Do you love grinding multiplayer games? Spending hours getting good, earning your way to the top or at least getting better than an average player? Yeah, soon that might not matter anymore; at least not in PlayStation cross-play games.
Sony has come up with an absurd way to make competitive multiplayer games “fair” for everyone; a way that, in my opinion, will damage competitive integrity across the board.
Imagine, you are good at the game but you are punished for being good. Imagine a competitive environment where the game actively works to give your “noob” opponent unknown advantages over you.
That’s what Sony’s new “balancing” system does to multiplayer games. According to a new patent filed at the USPTO, Sony already has tech (not sure implemented in how many games already or getting ready to be implemented in upcoming games like Marathon) that checks if the difference between Player A and Player B’s performance is within an acceptable range (called a “threshold band”). What is an acceptable range? Who knows.
The band is based on each player’s global skill level so it’s not just about the current match, but their general ability. So whenever a highly skilled player comes up against someone with a low global skill level, the later may receive hidden advantages to balance the fight.
This adjustment could mean auto-aim assistance, bullet spread changes, damage output tweaks, etc.—the patent doesn’t say exactly how, but the goal is to level the playing field.
So basically, the concept of “may the best player win” goes out the door.
The patent document further explains that the changes can happen not only when a difference in skill level is detection but also if there is any type of platform advantage.
The adjustments to gameplay can happen in real-time using AI.
Possible Damage to Competitive Integrity and Unfairly Punishing Skill
A system like this could unfairly target and work against skilled players by giving their opponents hidden advantages just to make the game fair. What’s proposed here means the game is modifying gameplay under the hood based on performance.
That means you could lose and not even know why. Was it your aim, or did the game just tweak the hitboxes to help the other guy?
It takes away the feeling of earning your wins and losses. When a system tries to “normalize” performance instead of letting people get better through experience, it can feel like the game is babysitting the losing player.
Does it Make Sense in Any Situation?
In casual or quick matches, may be.
But this is not without its cons especially for players who use casual modes to get better before ranked plays.
It can also be used in Mobile vs console/PC games, where the input methods really are so different that without some balancing, it’s a massacre.
However, even then it is a slippery slope. The concept of boosting someone’s performance without telling anyone is shady.
What this patent is proposing could be seen as legalized rubber-banding or dynamic skill equalization.
This entire system feels like an evolution of Activision’s skill based hit detection in Call of Duty games.
My advice to Sony would be to improve your matchmaking systems rather than dent competitive integrity.
