to see where the community stands on this issue.

Premium Content Marketplace Concerns:

For over a decade, Blizzard has shipped its RTS titles with powerful editors, much to the delight to the highly active and supportive mapping and modding communities.
Ever since WarCraft 2, the community has been pumping out maps, scenarios and campaigns, extending and expanding the game worlds via platforms and tools provided by Blizzard.
StarCraft and WarCraft 3 communities have provided players with thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of maps, custom game scenarios and campaigns; my own WarCraft 3 folder contains over 5000 maps, none of which were developed with monetary compensation in mind.

Even Blizzard’s MMORPG title, World of WarCraft, comes with a powerful and relatively easy to customize User Interface (UI) Application Program Interface (API), which has been taken to its limits by modders around the world. Almost every player in the World of WarCraft uses extensions and macros in order to be a better party member, professional, merchant or PvPer. Unlike RTS players, who enjoy the products of the community solely because of the unlimited growth in gameplay variance, WoW players virtually depend on quality UI enhachment for actual gameplay.

During BlizzCon 2009, Blizzard has finally unveiled what we assume to be the current, well thought-out vision of the new Battle.net.
A Battle.net that follows you everywhere – into your single-player games, into the campaign, you friend lists and interactions, you account settings and data, you system setup (as anyone who has enrolled into the beta can testify), and without a doubt, your payment info.

Now, considering the fact that Battle.net will not be a pay-per-play service (no matter how many false rumors start regarding this issue), all of the aforementioned points are not in any way negative. Blizzard is just leveraging its gaming worlds and infrastructure to create a better social, gaming and competitive experience.

The Marketplace, however, stands out in the Battle.net feature list not because it’s the only one which might cost gamers money, but because it’s the only one that does not, in fact, cater to gamers. As Rob Pardo put it, one of  Blizzard’s primary concerns is to ensure that leading modders and game developers make use of its tools, and the Marketplace will be launched as an incentive for luring them in.

We want to make sure the best amateur game designers out there are making content for StarCraft II, and not for Kongregate or Steam or anything like that.

The marketplace is not aimed at community generated maps and home-grown Tower Defense games, but premium, commercial, moderated and approved maps and game mods.
Blizzard will be the one moderating the maps and approving the marketplace-worthy content, so you are unlikely to be charged for downloading the latest Micro Wars Footman Extra 1.5 because someone added an extra level. Blizzard will be in charge for drawing the invisible line between maps that took months of true amateur effort to create but have to be distributed for free, and maps that were professionally designed and developed over a couple of weeks that will bring in tens of thousands in download dollars.

Blizzard will be the gatekeeper and moderator of content, creating clear segregation between amateur and professionals, and forcing gamers into chain-reaction purchasing in order to play with friends who have acquired these premium-developer maps.
Upon deployment, Battle.net 2.0 will undoubtedly become the biggest and most advanced integrated gaming platform in the world, with hundreds of thousands of concurrent users and millions of page/screen views per minute. If anything, it is Blizzard’s best interest to inject professional, original and exciting content into the system, free of charge for its users, in order to keep people coming back and using the system, monetizing the platform in other, less intrusive ways.

Premium Content Marketplace Advantages:

On the other hand, the new marketplace could provide an impetus to take the StarCraft 2 engine to heights never seen before and never imagined possible with the old editors. When discussing the marketplace, a few important details and statements by the developers have to be considered.

Firstly, lets take a look at the most famous and one of the most invested in custom maps in any Blizzard game to date – Defense of The Ancients. This WarCraft 3 custom map has a larger player- and fan-base than most  popular original titles which use their own game-engines. It is being played on pro-level in tournaments. It has had songs written about it. Last year, Gamasutra declared that DoTA is “likely the most popular and most-discussed free, non-supported game mod in the world“. Surely such a well-developed, extremely popular, and highly praised custom map would achieve premium status?

Not according to Blizzard.

Both Mike Morhaime, Blizzard’s president, and Dustin Browder, lead game designer, have stated that maps such as DoTA will NOT make the cut for premium status and will NOT require payment. The reasoning? They only use WarCraft 3 assets, without significantly adding any new content to the game, such as new mechanics and interfaces, sound effects, models, or voice acting.

Evidently, Blizzard will employ strict criteria to decide which maps will be worth your money. Karune has mentioned this recently:

Premium maps will have requirements, but those are still to be determined.

Premium status will be reserved for the cream of the crop of StarCraft 2 mods. This is perhaps a good term to use for differentiating premium and non-premium maps. While DoTA is a custom map, using the original game’s units, map sets, animations and models, a ghost-esque total conversion, such as the concept presented during the Galaxy Editor Blizzcon presentation, would be a true mod and would indeed deserve premium status.

Further, with the promise of monetary reward, StarCraft 2 mods could be taken to the extreme. Development teams would be able to form, supported by publishers (or perhaps Blizzard themselves?), and create entire new games using the Galaxy Editor and based on the StarCraft 2 engine. Indeed, proper support for large developmental efforts is planned:

Q: Any plans for group collaboration on maps?

n

A: Yes, there are plans to give modders and artists products and share it with other people. You can import triggers so a person can work on a different part of a map.

Just like Id software engines, such as the ones used for Doom and the Quake series, have been licensed and used to create many other games due to their technological superiority, the StarCraft 2 editor will allow the StarCraft engine to be taken to new extremes, producing creative content thanks to its flexible nature and ease of use. Blizzard has already confirmed that modders will be able to create entire single player campaigns, attach achievements to them, and even use the ranked match-making system if they create highly competitive games.

All in all, this change will benefit everyone involved: from the developers who invest a lot of time and effort into their creations, to Blizzard, who deserve all the credit for supplying them with this versatile platform, to gamers, who will enjoy the fruits of these endeavors.

* * * *

Knowing where the modding and gaming communities stand on the issue of paying for premium content should be of great concern for Blizzard, even they haven’t initiated an open discussion on the topic. Hopefully, quantifying the community’s views and opinions on the issue can help Blizzard provide both gaming and developer communities with the best experience possible. Be sure to vote in the poll on the sidebar and state what you think of the upcoming Marketplace platform.

Related Posts:

• » Two Massive Q&A Sessions: Battle.Net and Beta In-Depth
• » StarCraft 2 Beta: Protoss Strategies Overview
• » StarCraft 2 Beta: Yo Mommaship Got Nerfed
• » One Week Into The StarCraft 2 Beta: New Patch, Blizzcast

18 Comments to “Battle.net 2.0 Marketplace and Premium Content Fees”

1. AnnihilatorX — September 4, 2009 @ 10:13 am
   

   It’s quite naive to expect the community to do anything but object premium content fees.
   While I don’t think that this Apple app-store like system will fail, I do think that it will create a distinct separation between players that are willing to pay for elaborate StarCraft 2 mods and those who stick to regular, classic games.

2. George — September 4, 2009 @ 11:39 am
   

   No it’s not. I agree with the second viewpoint! This will be a huge drive for developers and will make available games that would never be created otherwise. As long as they don’t get too greedy with pricing, this has a great potential and I’ll be happy to pay for good games. What does it matter if it’s based on the SC2 engine and editor? It’s a game and people buy those when they’re good.

3. THE_BANANA_REPUBLIC — September 4, 2009 @ 11:49 am
   

   the options for the poll are decisive. All seem to lean toward the idea that buying premium maps are bad.

4. ErkZ — September 4, 2009 @ 1:55 pm
   

   I can see it being only a matter of time before some of the most popular maps, like DotA are upgraded to meet the premium requirements and their free versions become abandoned.

5. D.MAN — September 4, 2009 @ 3:47 pm
   

   I think that instead of putting a premium on an amazing game, will really limit the number of people who would play it, they should make it possible to play it a few times, before paying, like a demo. THink about it, if u dont even know whwat something is, other than a name, and a price, why would you buy it/
   Also, i hope thye make it so the begining map shown in the picture, isnt a picture, but that like the backround moves around the starcraft universe, with differnt ships and units flaying around and such, im just sayin that would be cool.

6. Anonymous — September 4, 2009 @ 3:51 pm
   

   Activision just wants more money. That’s it.

7. SikTh — September 4, 2009 @ 6:29 pm
   

   Everyone wants more money.

8. Anonymous — September 4, 2009 @ 8:07 pm
   

   It’s Blizzard, not Activision. Activision Blizzard is the combined company but Blizzard is an autonomous company.

9. Chef — September 4, 2009 @ 8:35 pm
   

   I am willing to pay for professional content, provided I can pay directly, as opposed to buying $30 of “blizz-credit” and spending it on a $2 game.
   I also believe that if blizzard are charging real money for mods, then these mods should be treated as stand alone games, and people should be able to purchase them stand alone, including the SC2 engine, without needing to purchase SC2. I know that’s not going to happen though.

10. THE_BANANA_REPUBLIC — September 5, 2009 @ 1:12 am
    

    It seems to me that there are a lot of mal-informed opinions being spouted on this premium content thing. I believe that it is the developers who decide whether or not they choose to develop a premium map. We’ll still have plenty of free madness/tower/dota/rpg/fps/scroller maps. No problem.

    Premium content is not mutually exclusive with the traditional, free, use map settings maps as seen in wc3.

    So quit your bitchin’. $$ goes to developers.

11. SC2 Fan — September 5, 2009 @ 7:19 am
    

    It’s alright for me if they choose to sell Premium Titled games to the public. As long as it’s priced equal to a normal game. I’ve seen DotA VCD’s being sold everywhere, despite it being just a mod to Warcraft 3. I don’t think people care if DotA’s designed from Warcraft 3 engines, it’s still one heck of a game to play.

    Sure, there will be SO MANY other map mods like Warcraft 3 has, but keep in mind that not all of the community-made maps are worth playing. DotA is an exception, but what about the rest? I personally do not think mods like Tower Defense can be made to a big game and compiled into a VCD, it’s just a mini-game for the gamers to enjoy.

    But for nice games like DotA, if there is a chance that modders and developers are able to create a mod using SC2 engines WAY better that DotA, why not? If it deserves a Premium, than it does. If it’s a darn good game, it’s worth being marketed as a game by itself, with giving credits to SC2.

    I’m a gamer myself, and I understand that we all love good games, even better if we do not have to pay for it, but look it in another point of view, having the Premium Title will allow games which are the best among the best to be recognized globally, among gamers. This way, I would certainly pay more attention to what games/mods that have earned the Premium, and I would certainly try to get my hands on those games/mods, providing the pricing is reasonable. Those games would be of more priority to gamers than other normal/decent mods.

12. Anonymous — September 5, 2009 @ 7:34 am
    

    From what I read, Blizzard wants to, like they said, “keep a chain-reaction purchasing”. It really sounds more like “chain-reaction money income”. Not everyone is able to purchase/download things online that requires payment through online/credit card/etc, you know? What about those teenage gamers, those die hard StarCraft fans that play SC2 and keep up-to-date with the latest, coolest, awe-inspiring maps/mods?

    I mean, I don’t’ expect Blizzard to be targeting much more older players, who have 3 or 4 credit cards in their wallet, are they? I mean, payment online is something too much for the gamers, especially when most of them don’t even own a credit card yet.

    it’s good enough that Blizzard didn’t make SC2 like WoW, but doing this marketing, casual gamers will not be able to experience playing mods as good, or maybe better, than DotA. Then, only those rich/well-income people with credit cards will be able to play them. It’s just not, practical in my opinion

13. Anonymous — September 5, 2009 @ 7:05 pm
    

    Since i have to believe the vast majority of people making maps will be amateurs, the maps that make the premium cut will most likely be few and far between. Assuming of course blizzard has high standards, but we all know they do
    so i figure the vast majority of custom maps will be free. Though i’ve seen some amazing work done with warcraft 3, and there was never any incentive of cash to make those campaigns and maps.
    I guess my point is that EXTREMELY high should be met before a game is given premium status, to ensure people are paying for something worth paying for, and that there are enough TD’s and footie maps for the rest of us

14. ErkZ — September 6, 2009 @ 11:10 am
    

    While I agree with the post above mine that the majority of maps will be free, I expect that once people start seeing their maps gaining monstrous popularity, like DotA, they’ll say to themselves, “Self, I could use a bit more money. Why don’t I put in the extra effort to meet the premium requirements.” And then the chain game starts.

15. SikTh — September 6, 2009 @ 12:56 pm
    

    I don’t get it.

    You don’t have money – don’t buy games. How is complaining about it different from complaining about anything costing money?
    If people take the time and effort to make something, anything, why is it suddenly wrong to give them money for it in exchange? Be thankful that you have so many free maps to play with.

16. chrysrobyn — September 8, 2009 @ 3:01 pm
    

    I’d easily pay $5 for a DOtA that would support my Mac with tools like banlists and pings. The developer put in a lot of time, and seemingly for nothing other than practice and resume building.

    Of course, if IceFrog decided that every minor update was another $5, or that the whole thing was more than $10, or that my Mac means I’m still a second class citizen, I’m going to stick with free stuff.

17. Remscar — October 8, 2009 @ 5:48 pm
    

    I am a map maker for WC3, and i have to say the idea of needing to buy premium content is ridiculous. No one is going to pay $2 for a random map that no one has ever heard of. Think of HL2 and all of the HL2 mods, you don’t have to buy the mods, the mods are 100% free. But you HAVE to buy the HL2 engine. Blizzard needs to stop thinking about nickle and dime-ing people and start thinking more towards open source. I mean the already make about 4.5 million dollars A DAY from WoW. Think how good Valve is doing, and they don’t have a single MMORPG, and they have successfully put out countless games. Maybe if a map/mod is EXTREMELY GOOD like for example Garrysmod or Killing floor then i would see the logic in releasing it for money. But charging 1-3 dollars just to play a single mod is outrageous. Its like turning sc2 into Combat arms or other games. And Blizzard keeps on thinking that they need to continue working on sc2 making it better and better, well please blizzard. Tie up the loose ends and get this game out! You can always release patches if you would like to add things.

18. Andrew — February 24, 2010 @ 6:10 pm
    

    The point is that you can have a mutually beneficial relationship with developers. A company/group of people could create a high quality game using the engine. The developers can save a ton of money on publicity, engine development, distribution, etc (half your money goes to retailers when buying the game). This can add value to your SC2 purchase, getting games for $5-$20 or whatever the pricing scheme is. Which might be comparable to $15-$50 retail games. If the editor is that flexible.

    Wouldn’t be so bad if the best of the Warcraft 3 maps were ~ $1 (with free updates) or like $.10 each. Or if you just had to pay to get a host-able version so you could get people to play. But i don’t think the store is for maps, or what the editor can do relatively easily. Its meant for unique uses of the engine.

    It could be quite good for Blizzard, developers, and players, if its done well. If not done properly it would most likely just end up being a relatively useless feature of SC2. At worst the content should be similar to WC3 customs. At best you’ll have better free content (to demo premium) and more content worth a few $$ to add value and longevity to your SC2 purchase.