Post by Steve Farrelly @ 08:20am 22/10/09 | 67 Comments
"[In the past] when you wanted to play a multiplayer game on PC, you'd have to scroll through a Server Browser which listed every available server which was hosted by individual server admins," he explains on his Blog. "Each had their own private rules, mods, or ways of playing the game. Most players would also use the server browser to find just the best quality game (based on PING).
"With IWNET matchmaking, it takes all that into account for you. All you have to do is select the playlist (pre-set gametypes with custom rules) that fits the style of play you are in the mood for. When you do, it will automatically find you a game with the best performance, ping, and preferences based on your location and individual connection as well as matching you with players of your same SKILL."
You can read the rest of the description of the new system right here - but it sounds promising so far (if this is what has to replace the DS option). Let us know what you think.
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Posted 08:32am 22/10/09
Posted 08:50am 22/10/09
maybe for a console gamer, but for pc its the worst thing imaginable.
Posted 08:51am 22/10/09
Posted 08:57am 22/10/09
Why not just give people both options?
Posted 09:02am 22/10/09
it f*****g sucks
Posted 09:10am 22/10/09
Posted 09:13am 22/10/09
PC Gamer: "No, we like the server browser."
Infinity Ward: "... Uh, no you don't"
Posted 09:18am 22/10/09
OMG, how do i become as awesome as you!
Posted 09:45am 22/10/09
not having complete control over servers(the private server s*** isnt the same) will be terrible.
if any disputes arise from any competitive game theyll be impossible to resolve since noone will have access to logs etc.
itll also be a godsend to griefers. their management system would have to be pretty damned special to cope with all the tools out there in any decent way, and im sceptical it will be any good at all, if it exists at all
Posted 09:56am 22/10/09
But my biggest problem with the new system is the fact that it appears to be P2P only.
If you create a private server for you and your mates to join, it's all loaded up on your connection. It's your upload speed which determines how smooth the game is going to run. For Aussies, that's not cool at all. It greatly limits the number of players you can have join at any one time.
We're 8yrs away from having a decent internet connection. So until then....
Posted 10:00am 22/10/09
Posted 10:29am 22/10/09
No one wants to play a p2p clan match. One player will always have an advantage, and the rest will be getting choke because no one elses upload speed will be able to cope with 9 other connections to them.
Posted 10:58am 22/10/09
It'll be no big surprise if the pc mp community dies fast due to this.
Posted 12:27pm 22/10/09
Edit: Disregard this, you linked to bowling's article trying to spin it as a positive move. You deserve this thread.
and stop calling it P2P because it's f*****g not~
VV Lollin VV
last edited by HashBrown at 12:27:59 22/Oct/09
Posted 12:25pm 22/10/09
The only way I can see any form of competitions being run. Take a dedicated server, shove a graphics card in it. Boot it up and turn on private matches. Then somehow you will need invite everyone in. That is some sort of solution.
IW = GREEDY!
Posted 12:45pm 22/10/09
The reason I hadn't posted this news already was because I was waiting to see what happened after the dust settled; after the first reports I couldn't believe they'd be so stupid and/or arrogant as to do this, so I was waiting to see their response. Now they've responded and confirmed it, we've got something up about it, but I still have more to say on the issue and am drafting an article about this, the point of which will be to call PC gamers out to see if they have the actual balls to not buy this game.
For those that don't know, some of the guys at AusGamers have been working professionally providing game servers and services for Australian users for almost 10 years on GameArena. We have been doing it as a hobby for longer than that. There are few groups of people in the entire world that know as much about this sort of stuff as us. I don't say that to sound like a jerk; it's just a simple fact and this sort of stuff is a big deal to us, so when we talk about it we want to make sure we're explaining the important stuff clearly and concisely.
Despite more than 10 years of trying to explain to PC gamers what a dedicated server is and why they're especially important for Australians, I don't have high hopes that there will be enough people willing to take enough of a stand on this and not buy it. And at the end of the day that is the only thing that is going to make the slightest bit of difference to what developers do in the future.
Basically the dedicated server model has been circling the drain for a while now (along with PC gaming as a whole, really) despite all the best efforts of our team and those like us to try to explain to developers why its in their best interests, and the clear and obvious examples of the massive success of PC games that take advantage of the dedicated server model. Developers and publishers want to "own" the whole game end-to-end now, including ladders, communities, etc - so they can be the ones raking in the revenue. I can't fault them for that, and it's obviously their right - but it's just not going to be the best experience for gamers given all the differences around the world.
The situation is going to be much much worse for Australians - whether IW's proposed system is p2p or not is almost irrelevant. If it is p2p, we'll be boned because all our home connections have poor upstream, making them unsuitable for hosting large servers (and experience indicates people typically want to play on the biggest server size possible). If it isn't p2p, then we're boned because they won't be able to justify the extreme expense of hosting themselves (unless they end up making an agreement with an existing GSP, which is quite possible anyway, but would be really lame for all Australians that aren't on that ISP that want to play it unmetered).
Again, we'll have more to say on this later. The best thing you can do now is go to the IW forums and talk about how you're not going to buy this game unless it has dedicated server support.
Here is a form letter I wrote years and years ago to send to publishers. It's not entirely relevant to this scenario, but something like that would be a good start.
Posted 01:04pm 22/10/09
and it's player hosted, but it's not strictly "peer to peer" because it's a distinct server-client relationship. I was just being a f***** about it.
I'm mad as heck too
last edited by Flocker at 13:04:54 22/Oct/09
Posted 01:02pm 22/10/09
Posted 01:04pm 22/10/09
Some of these people, while not being network programmers, have still been development leads, other technical staff or people of influence. It's obvious that this just isn't as big a deal for developers in the US where their greater community is all < 100ms away from each other and bandwidth is "unlimited". But for Australian's it's really the difference between enjoying a game's multiplayer component or thinking that it's complete balls.
Posted 01:04pm 22/10/09
Posted 01:08pm 22/10/09
Posted 01:10pm 22/10/09
But how popular are these games? Can Infinity Ward lead by example? I'd hate to see more games not having dedicated servers.
Posted 01:10pm 22/10/09
Posted 01:12pm 22/10/09
Posted 01:17pm 22/10/09
Posted 01:17pm 22/10/09
Posted 01:30pm 22/10/09
Good luck with all that. Most of the people that buy cod6 will not have the faintest clue about this stuff.
Maybe some cod fanboy will start a boycott steam group in the hope of getting a free holiday + cod6 test session.
Posted 02:01pm 22/10/09
Posted 02:04pm 22/10/09
Posted 03:19pm 22/10/09
It's just a real shame, because solid multiplayer is where the longevity is any truly great shooters.
Posted 06:29pm 22/10/09
F*** you Infinity Ward you nanny-minded, money-worshiping pieces of s***.
Think I'll keep my hundred bucks or so, spend it on a company who actually supports and listens to their target audience and market.
Posted 07:16pm 22/10/09
I wonder how you report a hacker too.
Posted 07:28pm 22/10/09
And no, quake live has dedicated servers, just that randoms cant run them.
And you can pick your server on ql, it will just tell you if you are likely to get owned or not.
Posted 09:42pm 22/10/09
Posted 10:11pm 22/10/09
For now, I'm willing to hear them out and wait and see what they've come up with, I don't really believe the marketting hype about it being some huge step forward and redefining PC multiplayer gaming or whatever else they promised, but I'm not ready to hammer a nail into the coffin of cod or PC gaming either.
Posted 10:54pm 22/10/09
It might hurt sales, mostly because of the public backlash, but they'll make it back in DLC. They're steering the market the direction they and most other developers want it to go.
Posted 11:24pm 22/10/09
Posted 12:11am 23/10/09
Hopefully those that were going to buy will realise that a big part of value in the game drops away without dedicated server support. Sounds like a pretty bone headed move on the part of Infinity Ward to ignore one of the biggest community building aspects of a PC gaming product.
Example: L4D is pretty borked without "openserverbrowser" in the console.
Props for pushing this point hard and I hope the message gets heard that PC gaming as a community loses out when this sort of consolification shenanigans happens.
Posted 01:15am 23/10/09
GOOD BUSINESS PLAN CHUCKEF****
Posted 07:14am 23/10/09
Hopefully they are getting a clue and will respond to the wishes of their audience.
Posted 08:15am 23/10/09
I think you nailed it, the developers dont want people playing a game for 2-3 years, what value do they get from that. They want people moving onto a new game after 6 months, probably even less.
Why make a game that is so good with online support and dedicated servers etc, how does that make them extra money?, the majority of sales would be in the first few months, and probably f*** all after a year.
However, if they can get control of the way people are playing online, they can then start to charge for it. Something along the lines of you get to play for free for the first year if you buy the full game, then they start to charge after that. Or even worse, they charge from the start.
Posted 10:27am 23/10/09
Posted 10:31am 23/10/09
Posted 11:02am 23/10/09
wow they just keep giving us more reasons not to buy it.
Posted 11:59am 23/10/09
Posted 12:11pm 23/10/09
Posted 12:46pm 23/10/09
Posted 12:47pm 23/10/09
umm yeah it kinda does.
Posted 12:51pm 23/10/09
Posted 12:59pm 23/10/09
Posted 01:04pm 23/10/09
Posted 01:06pm 23/10/09
Posted 01:10pm 23/10/09
lol?
Posted 01:13pm 23/10/09
Posted 01:20pm 23/10/09
all i hear is "i dont have the balls to cancel my pre-order"
half-life.... one
Posted 01:24pm 23/10/09
Posted 01:29pm 23/10/09
i don't think i have ever finished half-life anything.
Posted 01:31pm 23/10/09
Posted 01:36pm 23/10/09
you preordered from cdwow yes? you can cancel any order pending despatch at any time and they refund all your money.
Posted 01:40pm 23/10/09
again, edits in "i dont have the balls"
tell me where you pre-ordered from so everyone can avoid that place in future.
*edit: dips***
Posted 01:40pm 23/10/09
I just wrote to cancel the pre-order, I will see if it flies.
Posted 01:42pm 23/10/09
edit: who the f*** changed my name
last edited by Cumslinger at 13:42:44 23/Oct/09
Posted 01:50pm 23/10/09
Posted 10:12am 24/10/09
Posted 10:31am 24/10/09
Posted 10:35am 24/10/09
Posted 01:13pm 25/10/09