The following list was sent to Blizzard a couple of month ago, before the monthly discussions started. We now chose to publish these as they might become good inspiration for even better suggestions. At the end of this feature there's an invitation to post your own list to make sure Battle.net is what we want it to be.
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These are requests built on feedback and experience from managing the game at several events through the years. I’ve described some of the suggestions somewhat extensively while others are pretty self-explanatory. Should there be any questions about any of these then feel free to reply and I shall gladly help.
1) SCTV.
This is the number one request right now. A function to stream the game, live, to a server that would pass it out to clients. We’re only talking about the actual replay file and if it is not extremely much heavier than in SC1 then we’re talking about a possibility for thousands to watch it without any major bandwidth requirements. This would dramatically improve the ease for coverage sites such as GosuGamers to cover events live, where we could supply our readers with more than just results, information and, after a couple of days, replays. Here everyone would be able to have a real “Late night with StarCraft II”. I am confident that one of the reasons the game was widely appreciated by Korea was because so many people knew about it because they could actually see it and get familiar with it themselves, easily accessible.
Another thought for this would be an integrated shoutcast functionality. For the major events at our site and in the online sc community, there have always been shoutcasters in one way or another. These will surely exist for SC2 to enhance the experience of live games. However, should a SCTV function be developed there would occur problems with the synchronization as clients would stream the two separately.
If developed, make sure it also includes a delay function where the stream would be put on hold x minutes before sent out.
StarCraft Battle.net Retail-1
2) Referee functions.
These are a number of technical functions that would be wonderful to use as a referee or administration of an event. I realize, however, that making all these functions accessible to every Battle.net user might make the experience quite complex. A solution would be that event managers could request a referee pass at Battle.net for a certain account and would from there be able to execute these commands. That’s up for you to discuss, however, here are the ideas and requests:
a) Game administration
- Invite-only games. Let the referee create the game and select two users to invite, similar to the AT-functions for WC3. No fiddling with game names and password, no discussions with observer-friends who wants to join. Easy for everyone.
- IP-filtering/limiting function. (Allow: 81.156.*.*). For events such as DreamHack, there have been problems with people outside of the net would join the game.
- Neutral hosting. In WC3, the problems with one-sided hosting in a 1on1-game has led to complications that required external players to host the game in order to create a similar network connection for both users. Switching back to the Starcraft way of hosting, or solving it differently, would be appreciated. I am not technically skilled on this particular subject but I believe you know what I am referring to. Perhaps a function similar to what Hamachi/GoodGame-Client currently does would be a good solution, where the players would be treated as if they were on the same local network.
Additionally, when working with online events and tournaments, one of the frustrations have always been that you want to help each gamer get set up in their respective games. Because if you would join the game and start it with them, other users would no longer see you in the channels and chatting with them would be much more difficult from inside the game. But you would still want to be observing some more important games and be available should anything occur.
Ideas:
- Allow tabbing between games. Should an SCTV function be developed then accessing multiple games simultaneously might not be a problem. Let the referee stay in the chat in one tab and be in games in other tabs. Would be extremely efficient.
- Joining games after they’ve started in case of a problem.
b) Replay administration
- A setting to force-save replays, with a pre-designated name, on the clients’ computers once the game is over. This would help us avoiding giving yellow cards to players who, in their frustration after losing or excitement after winning, would forget to save the replay.
- Automatic replay uploading to a designated location (online) once the game is over.
- Replay information regarding the winner of the game. Replays in SC1, as far as I know, could not be parsed for the actual game winner. This had to be determined by looking at the time each user quit the game and other dynamic values – a method that unfortunately would not work 100%.
- Backwards-compability for replays after patches. A function that is not necessarily related to event administration but it is widely requested by the community. I am sure you guys know a way to solve it :)
c) On-stage observing
We’ve ran into a few complications when, at major offline events, using a big screen in front of a large audience to observe matches.
- Digital Sound. What about a checkbox that would limit “sensible sounds” from being heard? This is obviously only a problem when the players are actually playing on the very same stage that is showing the game, but would one of the players build Dark Templars and that sound is heard by his opponent (due to high volume on speakers), the game could be ruined. We still want unit sounds but perhaps only if engaged in combat with opponent’s units, or obvious sounds such as mineral harvesting.
- Keeping several clear spots on each unit to display the color. That would be the same as in WC3, and a very important feature while observing.
- Option to always display the gamers’ name and their colour. Currently in SC1, we are forced to display the Ally-box and even then sometimes it was not clear enough who is who. A big information box on top of the screen with this information would be very useful as the audience normally comes and goes.
* What did you love about the original Battle.net?
* How has Battle.net played a role in your online multiplayer experience?
* What features would you like to see in StarCraft IIs Battle.net?
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