Thursday, April 3, 2008

Ranked (match-making) vs Unranked (classic lobby system)

This debate has been all the rage recently after the EGM article has made it clear that Slant Six is implementing both match-making with parties for Ranked games, and the classic SOCOM lobby system for unranked games. While both still track stats separately (like Resistance) there is a problem with this approach that I don't think has been recognized by many people, and is something I made a thread about on the playstation.com boards with my possible solution:

If you haven't had a chance to check out my audio discussion with Hellman from yesterday, one of the things that have been bugging us is that we are afraid that the majority of people won't take Unranked games (using the classic lobby system) seriously. Because games like Resistance have shown, even with having separate stats for Ranked and Unranked, people just generally only try and play the game properly in ranked games. And we all know by now that you can only play a ranked game if you use the match making/party system.

Well a way that might fix this is if each player has a stats page that combines their stats from Ranked and Unranked games. And I know that personally, any time I went to play a Custom game on Resistance, even though there are stats tracked for it I felt like I was wasting my time and should be playing a Ranked game. But if there is a page where I could view my combined stats then when I decide to play using the classic lobby system I won't feel like I'm wasting my time because either way those stats end up on my combined stats page.

So thats how I think it can be improved. As much as people complain, I highly doubt we will ever have the ability to play a ranked match through the classic lobby system again, so this is the solution to the whole issue. And to be honest, I hated the way SOCOM 3 did that, it made the lobby system that much more cluttered and really just made finding games a more complicated and less enjoyable experience than SOCOM 2 where everything you did (with the exception of respawn) counted.

Which is another point I want to add. I believe respawn games should not be included in the 'Combined Stats' page that I'm pushing for. This way, if people do want to mess around/practice without worrying about their stats, they can play respawn, making the whole Confrontation experience feel like the SOCOM 2 days.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Man I wish you worked for SCEA or Slant 6. You are so good at putting my thoughts into words. They really should hire you as somekind of translator for what we all want. I couldn't quite come up with the word "cluttered" for the S3 lobby systems. S2 had streamlined lobby systems that made every room feel equally important and enjoyable.

Anonymous said...

I agree, I feel like this match making system really has no place in Socom. Its just gonna make finding rooms less enjoyable, basically I'll have to play some random room on some map I dont want to play in order for my stats to truly count. There are a few things about Confrontation that I'm discovering and being turned off by.

Unknown said...

So would you rather have rank-up rooms or ranked matchmaking like in Halo3 and just about every other modern game these days?

Unranked rooms ARE THERE for people to mess around and have fun...

I really do not understand your argument at all...

Anonymous said...

I would rather have the option to choose whatever room I want to play in and have the stats still really count. I absolutely do not want to see what your suggesting, which is unranked rooms that people will just mess around in. Basically the only way it seems I'll be able to play a true competitive game is to allow the game to dictate to me which room and map I'll play in. I'd rather have the rooms accessible via classic lobby mode to count for something.
people will always find an easy way to rank up, the original Socom lobby system is the franchise's crown jewel. Most people I talk to who have moved on to newer games still admit that nothing they've ever played comes close to Socom's online lobby system. I think there shouldnt be any matchmaking and if you want to make a ranked room, you can, but it has to be created with a predetermined set of rules, but can be created with any map list you want, and can be accessed from the online lobby. If you wanna make a custom game with weapons limitations and round count/time limits, great, but it shouldn't be ranked, however if you wanna make a game that will REALLY count and you want your own list of maps to play then you can, but there won't be any weapons limitations and there won't be anyway to change the round count or time.

Unknown said...

Thanks, again for another great idea. Hopefully the dev team puts this into action, althuogh it is unlikely. I believe that this system would be an even better addition!

Anonymous said...

I love your blog david, I love it because you're a true SOCOMer and you know what the true SOCOMers want and need and you put it up for some of the Zipper/SlantSix/SCEA insiders to really find out what we really want. You're their cheat cheat, lets hope they cheat. ;)

Lobby System cannot be replaced, the whole party thing is ssssoooo dull and you're not in control and you dont see anything. Ya know? I want the lobby system to be ranked and not unranked, people love the lobby system. I want to be able to join any server and any room I want. I want to join one of those rooms.... "BEER & PIZZA NIGHT" lol. Or "DG ALL NIGHT" ahahahaha Man, those were the days. Keep up the good work my friend you're great!

Anonymous said...

I love your blog david, I love it because you're a true SOCOMer and you know what the true SOCOMers want and need and you put it up for some of the Zipper/SlantSix/SCEA insiders to really find out what we really want. You're their cheat cheat, lets hope they cheat. ;)

Lobby System cannot be replaced, the whole party thing is ssssoooo dull and you're not in control and you dont see anything. Ya know? I want the lobby system to be ranked and not unranked, people love the lobby system. I want to be able to join any server and any room I want. I want to join one of those rooms.... "BEER & PIZZA NIGHT" lol. Or "DG ALL NIGHT" ahahahaha Man, those were the days. Keep up the good work my friend you're great!

Anonymous said...

Hey David, I got the impression the stats WOULD be combined -- that your hit percentage, K/D, etc. will be tracked in unranked games, and the only real difference is that unranked games won't be, well, ranked. Where are you seeing that the stats will be tracked separately?

Anonymous said...

Oh, hmm, are you talking about the quote from David Seymour that says, "Even playing within those games aggregates different stats..."? I'm pretty sure that what he meant was that it aggregates a variety of stats -- not that the stats were different from those tracked in ranked games. I should have noticed that wasn't entirely clear. :/