Battle.net
Encyclopedia
Battle.net is a gaming service provided by Blizzard Entertainment
. Battle.net was launched in November 30, 1996 with the release of Blizzard
's action-RPG Diablo. Battle.net was the first online gaming service incorporated directly into the games that make use of it, in contrast to the external interfaces used by the other online services at the time. This feature, along with ease of account creations and the absence of member fees, caused Battle.net to become popular among gamers and became a major selling point for Diablo and subsequent Blizzard games. Since the successful launch of Battle.net, many companies have published online game services mimicking Blizzard's service package and the user interface
.
Blizzard
officially unveiled the new revamped Battle.net on March 20, 2009. It later revealed further details of the Battle.net revamped features at Blizzcon
2009 which will be supported by StarCraft II, Diablo III
and World of Warcraft
. The original Battle.net would also be renamed to Battle.net classic.
since players using cheats could modify their game data locally. However, since there was an option to create private games, many players ended up playing with people they knew.
The release of StarCraft in 1998 increased usage of the Battle.net service significantly. Features such as ladder ranking and game filters were added to the service. Battle.net grew even larger after the release of the expansion pack StarCraft: Brood War
, with tens of thousands of players logged on at any given time (even in the present day). StarCraft Battle.net was especially successful in South Korea
, where the number of players logged on was often many times that of the United States
.
StarCraft also brought with it a new copy protection
scheme using CD key
s. Under Diablo, Battle.net would allow any client to connect to the service. With StarCraft, only those players with a valid and unique CD key – a generated 13-digit number distributed with each boxed game – were allowed onto the service. Only one person could connect to Battle.net using a specific CD key at a time. CD-Keys could also be muted (unable to whisper or chat in channels), voided (restricted to The Void channel), jailed (both unable to whisper or chat in channels and restricted to The Void) or banned from Battle.net entirely. Every Blizzard game since StarCraft has used the CD key system to connect to Battle.net Starcraft: Brood War,was only able to be installed if the original was already installed and you would automatically be using your original starcraft CD key. With the release of the Gateway system in Brood War, two players can play at the same time, as long as they are on different gateways, though they cannot play in the same game, chat with each other and so on.
was released in 2000 to much fanfare. The main highlight of Diablo II as it relates to Battle.net was that the game used the client–server model. The game was no longer simulated on each player's computer, but instead was run on Blizzard's server. This also meant that all of the character data for the game was stored on the Battle.net servers. The game also has an open character feature on Battle.net which stored the player's character on the client. This allowed players to play characters locally or on a LAN
, and then use those same characters on Battle.net. However, any open games played on Battle.net were not protected from cheating by other players since they could have modified their characters locally. Diablo II also had a unique feature that would show the players in the Battle.net chat room as avatar
s who looked like their characters did in the game. It also used a different Battle.net interface than previous games, where previously there were mainly only color differences. There was also expanded ladder support including a "Hardcore" ladder which listed players whose characters would be removed permanently if they died in-game. Again, with Diablo II usage of Battle.net increased steadily, climbing even higher with the release of the expansion pack Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
in 2001.
was released in 2002 and its expansion pack, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
, was released in 2003. The release of these two games brought with them a number of new features to the online service. The most significant feature to be added was probably the concept of Anonymous Matchmaking. This feature allowed a user who wanted to play a game to simply press a button and automatically be matched up with one or more other players who were similar in skill (based on ranking) and also wanted to play a game. This allowed for people to get into games quickly and easily. It also reduced win-trading, where two people would purposely win and lose games to artificially raise their rank on the ladder. The matchmaking concept was also expanded to team games in a feature called "Arranged Teams". In an arranged team game, you could make a team with one or more friends, which was then anonymously matched up with another team of the same size and rank. However, a strategy was introduced on how to cheat the automated 'fair' matchups, called 'Abusing', simply by someone losing the Arranged Team Games intentionally with one ally so that with another ally (who wants to gain wins easily) won't find it difficult because the automatic matchups would put the two players up against relatively unskilled players. Automated tournaments were added in the expansion, where players would compete to be crowned tournament champion in a series of games played throughout the day. In addition to the new game styles, a slew of other features were added including selectable chatroom icons unlocked based on the player's number of wins, a friends list, and clan support.
is the first game to natively support the new revamped Battle.net online interface. Battle.net allows players to engage in online play on both work and home computers without the need to transfer files by signing onto one unified account. The new Battle.net also allows for several online competitions to be held simultaneously which Blizzard will use to host competition leagues, each with their own level of play. The new Battle.net features a marketplace for Starcraft II which allows players to download both free and paid maps, which can be searched for online and rated by players. The new interface also includes a chat service which is similar to that of Instant Messengers which allows players to interact across different games as well as showcase their own achievements. The game also supports VoIP for players.
initially did not support Battle.net, having separate accounts from Battle.net ones until the revamp of Battle.net on March 20, 2009 which forced players to merge their World of Warcraft
accounts with the new Battle.net accounts. The features of Battle.net utilized in World of Warcraft
include allowing players to engage in cross-realm, cross-faction and cross-game chat, which allows players to talk with their friends on their Real ID friends list, from other factions, other servers as well as other games such as StarCraft II
and soon Diablo III
. On November 11, 2009 Blizzard Entertainment
made Battle.net a mandatory feature for World of Warcraft
players.
confirmed on June 28, 2008 at the Worldwide Invitational in Paris, France that Diablo III
would feature Battle.net support.
2009. The new Battle.net (unofficially known as Battle.net 2.0) contains three unique sections. The first allows players to connect all Battle.net accounts, World of Warcraft characters and friends list together and integrate them into a unified single Battle.net account. Players can also unlock achievements in-game which would in turn unlock avatars and decals which would be shown on the player's profile, the decals can also be seen in-game on the player's units.
The second section consists of making Battle.net into a competitive arena for players which involves a new improved matchmaking system which simplifies the process of players locating their friends and organizing games. The ladder system has also been revamped so that it will not be dominated just by the most hardcore players instead after a short period of play, the system would classify players into certain leagues according to their level of competitiveness. Within each league, players would compete against other players who have a similar skill level to that of the player. There is also a special practice league for the casual players to practice and hone their skills, this league slows down the gameplay using "anti-rush" maps to allow players to get used to the game. The party system works similar to that of World of Warcraft where players with friends would join together and enter games as a party.
The final section makes it easy to locate and stay connected with friends. This involves the new chat system which involves a new system similar to Instant Messaging
across games. Players would also be able to stay together in groups which allow them to remain together when new games are released. This is done by allowing players to communicate with friends across games, servers, and characters.
Another new element is the use of an online marketplace which allows player or map makers to create and sell their maps online through Battle.net, players can also browse and search through maps online and rank them by player ratings as well as download both free and paid maps.
On May 5, 2010, Blizzard
revealed that Battle.net 2.0 would be integrated with social networking site Facebook
, "linking the world's premier online gaming platform with the world's most popular social platform".
Blizzard claims "millions of active users" on Battle.net, and that they are the leaders of online gaming, noting in 2006 that "even Xbox Live
is not even close".
By November 1997 they had 2.2 million games played, had 1.25 million different users, and averaged 3,500 new users each day.
By April 1999, it was reported that Battle.net had 2.3 million active users, and more than 50,000 concurrent users.
By September 2002, their active user count had jumped to 11 million.
By September 2004, their active user count was up to nearly 12 million, spending more than 2.1 million hours online each day, and they had an average of 200,000 concurrent users, with a peak concurrent user count of 400,000.
In November 2008, Blizzard banned over 357,700 accounts that were found to be using third-party hacks.
are available for Battle.net, and most of the protocol used by Battle.net-enabled games has been reverse-engineered and published by volunteers.
Also, several communication tools have been made, like a "whisper" tool, so that a player could talk to their friends even if they are in a game.
Custom games (using maps that were not made by Blizzard) have helped build the community, and now are a substantial portion of the games played. Among the most popular of these games in WarCraft 3 are tower defense maps and Hero solo maps (like DotA
, and arena maps) or pure RTS games like Civilization Wars, where the player develops their economy, tech, and unit diversity but the player has no control of their units.
the network protocol used by Battle.net and Blizzard games, and released a free (under the GNU GPL
) Battle.net emulation package called bnetd
. With bnetd, a gamer is not required to use the official Battle.net servers to play Blizzard games.
In February 2002, lawyers retained by Blizzard threatened legal action under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) against the developers of bnetd. Blizzard games are designed to operate online exclusively with a set of Blizzard-controlled servers collectively known as "Battle.net". Battle.net servers include a CD key
check as a means of preventing software piracy
.
Despite offers from the bnetd developers to integrate Blizzard's CD key checking system into bnetd, Blizzard claims that the public availability of any such software package facilitates piracy, and moved to have the bnetd project shut down under provisions of the DMCA. As this case is one of the first major test cases for the DMCA, the Electronic Frontier Foundation
became involved. For a while negotiations were ongoing to resolve the case without a trial. The negotiations failed however, and Blizzard won the case on all counts: the defendants were ruled to have breached both StarCraft's End User License Agreement (EULA) and the Terms of Use of Battle.net.
This decision was appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which also ruled in favor of Blizzard/Vivendi on September 1, 2005.
Some technology media outlets suggested the change was a good idea and would benefit both Battle.net and the Blizzard community. Others worried that Blizzard would open their fans up to real-life dangers such as stalking, sexual predators, and employment issues, since a simple Google search by a user's employer would reveal their online activities. There was also concern that this would lead to real-life harassment and safety concerns, especially for women and trans-gender gamers who are already harassed quite often in-game.
Blizzard initially responded to some of the concerns by saying that the changes would not be retroactive to previous posts, that parents could set up the system so that minors cannot post, and that posting to the forums is optional. However due to the huge negative response, Blizzard President Michael Morhaime
issued a statement rescinding the plan to use real names on Blizzard's forums for the time being.
Battle.net Classic
Restricted Chat Functionality
Disabled
Battle.net 2.0
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...
. Battle.net was launched in November 30, 1996 with the release of Blizzard
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...
's action-RPG Diablo. Battle.net was the first online gaming service incorporated directly into the games that make use of it, in contrast to the external interfaces used by the other online services at the time. This feature, along with ease of account creations and the absence of member fees, caused Battle.net to become popular among gamers and became a major selling point for Diablo and subsequent Blizzard games. Since the successful launch of Battle.net, many companies have published online game services mimicking Blizzard's service package and the user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
.
Blizzard
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...
officially unveiled the new revamped Battle.net on March 20, 2009. It later revealed further details of the Battle.net revamped features at Blizzcon
BlizzCon
"BlizzCon" is an annual convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to celebrate their major franchises: Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo...
2009 which will be supported by StarCraft II, Diablo III
Diablo III
Diablo III is an upcoming dark fantasy/horror-themed action role-playing game in development by Blizzard, making it the third installment in the Diablo franchise...
and World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
. The original Battle.net would also be renamed to Battle.net classic.
Diablo
When the service initially launched with Diablo in November 30, 1996, Battle.net offered only a few basic services like chatting and game listings. Players could connect to the service, talk with other gamers and join multiplayer games of Diablo. Besides user account data, no game data was stored on the Battle.net servers. When a player connected to a game, they would be connecting directly to the other players in the game. No data was sent through the Battle.net servers. While this made the service quick and easy to use, it quickly led to widespread cheatingCheating in online games
Cheating in online games is an activity that modifies the game experience to give one player an advantage over others. Depending on the game, different activities constitute cheating and it is either a matter of game policy or consensus opinion as to whether a particular activity is considered to...
since players using cheats could modify their game data locally. However, since there was an option to create private games, many players ended up playing with people they knew.
StarCraft
StarCraft: Brood War
StarCraft: Brood War is the expansion pack for the award winning military science fiction, real-time strategy video game StarCraft. Released in 1998 for Windows and Mac OS, it was co-developed by Saffire and Blizzard Entertainment. The expansion pack introduced new campaigns, map tilesets, music,...
, with tens of thousands of players logged on at any given time (even in the present day). StarCraft Battle.net was especially successful in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, where the number of players logged on was often many times that of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
StarCraft also brought with it a new copy protection
Copy protection
Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy obstruction, copy prevention and copy restriction, refer to techniques used for preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media, usually for copyright reasons.- Terminology :Media corporations have always used the term...
scheme using CD key
CD key
A product key, also known as a Software key, is a specific software-based key for a computer program. It certifies that the copy of the program is original. Activation is sometimes done offline by entering the key, or with software like Windows XP online activation is required to prevent multiple...
s. Under Diablo, Battle.net would allow any client to connect to the service. With StarCraft, only those players with a valid and unique CD key – a generated 13-digit number distributed with each boxed game – were allowed onto the service. Only one person could connect to Battle.net using a specific CD key at a time. CD-Keys could also be muted (unable to whisper or chat in channels), voided (restricted to The Void channel), jailed (both unable to whisper or chat in channels and restricted to The Void) or banned from Battle.net entirely. Every Blizzard game since StarCraft has used the CD key system to connect to Battle.net Starcraft: Brood War,was only able to be installed if the original was already installed and you would automatically be using your original starcraft CD key. With the release of the Gateway system in Brood War, two players can play at the same time, as long as they are on different gateways, though they cannot play in the same game, chat with each other and so on.
Diablo II
Diablo IIDiablo II
Diablo II is a dark fantasy/horror-themed hack and slash, with elements of the role playing game and dungeon crawl genres. It was released for Windows and Mac OS in 2000 by Blizzard Entertainment, and was developed by Blizzard North. It is a direct sequel to the 1996 hit PC game, Diablo.Diablo II...
was released in 2000 to much fanfare. The main highlight of Diablo II as it relates to Battle.net was that the game used the client–server model. The game was no longer simulated on each player's computer, but instead was run on Blizzard's server. This also meant that all of the character data for the game was stored on the Battle.net servers. The game also has an open character feature on Battle.net which stored the player's character on the client. This allowed players to play characters locally or on a LAN
Local area network
A local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building...
, and then use those same characters on Battle.net. However, any open games played on Battle.net were not protected from cheating by other players since they could have modified their characters locally. Diablo II also had a unique feature that would show the players in the Battle.net chat room as avatar
Avatar (virtual reality)
In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...
s who looked like their characters did in the game. It also used a different Battle.net interface than previous games, where previously there were mainly only color differences. There was also expanded ladder support including a "Hardcore" ladder which listed players whose characters would be removed permanently if they died in-game. Again, with Diablo II usage of Battle.net increased steadily, climbing even higher with the release of the expansion pack Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is an expansion pack for the hack and slash action role-playing game Diablo II...
in 2001.
Warcraft III
Warcraft III: Reign of ChaosWarcraft III: Reign of Chaos
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos is a real time strategy computer game released by Blizzard Entertainment on July 3, 2002 . It is the second sequel to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, and it is the third game set in the Warcraft Universe...
was released in 2002 and its expansion pack, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne is a real-time strategy computer game developed for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Mac OS X by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the official expansion pack to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, requiring Reign of Chaos to play...
, was released in 2003. The release of these two games brought with them a number of new features to the online service. The most significant feature to be added was probably the concept of Anonymous Matchmaking. This feature allowed a user who wanted to play a game to simply press a button and automatically be matched up with one or more other players who were similar in skill (based on ranking) and also wanted to play a game. This allowed for people to get into games quickly and easily. It also reduced win-trading, where two people would purposely win and lose games to artificially raise their rank on the ladder. The matchmaking concept was also expanded to team games in a feature called "Arranged Teams". In an arranged team game, you could make a team with one or more friends, which was then anonymously matched up with another team of the same size and rank. However, a strategy was introduced on how to cheat the automated 'fair' matchups, called 'Abusing', simply by someone losing the Arranged Team Games intentionally with one ally so that with another ally (who wants to gain wins easily) won't find it difficult because the automatic matchups would put the two players up against relatively unskilled players. Automated tournaments were added in the expansion, where players would compete to be crowned tournament champion in a series of games played throughout the day. In addition to the new game styles, a slew of other features were added including selectable chatroom icons unlocked based on the player's number of wins, a friends list, and clan support.
Starcraft II
StarCraft II: Wings of LibertyStarCraft II
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed and released by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. A sequel to the award-winning 1998 video game StarCraft and its expansions, the game was released worldwide on July 27, 2010...
is the first game to natively support the new revamped Battle.net online interface. Battle.net allows players to engage in online play on both work and home computers without the need to transfer files by signing onto one unified account. The new Battle.net also allows for several online competitions to be held simultaneously which Blizzard will use to host competition leagues, each with their own level of play. The new Battle.net features a marketplace for Starcraft II which allows players to download both free and paid maps, which can be searched for online and rated by players. The new interface also includes a chat service which is similar to that of Instant Messengers which allows players to interact across different games as well as showcase their own achievements. The game also supports VoIP for players.
World of Warcraft
World of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
initially did not support Battle.net, having separate accounts from Battle.net ones until the revamp of Battle.net on March 20, 2009 which forced players to merge their World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
accounts with the new Battle.net accounts. The features of Battle.net utilized in World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
include allowing players to engage in cross-realm, cross-faction and cross-game chat, which allows players to talk with their friends on their Real ID friends list, from other factions, other servers as well as other games such as StarCraft II
StarCraft II
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed and released by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. A sequel to the award-winning 1998 video game StarCraft and its expansions, the game was released worldwide on July 27, 2010...
and soon Diablo III
Diablo III
Diablo III is an upcoming dark fantasy/horror-themed action role-playing game in development by Blizzard, making it the third installment in the Diablo franchise...
. On November 11, 2009 Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...
made Battle.net a mandatory feature for World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
players.
Diablo III
BlizzardBlizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...
confirmed on June 28, 2008 at the Worldwide Invitational in Paris, France that Diablo III
Diablo III
Diablo III is an upcoming dark fantasy/horror-themed action role-playing game in development by Blizzard, making it the third installment in the Diablo franchise...
would feature Battle.net support.
Revamped Battle.net
Battle.net was revamped by Blizzard in 2009 and was officially unveiled on March 20, 2009, it was further elaborated on during BlizzconBlizzCon
"BlizzCon" is an annual convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to celebrate their major franchises: Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo...
2009. The new Battle.net (unofficially known as Battle.net 2.0) contains three unique sections. The first allows players to connect all Battle.net accounts, World of Warcraft characters and friends list together and integrate them into a unified single Battle.net account. Players can also unlock achievements in-game which would in turn unlock avatars and decals which would be shown on the player's profile, the decals can also be seen in-game on the player's units.
The final section makes it easy to locate and stay connected with friends. This involves the new chat system which involves a new system similar to Instant Messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
across games. Players would also be able to stay together in groups which allow them to remain together when new games are released. This is done by allowing players to communicate with friends across games, servers, and characters.
Another new element is the use of an online marketplace which allows player or map makers to create and sell their maps online through Battle.net, players can also browse and search through maps online and rank them by player ratings as well as download both free and paid maps.
On May 5, 2010, Blizzard
Blizzard
A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong winds. By definition, the difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have winds in excess of with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to 400 meters or ¼ mile or...
revealed that Battle.net 2.0 would be integrated with social networking site Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, "linking the world's premier online gaming platform with the world's most popular social platform".
Growth history
According to Blizzard's claims, Battle.net is the largest online gaming network in the neighborhood.Blizzard claims "millions of active users" on Battle.net, and that they are the leaders of online gaming, noting in 2006 that "even Xbox Live
Xbox Live
Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Corporation. It is currently the only online gaming service on consoles that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming. It was first made available to the Xbox system in 2002...
is not even close".
By November 1997 they had 2.2 million games played, had 1.25 million different users, and averaged 3,500 new users each day.
By April 1999, it was reported that Battle.net had 2.3 million active users, and more than 50,000 concurrent users.
By September 2002, their active user count had jumped to 11 million.
By September 2004, their active user count was up to nearly 12 million, spending more than 2.1 million hours online each day, and they had an average of 200,000 concurrent users, with a peak concurrent user count of 400,000.
In November 2008, Blizzard banned over 357,700 accounts that were found to be using third-party hacks.
Community
A community of developers has arisen around Battle.net. Many unofficial clientsClient (computing)
A client is an application or system that accesses a service made available by a server. The server is often on another computer system, in which case the client accesses the service by way of a network....
are available for Battle.net, and most of the protocol used by Battle.net-enabled games has been reverse-engineered and published by volunteers.
Also, several communication tools have been made, like a "whisper" tool, so that a player could talk to their friends even if they are in a game.
Custom games (using maps that were not made by Blizzard) have helped build the community, and now are a substantial portion of the games played. Among the most popular of these games in WarCraft 3 are tower defense maps and Hero solo maps (like DotA
DOTA
DOTA may refer to:*Defense of the Ancients, a custom scenario for the video game Warcraft III**Dota 2, the sequel to the previously listed game, developed on the Source engine* Dota , a video game genre*DOTA , a chemical...
, and arena maps) or pure RTS games like Civilization Wars, where the player develops their economy, tech, and unit diversity but the player has no control of their units.
bnetd
A group of gamers reverse engineeredReverse engineering
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function, and operation...
the network protocol used by Battle.net and Blizzard games, and released a free (under the GNU GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
) Battle.net emulation package called bnetd
Bnetd
bnetd is a software package that was reverse engineered from Blizzard Entertainment's Battle.net online multiplayer gaming service, providing near-complete emulation. The software allows users to create and play games on their own servers, instead of Battle.net servers...
. With bnetd, a gamer is not required to use the official Battle.net servers to play Blizzard games.
In February 2002, lawyers retained by Blizzard threatened legal action under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) against the developers of bnetd. Blizzard games are designed to operate online exclusively with a set of Blizzard-controlled servers collectively known as "Battle.net". Battle.net servers include a CD key
CD key
A product key, also known as a Software key, is a specific software-based key for a computer program. It certifies that the copy of the program is original. Activation is sometimes done offline by entering the key, or with software like Windows XP online activation is required to prevent multiple...
check as a means of preventing software piracy
Copyright infringement of software
Copyright infringement of software=The copyright infringement of software refers to several practices which involve the unauthorized copying of computer software. Copyright infringement of this kind varies globally...
.
Despite offers from the bnetd developers to integrate Blizzard's CD key checking system into bnetd, Blizzard claims that the public availability of any such software package facilitates piracy, and moved to have the bnetd project shut down under provisions of the DMCA. As this case is one of the first major test cases for the DMCA, the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
became involved. For a while negotiations were ongoing to resolve the case without a trial. The negotiations failed however, and Blizzard won the case on all counts: the defendants were ruled to have breached both StarCraft's End User License Agreement (EULA) and the Terms of Use of Battle.net.
This decision was appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which also ruled in favor of Blizzard/Vivendi on September 1, 2005.
Privacy and Real ID
On July 6, 2010 Blizzard announced that they planned to change the way their forums worked to require that users identify themselves with their real name. The reaction from the community was overwhelmingly negative with multiple game magazines calling the change "foolhardy" and an "Epic Fail". It also resulted in the largest user response ever on the Blizzard forums. This included personal details of a Blizzard employee who gave his real name "to show it wasn't a big deal". Shortly after revealing his real name, personal information was posted that included his phone number, picture, age, home address, and other details.Some technology media outlets suggested the change was a good idea and would benefit both Battle.net and the Blizzard community. Others worried that Blizzard would open their fans up to real-life dangers such as stalking, sexual predators, and employment issues, since a simple Google search by a user's employer would reveal their online activities. There was also concern that this would lead to real-life harassment and safety concerns, especially for women and trans-gender gamers who are already harassed quite often in-game.
Blizzard initially responded to some of the concerns by saying that the changes would not be retroactive to previous posts, that parents could set up the system so that minors cannot post, and that posting to the forums is optional. However due to the huge negative response, Blizzard President Michael Morhaime
Michael Morhaime
Michael "Mike" Morhaime is the president and a co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment , a video game developer located in Irvine, California, currently owned by Activision Blizzard...
issued a statement rescinding the plan to use real names on Blizzard's forums for the time being.
List of Battle.net games
- Diablo IIDiablo IIDiablo II is a dark fantasy/horror-themed hack and slash, with elements of the role playing game and dungeon crawl genres. It was released for Windows and Mac OS in 2000 by Blizzard Entertainment, and was developed by Blizzard North. It is a direct sequel to the 1996 hit PC game, Diablo.Diablo II...
- Diablo II: Lord of DestructionDiablo II: Lord of DestructionDiablo II: Lord of Destruction is an expansion pack for the hack and slash action role-playing game Diablo II...
- Warcraft II: Battle.net EditionWarcraft II: Tides of DarknessWarcraft II: Tides of Darkness is a fantasy-themed real-time strategy game published by Blizzard Entertainment and first released for DOS in 1995 and for Mac OS in 1996...
- Warcraft III: Reign of ChaosWarcraft III: Reign of ChaosWarcraft III: Reign of Chaos is a real time strategy computer game released by Blizzard Entertainment on July 3, 2002 . It is the second sequel to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, and it is the third game set in the Warcraft Universe...
- Warcraft III: The Frozen ThroneWarcraft III: The Frozen ThroneWarcraft III: The Frozen Throne is a real-time strategy computer game developed for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Mac OS X by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the official expansion pack to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, requiring Reign of Chaos to play...
- StarCraftStarCraftStarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
- StarCraft: Brood WarStarCraft: Brood WarStarCraft: Brood War is the expansion pack for the award winning military science fiction, real-time strategy video game StarCraft. Released in 1998 for Windows and Mac OS, it was co-developed by Saffire and Blizzard Entertainment. The expansion pack introduced new campaigns, map tilesets, music,...
Restricted Chat Functionality
- Diablo Shareware
- Diablo Spawn
- Diablo
- StarCraft Shareware
- StarCraft Spawn
- Japanese StarCraft (public beta of a Japanese version of StarCraft)
- Japanese StarCraft Spawn
Disabled
- CHAT (TelnetTELNETTelnet is a network protocol used on the Internet or local area networks to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communications facility using a virtual terminal connection...
) - Diablo II Stress Test (internal alpha of Diablo II)
- StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Beta
Battle.net 2.0
- World of WarcraftWorld of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
- World of Warcraft: The Burning CrusadeWorld of Warcraft: The Burning CrusadeWorld of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, often referred to as TBC or BC, is the first expansion pack for the MMORPG World of Warcraft...
- World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich KingWorld of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich KingWorld of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, often referred to as WotLK, WLK or Wrath, is the second expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, following The Burning Crusade...
- World of Warcraft: CataclysmWorld of Warcraft: CataclysmWorld of Warcraft: Cataclysm is the third expansion pack for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, following the last expansion Wrath of the Lich King. It was officially announced at BlizzCon on August 21, 2009, although dataminers and researchers discovered details...
- Diablo IIIDiablo IIIDiablo III is an upcoming dark fantasy/horror-themed action role-playing game in development by Blizzard, making it the third installment in the Diablo franchise...
- StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty