[b]TL;DR: [/b]Custom games are a fun way to play with friends. Stats and points do not get recorded, so they cannot be exploited. Put them in the game. --------------------- Apparently Destiny will not have the option to make custom games in the crucible. This is definitely a mistake. For those who aren't familiar with custom games, it is where you can invite friends to a lobby to play with and against them. In doing this, nights can be spent hilariously blowing up your friends, and overall there's always a bunch of enjoyable shenanigans. The point system/progression for custom games is removed or altered so that people cannot use them to exploit ranking up. This way custom games have one purpose, which they arguably have always had in the history of gaming: [i]to have a lot of fun.[/i] In Destiny, I see myself playing with friends I already have, but also with friends I make through playing. This is a game where I would expect custom games more than any other, to be completely honest. It conveys this social aspect, but then doesn't let you play with people in such a common feature? Custom matches are fun, like, it's hilarious to be chasing a friend on the other team and they're screaming "You bastard no gtfo pls!" and you're giggling the whole time. In the "O Brave New World" documentary, Bungie shared how splitscreen Halo was so fun early on because people in the room would get hyped up and raise their voices. It was a really fun way to spend the night. Well, the reason it got hyped up is because you were playing with and against friends. I can't do that in Destiny. A friend can't go, "Hey man, my Guardian could kick your Guardian's butt" with any way of following up on that. A game where we build our own character, with no way of directly comparing it to our friends'? Or, "Hey, Sarah and I make a great team. We could beat you guys in a 2v2." Just extra fun things to do. But no. Then there's also the competitive aspect. This multiplayer has been called competitive. People have already said they are going to have serious clans with the purpose of dominating the crucible. That is their way of "becoming legend." Yet there is literally no way for them to compete vs. other clans. I played with 2 friends throughout the beta. With the 3 of us on a team, we dominated most of our matches. If there were 6 of us, it would be more so. That isn't me saying, "oh we're so good." I am saying coordinated people will almost always win. That gets boring since you are not vs. other coordinated people, and one team gets destroyed. Winning every game easily isn't fun, and neither is getting annihilated. For the record, I have been on both sides. I honestly do not understand why there are no custom games. These days, a lot of games add so many new things, but they forget the things that made gaming so fun back in the day - things that never stopped being fun.