Blizzard Drops the Hammer on "Inappropriate" StarCraft 2 Maps

[ZeoAssassin]

i really don't see a problem here, blizzard has the full right to ban maps that have immature porn or swears on them. people need to calm the fuck down about this because monitoring and removing inappropriate content is quite common these days anyway.hell someone try and post some porn on THESE forums and watch what happens...i doubt anyone would ***** about The Escapist banning people and removing posts of those who link porn or anything else that violate their forum policy. So why is Blizzard so different?

Would you like your post to be removed due to swearing? After all, a child could possibly view it.

I'm fine with it in concept, I'm just wondering how much leeway they are giving the maps, and where exactly they're gonna be drawing the line.

i really couldn't care less about the whole "Protect the children" argument, its that if i want to view porn or read some forums or watch an M rated t.v. show I will go and do those things on my own, but if I want to play a few SC2 games on custom maps that are good, than i don't feel like dealing with porn, or seeing swears or sexual/racial slurs spammed across the game map, i want to kill nerds on the internet.

as for how much leeway blizzard will give on regulating maps...well i never read the policy they threw up but there will probably be some growing pains between them and the mapmakers for the first few months of the game. then the mapmakers will get use to what blizzard doesn't like and blizzard will probably let the mapmakers get away with more stuff they put on their maps. only time will tell i suppose but i still think people are over reacting to it and still need to adjust from the old SC1/WC3 system which sounds to me like a cesspool of crap that gamers needed to dig through to get do stuff like DotA.

 

[James Raynor]

Let's not forget that blizzard also makes it so you can only upload 20 MBs worth of maps onto battle.net

 

[snow]

OH NOES THEY ARE TAKING AWAY MY PRECIOUS PENIS MAP!

Seriously, are some of you just looking for something to ***** about when it comes to SC2? They are monitoring their stuff like Sony did with LBP and Modnation Racers. If you feel your liberties are reduced because you cannot show the world the amazing cock-shaped map you just made, I think you're the one with a problem.

Yeah I agree with you there, I'm surprised there's so much dislike and hatred over this. While some games were well thought out, like the one where zerglings were sperm and 1 teams goal was to impregnate an egg while another team must defend it by being spermicide. Those were kind of fun for a short while, but a lot of what was posted in SC was complete and utter nonsensical Bull that I wish I could go back and keep myself from playing them.

Big brother is watching you now that they can.

You know I'm curious, define "inappropriate content". Like dick-shaped maps? Maps that spell curse words? Wonder what all the fuss is about

There were maps in Warcraft 3 that would reward you with a pornographic picture if you completed a maze or something. Hell, there were some maps that were nothing BUT a pornographic slideshow.

This is probably the type of thing they're trying to cut down on. And really, there's no reason to have those maps. They weren't enjoyable or entertaining, and the porn was shit. Full of fake titties. Err...I mean, yea, the map quality was bad...

I'm so glad I didn't really try Warcraft3's custom maps if this was the case, there's a time and a place and that's missing both by a landslide. All I see from this is that people are at least in a way forced to make something good rather than relying on immature methods to get downloads.

Blizzard Drops the Hammer

And is ready to dispense some indiscriminate justice!

Oh god I couldn't help myself, got to love siege tanks!

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I was waiting for that! Thank you!

 

[Revenant42]

Instead of wasting resources on constantly scanning and removing potentially offensive maps from their servers couldn't they just path the game so that it applies a warning message to said potentially harmful maps? Couldn't that please everyone? Then the pee-pee map lovers could still get together and gawk and their beautifully constructed weiner maps and the prudes could sleep easy knowing 13 year olds out there won't play SCII maps titled "Blow up the Protoss!" or even "Dirty Cannon Defence SCII Edition: High Definition!".

 

[gl1koz3]

Well, an occasional idiot in the room... funny. Was it _that_ much of a problem they had to hammer already?

 

[Revenant42]

Ummmm.... what?

 

[Akalistos]

*Ace Ventura's Deep breath*
Some religion, if not all think that suicide is a sin and therefore offensive And while this may be a weak reason, the fact that some people died because of Starcraft 1, blizzard is ever more careful not to have that word in since they doesn't want to be link to potential suicide or being the forum where some dumbass has left a suicide note in which they would untimely be blame for it in the media.
*Breathe heavely*
That... huff... is why... huff... they don't want that.... huff... word in it.

Some religions think the jews are a black stain on Earth and the root of all evil, some religions also think that killing, lying, stealing and all the other sorts of crap are a sin. Why aren't those words censored? This is only a way to be politically correct, and I'm against it even more because it gives these religious nuts more reason to be offended at anything. Suicide is often mentioned in news and statistics, and frankly, just because one dumbass jumped off a skyscraper because he lost a SC tournament is hardly any reason at all to call the word suicide as offensive.

Actually that sentence is quite badly worded, but not to the point of being impossible to understand. "Starcraft 2, with this change, is looking more and more like thought police, if it wasn't already."

Yeah, some religion doesn't like you. Maybe the escapist should censor you... Oh! That's right. You can't censor somebody so why putting that in the equation? The freedom of speech is given to everyone, only not to all topic. If people doesn't want it in there, there's no problem anyways. Have you even considered Synonyms? Sacrifice would work.

Maybe you don't get that it's bad press toward Blizzard but, and that's the funny part, most people doesn't like penis-shaped level. In a way, it's shutting down 1 person for every 500. While you may think that Penis joke are funny (and if they don't, you call them gay), once your out of puberty it become repulsive. There's better and funnier thing out there.

Hey, i got a Idea! Why don't you make a thread about it with a Poll. Let's see how many people on the escapist agree with you. What do you say?

Thought Police? Yeah, like making sure people of any ethnicity or religion can play isn't important. Screw the income that they can make with those group. Isn't that what's important. Maybe you should check the definition of Business and it's goal. (Psst: To make money *wink*)

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

snip

You might not agree with what arguments I made "in favor" of porn related maps, but at least acknowledge the fact that I said over and over that this isn't even an issue.

And in response to whoever it was that went ahead and called everybody with any involvement or correlation with said maps a retard or whatever.. Really? Are we already pussified enough as a society that we freak the fuck out when we see a penis or a resemblance of a penis? Let the immature people have their fun, god. It's not like you saw a penis shaped map or a map named "hentai hour 152" and went "FUCK this game, I can't take this anymore". No, you just bloody ignored it, stop making such a fuss out of nothing. It's not like those maps were ever abundant, just as the oh-so feared spammers Blizzard was so afraid about they just took away chat channels altogether. In a whole day of playing just Warcraft 3, spending about 10% of that time through the game list, I'd never see more than 5 during the whole day.

Now that we got that out of the way, what does it take you to see that Blizzard is already fucking up on more things than there are fingers to count? And can you really not see the pattern here? Blizzard straight up bans any remotely offensive words (something you didn't pick up earlier in the thread) ---> now they say they'll ban whatever has got anything inappropriate. I'll say this again; if what the other guy said before - that his map got removed just for the word 'badass' in it, is true, we have a problem here.

snip

I'm also right to voice my concerns. If this doesn't bother you, and the best you can muster as an 'argument' is that it's Blizzard's property, you really shouldn't be here. I think people deserve to have, at the very least, an opinion about things they don't own. And you know what, people's opinions change things aswell.

No, you do have your own opinion and you are entitled to it. I am saying that while you have an opinion, that doesn't necessarily mean you have any weight behind it. It seems more though that this is a rail against anyone showing the least bit of authority and control over things that are theirs. I suppose its also unfair for a library to say that any patrons must keep their voices down so as not to disturb other patrons, or a convenience store that asks you to wear shirt and shoes to gain service there. How is it unreasonable for Blizzard to decide they will police content released with their programs, and how is it not their right to decide what is offensive? Since when did the word "badass" become not a curse word? Sure its not extremely harmful, but that is pretty nitpicky and petulant. "I should be able to call my map 'badass' in its flavor text." What? You can't come up with a more descriptive less vulgar word? Was awesome removed from language or is it just not in pop culture "cool" to say "awesome" or "sweet" or "highly challenging"?
Perhaps people need to expand their vocabulary a little bit and stop crying when people take away their curse words.
Blizzard has their own standards, and with your argument in hand, they have every right to their opinion. And because it is due to copyrights, the fact that they own and operate the battle.net servers, their opinion does trump yours. As I said, you have every right to dissent but having the right doesn't mean you are in the right.
Its not your house, in the proverbial sense.
BTW if you look at it from a public decency angle, you can't really go outside in public areas and display pornographic images or shout obscenities from the rooftops without attracting attention from authority, and since map-sharing is a public forum its only logical that Blizz decides to adopt their own "public" decency policy.
But hey, I do try to be fair to everyone myself I just think its an idea to you know... have a little maturity and enjoy a game instead of trying to hack your little trite vulgarity into something "witty" or "clever". That doesn't make your map more "badass". Design something to be badass and you won't need to label it that, it will be *known*. I just find it petty that you would have a problem with people trying to clean a little vulgarity up in something they own.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

snip

The goblin ability, you may be right, I got wrong. However, give me one reason why the word suicide is offensive. One, that's all I'm asking for.

*Ace Ventura's Deep breath*
Some religion, if not all think that suicide is a sin and therefore offensive And while this may be a weak reason, the fact that some people died because of Starcraft 1, blizzard is ever more careful not to have that word in since they doesn't want to be link to potential suicide or being the forum where some dumbass has left a suicide note in which they would untimely be blame for it in the media.
*Breathe heavely*
That... huff... is why... huff... they don't want that.... huff... word in it.

Other points I won't even address because they reek of just too much self-absorbance and fallacy.

What? You really think your own right are above everyone else? Yeah, it's a fallacy if you think yourself higher than everyone else.

Also, my english isn't bad, it's just you who can't make sense of it. It may be too complicated for you, but it isn't bad.

Yes it is. I don't want to be a Grammar nazi, partially because i want them to suffer and die an painful death... it's my desired and can be changed, but i'm as good as a the next guy. And the next guy is a speaking english since birth. I always got 95 to 100% in any english project yet i can't make sense of that last phrase on your last post. But people make mistake and i didn't call you a idiot for it. I even let you rephrase it. Yet, you want to debate about quality, the place i didn't wanted to go. I'll won't insult you, but I'll ask more directly. Could your rephrase that sentence?

How can you not make sense of the last phrase? It's not complicated...

And also, "Your English is Worst than mine" is hilarious. Normally, you know, it'd be just a grammatical error, I've probably made three in this post already. But when you're trying to use the "But you're a stupid!" argument, it's absolutely hilarious.

OT: Why can't they just have a flagged content system? Youtube has one, and Youtube sucks.

 

[similar.squirrel]

It's nice to know that the possibility of a glut of penis- and swastika-shaped maps now justifies an entire support team.
Really reflects well on gaming. Well done, guys. Hurr hurr.

Gamer culture needs to take a long, hard look at itself.

 

[DSK-]

What happens if the map (not containing anything offensive) is just being published - albeit unfinished and with not a lot of polish was published with the intention that the creator and a friend wanting to test it? would it be deleted then because it is of 'low' quality?

 

[Snooder]

I'm just gonna step out of the crowd and admit that yes, I was one of those who enjoyed playing those "dirty" maps. Especially the rather more involved ones requiring maze-running/trivia questions. I mean sure, you can see tits on the internet anywhere, but somehow making you work for it while providing a useful reward system made it all come together. Just running the maze for nothing wouldn't be fun if there wasn't something at the end to make it worth it.

Anyway, the larger issue that people are missing is the general problem with censorship and why free speech, for all its annoyances, is the better way to go. See, the thing about speech is that much of what is considered "objectionable" is extremely highly subjective. One man's porn is another man's Clockwork Orange. While a content filter of the sort that Blizzard is currently using will certainly remove a lot of stuff that most players don't want to see, it will also catch quite a lot of things that I personally, or others in a minority might find interesting or amusing. For example, the prohibition against "God" and "suicide" instantly nixes Angel Arena, one of my favorite maps from WC3. It would also nix any map that references the Crusades or based on Adult Swim's "60 seconds to kill yourself" flash game. Sure, YOU personally may not care, but someone out there does and by removing even the possibility from the landscape you make the options available to that person much much less interesting and diverse.

And no, I don't think the benefits are worth it. What is the ultimate harm of a lewd map? Some guy gets annoyed for about 2 seconds by seeing something he didn't expect? Maybe some kid gets a lecture from mom and dad? Trivial compared to the loss of interesting and possibly entertaining content.

 

[total crazy talk]

In my mind the reasoning behind this move is to stop a mother / father whose kid has seen an unsuitable image (in their opinion), from suing blizz for "corrupting our child" or some other bullshit along those lines.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

Won't somebody please think of the children? Wait, what age rating is this game? 16+? Yeah, I know plenty of 16 year olds mentally scarred by all the porn they like to look at. Really just a waste of resources, looking at it practically.

Ah well. In the end, I'm sure people can find their inappropriate kicks somewhere else.

 

[Akalistos]

- ULTRA MEGA GIANT SNIP -
me to the next[READ: Only] point - pussification.

HA! I knew that was going to pop out at some point. That's the only thing that piss you off. No, you are scared of it. While your MTV comparison is wildly inaccurate, there's a difference between TV and Video games. I got, with the basic cable choice, MTV and i don't listen to it. On the other hand, i got ZTele which is a cheap ass SPACE channel. I can watch the Stargate SG1 Full marathon on Ztele without feeling rip off to pay for MTV Because of Choices. You don't have those choices in a video game. You can't turn down the violence on Mortal Kombat or Resident Evil (tho the purple blood of the latter doesn't hide it). You can't turn off the gore from Fallout 3 and Prototype. (Mercer eats people like they were noodle in that game.) On the other hand, they can choose game that doesn't have those things. Since it's just a RTS, it's a given that they won't find it there.

Basically, you only fear that, with time, game will all be family friendly. That you won't rip the spinal cord of someone with Sub-Zero but game them Back massage. Trust me, at the rate people finally open their eyes and realize religions are scams, we will see thing get uncensored during our lifetime.

 

[Akalistos]

And also, "Your English is Worst than mine" is hilarious. Normally, you know, it'd be just a grammatical error, I've probably made three in this post already. But when you're trying to use the "But you're a stupid!" argument, it's absolutely hilarious.

Wow! You really need to defend your girlfriend there? How dumb do you have to be to just get in a conversation and laugh at one party because you don't agree with them. Glad you have a chuckle at my expanse, child, but there's a grown-up discussion in progress so please go back to the kid's table.

OT: Why can't they just have a flagged content system? Youtube has one, and Youtube sucks.

Scared of censorship? The fact that youtube strive on user-generated content and that the best of youtube got stolen by Blip which give the author a piece of the revenue from adds isn't... can't be the reason why it suck now.

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

Wow. I'm surprised at how angry you guys are getting because Blizzard decided to remove some troll maps from THEIR servers. Relax, modders aren't entitled to space on Blizzard's servers, especially if they're going to misuse it.