Often, users are connected to each other based on ranking (the ladder system). The Blizzard Desktop App allows users to play against any other user in the world simply with click of a button. 2.0 was released in 2009, and allowed users to login to multiple accounts through the client, integrated World of Warcraft friends lists and characters, as well as introduced an “achievements” system. This was to be used in future Blizzard games until the present day. Blizzard was able to copyright protect Starcraft by only allowing users with a valid CD key to access Classic servers. The popularity of Classic surged around the time Starcraft was released, with tens of thousands of players online at the same time in the USA and South Korea. Players would connect directly to each other, meaning no data of interactions or gameplay would be sent to Blizzard servers – this localization of the connections led to a lot of in-game cheating which was a significant issue for gamers. Historyī was initiated with the release of Diablo in 1996, and allowed players to chat together and join multiplayer games. Since 2016, Blizzard Voice is also integrated into the Blizzard Desktop App.

The client was released as an open beta August 2013 and includes many features, including downloading games, patching games, multiplayer matchmaking, friends list and messaging. The Blizzard Desktop App (also known as the app and the Launcher) is Blizzard’s official game launcher, which allows players to download and play Blizzard classic and modern games.

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