Any game company attempting to make a worthwhile multiplayer game, regardless of what type of game it is and regardless of which platform the game is for, needs to take a close, careful look at what Blizzard Entertainment has accomplished with the release, and continued support, of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, the winner of GameSpot's Best Multiplayer Game of 2003 award. Multiplayer features in games, while increasingly common, still tend to be an afterthought--something that's thrown in for good measure and makes for a nice exclamatory line on the back of a box. But to make a truly good multiplayer game in this day and age--to compete with the likes of extremely well established games like Counter-Strike and Battlefield 1942--you need to do something extraordinary, and, more importantly, you need to follow through, indefinitely.

No matter how good a multiplayer game is, someone will figure out how to exploit it. No matter how well balanced it may seem, serious issues will doubtlessly be uncovered after players invest thousands of hours over time. And, unless they manage to immediately garner a good-sized player base, most online multiplayer games are doomed to appeal to just a small following. Simply put: To make a seriously good multiplayer game in this day and age requires incredible talent, tremendous resources, and a long-term commitment. And no company exemplifies and demonstrates this better than Blizzard, specifically with the release of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne--arguably the company's single best multiplayer offering to date, despite Blizzard's long history of producing outstanding multiplayer games.

First things first: On the day The Frozen Throne became available worldwide, its online multiplayer component worked, and it worked perfectly. Embarrassing launch problems are still common in online games these days, but Blizzard's online service capably accommodated hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of players from day one. In addition, and despite the dramatic changes made to the core gameplay of Warcraft III by the expansion, The Frozen Throne was extremely well balanced. Some minor tweaks were made in a patch released weeks later, but The Frozen Throne is still easily one of the best examples yet of a perfectly tuned multiplayer game.

Blizzard's proprietary Battle.net service makes finding opponents of similar skill level a breeze. The highly polished, completely free service is a pleasure to use and is extremely well suited for solo players as well as for pairs or trios of friends looking to play as a team against others like them. Additionally, Blizzard has been very supportive of player-made content for Warcraft III. You can always find exciting player-made mods waiting to be played online via Battle.net. The company has also doled out free, new single-player content and multiplayer maps to owners of the expansion.

Blizzard also deserves commendation for its zero-tolerance stance toward cheaters. The company has banned literally hundreds of thousands of players who thought they could get the edge on their online opponents by playing dirty--but they ended up getting what they deserved, and Battle.net remains the best destination in the world for the most thrilling multiplayer competition available, thanks to Blizzard's singular commitment to providing the highest-quality multiplayer experience possible.