14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that Blizzard has quietly started a monitoring system that is meant to remove inappropriate StarCraft II maps created through the Galaxy Editors uploaded through Battle.net. This was made apparent by a recent topic on the US official forums where user Cyrileo revealed that Ultimate Tank Defense, a map designed by him and user Brashnard, had been deleted under the allegation that it contained offensive content.
Cyrileo initially thought that this happened because of the inclusion of the word 'badass' in the map. Community manager Bashiok intervened and explained that Blizzard will be looking at user-generated content and removing it when it is deemed inappropriate. He warned that this was not to be compared to censorship, saying that, “You're confusing our removal of inappropriate content with some draconian measure to delete maps as we see fit. Our goal is purely to ensure that maps don't contain inappropriate content. (…) Keeping people from seeing your hate speech and obscene images on our private game service is not the same as relinquishing your constitutional freedoms in the hopes of increased personal/familial security.”
Bashiok also stated that, “Words used in the campaign are not things we're going to action for. The map that was removed, and for which this thread exists, WAS NOT removed for using the words 'badass'. But we're not going to publicly release why or for what reasons we do remove maps. If the map maker receives that information and chooses to do so, then so be it. That's their discretion. We're working on improving our processes to ensure the map maker has more information on why their map was removed, right now it is a bit vague and has obviously led to this misunderstanding.”
The two users later revealed that Blizzard had removed Ultimate Tower Defense because unit movement patterns on the mini-map would accidentally form a certain anti-semite symbol. The unfortunate mistake was corrected and now the map can be found in the Join Custom Game menu in StarCraft II. Blizzard states that it will remove user-generated maps that have racial connotations, that are related to someone's private life, that are promoting extreme adult content or violence.