TotalBiscuit makes a compelling case against multiple game modes:

(tokamak) #1

Skip to 19 minutes
[video]https://youtu.be/E4tNoVHr5iI?t=1172[/video]

His point is that every multiplayer-only game is doomed to enter into a death spiral as the declining playerbase lowers the quality of the experience and thus enter a cycle of players leaving the game.

He says that multiple modes increase the probability that a game enters this trigger point as it fractures the playerbase and thus decrease the match-making reliability which increases the skill gap in a match making the game more frustrating for both beginners and high level players.

(ZGToRRent) #2

Nothing new to be honest.

(Protekt1) #3

Eh, in short we have a server browser that determines where you end up, not match making. Except for ranked where there is only 1 list and it doesn’t matter if they add 100 modes as long as they maintain just a single entry point to ranked with no choice involved. They could add execution right now to ranked matchmaking and it won’t split up anyone if you can’t choose which mode you enter. Not saying they should but his point about modes is inaccurate pretty much for this game at least.

He should have just argued the realities of splitting up your playerbase. The more choice you give, the ability to exclude, or include, certain maps or modes while searching for a game is what causes the issues. With a server browser, practically it is irrelevant. But with the quick search type games, yeah its relevant. But as ZGTorrent pointed out, this isn’t even new information even slightly. And if TB thinks he is actually educating anyone, its no one important.

(tokamak) #4

Yeah true. It’s not the diversity of modes but rather the free choice that splits it.

(rookie1) #5

Game mod : If there is one that please me I will play ,if not… I will play something else (game) .
without going in multiple amount of game mod ,3-4 gmodes is ok for any game imo

(UnaSalusVictus) #6

[QUOTE=tokamak;542807]Skip to 19 minutes
[video]https://youtu.be/E4tNoVHr5iI?t=1172[/video]

His point is that every multiplayer-only game is doomed to enter into a death spiral as the declining playerbase lowers the quality of the experience and thus enter a cycle of players leaving the game.

He says that multiple modes increase the probability that a game enters this trigger point as it fractures the playerbase and thus decrease the match-making reliability which increases the skill gap in a match making the game more frustrating for both beginners and high level players.[/QUOTE]

sorry dont really agree with tb on this(hes not always right)

the fact is, there are games that are still played ONLY because they are online centric.

unreal tournament(1-2-3)
old pre-bc2 battlefield games.
lots of other shooters.

the major problem is, when companies lock things down so there is no player created content/server software so when the company moves on and leaves a game to depricate and die, theres no recourse for the community.

on the other hand, if the released an SDK/mapping/modding kit, they would see much longer play life since new content wouldnt be rare, and official servers wouldnt be as importent, specially if they turned over the master servers to some sort of community group once they abandon the game fully.

i hate to say it but, that wont happen with DB, they wont ever release any sort of server software and an SDK is very very unlikely since it would require servers that could be setup to run new maps and mods without nexon staff having to manage them constantly…again not gonna happen.

um hoping for a good class based mod for ut4 like UT:XMP4 (for because its ue4!!!)

battleborne and overwatch look like they will likely have better business models then nexon games when they launch, along with newer DX versions (dx9 is ANCIENT)

love db but, i just dont see a huge long term future for it with all i have learned about the 100% ruling out of game modes like dm or tdm and on the nexon db forums…just dont see this being more then a short term thing…like most games today…not alot of staying power due to lack of community content.

(Mustang) #7

@UnaSalusVictus You’re clearly mad at this dude, but please refrain from going on about him in every single post.

On topic though, I agree with what most people here are saying, if a game doesn’t have a gamemode that interests me I won’t play it in the first instance, so whilst having multiple may split the playerbase which may cause it to dwindle over time, I’m also of the opinion that not having multiple would result in a smaller playerbase anyway.

The more major issue is that if a game stops making money the publishers kill it without releasing anything to the community to facilitate it’s continued existence, to me this is far too pervasive in the PC gaming community, to the extent where players are reluctant to even purchase a game if they think it won’t be supported well enough, I know I’m “guilty” of it. I don’t understand why these publishers don’t realize that they’re shooting themselves in the foot, or maybe they do, and instead rely on a younger demographic that hasn’t been jaded.

Everything I’m hearing from SD leads me to believe that they plan to support DB for a very long time, even coming out and saying that this is more than certain other publishers have done, so I’m inclined to go along with that. Also they’ve said all along the reason why it’s hard for them to release SDK or server binaries is due to the free-to-play model, in other word they wouldn’t be able to make any money if they did, so I’d also hope that any exit strategy would involve handing over the ability to keep the game running to the community, and again it’s through their past actions that leads me to this thinking.

TL;DR: Don’t piss gamers off and they’ll throw money at you.