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Edited by DarpUhDarp:
7/9/2020 4:13:19 PM
57
The one thing missing in most CBMM/SBMM discussions
[b][u]This is not a call to remove CBMM. I have a suggested minor tweak if you keep reading.[/u][/b]
Firstly, let's define some terms.
Casual: A game mode where the result doesn't matter.
Competitive: A game mode where the result matters.
Fair: A lobby where players are against other players of a similar skill level.
Now, let's use these terms outside of Destiny 2 as an example.
Casual: I play a game of chess with a friend for fun.
Competitive: I enter a single-elimination chess tournament.
Fair: I play against a chess player of similar skill to me.
Notice two things. Firstly, casual and competitive are mutually exclusive. Secondly, fair could be paired with both of the other game modes. You could have a casual game that is fair or a competitive game that is fair, but you could also have casual or competitive games that are not fair (pitting players of similar skills against each other).
Now, let's look at all of the Crucible playlists based on whether they are competitive or casual:
[b]Competitive:[/b]
Trials of Osiris
Surivival
Elimination
[b]Casual:[/b]
Control
Rumble
Classic Mix
Rotator Playlists
Iron Banner
Now, let's look at Crucible playlists based on whether they are fair or not. In other words, which playlists have Connection Based Match Making or Skill Based Match Making.
[b]SBMM:[/b]
Survival
Elimination
[b]CBMM:[/b]
Control
Rumble
Classic Mix
Rotator Playlists
Iron Banner
[i]*Trials has card-based match making, so it doesn't really fit any of these lists.[/i]
Do you see the problem?
[b]
All of the playlists with SBMM are also playlists where the result matters. They are sweaty game modes. There is no place for players to have a [u]casual[/u] game with SBMM.[/b]
The most common response to people saying they aren't having as much fun with the Crucible this season is "go play Survival or Elimination." But that doesn't solve the problem. [u]The bottom portion of the Crucible doesn't get to choose where to sweat anymore.[/u] If they go into Quickplay or Iron Banner, they risk getting stomped, so they have to sweat to perform well (and I am way more likely to use Mountaintop in PVP in order to prevent mercies). If they go into Elimination or Survival, it's a sweaty game mode. Sweat everywhere you go.
The top portion of the PVP community can choose where to sweat. If they go into quickplay it is a more casual experience for them but they still have an advantage because of their skill level, so it's not as sweaty for them. In SBMM, many elite PVP players complained that every match felt like a sweatfest because they were always going up against people of their skill level (and I completely understand that). They don't have that problem anymore, because they can choose between a sweaty gamemode and a casual lobby. Lower skill players don't have this luxury: they have to choose between a sweaty gamemode (Elimination or Survival) or a sweaty lobby (CBMM lobbies). Bungie announced in the 6/11 TWAB that they wanted to create a place "where players can have a more relaxed experience" in the Crucible, but for lower skill players they don't have that anymore.
So what compromise can be done to - to take Bungie's words again from that same TWAB - allow all players to "just enjoy the Destiny multiplayer sandbox"?
[u][b]Give us one SBMM playlist that isn't Elimination or Survival.[/b][/u] Give us a fair lobby with a casual game mode. Before this season, Classic Mix was a dedicated CBMM lobby, so you could do the same and make it that. Or make a dedicated Clash 4v4 playlist with SBMM. I don't care if Elimination goes or stays, I just want a SBMM playlist that isn't Elimination or Survival.
The important metric here is fun. Lower skill players (myself included) are having less fun this season. Last season, Crucible was something I could enjoy. Now, I feel like my character's progression is being held hostage by an activity I don't enjoy as much anymore. At the end of the day, this game is about fun, and Bungie should try to maximize the fun for everyone and make compromises in the Crucible in order to do that.
Note that I'm not going to address players who say things like "Just get better." It's not worth my time addressing people who are so narrow minded that they reduce problems to the effort/skill of a person and can't entertain the idea that a system they benefit from might have a problem and an opportunity to be improved.
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2 RepliesA very well written exposition. There are a few things that I don't agree with but they are minor points: 1) The title. It is catchy and probably not meant to be taken literally, but I can't help it. To me, at least two more things are missing or utterly misunderstood, particularly on the CBMM side: [b]Statistics.[/b] People throw in terms like median, mean, average, bracket, bucket etc. without fully, or at all, understanding the underlying math and the nature of the phenomena it describes. As a corrolary, [b]skill.[/b] People seem to assume that skill is normally distributed, with there being zero evidence to support that argument, and numerous studies pointing to much more skewed distribution. There is also the assumption that the only way to implement SBMM is to have skill brackets. This model suffers from low population numbers in the tail ends of the distribution, as correctly pointed out by CBMM supporters. An alternative would be to have percentile-based brackets. Top 20%, above-average 20%, average 20%, below-average 20%, bottom 20% for example. This model would significantly reduce connection problems (by increasing population pools) at the tail ends without greatly exacerbating skill variance induced problems. The biggest skill variations will be in the tail-end brackets. However, the top 20% bracket is more likely populated by players who are willing to invest time to improve (as indicated by their "git gud" remarks,) and the bottom 20% are in the shallow end of the learning curve, and shouldn't have a really hard time climbing out of their bracket. Furthermore, some quote IB population numbers, but that is purely a vanity metric since it does not accurately model any meaningful business outcome. A much more reliable metric would be [b]player retention[/b] and [b]sentiment[/b]. There are numerous ways to measure the former, but for the sake of this particular argument it would suffice to measure the number of IB games played after pinnacle bounties have been completed. As for the latter, if Bungie isn't running sentiment analysis on these forums, Twitter and Reddit subs, they should really catch up with the times. [b]Psychology.[/b] The average forum poster probably doesn't have more than a rudimentary, instinctive, and quite likely incorrect understanding of psychology, further skewed by their own biases. As a corollary, they have no grasp of the mechanisms of [b]learning.[/b] Some, particularly the "git gud" crowd, obviously have no idea how learning works. Anything from dopamine response to learning curves and anything in between is trivialized to effort / time put in, with complete ignorance - willful or otherwise - of the underlying mechanisms that actually enable learning. [b]Game theory and game design.[/b] Apart from the occasional game industry insider, most people here have no clue about the underlying principles of game design and the psychology and math behind them. Granted, many seem to grasp intuitively when things like reward loops or balance are broken, and probably have good examples of those working in other games, but neither side can present more than layman arguments to defend their position. For example, how and why outcomes tend to follow a power law distribution even when opportunities seem to be equal. Speaking of outcomes, the one objection I have to your actual post is your implied definition of "result." You seem to be equating it to score or W/L outcome, whereas I would argue that in a loot-based game, the outcome is [i]gear.[/i] Since IB end-of-match drops and bounty progress for pinnacles are tied to your actual performance (which is an acceptable proxy for skill in a very simplified model) then IB is in fact a competitive mode. As such, based on your own arguments, SBMM should be enabled for IB.
