Blizzard Standards Well, with the lack of news as of late, I've decided to write a rant of my own. It's not as much as it is a commentary. Over the past couple years, electronic gaming has grown as an industry to the point where it can be said that it is probably one of the biggest money-makers in business. The big companies become so engrossed in the business aspect of the industry, they forget about the fans. Now, I know this may sound completely patronizing, Blizzard is one of the few companies that actually gives back to its fans. Blizzard has undoubtedly developed into one of gaming's most dominant corporations, bringing us "Games of the Year" in Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. However, the continuing success of Blizzard hasn't taken their focus off of what made them famous-the fans. Without the fans, noone would buy the game. Blizzard has gotten so popular among its faithful, that they often just go out and buy a game because it's been imprinted with the Blizzard logo. I know this was true for me when Starcraft came out. With all their success it would be easy for Blizzard to just say "Hey, let's just bring out games...people will buy." However, the consumer-oriented company they are, they consistently give back to the community. Some may say that it's so they get more publicity, because seriously, the fan pages do just that, promote the games and the company itself. But although this helps them, they don't need the advertising. Many companies simply put a game on the shelf relying on reviews in magazines or TV ads to sell their game. Blizzard, on the other hand, relies largely on the fan site community. They are one of the few companies that actually seems to appreciate the fans. They don't just let the fans make their pages and let them hope for articles in magazines for news. Blizzard holds webmaster chats every 6-8 weeks, which gives webmasters an opportunity to ask a Blizzard rep certain questions about the development of D2. Although not all questions get answered, it is a great way for Blizzard to give back to the community. Another example of Blizzard's kindness was last week's fan-chat organized by Ogden's D2 Inn (Thanks again, guys). This wasn't an official chat organized by Blizzard, but Susan Wooley from Blizzard made an appearance despite her busy schedule. This just goes to show how conscious Blizzard was that they hadn't given back to the community in a while and felt they owed it to us to do something. Although we found out nothing new about D2, it was still a great way to get up close and personal with someone we usually only hear about in the Credits of games. Another cool thing is Blizzard's announcement that they will be holding monthly interviews, where a lucky website will be allowed to interview a Blizzard rep. Although there likely won't be any new info released from these chats, but we will be able to clarify some mystical issues. One we all want to know about is Guild Halls, I'm sure. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed my first official rant... seriously, give me some feedback on this one. Thanks for reading. PeaCe. - Hardcore