Just as I was expecting, Starcraft II's lack of LAN support is already becoming a problem for my friends.

You see, my friends and are I holding a two-week-long LAN party in South Portland right now, and we have 7 to 10 computers plugged into a hub at all times. Over the local network, we've been able to play games like the original Starcraft, Age of Empires III and Unreal Tournament just fine.

There are a couple of choices for Internet connection at the hosting house: a wireless signal coming from inside the house and an unsecured wireless signal from one of the unknowing neighbors. The signal from inside the house is extremely poor (perhaps because it's an old Wireless-G router), so it can only support up to two computers for any tolerable Web surfing. The other signal is quite different. It can support multiple computers at a reasonable speed, and a couple of people can play games online with only a small amount of lag.

When a friend and I tried to play a Starcraft II match last night, we were immediately met by a wall of lag. Not only did the game completely slow down, but it was frozen and we were taunted by a message box telling us that if the game never resumes, our only option is to surrender (doing so could potentially affect your player portfolio).  We had no choice but to end the game. We were merely feet away from each other, and yet we could not properly connect together for a game that just came out.

Now to be fair, I experienced more success playing with more friends on the better wireless signal. Miraculously, we were able to play a good ol' 4 vs. 4 comp stomp and experienced little problems.

But there's still always this possibility that connections will slow down and prevent future playing. I know it's a death wish to play online games on a wireless connection (see this XKCD comic), but when it's the only option, and the Starcraft players have to compete with other people using the Internet, it's hard to feel that Blizzard really had us in mind when they decided against including LAN support.

Just read this quote from a Blizzard PR guy:

[W]e felt that moving away from LAN play and directing players to our upgraded Battle.net service was the best option to ensure a quality multiplayer experience with StarCraft II and safeguard against piracy.

Well, I have some news for you, Mr. PR. For one, it didn't prevent my friends and I from purchasing your game. We were already intent on buying it. And for two, this is not a "quality multiplayer experience" you are delivering. It may run fine when I'm hooked up to my own home network, but when I'm trying to engage in a tradition that Blizzard helped cultivate in the 90's, you leave us in the shitter.

The new Battle.net is actually pretty good, apart from being glorified DRM, but why not give us the option to stay logged into the service and LAN at the same time? We know the incentive for staying logged in (gaining achievements, staying connect to friends), but let us do that one thing that has been fundamental to the PC gaming community for ages. I am a paying customer, so I'd hate to have to download a cracked version of the game to play on a LAN (and once this cracked version comes out, piracy will become rampant, even more so than if you did originally include a LAN fucntion).

So now, it's your move, Blizzard. I'm enjoying the game so far, but that's not stopping me and everyone else from noticing its deficiencies.