the future of halo -competitive vs casual

Games Other Halo
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Hello fellow Halo Forummers. This is my first thread on this forum and so I want to make it a good one. Those of you afraid of walls of texts may want to back away before it is too late, but hopefully some of you at least will enjoy the read.

I am going to express a number of opinions on the direction I think Halo needs to head to for the future (specifically for Halo 4) as well as cite some sources that inspired my own opinion. And it’s also important to note that I do not consider myself to be a competitive gamer, but that doesn’t mean I can’t share some of their opinions.

Onto the topic itself, it seems that a large number of the debates on this forum take place in some way around whether Halo should be a competitive shooter or a casual one.

The Dilemmas (or at least the ones I feel can be discussed while knowing nothing about Halo 4’s exact game play)

There are those that think games should only be played for fun, and those that think winning and competition is what’s fun. But the fact of the matter is both of these objectives should be able to be seen as the same thing. What stirs up this dynamic is that what competitive players want out of Halo’s game play, are consistent, fair, and skill based mechanics. These mechanics should facilitate “skill gap”.

And here is where the casual opinion comes in. This skill gap is fine except; it’s not fun to lose. And so a game designer may be tempted to put in features that help the little guys. Examples of these types features I will resist restating (for they are long over discussed), but simply put they shorten the “skill gap”. This angers competitive players because the skill gap is what makes halo satisfying to play for them.

And so now we come to 343’s first real choice, do they limit the skill gap, or make a ranking system that will separate the little guys from the competitive players. This may not be as easy a choice as some of you are inclined to think. Most online games nowadays forgo the skill based search system. And these online games sell well, and have high online populations. So that’s the first dilemma I see.

This leads directly into a second issue on whether or not a skill based matchmaking search system should be tied to a Ranking system like it was in Halo 2 and 3. Rather than using my own words for the competitive players opinion I’ll link a little rant done by MLG player Ninja:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohMtRr-ywh0
You may or may not agree with Ninja, but one thing we do know is Reach is not going to change. 343 have already told us about the technical difficulty in reshaping the game’s UI and I have seen mods post very clear-cut answers to this question. But Halo 4 is still open to this system and so I mark this as dilemma two.

The third comes in the form of community focus. What groups should receive extra support from 343? I think right now 343 is sort of going for the “we like every facet of the Halo community”, and maybe they can pull it off, but currently, due to the fact that Halo Waypoint isn’t exactly the most popular website in the world just putting a clip of MLG tips on the front page isn’t going to make Halo once again more popular then SC 2 at tournaments. Specifically for MLG, Sundance recently had an interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTB2gYbZH0Q
So this is the third dilemma I think 343 has. Should 343 jump in all the way with MLG and try to make it the primary fan base of the Halo Community? Obviously this choice can be made to various degrees.

My Opinion

The casual market is two things: short term and over saturated. I think if Halo 4 is to be successful then it needs to aim for the competitive direction. A competitive community is a more long-term community. At the same time I think we as a community have to try and unite. Amateurs need to understand the joys of competition and MLG kids need to cool it down when they search without a team and get stuck with a few BKR.

So in review…
Dilemma One: a skill-based search should be implemented 100%. It will lower frustration of new players and create long-term goals for better players (assuming it’s visible).
Dilemma Two: I believe that ranks should mean less in Halo 4. But as Ninja was pointing out the more pointless stats should be put away. Who honestly gives a YOINK! about your friends’ armory completion. Let’s see some stats that act more as a leader board among friends that inspires competition, stats that let you weigh yourself against someone else without going all the way to Waypoint or B.net.
Dilemma Three: MLG is definitely not liked by everyone, but I think if 343 goes for the competitive market with the first two decisions they may as well finish it up by trying to promote both MLG pro tournaments and getting amateurs into Game Battles.

Halo is a big deal, it’s a franchise worth millions, let’s not waste it on those that aren’t willing to stick it out.

Note: both videos are from xxraythompsonxx’s youtube channel. I thank him for posting such high quality videos. Sorry for reposting a lot of information, and for a somewhat jumbled opinion.

TLDR: Halo should be a game centered on competition because that’s what will provide it with the most loyal and interesting community. Face it it’s more enjoyable to watch a good player play a game then someone who sucks.
Discuss, I’m excited to read people’s opinions!

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What you fail to realise is the fact that the casual players actually benefit from making a game, keeping the competitive aspect in mind. Look at a game like starcraft, enjoyed bou tens of thousands of casual gamers, yet it is still one of the best competitive games. As long as you assure that the casual players dont match up vs the best players there is no problem. Most casual players don’t realise this though. Having a Halo game cater to casuals (Reach) will usually just fail, as Halo is not a game that comes out every year like CoD. The casuals will just hop over to the next big thing.

So yeah, i do agree with what youve stated.

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> TLDR: Halo should be a game centered on competition because that’s what will provide it with the most loyal and interesting community. Face it it’s more enjoyable to watch a good player play a game then someone who sucks.
> Discuss, I’m excited to read people’s opinions!

While there is little doubt a competitive centered game is of higher quality than a yearly release with a new paint job every title (and will last longer), the real point you have to sell is how is catering to the competitive base is going to bring in more money for Microsoft than catering to the casual crowd. The problem with having a high skill gap is the casual gamers might not want to invest what little time they have into Halo in order to become good and start having fun. It’s much less stressful to jump into a game like CoD and instantly be good without putting in much effort.

> What you fail to realise is the fact that the casual players actually benefit from making a game, keeping the competitive aspect in mind. Look at a game like starcraft, enjoyed bou tens of thousands of casual gamers, yet it is still one of the best competitive games. As long as you assure that the casual players dont match up vs the best players there is no problem. Most casual players don’t realise this though. Having a Halo game cater to casuals (Reach) will usually just fail, as Halo is not a game that comes out every year like CoD. The casuals will just hop over to the next big thing.
>
> So yeah, i do agree with what youve stated.

The FPS market is very different from the RTS industry. FPS games are generally considered to be the more accessible genre, which means it is a lot easier to draw in the casuals into FPS games rather than RTS games.

The main point is while you are right a competitive game can be beneficial to casual gamers, a casual game is more beneficial (easier, to be more specific) to casual gamers.

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Just because that is your version of fun does not mean that you have to force it upon the casuals. Hell not even MLG pushes this -Yoinking!- hard.

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> > TLDR: Halo should be a game centered on competition because that’s what will provide it with the most loyal and interesting community. Face it it’s more enjoyable to watch a good player play a game then someone who sucks.
> > Discuss, I’m excited to read people’s opinions!
>
> While there is little doubt a competitive centered game is of higher quality than a yearly release with a new paint job every title (and will last longer), the real point you have to sell is how is catering to the competitive base is going to bring in more money for Microsoft than catering to the casual crowd. The problem with having a high skill gap is the casual gamers might not want to invest what little time they have into Halo in order to become good and start having fun. It’s much less stressful to jump into a game like CoD and instantly be good without putting in much effort.

Very valid point. Its definitely a balance, and one that should be carefully judged. Something that I forgot to mention is that Halo 4 (like all games) would benefit extremely with a large amount of post release support. Hopefully without any server transfers (from Bungie to 343) going on things will go a little smoother.

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You are walking on thin ice right now. Granted I view myself as a competitive player but by no means a player that is good at halo. I feel that halo 4 should have the largest skill gap possible.

BUT

I dislike how you view the casual community. There are a lot of players on this forum included that play the game casually and still play it casually after more than a year of reach being out. I feel the way you described casuals is a little too generalized for my taste.

One thing that I do not understand is why the casual community would not want a game with the highest skill gap possible. There will still be social gametypes (matchmaking) hopefully in halo 4 and things like custom games, action sack, firefight, and campaign will still exist. I hope they still exist because I like playing these from time to time to catch a breather from trying to get get good at Halo. Even though it is hard for me to understand why the casual community would not want the highest skill gap, I am still and will continue to try and understand because I feel there is no other way in trying to get to a balanced state of mind. (on the casual vs competitive ideas and such)

Overall you have made a good OP I feel and present your views in a coherent and friendly manner!

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> Just because that is your version of fun does not mean that you have to force it upon the casuals. Hell not even MLG pushes this Yoink! hard.

I apologize, I am pushing a competitive perspective, but my goal is not to force it down casual’s throats. I don’t think everyone wants to be or even can be competitive. Ultimately it comes down to how much time you have and your opinion. I think many were disappointed with Reach’s system and I think it’s population is a representation of this. I am merely suggesting focus not a monopoly on direction.

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> Just because that is your version of fun does not mean that you have to force it upon the casuals. Hell not even MLG pushes this Yoink! hard.

Could you elaborate, why would the highest skill gap not appeal to you? I don’t get the impression that he is trying to force anything on anyone, just he feels personally making halo competitive is the way to go.

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I think it’s less about the ranking system in regards to casuals as it is about how they’re rewarded.

I made a thread about it.

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> I think it’s less about the ranking system in regards to casuals as it is about how they’re rewarded.
>
> I made a thread about it.

Read you OP and found it interesting. You may have a point on what some casuals would want, but like I said it is hard for me to judge because of my bias toward the competitive features of halo.