THE DECLINE OF SKILLED PLAYERS

THE STATE OF MULTIPLAYER GAMING

This is going to make a lot of enemies and this is completely fine with me because it needs to be said. Today’s average online gamers skill is probably at an all time low. There I said it and stand by it, and will say it again and again until you kids step your game up. There are many factors that have lead to the decline of skilled players. In my opinion the biggest factor is players attitudes.

I frequent all types video game oriented sites, and enjoy reading the voice of the community. I stumbled across something that disturbed the hell out of me pertaining to the Battlefield series. I screen capped it and here you can just go ahead and view it. The context is a group of BF3 players added a feature to their server.

In a game called Battlefield, where the premise of gameplay is to kill the other team until the round is over. These kids made a fucking surrender feature in a First-Person Shooter. If enough players vote to surrender the match ends and the team immediately takes a loss. Who in their right mind turns on a fps to surrender because the enemy team is beating them. I jumped through the comments and of course there was a great deal of logic there arguing that this system goes against playing “Pure” Battlefield. The whole mission statement that these guys built their community upon.(Playing Battlefield as close to how the Developers designed it to be played) They then go completely against that ideal and create this crap.

They are turning the system of the game against players who are playing the game correctly. Imagine your team is working together like a perfectly oiled machine and all of sudden the game just ends. Instead of being rewarded for spectacular teamwork and gameplay you are disciplined. Taught the lesson that if you are doing a great job at playing the game the way it was designed you are doing it wrong. I absolutely despise this type of gaming and would never ever play on this type of server.

Admin. Abuse

This is the next idiotic feature that plagues online video gaming. If you are playing better than a player they do not have to suffer at all they simple kick or ban you from the server. Simple as that, no rebuttal, no appeal, nothing just a notification saying you cannot play because your skillset is greater than the admin.  This is why video gamers suck at the games they play. As soon as they meet someone who is higher rank they kick them out of the game. Instead of playing against a player of higher skill and taking the good with the bad, they ruin others experience.

I have seen swapping and changing of teams where admins put all the skilled players on their team. Then as soon as a skilled player switches to fight against the stacked team he is instantly kicked. Because he wanted to play fairly and not stack against lower ranked players. This plague of shitty host and cheating admins comes with no consequence in most games and their communities. To me it seems as if the developers promote this behavior because it goes unregulated. Communities ignore this toxic behavior because they are all built upon these shitty tactics.

As much as I hear gamers complain about pay 2 win, admin to win is just a bad. These crappy players are the majority in the community that is why you do not see boycotted servers and players. Instead you have people that join and play mediocre in order not to call attention to themselves that would upset the admins.

How Video Game Developers are at fault

Not only are particular communities, toxic players, and career noobs responsible for skill decline. Developers are also responsible. When you have developers listening to members in the community that have abysmal k/d, few hours in the game, and a slew of suggestion that is where they fuck up royally. Why would they listen to the complaints of the lowest tier players? It would be like a teacher changing test material based on the knowledge of the failing students.

Another issue with developers and publishers is the lack of reading material/instruction booklets included in modern games. Of course this issue is bigger than just the lack of skills players have, but its definitely a factor. Some players may need a booklet to better explain the gameplay to them and for this to be taken away from modern games contributes to the decline in knowledge and skills. On this issue I will offer a solution. Since video game developers want to cut cost in the in-depth tutorials these days. They should look to their top community contributors on social media ahem youtubers. Simply hire them on to do in depth tutorials for their games and offer them exclusive footage, hell even offer them some damn money. Most users go to youtube for tips and tricks why not developers sponsored tutorials.