Many people know Warcraft 3 as a strategy game where skill, micro and knowledge is important. Warcraft 3 is known for its famous players such as 4K.Grubby. However time moves on and the game changes, new maps are developed. Nowadays every active ladder player knows world's most popular custom map Defense of the Ancients. It is known as Dota. But why did the game change so much? Blizzard ain't god and made the changes, neither did it happen by chance. It is in game evolution.
Before I come to my main argument I have to give you an idea of wc3's complexity. The before mentioned Dota is not only popular because of new heroes and the community behind it, but also because of its completely new game play. A player is directly able to complete with others and to show his skills. If he knows what to do and how to do it he is able to succeed and will win. Statistics can be collected in a third party tool and also be used for a league. Yes.. You heard right, there is already a league for Dota. Electronic sport teams such as Schroet Kommando (sK) see defense of the ancients as a new discipline. Games can be seen on television. Of course, for us normal beings it is very hard to ever reach such skill and to play in world's top tournaments where the winner obtains thousands of Dollars per successful win, but we can all participate and watch those tournaments online, or even on television. It is almost like watching soccer or football.
But what is the driving force for developers such as Icefrog to make complex Warcraft 3 custom maps? Why are there always new maps such as Wintermaul wars, sheep tag, tree tag or footman? It is quite easy. Blizzard made it possible by inventing an unique, new programming language just for customizing Warcraft 3 maps. Everybody is able to modify maps and make his own, customized versions using the World Editor. What Blizzard did not know, they provided the basics to make in game evolution possible.
Yes, custom maps Darwin's natural selection have a lot in common. With one exception, there is no sexual intercourse. After modifying a map the players are able to upload/send it to their friend. The easy way is just hosting a Warcraft 3 game and allowing other players to download the map. If the map is good other players will host the map themselves, if it fails, then it will not become popular and will dissappear out of the Battle.net. Good maps are able to evolve and bad ones do not make it beyond the developers hard drive. To put it into a nutshell, good ones establish and bad ones disappear. That's like in nature, good genes build good survival machines and bad ones die out.
My conclusion is the following: If somebody provides the basics such as in wc3 the World editor, then it seems almost inescapable to prevent selection. So, by playing Warcraft 3 and its custom maps, all of us take part in the complex process of evolution.
By: Sean Anderson
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Hendrik Kleinwaechter offers a great deal of information on Wc3 and Warcraft 3 custom maps.
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