Can we get an official map upload service from Blizzard? (Heck at this point even a custom client on private servers would get my attention)
I mean one that would provide for each map an encryption key, known only to Blizzard (or the private client) and the map author, so the maps are encrypted (same way Blizzard sign their maps). Ofc this would mean a more dynamic updating system should be invented too (in case of custom client this would be pz ez), but updating some keys shouldn't be a problem in such system. Unless you need to re-download whole game each time, which again shouldn't be the case.
Pros
Cons
I mean one that would provide for each map an encryption key, known only to Blizzard (or the private client) and the map author, so the maps are encrypted (same way Blizzard sign their maps). Ofc this would mean a more dynamic updating system should be invented too (in case of custom client this would be pz ez), but updating some keys shouldn't be a problem in such system. Unless you need to re-download whole game each time, which again shouldn't be the case.
Pros
- No thieving of people's work
- No need to move to different platforms to have your work secured
- No need of use of 3rd party programs that are unreliable and break the map.
- No waste of time of mappers on inventing and coming up with protection ideas and systems, that won't work, rather focusing on actually creating a better experience
- People can ask the author if they wanna learn something promoting social interaction.
Cons
- Some people might be forced to actually ask for an author's permission before ripping their work and from my understand, that's frowned upon.