Hope for sc2!

[IskatuMesk]

http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/270/blizzards-frank-pearce-interview

This interview has restored my faith in Blizzard! I'm going to go preorder right now.

Spoiler

TOS and EULA, you actually have to opt out to not have your personal details shared with the company and other partners of yours. What was the thought behind this? If you have your names on your Battle.net accounts, you need to email Blizzard to opt out of sharing that information with your partners and third-parties.

Another thing I thought you'd promised was chat rooms within Battle.net...

Nope. No plans for specific chat rooms at this time. You'll be able to open up chats direct with your friends, and when we add clans and groups there'll be chats for your clans and groups, but no specific plans for chat rooms right now. Do you really want chat rooms?

Loads of people within the community are wanting Looking For Group chat rooms, and that sort of thing.

Well, if we've done our job right in terms of the matchmaking service, then hopefully they won't feel like they'll need it for that service.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WHAT THE FUCK MANG

[Xenon]

Sheeeeeeesh, all they need is for the Blizzard CEO to come out and say "DEATH TO CHATROOMS!!!" instead of constantly dancing around the issue.

[Mr.]

"Loads of people within the community ar-"

"We don't give a shit."



Wow, and here I had some optimism that they MIGHT listen to 262423623573 people saying they want chat channels. 

[Falchion]

For Brazil and Russia, you have a semi-subscription planned for StarCraft. Will the single-player also be unavailable after the initial couple of months of Battle.net?

That's actually something we're still talking about, and we don't have a final decision on how we're going to handle that. Discussions are still going on, so it's hard to say.

Wait a second...  DOES THAT MEAN THEY'LL MAKE SINGLE PLAYER UNAVAILABLE FOR ME???

[Ricky_Honejasi]

If Blizzard fights that much to not add chat rooms despite all the public requests for them, it means Blizzard is failing a cardinal law of business : listen to your customers.

They could have excuses of some kind (even if they are very questionable yet could have a shred of truth) for everything else. But this time they just plain prove they will just stick to their bad ideas to the end especially for something that is ridiculously easy to implement.

[IskatuMesk]

Hey man, at least he's being honest. They could beat around the bush with stupid excuses but the fact is they don't give a fuck because they know Sc2 is going to sell regardless.

[Ardis]

I have to say, he does make a point about the "Do you really want chat rooms?" thing... At least to me. I don't know about everyone else, but in all the years I've played Starcraft on Battle.net, I don't think I've ever used the chat rooms (maybe once or twice when I first started playing online), I was usually looking over the list of games for something that looked fun/didn't lag and if gutting the chat rooms will reduce that lag even slightly, I won't miss them.

[Ricky_Honejasi]

Hey man, at least he's being honest. They could beat around the bush with stupid excuses but the fact is they don't give a fuck because they know Sc2 is going to sell regardless.

True, that ill give the guy that much.

EDIT :

I have to say, he does make a point about the "Do you really want chat rooms?" thing... At least to me. I don't know about everyone else, but in all the years I've played Starcraft on Battle.net, I don't think I've ever used the chat rooms (maybe once or twice when I first started playing online), I was usually looking over the list of games for something that looked fun/didn't lag and if gutting the chat rooms will reduce that lag even slightly, I won't miss them.

He might have a point up a certain point. However the thing is chatrooms are ridiculously cheap time-wise and cost-wise to implement AND people are requesting them yet still don't listen to the customers that will use/need them.

EDIT 2 : Although I guess my bigger point is if they don't listen for such a basic thing, how the heck they listen for anything else that they have more at stake in some form or another?

[Mr.]

I have to say, he does make a point about the "Do you really want chat rooms?" thing... At least to me. I don't know about everyone else, but in all the years I've played Starcraft on Battle.net, I don't think I've ever used the chat rooms (maybe once or twice when I first started playing online), I was usually looking over the list of games for something that looked fun/didn't lag and if gutting the chat rooms will reduce that lag even slightly, I won't miss them.

I don't think I've played Starcraft in the past... I don't know, several years WITHOUT using chat channels.  Every time I go on, I'm meeting some friends in a certain channel.  I haven't played a game of Starcraft with random dudes in sooooooooooo long.  But with SC1, we could just get on battle net, get in the channel, and just start playing.  If somebody else wants to join in later, they can join the channel, and be there when we finish the game.  Someone wants to invite a new friend, they just give them the channel name, and they show up, regardless of whether or not he's on anyone's friend list, or without having to invite them.

That's what chat rooms mean to me, the ability for players to come and go from a group conversation as they please.  There's no such thing as an open invitation in SC2. 

[IskatuMesk]

I have to say, he does make a point about the "Do you really want chat rooms?" thing... At least to me. I don't know about everyone else, but in all the years I've played Starcraft on Battle.net, I don't think I've ever used the chat rooms (maybe once or twice when I first started playing online), I was usually looking over the list of games for something that looked fun/didn't lag and if gutting the chat rooms will reduce that lag even slightly, I won't miss them.

Chat rooms don't lag.

Chat rooms provide a means to encourage community interactivity, longetivity, and growth.

Every game service for an RTS to date has had chat rooms to my knowledge, save the shitty ones no one remembers after release. Only the extreme minority thinks of chat channels as insignificant.

I would never have used a forum without chat channels. I'd never have met mappers without chat channels. I'd never have gotten involved in competitive playing without chat channels. I would not be here without chat channels.

I made LoL for SS largely because of the capacity for us to talk to each other which we wouldn't be able to do without chat channels.
I started modding and dropped making campaigns because of my ability to communicate to potential players for my AI mod in 2000 in chat channels.

Chat channels are a fundamental feature of ANYTHING that even remotely engages in the usage of custom content and competitive play.

Understand that not having chat channels alienates 95% of the playerbase from each other and effectively isolates everyone. It will be fatal to Starcraft 2 over time as players get bored and lose interest, especially "casual" players like me who like to idle in chat.

[archon_wing]

fucking unbelievalbe.

I don't care anymore; someone needs to get kicked in the balls for this shit. Yes, I have preordered the game but I'll end up screwing on a bit and definitely not buying their fucking expansions if they keep this shit up.

Can't even have features that were in the original game. Fucking pathetic. Fuck fuck fuck.

[Xelxiuz]

1. Not wanting to admit they have no way to stop spam bots.

2. Coerced by Facebook to limit additional ways to socialize in-game.

3. Not wanting to admit their voice chat system is even worse off than HON's. 

However, it is true though that the majority of their public channels in any of their games whether it's SC1, D2, WC3 are pretty much useless; but that's because it's too vague to begin with. Even those trashy D2 trade channels still see some usage, and that's a game that should be LONG DEAD.

[wibod]

I just want to troll people in chat channels, is that honestly that bad? Cause some of the most fun I've had with SC was trolling Enigma, Overlord_cox and TerranFail during FF.

[Thalraxal]

The decsion to not include Chat channels and near refusal to consider adding them just seems so bizzare.  Multiplayer is a social activity, it would be logical to include the most basic form of internet-based social interactions, yes?

Still, that seems to be the trend in Blizzard-based multiplayer.  WoW's dungeon finder means you never actually have to talk to anyone in your PuG.  Just join-up, kill stuff, and drop after you wipe on the first boss because everyone else in your party sucks without even saying a word.

Most of my chatroom based activities in SC, D2 and WC3 are "go to a private channel with the people I'm playing with" and that can be replicated with SC2's "party chat" system,  but it strikes me that just keeping the chat-channel system they already have would have been a whole lot simpler.

[Mr.]

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=25170837167&sid=5000&pageNo=1

Currently 24 page "petition" on the battle net forums for chat channels.  It will in all likelihood be ignored or deleted, but adding another name to the list can't hurt.