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Blizzard talks StarCraft II

"We're privileged to have players that care."

EurogamerWere you surprised by the reaction from gamers to your plans to make people use their real names when posting on your forums?
Michael Ryder

Well, we weren't surprised to get feedback. That's something that's part of our culture. We know we're really fortunate to have a lot of passionate players that care about what we do.

So we always go out to the players and give them a heads up on what we're thinking about doing, and we look for their feedback.

In this case we got feedback.

We were able to then take that feedback, reconsider, consider all the factors, of which that feedback was one. Ultimately we decided we would not go in that direction for the time being, and see if there were other ways we could address the objective we had, which was to improve the forums generally.

So, all in all, the process worked. We put the word out. We got the feedback. We reconsidered. We made a change. We appreciate the fact that we have such passionate fans.

EurogamerWhat other ways can you address the objective you had for your forums?
Michael Ryder

There are a couple of things we're doing and there are other things that we're thinking about. But one of the things we're doing is allowing people who are posting on the forums the ability to rate the post, so that the moderators can see where the quality conversations are happening. That will help.

There are other things: an improved search function, for looking for different things in forums. We're going to continue to try to find other ways to upgrade the quality of the experience in the forums.

EurogamerHas the whole experience with Real ID and your forums reinforced in people's minds that there is a dialogue between Blizzard and its fans?
Michael Ryder

It's not the only thing we think about. But, certainly, getting feedback from our players is a big part of what we consider when we're making changes or innovating.

It reinforces the notion that we're privileged to have those players that care and give us feedback.

EurogamerStarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the main game, and two expansions are planned for release afterwards. Has anything been held back for the expansions?
Carl Chimes

We didn't hold anything back for Wings of Liberty. Early on in the development process we realised our story was so epic we couldn't fit it in one box. So we decided to make three unique campaigns.

Wings of Liberty focuses on the Terrans. You play the role of Jim Raynor. In the second and third expansions we'll be focusing on more of a Zerg theme and a Protoss theme in the campaign.

We'll also be making enhancements to the multiplayer. We haven't decided exactly how we're going to do that. Traditionally you've seen in previous Blizzard expansions there might be a new unit or two per race, or new abilities, or things get changed up.

EurogamerHow long will fans have to wait for the release of the first expansion?
Michael Ryder

I don't think we expect players will have to wait a long time. This is a relative term, I guess. But that's not our intent.

But we haven't announced a schedule for when the future games are going to be coming out. Those details will be coming out in the future after the launch. Right now we're focusing on launching Wings of Liberty, and then we'll shift gears and start thinking about the next game after that.

EurogamerHopefully it won't be in 12 years.
Michael Ryder

Hopefully not.

StarCraft II is out now for PC and Mac.

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