A ghost haunts the world of video games. skill-based matchmaking. Few issues can divide a gamer community this way, but understanding the dynamics is important to understanding how multiplayer video games work that pits one player against another.
Starting any title with multiplayer items, an algorithm must decide which players to fill each lobby with: this process is called matchmaking. Each development house has its own recipe, and there is no formula that will make all players happy. But some are perceived as fairer than others. Historically, the stability of the connection has always been the priority to deliver games without lag or disconnection. But in the last 2 years, a good slice of PvP (player versus player) online video game lovers have started to demand fairer and more stable matches.
in this special in skill-based matchmaking We’ll explain what it is, how it works, who’s for and who’s against, and we’ll also talk about the most important games the debate revolves around: Destiny 2, Apex Legends, Fortnite, and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2.
What is Skill-Based Matchmaking?
Skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) literally means “matching players by skill” and is different from other types. management of multiplayer games for example based on the stability of the internet connection (connection based matchmaking) or based on the player’s location in the world (location based matchmaking). Anyone who plays tactical shooters like Counter Strike: Global Offensive or Valorant, where every frame counts, knows that playing with a ping (game server response time) of 200 milliseconds against someone with 30 is almost always synonymous with defeat. This is the most classic example of connection-based matching, where everyone must have the same response time to ensure a balanced match.
Skill-based matchmaking adds technical and quantitative parameters such as connection or location, i.e. qualitative parameters related to the performance of each player. The most famous infamous C/N, this is the ratio between kill and death if greater than 1, which indicates a very active player on the battlefield. Other parameters could be time spent on the target, healing provided to allies, damage dealt, or other trackable actions of the video game being analyzed. All this does not mean that technical parameters have been set aside in the name of equality, it just means that an extra layer of complexity has been added. For example: In addition to K / D in Call of Duty, it is conceivable that the algorithm takes into account the total game time, statistics and average points per minute scored by each player on average. So, in theory, senior users are grouped together and new players face off against other newcomers.
Who likes and who doesn’t
At first glance, this system seems fair, but many do not view it positively. Content creators have always been the biggest voices in skill matchmaking, especially if they specialize in a single game. This is because there is another factor in the great matchmaking equation: standby time. If a streamer is very good at Fortnite and is playing at a time when millions of users are not connected to the internet, it may take up to half an hour for the game to find another 99 people of similar level and experience. The other big complaint from creators is that games are tiring by only playing with people of their level. This means that in order to win, they are forced to play conservatively (to read boring) that fail to bring home these extravagant games that are the foundation of their online popularity.
The time factor in particular is an argument that even the most dedicated players of each community (in Destiny 2, for example) always support those who oppose skill-based matchmaking. But on the other side of the fence are 95% of other users, or those who dedicate one, two or three hours a week to a multiplayer game. It’s hard to find anyone in this group who isn’t in favor of SBMM for the simple reason that one Reddit user summed up: “It’s not that I don’t want to lose, but if I lose 90-10 then something happens.” wrong: either my opponents are too strong or my teammates are too few.” Everything revolves around a key emotion: every player must understand this. its performance is relevant. If the opposing team dominates a match, the match is lost no matter what a single player does, and the feeling that the game is unfair or bad begins to take root in the user. This chain reaction is very dangerous for a developer, so more and more games, especially among shooters, are adopting SBMM.
Casual and Competitive
Skill based matchmaking demands money every game is a challenge, even in non-competitive modes and this leads to legitimate frustrations. Fortnite, for example, activates SBMM in both quick and ranked matches, removing the worry-free gameplay many seek in Epic Games’ battle royale. The same can be said for Call of Duty, which often makes standard games feel too intense and lacks the ignorant and noisy charm that is part of the game’s DNA. There is a solution that will please most players, but it’s not that easy to implement: do skill-based matchmaking in competitive modes where your rank is at stake, and remove them from the fast ones with nothing in the game.
popular publishers like TimTheTatman they’ve become the spokespersons for this solution, but if it makes a lot of sense, it doesn’t mean the same from a developer’s point of view. As we said before, skill matchmaking also serves as a safeguard for new players, removing this means opening the door to the possibility of a new user being tiled over and over again in their first game. This leads to inevitable disappointment andgive up the game, certainly not a positive result, especially for free games like Apex Legends or Fortnite. For the sake of clarity, we have so far treated SBMM as a monolithic entity, but it is not. The algorithm that determines the composition of a lobby consists of tens, perhaps hundreds of variables, so it has a high percentage of customization.
So the solution to this dilemma may be hiding deep in the system: Use a full SBMM for the first 25 levels select each new player and then disable them in quick games and keep them in competitive games. By doing this, once you’ve built an experience core where you hardly get any asphalt, new players are ready to enter the game’s ecosystem, and everyone else can have fun with fast-paced gameplay and compete in a well-regulated ecosystem. . What do you think about that? Want to see Skill matchmaking implemented in your favorite shooter?
Source: Multiplayer
