You know I think it isn’t fair to simply load the problems onto blaming the lack of interest on crappy players, although to be sure, it probably is a factor; I usually never play against people outside of my circle purely because the matches aren’t set to my skill level - I’m not one of those guys that gets a constant 27/1 KDR, but you know. I’m improving constantly as I get used to the maps, and that surely is the point of any game…To challenge, entertain and give you a sense of achievement from progression.
The map you have in that video by the way is horrible, and frankly most of the community maps are so broken with the spawn points it’s unreal; I was on Pinnacle (I think) about three hours ago, and I literally couldn’t get a foot out of the door, because there was a -Yoink!- with a jetpack and sniper rifle sitting at the spawn points whenever they changed just picking me/us off. Now could you tell me to just get better and suck it up? Sure. But in all honesty, I’m just a little sore that I didn’t get the daily challenges more than anything else.
Which is another interesting point; the challenges are the only form of variety to break up the monotony. I have a bunch of FPS games on my shelf currently, and I’m usually wary of sticking MW2, Black Ops or Reach in for the following reasons:
a) Glitchers.
You can sit in a lobby, and with all of the games, you can guarantee that nine times out of ten, you’ll land in a lobby with some smartass who just wants to win. Not honestly mind you, but just make everyone elses experience a misery, just for the kudos of being able to claim to be a 10th level presitge, have the gungnir armour or whatever.
b) Broken maps.
MW2 is basically 2400MSP and £40 of broken maps and a sub-par campaign. Black ops is a clone of said 2400MSP and £40. Reach is a more reasonably priced package, the professionally built maps are actually playable (most of the time, provided you get a good group) - but the community maps, again, are terrible. especially when you’re stuck with a -Yoink!- who either spawn kills or glitches just because they want their e--Yoink!- to grow three times big overnight.
c) Not enough content
I’ll get to this in a minute.
Now the choices to resolve this kind of things are really easy to achieve; some require effort on the part of 343 industries, and others require a more thorough effort on our part. And here’s what:
1.) Moderate your groups
You know what made me skip Halo 2, and almost Halo 3 entirely? The same reason I barely play MW2 anymore. There are plenty of people moaning about boosters, glitchers and kids, but barely anyone does anything about it; use your voice for chrissakes, and weed the good out from the bad. Half the reason I rage quit every so often is because I’m tired, as a man, of having my gaming time interrupted by some abusive 12 year old turd (in mentality or stature) that chooses his god given right to make as many stupid noises over the mic as possible, glitch and otherwise make the gaming experience a misery. Yeah I get it, there’s a mute button; but surely the point is these people would get that if they’d only play nice, they’d get games, whereas people who don’t observe fair play get booted. which leads me to the second suggestion…
2.) Majority vote booting.
The idea has existed since the advent of multiplayer; if a person can’t play fair or politely, the choice to boot from the group in favour of getting a good group on both sides should be there. This combined with skill matching, would create an atmosphere most people would not only adore, but love.
3.) Love thy community
Here’s a novel idea for people on xbox live: communicate. Don’t sit in private parties with your buds, communicate. The power of viral communication is astounding, and will likely propogate your friends list with people you enjoy spending time with, and will probably encourage a more pleasant atmosphere over the game. So you kicked someone’s -Yoink- on griffball? Stick in the game chat and laugh about it for chrissakes, instead of letting the 12 year olds on xbox live run riot. I will make a promise to anyone taking the time to read this right now; if you add me and you aren’t using any kind of exploits, you’ll get more quality games then you’re seeing now, because you’ll be amongst friendly company, with friendly conversation.
4.) What about us campaign lovers
This is something I find shocking, because when I think about the money I’ve spent on Assassin’s Creed II and Mass Effect II alone, to multiply that by the number of its popularity is truly daunting; the solution to Halo’s longevity is in front of you; offer more campaign. Take admissions for stories from people, and apply them to DLC storytelling. Expand in some way on the Halo universe on or around reach; slip back to earth and take the fight to covenant forces in a different sector, or hell, offer DLC that predates reach by elaborating on noble six’s career, hel, on all of their careers; are you seriously telling me that between the time of them joining the spartan programme, and the time of noble team sacrificing their lives, they didn;t fight other campaigns? Offer more 343/bungie, and the fans will follow. They’ll even follow as you offer weapon upgrades on the marketplace that will give them the edge, or extra packs that unlock different armour grades. How many revisions of spartan armour has there been now, exactly?
I’m so tired of feeling gipped when it comes to FPS, especially when they had an entertaining story; Reach is by no means the guiltiest party to have this accusation levelled at them, but it is a part of the problem. You love the universe, 343? are you really proud of it? Well prove it, by telling more stories, and expanding the realm before you set your sights on Halo 4.
I promise, if you build it, they will come.
