I have been online playing games against real people for years. I started with Rainbow Six on the PC in 1997. What I found from game to game were diverse groups of people who seemed to build little communities around their favorite game. You'd notice that the group of people playing one game would all seem to follow the same set of rules and norms while another group would be completely different. This was before the word "gamer" was common and easy to use home networking was still years off. Even though there was a considerable downside to dialing up your AOL account and logging into gamespy arcade, there was just something special that I feel has been lost as the industry became... THE INDUSTRY instead of a bunch of like minded individuals enjoying a fun pastime.
More on my experience after the jump.
You know my friends… come on!
It's 2004. I've just joined a friend from Texas who's hosting a Rainbow Six 3 game of Team Survival on the map Airport 1. It's mid round so I sit in the lobby and chat with the other dead guys for a few minutes while the two teams duke it out. While I'm sitting there I start inviting my friends to the room to fill the few vacant slots. The round ends in a draw because there were survivors on both teams at the end of 5 minutes.
My buddies Scooby and Alex join and now it's 6v6 with two out of the three of us on one team. The host asks if one of us would mind leaving and coming back so we can square the teams away. I volunteer. I come back and the room patiently waited for me to load back in before giving the "suggestion" to my two friends who were known to be jokers "No remote charges."
Well, that round my buddy Scooby pops a remote charge as someone is running through a doorway and is booted. Then Alex blows up someone else in that same doorway... and is booted. I’m laughing because I know they are messing with a dude who’s normally quick to flip the crazy switch but I don’t think anything of it until after the round. He scolds me for not “controlling their behavior” in a way that sounds like he’s dead serious… like “we’re not friends anymore if you don’t talk to those two knuckleheads” serious. This went on for months with me playing mediator between a hot head friend who wants things a certain way and my clown friends who loved getting under his skin. It culminated with me finally having enough of being in between the two groups and blowing him up with a remote charge in his server 5 seconds after he explains how he’s removed my buddy from his friends list for that very reason.
I then get a nasty email telling me that it's not cool that my friends and I disrespected his rules in his room that he's hosting. He made it clear that none of “us” were welcome in his server anymore. (For the record, we’re friends to this day… but this went on for years.)
It's 2010. I’m playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 and I'm a defender at Nelson Bay. One of my squad mates isn't responding to voice coms. He runs up to Alpha and starts planting C4 all around the MCOM station and then runs off behind a rock. I send him a text message asking him not to plant C4 on the MCOMs that we're defending because it will take down the building and destroy our own base. No response. He's determined to C4 people on the MCOM. Bomb is planted at Alpha. I run in and shoot the guy who planted and start disarming. C4 goes off all around me. Bomb defused. I am killed by Destruction 2.0 and the MCOM is lost.
Every MCOM we attempted to defend that whole round was surrounded by this dude's C4. I am chatting with a buddy of mine who's in the squad and we're both getting quite frustrated that this guy isn't responding to stimuli and is basically handing the attackers the victory.
Round ends in a big "L."
Next round starts.
"Hey, you sent me a text message. Why? I have a mic you know."
My buddy and I promptly leave the room to find greener pastures.
WTS Stigma, PST
Six years ago I didn't want to let anyone know that I played video games online because it felt like once you connected a game to the internet you were breaking through some massive milestone of nerd from which there was no return. I still remember people's reaction when they heard I played my xbox online or that I was connecting to other people to play computer games. I might as well have brought up that I was standing outside the elementary school in my trench coat with fake arm by the way they looked at me. Non gamers had real disgust for adults who tinkered with phone lines and cable modems to play games with strangers. Meanwhile, online I was making friends that would end up becoming friends in real life and some of the longest lasting friendships I've ever had.
Being into video games was something kids and computer fanatics [read: nerds] did to pass the time or to put an avatar to a personal fantasy. Over time each online game started to build into little societies with their own codes of conduct and culture. People knew each other by reputation and stories and strategies were passed around the virtual campfire. Guys who were fun to hang out with or talented players would go from game to game showing off, fooling around, competing, and making friends all while being a part of the society. Because of the seemingly fragile ecosystem, new players were welcomed with open arms and given the information they needed to build themselves into a useful part of the team. The room would eventually shut down and you’d exchange friend requests and look forward to fighting side by side again. This wasn’t exclusive to Xbox shooters, in games like the MUD Gemstone III and MMORPG EverQuest I had similar experiences where I was the eager “newbie” and there were sagely veterans who were more than willing to set me on the right course. Don’t get me wrong, there were always griefers and jerks out there, but they were the extreme minority. Most people were out to have a good time and encourage people to give their chosen game a chance. This wasn’t via pure altruism. There was always the fact that people knew that more dudes logged in meant there was a better chance their game lived on, so it was part selfish, but regardless, it was great.
Back in the early days you could not overstate the value of your reputation. You treated people the way you’d like them to remember you because they WOULD remember. A guild mate of mine in EverQuest actually kept a cork board next to his computer where he’d take notes on people that didn’t live up to their end of the deal or did shady stuff. If you wanted to have access to the maximum amount of competition and have the best opportunity to play the most fun games you had to “fit in” with the society or be forced to search the servers over and over again all night long.
What has happened is we've given up online societies for ease of entry. In order to encourage people to behave there has to be rewards for behaving and punishments for stepping out of line. In the host based days the reward was lag free gameplay and a steady server. The punishment was banishment and having to roll the dice on another server. All that has gone away and anyone can join any game at any time and get the content they are looking for quickly and easily. Everything from World of Warcraft's group finding tools to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's matchmaking system are built so that you won't have to wait more than a few seconds to get your high, but it comes at a great cost.
I've been checking out a bunch of amateur game journalists like myself (LOLJOURNALIST) and have noticed a lot of people taking notice of the general population's annoying tendencies. Some have called it a loss of manners by today’s youth. Others think it's a cultural shift away from face to face interactions and the increasing reliance on social networking to fulfill the need of companionship that lacks the cultural norms of face to face interfacing (aka you go into punt block on 1st down and I’m going to punch you in the face). I've even heard it's the political landscape leading to a society of irresponsible people who don't understand that actions come at a cost... I enjoyed that one.
Asteroid is to Dinosaur as Bungie is to Hosts
Once Halo 2 was launched things would never be the same. They just couldn't be. Halo 2 sold $125,000,000 (125 million dollars) worth of copies on launch day. It held the top spot as most played game on xbox live for many years and gave gamers exactly what they wanted... Halo with Xbox Live functionality. Not only that, but they gave anyone the ability to join a game from any playlist at any time with solid competition and connectivity at any time day or night even if their friends list was empty. For those that don’t particularly like interacting with other people even if there is a monitor and a thousand miles of cables between you this was a blessing. You didn’t have to kiss someone’s rear just because his cable provider had better speeds. You didn’t have to jump from room to room hoping to find people to play with that are going to be enjoyable competition. Now you can just hit a button and you’re in. You can join by yourself or with friends ANY TIME AT ALL and you’ll wait no longer than 30 seconds to start blasting away.
This removed the “host’s” ability to boot people that were causing problems. Now, you could sit there and play music over the mic the whole round and there was nothing anyone could do about it. You could find an exploit and grief the other team forever without punishment. It changed the dynamic from “problems get removed” to “you must remove yourself from the problems.” That doesn’t sound impossible, but once people realized that nobody could hold them accountable for anything (including submitting feedback and filing complaints… who knows if that even does anything?) they started taking advantage of that fact.
I personally went from joining at most 3 rooms a night to quitting and rejoining probably 3 or 4 DOZEN times a night. Then the modders hit the scene and it was over for me. People were blatantly cheating and there was nothing the honest players could do about it. You’d be winning midway through a round and all of a sudden there’d be a dude flying around the map pulling off headshots from a mile and a half away while moving faster than any vehicle can move. Your only recourse at that point is to keep quitting and coming back. Punish the honest… yeah… that makes sense.
We’ve made this game more accessible.
After Halo 2, the next game I was involved with was Rainbow Six Vegas. I was OBSESSED with Rainbow Six 3, loved the community that played it, and heard that the same developers who designed 3 started working on Vegas the day after 3 launched. I bought an xbox 360 exclusively for this game. A week before I set myself up I watched a video interview with the project manager from Ubisoft Montreal who said a word I’ll never forget: Accessible. He used it a few times. He kept talking about how they’ve lowered the barriers to entry and made the game more ACCESSIBLE to the MASSES. I dismissed it as something they must have done with the server browser or the HUD… as it turns out… I was wrong. Halo was such a game changer with its ease of entry and excitement for even the shortest of play sessions that every other developer was lining up with their version of Halo trying to get their piece of the billion dollar pie.
A Cod is no longer a Fish
Call of Duty was around for years, but the impact wasn’t truly felt on the xbox live scene until Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I was right alongside everyone else crying out “GAME OF THE YEAR!” from the day I logged into the beta. What I didn’t realize was how right I was and what COD4 was going to mean for both fish and gamers.
Call of Duty is a team based game and I spent most of my time playing TEAM Deathmatch. I worked together with my friends and we had a lot of success. Some of my friends were simply amazing and would rack up 10 to 1 rounds back to back to back to back all night long. That made it easy for me to sit back and cover lanes, move around to flanking positions, etc. I’ve always felt that I’m not the best shot but I’ll out-think and out-teamwork (is that even a word?) anyone else. Give me a killer or two and we’ll put together a murder fest not to be missed… but were we really working together?
Sure, I’d say stuff like “I’m watching the left road” and hear things like “I am watching the right road,” but does that equate to teamwork? The simple answer is: NO. I know that amongst my friends there are several that will say “of course it’s teamwork, I need someone to watch my back so people can’t just shoot me in the head from behind.” Yes, that’s true, but pay very close attention and you’ll realize that someone who’s a 3:1 K/D guy will boost his team regardless of how bad they are. The mechanics are structured in a way that prevents you from being completely boxed in as a single player. Sure, it’s easier to kill dudes when they are on their heels, but does that stop you from being able to find a secure position and start whaling on the enemy even if your team is full of thumb less blind people?
Years pass, games are released, yadda yadda yadda… then we get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. This game is the perfect example of a game that LOOKS team based… it FEELS team based… it SAYS IT’S TEAMBASED… but in the end it’s just two groups of individuals running around independent of one another. It’s like that on purpose… don’t kid yourself. They want that game to make every single player feel like a human murder machine so everyone tells their friends about how great it feels to kill in MW2. If you want proof teamwork means nothing, look at how many people use their headsets. In any given room you’ll see maybe 2 or 3 people with headsets. There simply is no reason to say anything or hear anything.
I plan on getting way more in depth about MW2 later on, but that’s for another day. What’s important to realize here is that the guys who were 12 years old playing halo 2 as their first online game (rated M for mature… another topic that makes me rage) are in college now and have most likely never experienced a game where communication and teamwork are the keys to success. They’ve also never experienced someone booting them for being a cheater, loudmouthed ass or for any other reason. They’ve never been held accountable for doing wrong or being befriended for doing the right thing. The odds are their friends lists are comprised mostly of kids they grew up with and their friends with the occasional stranger they met online. Game lobbies are places where you can show off how mad you can get people and how much of an ass you can be to impress your friends. When your buddy from gym class isn’t on you don’t even bother plugging in your microphone because there’s nothing to talk about that pertains to the game you’re playing. The only reason you’d speak is because you want to talk about some chick at school, the car you are working on, the pot you’re going to smoke, or how high you are (PROTIP: nobody cares).
Hey, Wang, this club is restricted so don’t tell them you’re Jewish
Things have changed since the 90s in ways that have forced the hand of game developers. Games have become a big money maker and with every new milestone passed in regards to users, hours logged, launch day sales, etc you’re seeing people take the creation of new games differently. What’s the way to get the most people playing?
When I started playing online it was only the savvy and the enthusiast who found their way to online lobbies looking for excitement. Broadband internet wasn’t even available 20 minutes from New York City (where I grew up) and most games were primarily single player experiences. Today broadband access is available to millions of households and is as common as cable TV. People think nothing of networking their whole house and having multiple devices scouring the internet 24 hours a day. When I got my first broadband connection from Comcast it was in their Terms of Service that you were not allowed to use a router. They wanted you to buy a separate connection per device. Today Verizon FiOS’s modem IS A WIRELESS ROUTER IN ITSELF. As time goes on the market is only going to get bigger and more diverse with more people giving gaming a shot and gaming becoming more mainstream by the day. Watching the NCAA basketball championship I saw a commercial from the makers of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 that bragged about having 20 million players. Each copy costs $60… do the math. I saw this commercial with a group of guys in their 50s and they were all familiar with the game.
There are many times I miss the old days, but that can be attributed to nostalgia for part of it. The other part is that I used to really enjoy hopping into any random room and having teammates that looked forward to working with you to win. I’ve always found the most joy in gaming when I am part of the machine that gets things done. Being the dude who goes 20 and 1 and carries the team is fun, but when you can feel that your team is grinding the opponent to dust under the gears of a well oiled machine… that’s when I’m really happy. The whole reason I even started writing this manifesto is right in this paragraph. Teamwork is in short supply and the amount of people who would rather totally disregard winning a round rather than open their mouth and give out any piece of useful information is staggering.
I blame this phenomenon on the deep penetration the gaming industry has made and the general dumbing down of all games to appease the largest number of buyers, but I’ve noticed that the pattern of easy to join, easy to play, easy to play alone has made even the best gamers amongst my friends turn into sheep. Nobody wants to go out of their way to try something difficult or complex. If they aren’t the best right out of the gate they lose interest and go back to something that’s easier for them. I NEVER expected this to be the case until my last two game purchases.
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising and Battlefield Bad Company 2
Both of these games have left me wondering if I am truly a dying breed. OF:DR is a hyper realistic shooter that makes cod look like playskool’s my first pew pew game. I ran around screaming at everyone like a mad man that this game was the second coming and that we all needed to get on board and start playing this game. A couple of my friends hopped on, but at any given time there were less than 20 other people online. Most of my friends either shelved the game or returned it. Why? Because it’s too hard? Because the developers took a real chance making a multiplayer mode that looks, feels, and plays nothing like the Halo/COD clones? Nah… it’s got to be that the community wasn’t robust enough to support someone who’s used to having a million players to shoot at around the clock… yeah… that’s it… right?
Well…
Bad Company 2 demo is launched and I get my friends to download it… one day before it goes offline. Only a couple of us try it, but I immediately pre order the game to make sure I’ll have it at midnight on launch day. Of my friends, maybe 20 are active in any capacity. Of those 20, probably 10 picked it up. Of those 10… only me and one other guy I met early in the Rainbow Six 3 days play it with any regularity. The others all have some beef with it or another. One guy who was a cold blooded killer in just about every game that’s been released will look me in the face and say stuff like “people don’t die when I shoot them” or “vehicles ruin it for me” or “I’m just not good at it and don’t have fun.” Another says it’s too slow and that it bores him. He went back to Call of Duty. Another one felt like buying it a week late made him too far behind to catch up. A couple have been busy with family and work, so that’s 100% understandable, but when we were all playing COD:MW2 and bitching nonstop about grenade spam, commando pro, crazy advantages for people who stink and a general population of people that make us all want to go to people’s houses and slap them in the face they were all looking for a way out. When a game comes along that takes teamwork and communication… practice and patience… and is hard as they come these days… they all go flocking back to what’s easy… cod.
Has the string of A-list games that have been released over the past 5 years really made all the top notch murderers fat and lazy? I seriously feel like Rorschach from Watchmen. Everyone who I used to rely on for backup in the old days of stupid high learning curves and nonstop competition that would make the most stoic want to bite someone face are all gone. I feel like I’m looking at the ghosts of the men who once would bring the most talented players to their knees.
Combine that with the complete and utter lack of respect, class, responsibility, and teamwork and I’m sitting here playing Bad Company 2 earning ace pin after ace pin (highest scoring player in the round) while losing due to players that are still chained to the floor watching shadows on the wall. It’s time people step out of their comfort zone, say hello, play their part online, and get back to the way it was. Will it ever happen with another Halo on the horizon and Call of Duty earning dump trucks full of cash daily? I doubt it, but I have some advice for anyone who reads this and feels like I do:
1. Do not be part of the problem. If nobody uses a headset, use yours. Call things out. Be helpful and try to make things better
2. Try to treat people online as real people… believe it or not, they are real people. I’ve built relationships that led to amazing business opportunities and lifelong friendships thanks to the fact that I see people online as people. That doesn’t mean you have to dress like Mr. Peanut and use big words, but try to consider that adding to the problem doesn’t help solve it.
3. Be social and try to help those that seem to need it, but don’t be “know it all guy.” Just offer some advice and try to do your best to help your fellow players advance.
4. Try something new and vote with your purchases. If you are sick of a game or don’t like what you are dealing with, try something else! Don’t buy a new product when the old one wasn’t up to par. Let developers know that you want more and won’t fall for another shirt over the head punch in the face just because it has a higher number next to it.
5. Be bad at games. It’s okay. You think everyone who’s good at anything started out good? I guarantee you Tiger Woods wasn’t able to have sex with as many beautiful women behind his wife’s back at first, it took practice. And as Aldo Raine so beautifully put it, “You know how you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice.” I guarantee you that if you stink at something at first you’ll feel even that much better when you do something awesome. Something you are instinctively good at never is as rewarding as something you work for.
6. ????
7. Profit!
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