Campaign Creations

Hell yeah, I'll sell them for like $10 each so noone will get them so there is no chance anyone will crack em open and steal my awesome discoveries!

I wonder how patching will work. Would you subscribe to a certain map, and have it update automatically?

This whole discussion does indirectly hinge on "protection" methods actually working and for content to actually be "protected" somehow at all. 

I sort of wonder if it wouldn't make sense for Blizzard to just release a "premium maps" section that you could buy into the whole thing of, and then profit would come from how much it is played/downloaded. 

And I also wonder whether this whole system won't dramatically slow down the general quality of maps, if people are much pickier about protecting mapmaking techniques then you'll have a lot more frequency of multiple people having to 'discover' the same thing twice.

Basically, it still seems like there's more questions than answers for the whole thing.

I'm not worried.  It's 1998 vs 2010.  The Internet is everywhere compared to back then.  Blizzard is a huge and renowned company.  I believe the frequency of free maps and pay maps will equal out.  I believe there will be extremely successful pay maps, as well as mediocre ones. 

My personal turning point for pay vs free is probably going to be around 13k.  If I can make more than 13k selling a group of maps or a mod or whatever, then I'd consider it a good enough reason to sell out, so to speak.  Anything less than that though and I'd much rather just release it for everyone to enjoy.  Turning a hobby into a profession would be a dream come true for me.  Doing what I love, getting paid for it, and enjoying my work.  Even if it only lasts a few years, its a few years of bliss.  So I'll let others pioneer this path, and if it looks good, I'll jump aboard.  But I'm not making any plans.

Krazy wrote: This whole discussion does indirectly hinge on "protection" methods actually working and for content to actually be "protected" somehow at all. 

I sort of wonder if it wouldn't make sense for Blizzard to just release a "premium maps" section that you could buy into the whole thing of, and then profit would come from how much it is played/downloaded. 

And I also wonder whether this whole system won't dramatically slow down the general quality of maps, if people are much pickier about protecting mapmaking techniques then you'll have a lot more frequency of multiple people having to 'discover' the same thing twice.

Basically, it still seems like there's more questions than answers for the whole thing.

In terms of the copy-protection scheme, I'm really hoping that it's going to be a no-edit, but still allow access to viewing the map itself.  One of the best ways to learn how to do stuff in StarEdit has always been to see how someone else did it.  Having half the maps produced lockdowned won't help newbies learn.

For the Premium maps themselves though... I suspect that they'll be primarily stored "in the cloud" and not directly on your computer.  On the plus side, you'll be able to access them with your account on any computer!

I didn't even know you could sell them (is that part of the beta-key contest). If you can then you hire people to make a better game and increase the quality, hire contractors etc

If you stink at terraining, just pay someone 250 (or whatever) to do it and whamo
http://kotaku.com/5343006/blizzard-you-may-sell-your-starcraft-2-maps-on-battlenet-eventually

I think selling maps that I have created myself is a bit of a paradox, because of two things:

1.) User-generated content is supposed to be free in my opinion. The money I would receive from selling my maps would be nice, but it would be in conflict with my own personal opinions.
2.) The amount of maps of really good quality probably won't be that big. Also, most people that are talented at creating really nice maps have probably taken time to understand and practice with the Editor. And since they probably put quite some effort in their maps they deserve some kind of repayment.

Altough some things that I don't understand remain: The maps that have been created with the Starcraft 2 Editor, are those property of Blizzard or property of the map-developers?

Sheephead wrote: I think selling maps that I have created myself is a bit of a paradox, because of two things:

1.) User-generated content is supposed to be free in my opinion. The money I would receive from selling my maps would be nice, but it would be in conflict with my own personal opinions.
2.) The amount of maps of really good quality probably won't be that big. Also, most people that are talented at creating really nice maps have probably taken time to understand and practice with the Editor. And since they probably put quite some effort in their maps they deserve some kind of repayment.

Altough some things that I don't understand remain: The maps that have been created with the Starcraft 2 Editor, are those property of Blizzard or property of the map-developers?

I don't think Blizzard has said much about the legal issues regarding this, and I don't think they will until the "Community Premium Map" service is up and running.  I think it's safe to assume that any Premium Map would be the property of Blizzard, and not its original creator though.

Sheephead wrote: I think selling maps that I have created myself is a bit of a paradox, because of two things:

1.) User-generated content is supposed to be free in my opinion. The money I would receive from selling my maps would be nice, but it would be in conflict with my own personal opinions.
2.) The amount of maps of really good quality probably won't be that big. Also, most people that are talented at creating really nice maps have probably taken time to understand and practice with the Editor. And since they probably put quite some effort in their maps they deserve some kind of repayment.

Altough some things that I don't understand remain: The maps that have been created with the Starcraft 2 Editor, are those property of Blizzard or property of the map-developers?

Well I am sure blizzard will control what maps are accepted (those of low quality wont get in the store). Those that are not popular simply wont sell that many so it should probably keep the junk out (hopefully). I cant imagine people complaining about paying $1 for a quality map like DOTA or something similar.

Something that came up in my mind about 1 minute ago: What about all the old maps from previous Blizzard games? Surely someone will port them/copy them into Starcraft 2...

Never!

I will never give my delicious cookies awa.... oh uh maps?
No I would never make people buy my maps unless I was working for some company or development studio that chose to make my maps chargeable. But other then that I don't see why people would even think of buying my crappy maps, just to say they did and spit on it? Good reason to because my maps are horrible! I generally cast them back into the fiery pits of hell that is my hard disk and give it another shot some other time.

To conclude I'm not a conman nor am I a good enough lyer or writer.

Sheephead wrote: Altough some things that I don't understand remain: The maps that have been created with the Starcraft 2 Editor, are those property of Blizzard or property of the map-developers?

Everything you make with the editor is Blizzard's property AFAIK.

What bothers me more than Premium maps is the prospect that the Cloud Storage may be the only way to host your maps online. I hope to God that isn't the case - I don't want anything of mine online ever.

Sheephead wrote: Something that came up in my mind about 1 minute ago: What about all the old maps from previous Blizzard games? Surely someone will port them/copy them into Starcraft 2...

That remains to be seen. I'm pretty sure the new editor offers all the functions of Blizzard's previous editors and then some. I don't doubt that some lost soul will try to convert old Starcraft maps to new ones, but I'm pretty sure people will want to start afresh with the new editor. That said, from what I've seen in the videos, the new editor is gonna be crazy. I've never understood the War3 editor. I was barely able to put something together in StarEdit.

I think this may very well be where mapmaking and myself part company...

Another reason why I wouldn't sell my maps or pay to buy others' maps is cause it feels like some monthly subscription on an MMO. Except instead of paying to continue playing the game, you're paying - one time only - to be able to have a map to keep and to play.

No.

I enjoy playing other people's maps and letting people play mine for free. This isn't xbox live or PSN.