Riot Games Contacts World of Starcraft Creator [Starcraft II]

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It's been a busy few days for Ryan Winzen, the 25-year-old who's creating a Starcraft MMO using Starcraft II's editing tools. Last week he posted a video of his World of Starcraft mod on YouTube. It quickly went viral, which led to the video being pulled due to a copyright claim by Activision Games Inc. Well, it turns out that's not the end of the story.

In a letter posted this morning on the World of Starcraft forums, Winzen says he was contacted by Riot Games for a potential position in game design. Lead Designer Tod "Zileas" Cadwell confirmed the offer on the League of Legends forums and made the following comment:

"When I see a modder with a lot of drive that has done something cool, I tend to contact them. I shot him an email recently asking if he was interested in exploring an opportunity here. As to what comes of that, who knows -- that depends on the mutual fit and his own goals."

Winzen also states that he spoke with the deputy general counsel from Blizzard last night, and it's clear they want the name of the project to be changed. Winzen is currently leaning toward Starcraft Universe (currently in holding by Mille25) or Starcraft Chronicles. He also says that he is fully respectful of Blizzard's Intellectual property and they had every right to pull the video from YouTube.

You can read Winzen's full letter after the jump. Also, head over to Pixelated Geek to read e-mails from Winzen regarding this entire process.

UPDATE: World of Starcraft Cyberspace Poopstorm

I know there's a lot of questions as to what has gone on with it.

A brief history of what happened in case you're not fully aware... I posted that youtube video about a week ago, and after the 4th day it started to go viral. I was periodically checking it to view comments when I noticed the hits were going up at about 10,000 an hour... Once it got up to about 150k views with over 300 supportive comments, Activision pulled it. I was really confused seeing as how there were many other World of Starcraft projects attempted and youtubed, and furthermore confused by the copyright issue. Everything inside of Blizzard's editor is copyrighted material so I thought as long as things were being produced within SC2 it was fair game regardless of title.

Kid logic I suppose.

The Deputy General Council from Blizzard contacted me last night to discuss the details of the "World of Starcraft" project. We talked for a while and apparently some people from Blizz were concerned I was developing the game somehow outside of SC2. Anyways I explained the details of the project to him and made it clear this mod was to be developed within SC2. After that was clear he obviously wanted the name to be changed... I'm trying to work with him to get the name Starcraft Universe (Currently in holding by Mille25) or Starcraft Chronicles. I am fully respectful of Blizzard's Intellectual property, and they DO in fact own a copyright on "World of Starcraft" and have EVERY RIGHT to do what they did. If I want to continue this project I'm at the mercy of Blizzard's good graces since they OWN it all.

Anyways yesterday I was contacted by Riot games in Los Angeles for a potential position in game design. I'm not special though I will have to go through the application process and testing like everyone else, and this is not a 100% guaranteed thing, and I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do at the moment. There's a lot going on outside of what I've even mentioned here.

Literally overnight I've grown from a nobody to a guy that half a million people want to design a mod. I've had professional composers contact me, dozens upon dozens of game designers and programmers and organizers. Many professionals seeking a fun hobby project even though there is NO MONEY TO BE MADE. ( At this time premium maps is still just a concept )

Finally I want to say how GRATEFUL I am to SC2MAPSTER.COM and everyone in it and all my friends there. From the Tutorials to the amazing help I've recieved in the IRC over the last four months. That place is amazing. I could have never made the transition I have from the wc3 editor to sc2 edit without that place, and regardless of what happens to me I will stamp sc2mapster on everything I can from here moving forward.

Mille25 and I are going to discuss the possible fusion of his Starcraft Universe project today with mine, and we'll see what happens. But regardless I know that an instanced based Starcraft MMO will happen somewhay, somehow, eventually - within Starcraft II.

Thankyou: Shawn, Onetwo, Progammer, Proziac, Lillianna, Xaragoth, Sumo, Sixen, JmanV, Helral, Slaydon, SCMapper, A1Win, Skizot, Vjeux, DarkRevenant, Dogmai, Fockewulf, HeyRevolver, Mindful, Skittles, rrowland, Phaos... and all the other names I may be drawing a blank on at this time... If you've ever helped me with the editor, I truly truly appriciate the time.

There's a lot of people there who I know are more technically and creative talented than I am..

Cordially, Ryan Winzen

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