SC2Mapster

I am answering some of the questions about Debates that people keep asking me.

If you haven't played yet, watch the gameplay video on the youtube channel SCDEBATES: www.youtube.com/scDebates

The map is now on page 3-4 (Battle.net NA) If you have some suggestion for a thought, some bug report, or comments, please let me know.

Thanks. :)

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F.A.Q.

1. Can we have more rounds? A Debates game usually spends 20 minutes or more. Popularity is the number of games played for more than 5 minutes. If I increase the number of rounds, the popularity will decrease. With no popularity, it's impossible to start a public game, since this game requires at least 5 players. The number of rounds are 3 (for 5-6 players) and 4 (for 7-8 players). This should be enough for everyone to play at least once.
2. Can you separate the "joke thoughts" from the serious ones? There is no clear separation between what is serious and what is not. Every joke topic can be discussed as a serious topic. For example, "the earth is flat" is a community with thousands of people who truly believe on that (see www.theflatearthsociety.org). If the players don't like a thought, they can change it many times per round.
3. Do you think Starcraft is the best platform for this game? There's so many trolls. The game has an anti-troll policy. I am trying to prevent trolls from playing Debates. Right now there are more than 6 admins patrolling the map. They have power to ban players or penalize their scores. In this way, I believe the number of trolls will be reduced. Also, we do private matches sometimes. No trolls are allowed in our private games.
4. Can you reduce the lag from the text box? I've reduced the lag as much as I could. The Batte.net has a delay that it's impossible to avoid. In case of lagged matches, the players can type using the chat box; it works the same way.
5. How did you connect the game with an online database? The game is not connected to an online database. The online ranking inside the game is all pixie dust (I will write a tutorial later teaching the spells).
6. Can you add my thoughts? Yes, as long as the thoughts are controversial and politically correct. You can suggest thoughts in my youtube channel scdebates. I usually take 90% of the thoughts suggested.
7. Why don't you force everyone to judge? I don't want to force anyone to join a debate. You can join the game just to watch. Debates does only force to judge the players who have played already.
8. That picture in the background is making difficult to see the chat text. Can you remove it? The game will lose its beauty without a background picture. The idea of the picture making difficult to see the chat text is to make the players pay attention in the debate going on. They will focus on the debate to rest their eyes.
9. Can you add the option "Neither" when choosing who wins a debate? If there was an option "Neither," you can bet that this button would be pressed 90% of the time. All rounds would be drawn. I am forcing the players to decide who should win. You don't need to vote as long as 3 players vote. Also, if the player really does not deserve to win, admins can take out the score this player got.
10. Some thoughts are bad. Can you remove them? Yes, but I need to know which ones people are not liking. Please, report to me the thoughts you are not liking, so I can remove it from the game.
11. Why can't there be games with 3 people and just 1 judges each time? The idea of just one judge seems a little unfair. Also, if I allow 3-players game, the number of players boosting their scores with friends will increase.
12. Can you make myself an admin? Break the record and get a recommendation from one of the admins and you can consider yourself an admin.
13. Why some players play 2 or more times per game? Debates selects the players randomly, but based on the number of rounds played. If everyone wants to play in all rounds, everyone will play. The game does only select a repetitive player when no one else wants to join the debate.

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What if I send my maps on the EU contest? My maps are only published on Battle.net NA.

By the way, my maps aren't that popular. Will they really not allow me to send my maps just because it was published before?

By submitting the map you grant licensing rights to Blizzard Entertainment, and will not display, post, or share it until after the contest closes on September 11, 2010.

It's just IMPOSSIBLE to make a map without displaying it first. It's the same to say that you have to make a map, but you cannot test if your map works. Every time I publish a map on battle.net, I find a few bugs.

Anyway, the BEST maps are published. So, we cannot send maps that were published before?

Just got this pic from Sc2Mapster IRC. I thought that was funny. Thanks who sent it to me :P

That was during the thought "If there's a perfect man, he is gay" on the custom map Debates.

@PigsEatBacon: Go

But I still need an EU account to do it. I don't have one, and I'm not paying $70 in one. I can't give the map to someone update for me because I update this map every day.

Latest news: Now the judge button is checked by default for all players who have played already. Also, I will choose the new thought of the week in the next couple days. Debates is now on page 3. Enjoy!

Quote from Ardnived: Go

"Public areas should have security cameras" "The Starcraft 2 campaign is epic" "Ice cream is too cold"

Added.

Quote from SCIIMobster: Go

I'm interested in how you store the points of players and how you're retrieving the questions.

Are you simply reupdating the map each time to update the scores and questions or are you somehow using Galaxy to send SQL to a database? If so how do you do it?

The player's score is saved in banks. Each player stores his own score and the top players scores, names, and game id's (crypted). So, every new game the top scores are merged with the players creating a new ranking and spreading this new ranking to the other players. In this way, the score spreads like a virus from bank to bank, from game to game. The thoughts I add in a custom script inside map editor (it's an array os strings). I just add more thoughts in the bottom of the custom script and publish the map again. Sadly, there's no way to connect the galaxy editor to a SQL database.

Quote from Ardnived: Go

I was showing this map to a friend of mine and he had a great idea.

And I think you should at the very least add an option for this if not enforce it.

Make people's names and colours change every round. That way people will not judge based on people's scores or past bias or friends, and just on the argument (Sure there is a bit of a way around this, but better than the current system in that respect). Only at the end of the game is everyone's true name and score revealed (You could also list the specific debates they won/lost if you like).

- - - -

And here are a couple more debate ideas off the top of my head;

"Old horror films are basically comedies" (As in they are so terrible they are funny) "Walrus are the vampires of the sea" (Dunno a little weird) "Warcraft is the best Blizzard Universe" "Starcraft is the best Blizzard Universe" "Diablo is the best Blizzard Universe" "The world would be better if it was made of candy" "The earth is square"

Thanks for the thoughts. I added more of them. The suggestion you gave is good, but the idea of the game is to show people's names and colors, so everyone can identify each other. The idea of "random" players improves the debate, but reduces the discussion and funny comments (in the chat), that are also part of the game. I will think about it, but I think people want to display their names when debating. :P

The problem of friends only voting for friends, I am reseting the score of these people. I'm getting admins to patrol the game and report the IDs of them. It's just a matter of time until they have their scores reseted.

Quote from Ardnived: Go

Throwing out a bunch of quick debate ideas

"Everyone should switch to a 27 hour clock" "TV rots the brain" "Smoking rots the brain" "Drinking rots the brain" "Debating rots the brain" =P "Family Guy is a terrible show" "Prime Ministers/Presidents should be elected for life" "The voting age should be 15" "Norse Mythology pwns Greek Mythology" (Perhaps mix it up for a couple different Mythologies if you like) "Einstein was respected only for his moustache"

Added! Thanks!

Lastest news: Now I am reseting scores of players caught cheating, trolling, voting only for friends, or boosting their score with friends.

There's also this thread about Debates: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/374938726

We are playing Debates soooo much that is going up in the popularity. It's now on page 4, but I'm exhausted :P

Blizzard released a list showing what might cause a map to be banned: http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=33752

According to the website, the player can not just have his/her map banned, but also lose his SC2 account: "In extreme cases, the account will be closed outright"

Here is what you cannot have in your map:

Racial/Ethnic/National

• Has any racial/ethnic connotations
• Has any national connotations

Extreme Sexuality/Violence

• Refers to extreme and/or violent sexual acts
• Refers to extremely violent real life actions or events

Sexual Orientation

• Refer to any aspect of sexual orientation pertaining to themselves, other players, or in-game characters

Obscene/Vulgar

• Is an inappropriate reference to human anatomy or bodily functions
• Is pornographic in nature

Harassing or Defamatory

• Insultingly refer to other characters, players, Blizzard employees, or groups of people, be they in the game or external

Blizzard Employees

• Customer support representatives or employees of Blizzard Entertainment (Both real names and aliases)

Inappropriate

• Is a mildly inappropriate references to human anatomy or bodily functions
• Is a reference to illegal drugs or activities
• Has neutral or positive racial/ethnic/national connotations
• Has any connotations of major religions or religious figures (i.e. Jesus, Christianity, Buddha)
• Is otherwise considered inappropriate for the game world

Advertising

• Any non-beneficial businesses, organizations, or websites

Trademark This category includes both clear and masked content which:

• Is trademarked/licensed by a company or an individual

It seems very restrict. So, I cannot create a Risk map because it "has neutral national connotations?" nor create a War map because "Refers to extremely violent real life actions or events?" Also, there cannot be a discussion between characters in a game because it is "Insultingly refer to other characters."

They might ban every map that "is otherwise considered inappropriate for the game world." This basically includes everything since they determine what is the game world.

I just hope they are not planning to follow it rigorously, because killing people "Is a reference to illegal activities." That basically includes all maps.

I hope I have contributed :)

Edit:

Blizzard sent me an email with the list of bad words that caused Nexus Word Wars to be banned. Apparently, there was more offensive words on my dictionary, such as "jesus."

You can see the full list on the link below: http://forums.sc2mapster.com/general/general-chat/13745-blizzards-letter-about-nexus-word-wars/

Finally I finish my new video! Please, watch it!! This is important. In this video I'm explaining more about Debates and how people should properly play.

There is something special in this video. Can you find what and where?

Hint: He didn't watch in the right date :P

We had such an epic debate yesterday. Everyone I met who played this map really enjoys it. However, I've seen some people getting mad when they lose a debate.

WE ARE PLAYING THIS MAP EVERY DAY. IF YOU WANT TO PLAY WITH US, ADD ME: RODRIGO.881