Curse you, Jazzi! Now I have to organize my thoughts.
<mark>1) No quitting at the voting screen</mark>: Incredibly important. One of the problems with JIP is the prevalence of it. A big part of this is that games start with uneven teams any time someone backs out at the voting menu
<mark>2) Quitting penalties:</mark> Quitting needs to be discouraged. It has a negative impact on everyone in the game except for the person quitting. That is a perverse incentive and needs to be fixed. Screen for habitual quitters so people with a rare internet issue or a UPS delivery at the front door don’t get penalized. Creating games with good connections is also important for this to be viable. Can’t expect people to stay in games that are unplayable.
<mark>3) Quitters are most likely to get JIP</mark>: Let the people that are creating the problem bear the burden of it. If they continue to quit out of JIP games, then the measures from step 2 kick in. This also creates an incentive not to game whatever system of quit penalties is imposed.
<mark>4) Never JIP Twice in a Row</mark>: You shouldn’t have to play for half an hour before you get a game that is actually yours. Never more than once prevents it from being onerous on one person or dominating their game play experience.
<mark>5) The More you get JIP the less likely you are to get JIP</mark>: People that are carrying a heavy JIP burden should be weighted in such a way that they are unlikely to get it again. Someone with 4 JIP in ten games should be less likely to get it than someone with 2 in ten games.
<mark>6)The Further into a Game You Are, the Closer it has to Be</mark>: Well progressed games give you less time to influence the game. Similar leads also become more dominant when there is less time to overcome them. If you have to be within ten kills at the beginning of a game, then you should have to be within five kills or something half way through the game. Just throwing numbers out there for illustrative purposes. By no means proposing those exact numbers.
<mark>7) JIP Games Can Only Help Your In Game (hopefully) Ranking</mark>: Make JIP an opportunity instead of a burden. Right now people complain that it drags your CSR down. Make it so JIP at worst is a net of zero on your CSR (which will hopefully have a much better system in Halo 5). That makes JIP a zero risk proposition that people can be excited about.
<mark>8) Personal Ordinance Problem</mark>: JIP gives you zero progress towards your first power weapon when you join in. Other players may already have their first weapon. It creates a situation where you can be hopelessly outgunned even if you would outperform the other team on a level playing field. I’m in favor of removing personal ordinance, but in game types that include it you need to implement some kind of compensation.
<mark>9) There are three kinds of people</mark>: Those who can count, and those who can’t.
JIP is a good thing. In an eight man game, the one person that just joined in has a suboptimal experience. The other seven people are provided a better experience than they otherwise would have had. Clearly that is a situation where much more good than harm is being done.
The problem right now is with the specifics of implementation. You can get it too many times in a short period. There is too much need for it because of games starting without full teams and the lack of disincentives to quitting.
JIP is also implemented too often in games where it is a lost cause. The JIP is too little, too late. It benefits neither the person getting JIP or the seven people that he joined.
Implementing steps to reduce the prevalence of JIP, flatten out statistical variance, and ensure that it is used only when it is for the betterment of the game will emphasize the positive aspects of the system for seven people while minimizing the negative aspects for the one person out of eight.
PS: Jazzi, I’m not sure these are exactly my original steps, but at least five out of the first seven are the same.
