Much of this post originally ran in July 2009, but the issue is still on the minds of gamers. We’ve edited the post to add some thoughts now that the game has launched, and added a section at the end dealing with the rumors of officially supported LAN play. We wanted to revisit the issue again to drive this point home: even if it doesn’t directly hurt Blizzard’s bottom line, LAN play matters.

When the first stories began to spread about StarCraft 2 not supporting LAN play, the Internet began to grumble with discontent. Sure, there were the usual online petitions and griping on various gaming forums, but there was a sense that something big had been taken from us. Why were people so upset about the exclusion of LAN play? It has much to do with nostalgia, and much to do with why so many of us fell in love with StarCraft