Starcraft 3rp partyh market place maps for pay!

[Rhamses]

I see at Blizcon they announced a marketplace on battle.net on which 3rp party developlers can upload maps and playerc can download with a portion going to the original player. They are really pushing the tap third party resources. I will at the businessman caveat that yes, they want to support 3rd party as long as they get their cut. They really have spoken out with two tongues on this over the last few months.

I hope they realizes that they (blizzard) does not have a monopoly on creativity. I hope Scott's meeting with Blizzard is about job offer direct salary or a paid consulting role. That being said, the second place prize would be the announcement of a comprimmise with the 3rd partiy people so that blizzaed can get their pound of flesh and the developers their due.

Rhamses, gotta run Wow raid questions....

[Rhamses]

lol, I wrote above at 4:00PM Eastern, before this new starcraft panel.



Rhamses

[spiel2001]

They were actually questioned about the two-sided position on this subject... but I don't think it was played on DirecTV. They side-stepped the question. It doesn't look like they're willing to look at WoW mods the same way. It seems the biggest thing is the perception that WoW is a persistent world while Startcraft is now... other players in the game with you have to have the same map, so everyone is on equal footing. Conversely, they are taking the position that in WoW mods could give one player a competitive advantage over another player and if that mod is commercial, the other player may be unable to afford to compete on equal ground.

Of course, being a free-market libertarian myself,I say "So what" -- but they don't see it that way.

[Rhamses]

Meh, welcome to the monkey house...

I think they have done a pretty good job ensuring that mods do not break the game. And they should know that there is no way to make it exactly even. I have really bad hand eye coordination. So, I favor mods that help me overcome that. Conversely, I do not need huge health bars occupying a lot of screen realestate to tell me the "score"

In addition, when we a quick market analasys is done the best mods are going to be the cheap ones. THis is all about WalMart volume of large numbers. Not, a mouse hardware model. If the average modder released a mod, that 10% of the player downloaded for a buck, the modder could friggin retire if they maintained the average gammer cost of living. Not to mention, that there is no IP in the mods, so whatever works will be copied and charged less for.

No use preaching to the choir

Rham

[spiel2001]

Originally Posted by Rhamses Not to mention, that there is no IP in the mods, so whatever works will be copied and charged less for.

True and not true. Mods are copyrighted works. So in that regard, false. However, the "idea" as it relates to the functionality of the mod is easily copied and short of a patent, cannot be protected, so in that regard you are correct.

The question is whether or not the person who sells the cheaper copy is willing to support it and maintain it over the long haul. There comes a price break point at which the effort outweighs the gain.

But, yeah... preacher... choir... can I get an Amen?!

[Seer]

Hallelujah

[Chmee]

Originally Posted by spiel2001 Of course, being a free-market libertarian...

Is there any other kind?

[spiel2001]

There's multiple free market philosophies... not all libertarian... but then you are correct that all true libertarians are free market thinkers.

[Rhamses]

hihi

I did not want to stir up too much philosophy. But, you are right about copyright and thanks for brining up the clairification. In my mind, I keep

trademarkable (nui)
copyright (code)
IP -- (paradigm shift in game play)

Not the best examples, but Ok, for on the fly, I need caffiene morning post

Rhamses