It can be used to chat with other players and to set up games for up to eight players at a time. For StarCraft , Blizzard has also built in an automatic, worldwide ranking system. Once you win ten games on Battle. Net you can choose to join the worldwide ladder. But at least for bragging rights among your friends.
Game play over the Internet is fairly smooth.
Of course, latency to the other players can introduce lag, but the communication routines generally work pretty well. This is by no means the first online effort for Blizzard , and their experience with Warcraft II , Diablo and in the extensive online beta testing for StarCraft shows. With the incredible differences between the three races, multiplayer match ups can be full of surprises. In one multiplayer game I used cloaked Wraiths to destroy my opponent, while in the next I was overwhelmed by an enemy with a numerically inferior force of Protoss units that my Terran infantry could do nothing to stop. Should you find your Internet connection too slow for reliable play, StarCraft also offers play via an IPX network, or for two players via direct modem or serial cable connection.