Warcraft Multiplayer Communities
From Mod Mania
I chose to speak about the topic of Warcraft 3, and its online/multiplayer community, expanding on the topic of Warcraft which Elaine talked about a couple of weeks ago. I will be focusing more on the online community and the program called Word Editor which is released with the game which allows users to created their own maps, custom scenarios and even in game movies.
Warcraft 3 is a popular computer game created by Blizzard Entertainment in 2002. It is a sequel to the Warcraft franchise and gained much fame when it was released winning many “ game of the year “ awards. Its multiplayer capabilities are one of the main reasons for its popularity amongst the gamers of the world. It has a strong online following around the world because of the broad range of games styles that can be played due to the ability of custom maps to be created and played freely.
Through battle.net its online gaming server, players create accounts in ‘gateways’ which are regional and are given a name which has some relevance to a part of the Warcraft 3 story. Individuals can then choose to play various styles of the game against other players from the other gateways.
This is where the World Editor comes in. Warcraft 3 was originally a real time strategy game however with the ability to customize maps, objectives, how players interact, how the characters interact, people were able to create a different game style such as role playing games or even racing games.
The program ‘World Editor’ is a program which allows any players to manipulate existing or create new maps to their own likings. This program allows players to create the maps with the same level of detail as the game designers originally had made for the actual game. With the release of the Frozen Throne expansion to the Warcraft 3 franchise a new world editor was released with even more features than before. Unlike other games the World Editor in Warcraft 3 allowed players not just to edit a map, but to create unique scenarios and campaigns because the program allowed players to edit how the characters in the game interact with each other and even to import the users own files such as sounds and textures. These custom maps are played openly on battle.net and this allows for their sharing from player to player around the world. The map modding has been taken up by blizzard entertainment itself, with freely downloadable maps for all game styles some based on popular custom games that players have created.
http://classic.battle.net/war3/maps/war3xbonusmaps.shtml
Websites have also been set up like http://world-editor-tutorials.thehelper.net which contains tutorials and basics written by experienced map editors for people to learn, downloadable free maps and a forum which is extremely popular for those with any troubles.
It is from this program that maps such as the ever popular DotA, 3 corridors and tower defense were born. These are popular because they allow players to play using the same story/ characters but in a different style of game play
However on the battle.net servers the standard melee match is still widely played where the aim of players is to destroy each other’s base. This type of gameplay is still very popular as it is what Warcraft 3 was originally about. Melee is still the type of gameplay which is most played at formal tournaments for Warcraft 3.
As mentioned before the map dotA is very popular in the Warcraft community. DotA, which is short for Defense of the Ancients was created by a player of the game and has had so much success that it is played in formal tournaments around the world, including those hosted by Blizzard. In fact the Swedish DJ Basshunter created a song about it which actually made it onto music charts.
It turns the RTS Warcraft game into an RPG which is played by 2 or more people who’s aim is to level up their characters and defeat the other teams ‘ancient’ which is a structure which both teams own which is heavily guarded and on opposite sides of the map.
Dota was created by a player under the alias Eul and ironically enough was based on a mission from another Blizzard game called StarCraft. This is where this popular RPG began. The next person to modify this Eul’s map with popular success was a modder called Steve Feak under the alias Guinsoo. If you have played the map that he created you will notice some items named after him and parts of his personal life. He renamed the game DotA All Stars and created a system of recipes for creating more powerful items for the players.
From here on a site was created called http://www.dota-allstars.com/ for players to congregate and discuss all matters DotA. This is where players can talk about what they like about the game, their strategies, the items in the game that they like, what they want to change, and just general discussion about the game.
Like most forums it is broken up into its usual hierarchy of rank for members. Usually the creators and editors of the maps are the highest rank, Administrators and they regularly join into conversation with their hundreds of members. The interesting thing about this site is that it its forum is extremely popular in all its topics of discussion which range from “ DotA mechanics – how DotA works” to “Anime Discussion” which is just a small example of what a large community has grown out of this game. As well as this the members are deeply interested in the inner workings of the game as this tends to help them become better players eg. there is a post which has been viewed by over 24,000 members which refers to how ‘towers’ attack people and in how they choose their target. It is a very 2 way site where members and editors join into discussions about what people suggest should be changed and improved about each DotA map, whether it be characters used or how well the game plays. These suggestions are what make the dotA map so popular, because it is the community of players ideas which not only make up the game but also help to improve it. An example of how big this game has become, DotA was accepted as the only non Blizzard map to take part in a Blizzard Entertainment tournament in 2005.
