Please read this before voting (and if it’s too late for that, please give your preemptive vote a second thought).
What I’m asking is completely subjective. I’m not here to talk about anything other than opinions. I want to know how important competitive value is to you on a personal level. The character limit is only 50, which makes it difficult to word everything correctly. So to avoid confusion, I’m going to define some of the more ambiguous terms here:
I’ll be using the word “fun” to describe the sheer enjoyment you get from playing the game without thinking about it too much (picking apart the nitty gritty nuances, breaking the game down to a science, etc.).
I’ll also use the word “casuals” to describe the people who only play a game for “fun” (the definition I just mentioned) and do not put a moment’s thought to competitiveness.
When you vote, please keep those definitions in mind, even if you do not agree with them 100%. You can just use the 1-7 scale (1 being not at all important and 7 being the only thing that matters) if you don’t agree with the description. Thanks for voting!
First! I don’t play “competitively” but I enjoy games that are formatted that way. Equal starts leads to perfect balance which leads to skill differentiation.
When I get killed by the Uzi or .300 knockout in BFH, I don’t feel I was beaten by skill. Just someone that had access to better weapons than I do.
I voted somewhat important, but fun comes first. I will probably be spending about 3/4 of my mm in Warzone.
> 2533274803493024;2:
> First! I don’t play “competitively” but I enjoy games that are formatted that way.
If I may, I’m quoting this because this applies greatly to me. I’m a random, casual Halo player, I’m not even a gamer, but I want to play a game built upon competitive mechanics and gameplay. When I come to play a multiplayer game (e.g. Slayer), I play for fun of course, but because the principle is two teams fighting each other, I play to win, that is, with a competitive mindset. When I win (lose) a fight, I want it to be due to me being better (worse) than my opponent, only my input against his input. Thus, a balanced and competitive gameplay is the key for me to have fun.
TL;DR: I did read your whole post (and the definitions you set), but I still consider that opposing “Fun” and “Competitive” is a mistake for the issue you raise. I know that’s probably not intentional, but the opposition is quite explicit in your poll.
I don’t normally play competitively, but halo is where I really put in some effort. I feel like there hasn’t been a game that’s truly competitive since halo 3, and I’m glad that is changing.
I’m more of a competitive player myself, but at the same time I understand the importance of having fun too. And by having a game that can please both crowds, it makes it so that a person like me doesn’t jump off to a different game when I just want to relax and not pull my hair out from throwing a match, and vice versa.
I’m liking the discussion so far, guys! I’m glad to see that we’re all just expressing our opinions here and not going at each others’ throats. This poll isn’t trying to prove anything or make any kind of statement, I just wanted to see what people thought. Thanks for the input so far!
For the record, I voted “5: Fairly, definitely needs a skill gap” because I’m a casually competitive player. I play mostly for the fun of it, but it’s also important to me to have differentiation between the different skill levels of the players. I like to have room for improvement so I can actually get better at playing the game, not just get better gear and dominate with it like in CoD or Battlefield. I don’t need a super intense skill gap, but I do need some visible differentiation between the bad, the good, and the better players.
Wow. I haven’t had to think this hard about a Waypoint poll in a very long time.
My personal feeling is that I’ll be hiding in Warzone most of the time, will never go into the Arena, and therefore I voted for #2. But that doesn’t mean a game doesn’t need a skill gap. I guess there isn’t necessarily a correlation between where you are on the skill continuum and how much of a skill gap there should be. Leaving aside that I hate competitive modes like TS & Arena, skill gap is still absolutely necessary to make the game function properly - even in Warzone. As to how much skill gap is the right amount of skill gap… I’m not touching that one. Way above my pay grade.
Honestly didn’t know what to pick. I chose 5 though. When I hear people say “competitive” I imagine stuff like tourney’s. I’m not a competitive player per say. I enjoy diving into the mechanics of the game and learning strats and what not. But that’s honestly more because I enjoy nerding out over things I love rather then learning it to gain an advantage. I use the stuff of course. But i’m saying I like having information for the sake of having information.
Anyway I feel halo needs to have a good casual base where people can hop in and have fun. But it also needs to have a high enough skill ceiling so people who do put the time and effort in can perform much better then most. Games that involve too much to learn to simply be able to play it turn me off. Like counter strike or any given moba.
Games that also don’t really go anywhere regardless of how well I play bore me. (mainly power thirst games. Can’t think of an FPS that is like that for me)
Call of duty is another shooter I enjoy that follows this formula. Though the skill ceiling is lower and focuses more about over all movement and not skill in actual fights. I enjoy it because I can play very well and come out on top almost all the time with out having to pay much attention to it. I play it casually. I could never play it competitively because it lacks depth. I enjoy halo because it requires more then reflexes. It demands consistency. I don’t think I could possibly ever play it competitively though. It doesn’t look fun to me.
Which brings me to the end of my ramble. I think it’s essential for any multiplayer game to have competitive aspects. But as for me on an individual level I don’t enjoy playing outside the pub stomping area. Not by watching it or doing it. It’s just not my thing.
There should always be a balance, otherwise you will alienate major parts of the community. I am more personally a fan of “social” gametypes, but it doesn’t mean I never want to go up against people in a more comptetive setting. Something Halo 4 did well was have pretty great party/social modes but there was obviously a major dearth of competitve modes. I mean, 343 kept Action Sack as a permanent playlist on the MCC because of how many people were playing it. A lot of people say competitive is the most important thing, but everyone deserves to have fun.