Last weekend we here at 7outof10 held our seventh Halopalooza, a LAN-party revolving around all things Halo. In the past there have been cakes and certificates for outstanding play, however the centrepiece of the event is always a marathon session of Bungie’s seminal shooter that goes long into the night.
Whilst Master Chief and his fellow Spartans may dominate online play, our ‘paloozas would not be possible without System Link or LAN play. The ability to easily lash a series of machines together with lengths of Ethernet cabling and start battling it out has been a staple of competitive gaming for many years, but the end may be near for such things.
Last week Blizzard announced that their much anticipated RTS Starcraft 2 would not include LAN functionality. This came as somewhat of a shock to Starcraft’s fanatical following, for it is a game so popular that in the Far East televised tournaments have spawned professional players who have gone on to become national heroes. Some put part of the title’s success is down to the ability to host such events, something easily achieved over a LAN. So why would Blizzard seemingly cut off a core part of what made the original so popular?
As with so many things in business, cost could be a large factor. No matter how much code is shared between online and LAN play the testing involved in what are technically two distinct modes is immense. Tester’s won’t take your word that the two are identical and will hammer the game to within an inch of its life in a bid to garner the best user experience possible. With multiplayer games especially, reputations can be dashed overnight with poor net code and so skimping on such quality assurance is not an option. Losing a surplus mode, however, is; it could slash the duration and final cost of testing dramatically. I know for a fact that many developers are actively encouraged to forgo LAN play for this very reason.
Piracy could also be cited. A large user-base on the PC does not necessarily translate into sales. In certain regions piracy is rife and one way to minimise this risk to the developer is to force the game to be authenticated every time it is played. Getting the user to be connect to an authentication server on boot up, ala Steam, is a relatively unobtrusive method of making sure that only those with valid copies can play your game. The natural progression is to then think that if you’re already connected to the internet why do you need LAN play?
Both seem reasonable arguments but with an online petition bearing the names of many multiple of thousands of players it seems as though people like the flexibility, the ease of a LAN. I have many fond memories of university and ‘paloozas, constructing our networks out of coloured wires and duct tape. Swapping those with the thought of just “logging on” seems to take some of the magic away.
What the decision probably comes to rest on is that the proportion of players who are dedicated enough to setup their own house-party based around any game is very tiny indeed. For most the thought of lugging equipment around to another person’s house is a little too much effort and they would much prefer the ease of signing onto the internet and getting their fix from the comfort of their favourite chair.
We are the hardcore and we shouldn’t forget that. The way the market is evolving means our numbers are reducing swiftly and whilst developers that do pander to our whims should be held aloft and praised, those that don’t should not be vilified; they’re just playing a numbers game.
Ah man. Fond memories of IPX/SPX networking to get Doom up and running in my A-Level computing class. Well… “fond” might not be right.
I fear for console LAN support the same as you, but the PC will never die out. You can bet your ass Starcraft II will have a LAN mod within days of release.
I’ve heard a rather cynical thought that it’s all a giant ruse. They say they’re not including it, fans kick up a stink and then they turn around and say “ok, but it’ll take another 6 months dev time” buying them some time to polish the beast to perfection.
That’s… almost genius.
Well we’ve already seen multiplayer clips…you telling me the game was using battle.net for these play throughs? I doubt it.
The sad thing is I think it’s more effort for them to exclude multiplayer – rather they want to force their battle.net on everyone (so that they are the only ones with control). Can I register on battle.net with my legit key and keep the system from logging any stats (just because I don’t give a rats ass about stats and achievements)? Can I continue with my multiplayer game I’m busy with (with friends on my network) if battle.net (unlikely) or my internet connection (likely) goes down?
That last point I think is the real big one: can I actually play if the servers go down? All of the big online powerhouses (Steam, World of Warcraft, etc) had signficant teething problems when they first went Live and I expect Starcraft will be lucky if they get out without something similar to happen to them. Millions of angry fans unable to play their newly purchased game is not something that any developer wants to see.
The tracking of stats shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing. Handled in the right manner I know the system can be used to benefit the end user by allowing the designers see how players play the game. A great example of this is Half-Life 2′s episodes where Valve managed to track where people got stuck or spent and inordinate amount of time. It helps them learn for next time, whether that be a patch or their next release.
The best games on the PC have always been LAN based GOD games of the likes of Half life, Counter Strike and Command and Conquer…
However, I must admit myself that in recent years I’ve shifted legion from the PC to the Xbox as online gaming took out some of the laborious setup and inconsistency that came with early PC online gaming.
With the internet experience on PC and consoles getting more reliable and pleasant then there is less need for local based set ups….
Apart from the hardcore like ourselves… but even that’s now only once a year …
I’m one of the less hardcore, I have to admit. I do remember, however, waiting until the managers were gone to install and play halflife on our company LAN for a dozen gamers who stayed to play til 3 or 4 in the morning–which was perhaps the most fun I’ve ever had gaming.
Now I’m a lazy xbox live type who has only been troubled once to hook up a direct connection with another box. It’s a far different experience being within a group of locally-gathered people playing on a network versus meeting those with similar gaming interests over the net. Both have their merits, but one is much easier.
Lan gaming is how it started, I remember hooking up two barely working pcs at home and using a serial cable, messing with com ports etc just to get Doom up and running 1vs1. Good old school times! Lan gaming should never be forgotten and in the PC world mods will always be made. If they phase it out from existence in console land this will be a damned shame