Or Zerg, or Protoss. It doesn’t really matter what you play or who you like, the Starcraft II Beta is about to get twice as populous.
As of the middle of last week, Blizzard sent out “friend invites” to everyone currently involved in the Beta test, handing them a Beta key that they can then give to out to any one friend of their choice.
This Beta-friend invite is a lot like the children’s story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. When poor little Charlie found the golden ticket, not only was he overjoyed, but also able to take one guest with him, his kindly old Grandpa.
This is very unlike the heart warming (and odd) children’s tale because in contrast to innocent little Charlie, most Starcraft II gamers will make their friends and loved ones beg, grovel and plead to get a spot in the Beta.
We’re such jerks.
This move makes a great deal of sense on Blizzard’s part. Not only do they get to stress-test their system with double the amount of new players coming in, but this dovetails nicely with their plan to reset the ladder system to essentially mimic a “launch day” type situation.
As well, this will generate even more 2v2, 3v3 and FFA-type matches, which are less played than the 1v1 variety. Gamers are always more inclined to team up with people they know and can belittle, and this again gives Blizzard what they want. Ideally, Beta testers are going to explore every nook and cranny of the game, but that doesn’t always happen – most gamers are creatures of habit by nature.
By giving them the chance to team up with what are theoretically “real-life” friends – a prospect that is totally foreign to some of Blizzard’s fan base, they hope to increase their testing capabilities. They also hope to prevent the sale of these Beta keys, but good luck with that.
It would be nice if everyone were honest and good-hearted, but there are a lot of people out there like the little girl in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory who ate experimental gum even though she was told not to. Sadly, selling a Beta key does not make one swell up like a blueberry.
Gamers of the world, please don’t be like Violet Beauregarde. Don’t eat the gum, and don’t sell Beta keys.
Moving on…
We’re not sure if Blizzard will do another round of invite-a-friend, but it wouldn’t surprise us if that’s the case in a few weeks or even a month. At this point, even doubling, tripling, or quintupling their number of Beta testers won’t truly approach the numbers they’re going to see on actual launch day. The more people they can get in, and the more they can break the game, both in the gameplay aspect and the actual mechanics of Battle.Net, the better off they’re going to be.
On a semi-related note, Blizzard has released their second Beta survey. This time, instead of being about which race is most fun and balanced, it’s about which matchup of races make for the best and worst fights. Although on the surface this is not particularly different from the original survey, it begins to address the issue of Terran-on-Terran, Protoss-on-Protoss and Zerg-on-Zerg. The last one, we can totally understand. We’re not sure how Zerg even get up in the morning without hating each other, let alone themselves.
Frankly, we’re not even sure they sleep. A Zerg bunk bed would be…odd.
