Battle.net

Battle.net is an online gaming service provided by Blizzard Entertainment responsible for hosting StarCraft multiplayer games and related services. It was launched in January of 1997 with the release of Blizzard's action-RPG &mdash; 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.

Original Battle.net
With the release of StarCraft in 1998, usage of the Battle.net service increased significantly in comparison to Blizzard's previous games. 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. Concurrent player counts and games played reached the tens of thousands. This was especially evident in South Korea where StarCraft became a runaway hit and concurrent player counts on Battle.net would often be many times what they were in the United States.

StarCraft also brought with it a new copyright protection scheme using CD keys. Under Diablo, Battle.net would allow anyone who had a copy of the game to connect to the service. This allowed people who pirated the game to play on Battle.net. With StarCraft, only those players who had a valid CD key were allowed onto the service. A StarCraft CD key is a generated 13-digit number that could either be muted (unable to chat), voided (restricted to channel 'The Void'), banned (disabled usage), or usually working (no restrictions). In addition, only one person can be connected to Battle.net service using a specific CD key at a time. Every Blizzard game since StarCraft has required a unique, valid CD key to connect to Battle.net (excluding StarCraft: Brood War). 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, etc.

Battle.net 2.0
thumb|Battle.net preview with Greg Canessa.
 * A new version of battle.net launched on March 19, 2009. A preview page was opened in February 2010. The service became available for StarCraft II beta that month.


 * The project director of the new battle.net is Greg Canessa.


 * Jay Wilson said the new version of battle.net should come out with StarCraft II. Frank Pearce said they probably won't be able to implement all plans by the time StarCraft II launches, but they can add more features to battle.net "as we go".


 * LAN will not be supported. Greg Canessa says that Blizzard is actively working on a LAN-like solution for battle.net, something which would require maintaining a connection to battle.net but still allowing a peer-to-peer connection.


 * The new battle.net is expected to support all new Blizzard games.


 * Battle.net can be used with an authenticator to protect the account. If a player has a WoW account, the same authenticator protects both.

Beta
The new battle.net offers a StarCraft II beta opt-in and as of May 6, 2009 the beta opt-in page has been updated. Beta candidates can download a program which will scan their system and determine if it's capable of dealing with StarCraft II beta. This new account is not compatible with StarCraft battle.net accounts or those of older games, but can be merged with World of Warcraft accounts. North American gamers could download a program to scan their system to determine if it qualified for the StarCraft II beta on May 6th, 2009. European gamers gained access to the new battle.net on May 27th, 2009.

When StarCraft II's beta started, beta key holders were able to enter their keys using their account management page.

StarCraft II has been delayed to at least 2010 to give adequate time to prepare battle.net.

Accounts and Character Profiles

 * A battle.net account is required to play StarCraft II. One of the first things a player does while installing StarCraft II is create a battle.net account. They will see the login screen before they play their first game, and can play as a "guest" for the campaign.


 * An account contains a single character, in order to ensure better matchmaking and player behavior.


 * Characters are intended to be "persistent" and have access to battle.net features such as chatting, achievements and unlockable system rewards. The character profile contains the win/loss record, achievements, rewards and friends list, which the player and friends have access to.


 * Blizzard intends for gamers to always be online, even when playing single-player.

Rewards

 * Characters will have access to unlockable portraits and decals. Portraits will correspond with achievements, and both will be viewable by other members of the community. Portraits which are not available will be grayed out, and the corresponding achievement will be shown. Decals, also accessible through achievements, will be placed on units.


 * Players of StarCraft II and Diablo III will share "gamer achievements", adding up to a Blizzard Level, in a similar manner to the system in World of Warcraft. They are available in single-player, but only if the player is connected to the internet.

Game Types
Battle.net 2.0 will feature many StarCraft II game types. These include:


 * Practice League (features a slower gamespeed and anti-rush maps)
 * Co-op skirmish
 * Random teams
 * Challenges
 * Custom games
 * Co-op versus AI.

Competitive Arena

 * Blizzard Entertainment intends to create a competitive arena for gamers of all skill levels.


 * Battle.net features different leagues for higher-skilled players: bronze, silver, gold, platinum and pro league. There is a Practice League for lower-skilled players.


 * The game features automated matchmaking, similar to Warcraft III. Players are assigned a skill level after 10 games. This is intended for higher-skilled gamers.
 * Over time, skill levels will be reevaluated. Teams will have a separate rating.


 * Battle.net 2.0 will support casual-friendly game types, such as the Practice League, challenges, custom games and co-op vs AI.

Community Tools

 * Players can form persistent "parties" which enter games together after one player invites others into the party.  Parties can engage in custom games as well as cooperative skirmishes. The parties will persist even after they finish games. Parties can participate in the league and ladder system, and will be placed into games by the automated matchmaking system.


 * Players can access their friends list, even when playing single-player. Players can make a game private, only invite their friends, then later open it up to the public again.


 * Friends are anonymous, knowing each other only through online identities. However, Real ID is also available. To use it, a player sends out invites to real-life family and friends. The Real ID system is completely optional.


 * Players will not have friends across regions, although Blizzard may address this later.


 * Chatting will be in an instant-messenger format. This is available both inside and outside of games.


 * Voice-over-internet chat is available. However the audio will not be available in replays.


 * Blizzard plans on creating topic-based chat channels in a post-release patch.


 * There will be a "report abuse" tool. There was one in the beta as of March 2010 but wasn't working properly then.


 * Characters can receive news, game and content updates, broadcasts and system notifications through battle.net.


 * Cross-game communication with WoW players will be available.


 * Facebook will be integrated with battle.net.

Other Features

 * Cloud storage
 * Saved single-player games can be accessed online. (You could play the campaign at home, then continue it elsewhere.)
 * If a player upgrades their computer, their character information will still be stored online and is accessible once StarCraft II is reinstalled.


 * Lists of all available maps will be put on battle.net. They will have stats reflecting their popularity or genre. Some maps will even be available for sale in a marketplace.


 * Custom games filter: Games can be filtered by genre, not just "custom".


 * A player can log into more than one game at a time (for instance, playing the StarCraft II campaign while waiting for a World of Warcraft raid).


 * Blizzard intends to make the new version of battle.net secure from hacks and cheats using lessons learned from World of Warcraft. For example, there will be a security token to add an extra layer of protection from account fraud, and the online platform will require a valid and unique CD key.


 * Battle.net 2.0 will fully support community-created mods even as they evolve. Some will be available for pay.


 * Some special maps will be available for sale in the marketplace.

Monetization
The new battle.net accounts will not have subscriptions or fees; this has been repeatedly directly confirmed by Blizzard Entertainment.

Following a BlizzCon Diablo III interview in which Activision Blizzard employee Julian Wilson mentioned "monetizing" battle.net, Rob Pardo clarified that only some extra features may carry a charge. "As mentioned before, players will be able to use Battle.net for free when they purchase the full version of StarCraft II. There have been no changes to this."

- Karune

"With Battle.Net we're definitely looking at possible different features that we might be able to do for additional money. We're not talking about Hellgate or anything like that. We're not going to tack things on. I think World of Warcraft is a great example to look at. We charge people if they want to switch servers or if they want name changes, things that aren't core to the game experience, they're really just optional things that some people want. It takes us some development work to do it, so it makes sense to charge for it. We would never do something like say to get the full game experience, you'll have to pay extra."

- Rob Pardo

Growth history
Blizzard claims "millions of active users" on Battle.net, and that they are the leaders of online gaming, noting that even Xbox Live doesn't even come close. By November 1997 they had 22 million games played, 1.25 million different users, and that they 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 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. By 2009 it had 12 million subscribers, just over World of Warcraft's 11.5 million.

Supported Games
The following Blizzard games are currently supported on Battle.net:
 * StarCraft series: StarCraft &middot; StarCraft: Brood War
 * Warcraft series: Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition &middot; Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos &middot; Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne &middot; World of Warcraft &middot; World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade &middot; World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
 * Diablo series: Diablo &middot; Diablo II &middot; Diablo II: Lord of Destruction

The following future Blizzard games will be supported on Battle.net:
 * StarCraft series: StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty &middot; StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm &middot; StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void
 * Warcraft series: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
 * Diablo series: Diablo III

The following older Blizzard games do not support Battle.net:
 * Warcraft series: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans &middot; Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness &middot; Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal
 * Diablo series: Diablo: Hellfire

Forums
On October 8th, 2008, Blizzard Entertainment opened the new battle.net forums. The StarCraft II forum is located here.

Community
A community of developers has arisen around the original Battle.net. Many unofficial clients are available for Battle.net, and most of the protocol used by Battle.net-enabled games has been reverse-engineered and published by volunteers. Several server emulator programs exist; the original one, bnetd, lost a lawsuit filed by Blizzard. Newer ones have appeared, such as PvPGN, a derivative project of the original bnetd.

Also, several communication tools have been made, like a "whisper" tool, so that a player could talk to their friends even if they were in a game.