Am I the only one who thinks this is a very bad idea:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/747939120/starcraft-universe

"We must emphasize that all acts and expansions of SCU will be completely FREE to play through the StarCraft II: Starter Edition. You don't need to buy StarCraft II to play!"

For now, who knows when Blizzard will change their mind on what players do/don't get for free?

"While Blizzard is not directly affiliated with this project's production, we do communicate with them to submit bug reports and make technical requests. They have given their blessing/permission for us to launch this Kickstarter, and they are supporting our efforts by featuring SCU as an Arcade Highlight."

Sounds OK at the moment, but given this project uses Blizzard IP, a Blizzard game and Blizzard servers, surely they could just change their mind at any time. What are Upheaval going to do, sue for breach of a non-existant contract that they don't have any rights for anyway?

What about engine changes through patches/expansions/DRM changes or just server changes that break the mod?

Paying for a mod in development? Paying for a mod at all? Are they serious???

How about, no?

I think it's simple enough actually: Even if they reach 1 000 000, there's no way they'll create a complex MMO out of this kind of money, let alone 80k. As far as I'm concerned, that's that for this particular project.

Not the first time I saw a Kickstarter/Indiegogo project about making a mod.

I'm trying to find the one that was on Indiegogo...but no luck so far (GTA San Andreas MOD).

I don't have a problem with this. You could potentially even sell it if the mod didn't use Rock Star IP. This is very different to a mod for a persistant online game. Doubly so when the developer in question is Blizzard.

I dunno, I could probably be talked into backing a mod to make SC2 not suck. But, that would probably be more of a total conversion as the suck goes pretty deep with SC2.

Fat chance. Dustin Browder and Mike Morhaime think they can do no wrong :P

Correct me if I am wrong, I'm not up to date with this type of stuff... But isn't Blizzard a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard?

Even though they have Blizzard's permission, couldn't the bigger, creepier, meaner parent company Activision Blizzard step in and decide to shut it down and sue everybody? They have authority over Blizzard, don't they?

Not really. ActiBlizzard was a merger and the two parts are still largely independent and fairly equal (you'd think CoD would be the heavyweight, but I recall reading that WoW accounts for some 30% of ATVI revenues; don't quote me on it, though, as I don't completely believe it myself :P).

Blizzard is a big deal, have a look through here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_PC_games

Regardless, if this either becomes too much of a hassle/burden on servers I expect it to dissappear before the developers realise what has even happened.

Alternatively if it looks like it can make Blizzard money, you can expect it to be taken over.