Have StarCraft 2 Fans Negatively Affected Its Development?

April 29th, 2009

Blizzard have a threateningly large fan following. There is no way to sugar-coat that fact. Just a quick Google search and you will find many fan-sites for all of their products (like this one). And let’s not even get onto the topic of forums; there are possibly hundreds just for StarCraft alone. The Battle.net forums, for example, are positively epic. Surely this kind of fanfare will have a negative affect on Blizzard’s products?

StarCraft 2 is one of the most eagerly anticipated PC games of all time. When it was announced at Blizzcon ’07, I’m certain fervent fans simply passed out from all the excitement. As such, the developers are constantly in touch with fans about all the changes to the build of the game. There have been 50 Q&A sessions already, and that’s excluding the Fansite Q&A series that launched recently. Blizzard is in the process of accomplishing the highly admirable act of keeping their rabid fans up-to-date with the development of StarCraft 2. This is something I take issue with.

StarCraft, the game that sent Blizzard straight into the stratosphere of competitive gaming, wasn’t created with the consultation of the fans. It was Blizzard’s vision from beginning to end and the final product reflected the amount of effort and love they poured into the product. This design philosophy is similar to that of an artist or auteur; it is a no compromise process without interference from anyone outside of the core group of people who conceived the product. StarCraft could be considered art in that respect.

Now, millions of fans are getting involved with the design process. I understand that people outside of the process can have many positive affects on the products development, and that the auteur’s vision can get in the way of creating a good product, but this is Blizzard. Blizzard have never let us, the gamer, down in any respect and that was without annoying 16 year olds whining about design choices.

Blizzard knows how important StarCraft 2 is in the causal and competitive gaming spheres, and don’t wish to alienate their audiences with a radically changed structure. This provides an insane catch22 for the developers. Do they design by committee, and accept comments by fans, or do they do what they have been doing since the nineties and create something entirely their own way? To me, I prefer the latter. I have never been let down by Blizzard in any respect since I started playing their games.

Also, fan’s opinions are hardly objective. Personally, I wish the Zerg were all painted bright pink and attacked using only marshmallows so that my marines could cut them down savagely while laughing at them.