That's why I said 'LAN' instead of LAN. As all the networks I play on are connected to the internet so there is no practical difference for me.
that's the blizzard excuse from the begining when we knew sc2 would not have LAN (whatever the reason they said, its OBVIOUSLY to avoid piracy. Didnt work).
Having two computers side by side, but comunicating by internet, will give you worse ping than LAN. How much, depends on the conection, but most people on the world will have a much worse ping than just doing a LAN, which gives basically 0 to 5 ping (nothing).
In a game as competitive as is SC2, where you usually perform 200+ actions per minute, and where they aim at developing a competitive enough scene like there is in SC1, the no-LAN thing is just killing any chance of it happening. It will never lift off as SC1 did. At 200 APM, something as light as 35+ ping is very noticiable, and can influence on your defeat.
Diablo 3 is not going to be competitive, that's have been said a lot. But it is still super stupid to forbid real LANs, as that is a big part of this kind of game.
I remember doing 6 man LAN parties playing d2, starting with new characters, for hours, until we finish the game. So much fun. Trying that using internet, spliting a home conection betwen 6 people? Maybe in your countly is an option, but almost everywhere it is not.
Specially now, that we are in the age of notebooks, going big LAN parties is easier than ever before. But Blizzard (activision most likely) refuses to give us that pleasure. What a slap in the face of the loyal fans.