Video games have a cultural problem. One that doesn’t get fixed because it isn’t in the interest of game devs to make their customers angry at them.
If you want to see how a culture handles these issues well? [i]Look to sports.[/i]
1. Sports have a culture of sportsmanship that teaches people to win with grace, lose with dignity, and enforces consequences if they don’t. Devs and console makers have tried to step into this role. But they’re having uneven success.
2. There is a clear distinction between recreational play, competitive play…and practice. Which helps keep much of the toxic competitiveness in check in sports.
a. If you are playing in a recreational league, everyone knows that the goal is simply to have fun (in softball such leagues used to be called “beer leagues” because people were there more for the partying afterward than the game on the field). [i]Better players in these environments are EXPECTED to dial it back to avoid injuring or humiliating less-skilled ones.[/i] if you don’t there will be…problems.
b. If you are playing in a competitive league, [b]There is skill stratification.[/b] If you cannot show that you can play to the level/standard of that league? You will not be given the chance to. You’ll either be cut, or be a permanent reserve. Or in the pro ranks you won’t get drafted or signed.
[i]So the reward for becoming highly skilled is not being allowed to dominate weaker players. It’s BEING ABLE TO TAKE ON BETTER PLAYERS FOR HIGHER STAKES.[/i]
c. Practice is kept within teams, or is structured (exhibition/ pre-season games) between teams. Although score is kept in such games, no one really cares who wins or loses. The idea is to look at performance at “game speed”.
3. [i]The problem in online gaming is that, too often, you have recreational play, competitive play, and practice all going on in the same environment.[/i]
a. Some better players will dial it back when facing weaker opponents by handicapping themselves with non-meta gear and strategies. Thus leveling the playing field a bit.
b. But you have more who play ultra-competitively in that same environment. Stacking. Pubstomping and stat-farming. Creating a hostile environment for weaker players who wind up leaving the game because there is no place for them to have fun. So you get skill creep and the game starts to self-destruct.
4. The harsh truth is that—unless you can get the second group to dial it back in a CBMM environment—- you don’t have any truly “recreational play” environment. You simply have a predatory one where those at the top have fun at the expense of those at the bottom…and those at the bottom eventually stop playing. Because it’s not an enjoyable experience.
Bungie’s in-house skill tracking showed this.
So the only viable solution to creating the best experience for the most people is SBMM: to essentially create a competitive league for everyone.
Yes those looking to “practice” lose out. But the game offers private matches wher you can play around with non-meta gear to get a feel for it in an environment where no one cares who wins.
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My biggest issue is, has always been, it feels like a psychological study to see what effect it has on the human mind. Not the studies of this era, but of the past when they basically would -blam!- with people's head to see what happened. There is clear proof that violent media has no effect on rather or not a person exhibits violent behavior. That is proven. Period. But. Pvp specifically.... mmmm... no. Science is very much not "in" on that. And I'm going to just go on and state it is my opinion from what my education has taught me about the human mind and psychosocial development... these games that ask you to work together until you achieve the objective, and then encourage you to try to kill or sabotage your team mates, coopetition... it is my educated opinion that no one should play those games for any reason. It's basically a simulator for being a psychopath or sociopath, promoting cooperation only so long as it benefits you while looking for ways you can exploit others, making efforts to contribute no more than you must, then at the moment of your victory, what should be the moment of triumph becomes an amoral race to see who can kill the people you used to win but who no longer benefit you first. Yeah. No. It is my position that multilayer games should focus on cooperating, games focused on pvp should be played between people who are in the same room with each other. Not telling anyone what to do, it's your life, but people with kids who have seen all those studies that say videogame violence is harmless were focused on the violence. And that studies on the effect of pvp on mental health is still ongoing, and results tend to be a bit more complicated so far.
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Always good to get some insight from you Kelly. Thank you for the input.
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My pleasure.