Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of maps where the map creator gives you additional perks if you pay them and send them an email.
Some maps blatantly don’t let you play them unless you paid up.
I suspect this is done by the developer adding the player’s “handle code”, which goes like
1 - S2 - 1 - 123456
I really don’t think this goes with Blizzard’s ToS, but there seem to be more and more maps like this lately, what’s the deal with them?
If there are any maps which do this kind of stuff, you can contact Blizzard and let them know, monetized maps have strict guidelines and Blizzard would know best if that EULA is being violated.
Where should I contact them, aside from the “report map” function?
It would be best if I could get a 1:1 chat with them, but I can’t seem to find it.
No clue, report map is your best bet! Otherwise file a support ticket and see what happens.
why would it bother you if someone charges you for a custom game they made?
Because it’s against the ToS? Is there a reason that it shouldn’t bother someone?
LOL yeah there’s quite a few maps out there that do this… A nicer approach is donations… Quite frankly, even though it’s against the rules, they are doing SC2 arcade a service. Don’t go out of your way to start ratting out on them unless they either stole your money or did you dirty another way. Just let them have that one last bit of happiness
That is what Patreon is for, to support content creators for those who want to.
Locking them behind a paywall in a free-to-play game leaves a bad taste in my mouth… SC2 isn’t a place for you to earn money, it’s one where people can have fun.
If you need a reason for things NOT to bother you, I can’t help ya. It’s amazing what obscure stuff people will find to whine about though.
Making maps is a time intensive activity. If people want to charge for you to reap the reward of their labor, that’s their business. I see nothing wrong with it.
If you don’t like paying for maps, don’t. Problem solved.
Seems like it evolved from the greed culture of twitch streaming.
Exactly…and paid custom games were already endorsed by blizz. They clearly think it might be ok for people to ask for money in exchange for the content they created. Who would’ve thought.
Blizzard also has strict quality control and other additions for pay custom maps. Like, for example, pretty sure they get a cut.
This is about as stupid as what Epic games did to Apple; regardless if Apple is a bad company or not (they are) you agreed to their ToS as a map maker when they hosted your map. You’re using their infrastructure - and your dues must be paid if you’re making money.
What you aren’t taking into consideration though is all the work that went into making the editor and the assets itself. The reality is that 99% of the work done on whatever mod or map you are making is done by blizzard before you even begin it.
What you aren’t considering is all the work that went into making the c++ programming language that Blizzard used to write the editor and the hardware that runs the code, or the hard work it takes to mine the minerals that are used to make the hardware, or the food cooked to feed the miners, or the labor that goes into the farms to make the ingredients for the food…
I think you see where that logic gets you.
No let me explain. What you are claiming people should pay you to do is basically akin to building a sandcastle on someone elses proportery who is someone who works with a team of professional sculptors and landscapes which they didn’t ask you to make but just said they were okay if you want to do it yourself and then saying that the person who owns the property with their big team of sculptors should pay you do to do something they didn’t even really want themselves but were just tolerating. It would be one thing if you were specifically hired, but them but you aren’t.
You are talking about a situation between two companies with massive revenue. So in that way, its actually totally different. Besides, you really think that’s comparable to the scale we are talking here?
Except blizz explicitly tells them not to do so in their Terms of Service?
(Blizzard End User License Agreement - 법률- 블리자드 엔터테인먼트)
Take a look at C - iii and C- x. Now tell me I’m wrong for pointing out someone not doing something honest.
You are absolutely right. Only blizzard can monetize maps via ingame build service, only that way the payments are trusted.
Never trust scammers bc they often steal other creator contents.
Only thosr maps montized by blizzard are verified authors.
Yeah, it’s clear that you know next to nothing about making custom maps or what it takes to make them.
Get back to me after you’ve actually made something in the editor.