4 ms·

See, this is just absolutely true. When 7 or so of the top 10 most successful games of the last decade all share features like global matchmaking, you can't te

See, this is just absolutely true. When 7 or so of the top 10 most successful games of the last decade all share features like global matchmaking, you can't tell me those features bring more trouble than value. I agree there are hard challenges there, maybe ones that cannot be solved perfectly, but for success at that scale they are clearly worth attempting.

danShumway 7y ago
7 of the 10 most successful games of the last decade listed here also offer in-app purchases. I don't ignore success -- Overwatch, League, Dota, and Fortnite are all objectively well-designed games. But that doesn't mean that every decision they make is good design. If success was the only metric I used to judge design quality, I would have to conclude that Farmville was a better game than Hollow Knight.
- drivebycomment 7y ago
  I do agree Hollow Knight is a so much better game than Farmville (and most games, for that matter). But in this case, global/regional matchmaking is an essential part of those successful games and their game experience (unlike in-app purchases which are essential for moneymaking but not essential for game play experience). If those games didn't have regional matchmaking, they would provide very different experience. You keep saying you believe the global matchmaking is not important, but I'm afraid you have presented no coherent argument or evidence so far - hence it looks like you're simply ignoring the reality unfortunately. Given how much core part of the experience the global matchmaking is for those games, the onus is on you to prove the otherwise. So we'll likely have to agree to disagree.
VRay 7y ago
Those online competitive team games are pretty unfriendly, though. If you try something new or fail to keep up with the latest flavor-of-the-month playstyle, people will flip out on you. You're suddenly preventing this guy from realizing his life goals of climbing to the top of the ladder and becoming a world-renowned player. I love MOBAs, but I can't bring myself to try out LoL or DotA2 again since I don't want to deal with angry teammates
- jfim 7y ago
  > I love MOBAs, but I can't bring myself to try out LoL or DotA2 again since I don't want to deal with angry teammates I don't know about lol, but DotA 2 has a setting to mute all chat, so you're just playing with quiet teammates. They can still ping the map and use the chat wheel, but that stops pretty much all the chat abuse, especially if you're stuck with a 4 stack that picks on the lone player.
MereInterest 7y ago
Value to the company is not necessarily value to the players.

danShumway 7y ago

7 of the 10 most successful games of the last decade listed here also offer in-app purchases. I don't ignore success -- Overwatch, League, Dota, and Fortnite are all objectively well-designed games. But that doesn't mean that every decision they make is good design. If success was the only metric I used to judge design quality, I would have to conclude that Farmville was a better game than Hollow Knight.

drivebycomment 7y ago
I do agree Hollow Knight is a so much better game than Farmville (and most games, for that matter). But in this case, global/regional matchmaking is an essential part of those successful games and their game experience (unlike in-app purchases which are essential for moneymaking but not essential for game play experience). If those games didn't have regional matchmaking, they would provide very different experience. You keep saying you believe the global matchmaking is not important, but I'm afraid you have presented no coherent argument or evidence so far - hence it looks like you're simply ignoring the reality unfortunately. Given how much core part of the experience the global matchmaking is for those games, the onus is on you to prove the otherwise. So we'll likely have to agree to disagree.

VRay 7y ago

Those online competitive team games are pretty unfriendly, though. If you try something new or fail to keep up with the latest flavor-of-the-month playstyle, people will flip out on you. You're suddenly preventing this guy from realizing his life goals of climbing to the top of the ladder and becoming a world-renowned player. I love MOBAs, but I can't bring myself to try out LoL or DotA2 again since I don't want to deal with angry teammates

jfim 7y ago
> I love MOBAs, but I can't bring myself to try out LoL or DotA2 again since I don't want to deal with angry teammates I don't know about lol, but DotA 2 has a setting to mute all chat, so you're just playing with quiet teammates. They can still ping the map and use the chat wheel, but that stops pretty much all the chat abuse, especially if you're stuck with a 4 stack that picks on the lone player.

MereInterest 7y ago

Value to the company is not necessarily value to the players.