Give them handicaps and they’ll wear them like badges of honor. They kicked so much ass, their bullets do half as much damage… and they still have even odds to win. Or make their accuracy garbage. Or slow down their movement. Or make them visible from anywhere on the map. That last one even teaches newbies about prediction.
Team-based modes are simpler: pile on more newbs. Unbalance the shit out of those teams. Give the tryhards an opportunity to say a pair of them took on ten guys, and won. Even if they roll the other team, it’s hard to say the loss feels cheap, if you outnumber them so drastically.
Engineer a response that goes ‘fuck, that guy is good’ instead of just ‘fuck that guy.’
Bullets do quarter damage, they get 1 HP, if they get hit they go into last stand until someone heals them or someone from the other team graciously double taps them. Only 2 pro members to a team, the rest are all bots with no med packs and accuracy that would make even the worst storm trooper look like a sniper. Oh and FF is on for them, that includes their bot team mates, so they have to constantly worry about being in their team mates line of sight and getting fragged… or just a stray bullet as they goof around launching bullets in every direction.
This, I already never play anything online because it’s not fun to suck, either constantly getting killed in competitive matches or being a drag on my team in coops. And I don’t have the time or energy at the end of the day to do that, but I do like playing games with others
I do feel for the folks that are very good and have to wait long times because that ruins the game for them but is it really an enjoyable competition if you’re just annihilating everyone every match, does that not get boring? Handicapping can keep it interesting for everyone it just needs to be scaled properly
Give an option in the menu to add levels of handicap to artificially drop your skill rating an appropriate amount. Then, during the match, display what handicap that player is using with a cool badge, or a flaming skull, or something.
Counter point:
The majority of players do not have the time to invest or inclination to get gud.
All they want is to have an enjoyable playing experience. Getting ganked in every game is not an enjoyable playing experience.
The way that is done in a game like golf is handicapping. Would the high skill players be ok with shorter wait times if they were handicapped?
My guess is: Fuck no.
Give them handicaps and they’ll wear them like badges of honor. They kicked so much ass, their bullets do half as much damage… and they still have even odds to win. Or make their accuracy garbage. Or slow down their movement. Or make them visible from anywhere on the map. That last one even teaches newbies about prediction.
Team-based modes are simpler: pile on more newbs. Unbalance the shit out of those teams. Give the tryhards an opportunity to say a pair of them took on ten guys, and won. Even if they roll the other team, it’s hard to say the loss feels cheap, if you outnumber them so drastically.
Engineer a response that goes ‘fuck, that guy is good’ instead of just ‘fuck that guy.’
Also, it would also solve the streamer smurfing phenomenon as well, since it would be obvious if you were doing it on a stream.
Bullets do quarter damage, they get 1 HP, if they get hit they go into last stand until someone heals them or someone from the other team graciously double taps them. Only 2 pro members to a team, the rest are all bots with no med packs and accuracy that would make even the worst storm trooper look like a sniper. Oh and FF is on for them, that includes their bot team mates, so they have to constantly worry about being in their team mates line of sight and getting fragged… or just a stray bullet as they goof around launching bullets in every direction.
That sounds like newbs playing Halo against pros playing Siege.
This, I already never play anything online because it’s not fun to suck, either constantly getting killed in competitive matches or being a drag on my team in coops. And I don’t have the time or energy at the end of the day to do that, but I do like playing games with others
I do feel for the folks that are very good and have to wait long times because that ruins the game for them but is it really an enjoyable competition if you’re just annihilating everyone every match, does that not get boring? Handicapping can keep it interesting for everyone it just needs to be scaled properly
The problem is that as unfun as talent mismatches are, latency is worse.
Give an option in the menu to add levels of handicap to artificially drop your skill rating an appropriate amount. Then, during the match, display what handicap that player is using with a cool badge, or a flaming skull, or something.