Skill Based Matchmaking Is Killing Call of Duty & the Shooter Genre

[@patrikrepka9234]

The worst part of it all is when you finally find that one perfect lobby where it’s competitive but still fun and you know everyone will be disbanded in a matter of minutes

[@williford2435]

Dude YES!! I miss finding a funny lobby and being able to keep playing without having to add everyone and go back in. You could just chill and interact with people in the lobby after every game and it gave the game a social aspect outside of people on your friends list that you play with

[@apples874]

Get good

[@imhim8229]

@@apples874 ur comment makes no sense

[@Nevouti.x]

@@apples874 lol the comment you were replying to isn't bitching about skill level retard, try learning to read

[@apples874]

@@imhim8229 Scrub

[@alecburris4225]

The biggest complaint and one I share is the lack of cohesive lobbies. I miss being in the same lobby for hours at a time, talking trash and forming friendships. Now it's literally impossible to form friendships online. You feel so isolated

[@gingersmedia]

I miss that too, it was always especially fun when all 12 or 18 players were solo queued and everyone would take turns being in each others teams, you could go from shit talk to teamwork at the flip of a switch. Gone are those days sadly

[@alecburris4225]

@@gingersmedia fr man, it was half the reason I played. I played really early in the a.m. sometimes and there was a guy who was always on at the same time and we would ALWAYS end up in the lobby together, we never added eachother but we played almost every day. It sucks that will never be again

[@Shimlarian]

Bro you triggered core memories of Halo 2 BTB

[@alecburris4225]

@@jdavis37378 idk it was just a mutual thing, we always linked up that way it was cool

[@LlibertarianGalt]

binge spending is something that's common in people with depression. I wouldn't be surprised if they drove isolation intentionally to drive spending.

[@turntninja2617]

I like that you brought up the social aspect of SBMM but I think you missed the most important thing: the biggest problem with SBMM is it literally forces you into a new match with new players every single match. Back in the old CODs you could be in the same exact lobby with the same exact group of people for hours all talking on mics and socializing, nowadays there's not even a point of talking to someone in gamechat because you know they're just going to be gone the very next match. I think gamers in general are just way less social now too compared to the good old days like COD4.

[@gagekellstrom3978]

They don’t want you to socialize, players are “toxic” and “problematic” so they’ll purposely limit social features without taking them away, so you don’t complain but don’t use the systems anyways. It’s a feature not a bug

[@sirdabzmcgee]

That is not SBMM issue but, devs just not using post game lobbies. Go play Insurgency Sandstorm and you will have post game lobbies, voice chat, vote for next map, and you can be lvl 400 and play w/ other high lvl players plus newer players.

[@EthericalOne]

@@sirdabzmcgee intentionally not using post game lobbies to prevent further interaction between players there is no other reason. Sure it can be toxic but that’s what we here for many of us gained Xbox friends through that.

[@beardomcgee5005]

Get off the bullshit. If anyone has spent 5 minutes mic'd up in a CoD lobby, you learn there ain't nothing social about it at all. It's a toxic cesspool full of squeaky, racist, homophobic insults.. If you're good, you get shit on in lobby. If you suck you get shit on in lobby. There's absolutely nothing social about CoD.. Perfect example, DMZ.. a pve game mode where you don't have to kill each other, you can actually work together and achieve a common goal, a real social experience. But no, it's CoD so of course it all devolves into some squeaky tween on prox chat whose hunting your "booty cheeks". CoD these days is nothing but sweaty ass streamers farming clips for a channel no one is watching or interacting with.. "Too many chiefs, not enough indians.." if everyone is a streamer, whose gonna watch your shitty stream? Fact of the matter is, there's a 12 year old kid in Brazil that's playing on McDonald's shared wifi that would completely wreck you, and no one even knows who the fk he is. "Pro gamers" are dime a dozen. But 1000 hours played on Warzone, still won't teach you how to be charismatic and engaging and interesting.

[@sirdabzmcgee]

@@EthericalOne devs don't have it all the time because of casual players reporting how awful it is. Why did no one back then say no devs please don't. Devs. listen to reddit post all the time so just go make a post and get community to up vote so devs see it.

[@iHavo]

As a competitive cod player, I finally pulled the plug and quit about 3 months ago, because I could no longer play with friends. I ended up in stupidly high SBMM brackets constantly, which obviously frustrated me when I was trying to chill or just have fun. But what made me really quit, was all of my old friends I used to play cod with stopped playing with me entirely, because my lobbies were grossly unenjoyable for anyone involved. I also used to play with my girlfriend, who mostly just wanted to spend time with me in a game that I was passionate about. In moments we COULD HAVE spent enjoying our time, laughing over goofy plays or interactions like we would in OG cod, she spent instead getting obliterated by gamebattles wannabes on a tuesday afternoon. I loathed those moments, because every time she’d get obliterated, inevitably I felt it was MY fault she was feeling so down, because every now and then I’d get competitive, so I was forced into those high brackets. As someone who, up until recently, was convinced I’d continue paying for cod titles no matter how garbage they were, just because I was so addicted to the scene - I uninstalled cod ab 3 months ago and haven’t touched it since. There are too many good alternatives to keep stooping so low now. My gf and I are playing valorant now, and we’ll be on XDefiant the moment that drops. I don’t honestly see us picking cod back up, ever again. We gave em a chance with cold war, and then again with vanguard, but clearly Activision will continue forcing good devs into blatantly ignorant decisions despite their very vocal community

[@iHavo]

@@fatacus501 You either don’t understand the function of SBMM or you don’t have any reason to play pvp games lmao You’re supposed to want to improve, and as you improve, you’re supposed to see that progress. With SBMM, you see zero progress for zero rewards, no matter how good you get. That’s the entire point of pvp games actually. Maybe go play minecraft or something homie

[@FeroxVenom]

@@iHavo What you described is Ranked dude. Most of us don't want to play ranked. You can play PvP and still have a chill and fun time without wanting to be a freaking esports player. You have the wrong idea it, which in turn ruins it for the majority.

[@iHavo]

What I described is what ranked should be. When I'm not playing ranked, I'm not looking to sweat, but I still want the classic experience of loading in with entirely random opponents, not 11 other versions of me at my best. That's what ranked is for When I'm playing pub matches, I'm looking to chill, or hang with friends, but that's not an option anymore because of the strict SBMM @@FeroxVenom

[@football4.069]

​@@iHavovalorant also uses a similar system, you know? This game is not for relax now, its for competive

[@iHavo]

@@football4.069 This is true, Valorant does have an MMR-based SBMM in public matches, but they’re much more transparent with it, and it’s not even a fraction as strict as COD’s is In Valorant, using the tracker overlay, you’ll find yourself loading in against incredibly diverse opponents in pub matches, from Iron to Immortal, often in the same lobbies. In COD, it’s 100% carbon copies of yourself at your best, at all times. You never see any improvement, and you never know how good you are

[@kylekhan3003]

The most frustrating thing is when you just wanna play casual, maybe after a long day at work for example, the game just forces you into the sweatiest possible lobbies where everyone plays like theyre trying out for the pro leagues just because you popped off a few matches last time you played. It just makes the game so unenjoyable. Also the fact that they always add competitive where the whole point is to play against people of your skill.

[@roland066]

FR. Sometimes i just wanna chill and play cod but i end up in a worst mood than when i started

[@odoplaydead5012]

This. All of this. This is the exact reason I got to level 78 on MW2 and said fuck it. I got so tired of being put into lobbies with Prestige 5 Level 250 players running around like they are doped up on adrenaline. It’s just so irritating. I went back to BF2042 and I’ve been having the time of my life. The lack of SBMM, or at least a more subtle form of it, means I can actually go off and not worry about being put in lobbies with the sweats, and even if I do, there’s so many other players in the match and the maps are so big that I could effectively avoid them if they keep annoying me. At least with Cold War I had Zombies to go and relax if multiplayer was annoying me.

[@therealslimgamey1]

Just play with a friend

[@phalanx3803]

thats was i was hoping for DMZ just some chill game play but no its sweaty as hell it makes Tarkov fell more chill.

[@xh0rn3rx]

Forreal. We mastered this system back in halo 3. Social matches and ranked matches. Idk wtf developers are doing these days

[@reisvanderpol5413]

I think there's an important distinction to make between SBMM and EOMM that I didn't hear mentioned in the video. SBMM in reality is something akin to a ranking system in games like Valorant and League of Legends. You play with people in a small range of skills. Lets say you're a Silver tier player. You might get matched with Bronze players, and you might get matched with Gold players. Usually players in all of these tiers can take games off each other because while the Gold player is considered better, the skill gap is fairly small, and the main difference between being the higher rank in a match like that is usually consistency and how frequently you're able to play the game. At the end of the day this creates a smooth difficulty curve where, the more you rank up, the games get slightly harder and harder each time until you eventually plateau at a rank that you really have to work hard to break through. In EOMM it works in a much more predatory way. Lets say again that you're a silver player, and you get put into a lobby with a bunch of equally skilled bronze/silver players but you have a really good game and get like 40 kills. This happens to everyone sometimes where they just have an "on" game where they hit all their shots and play really well. EOMM will almost immediately take you from that game into a game with Challenger/Radiant level players. So in your next game you'll go from a really good 40 kill game, to a game where you get like 2 kills and are literally getting farmed by the other team like a bot. This doesn't promote a smooth curve of skill improvement at all because players will get discouraged as well as the fact that it's much harder to learn how to improve when you're getting demolished vs losing by a little bit and learning from your mistakes. The game essentially uses you as a prop for the next game, just like it may have used those bad bronze players as a prop for you to have a good game. The games where you get 40 kills and do really well feel almost unfair because you can tell that the people the game has matched you against are REALLY bad, like a toddler trying to play against an adult levels of inequality. Then you go and get matched against he best players in your region the next game and you can tell that this time YOU are the bot and YOU are being used as a prop so these better players can have a really good game and "feel good" about themselves which in turn makes you want to keep playing. Ultimately, gaming is going down the drain because companies are prioritizing profit so much over making a fun and enjoyable game. You know it's gotten bad when there is an entire field of Psychology dedicated to figuring out the best way for player retention and optimization of the in game cash shops and progression so that it's extremely predatory and addicting. Edit: You did actually mention it in the video but I just wanted to elaborate a bit sorry lol

[@HoldenMcRoin69]

You explained the difference between the 2 very well, as someone who’s been playing competitive PvP games for a while you can feel the difference dramatically

[@Tzill]

Yep exactly, I actually think real genuine SBMM is healthy for a game, but its just not what we get anymore...not even close

[@gaspara9817]

The real problem and I don't think Yeags really grasps it is 50% of the player base will always be at or below average and will never be able to climb above that. Almost never having a positive kill rate and constantly being a negative impact to your team does not feel good and often leads to negative inter player interactions. This in turn leads to higher low skill player bleed off thus raising the rungs on the skill ladder until the barrier to entry becomes too high for new players to reasonably be expected to join. High skill, no SBMM games do still occasionally come out but they quickly become niche games because its just not a sustainable model. He talks about the high killstreaks being locked out of skill based MM but the fact is without it a small handful get them regularly and many will never have any hope of getting even the mid tier ones. Anyone who ever dropped a nuke in the original MW2 (myself included) did so at the expense of others.

[@alfaDude156]

I think this is why indie-games will come to blow up every now and then, just to be bought up and destroyed by the Big Fish.

[@cQ2DHPavXTqemm9Vsbgi4TV7x]

True. Valorant is significantly better. A bronze will play like a bronze in valorant. A plat will play like a plat in valorant. In Cod, you're gold and get destroyed 1 game, then the next game you drop 50, then you get clapped again. You have no idea what to work on because the games are so inconsistent. One game you're farming bots, the next game you can't even turn a corner without getting deleted. Valorant promotes actual skill progression. Cod just want's your winrate to be 50/50.

[@MrBones105]

The original MW2 was my first real multiplayer shooter as a teenager and you KNEW when you got better. The game was drastically different when you were good vs when you were bad, and the sheer randomness of the system was what made it so fun. Sometimes you were killing it, sometimes you weren't, but you could still mentally generalize a trend. In the new MW2, I noticed that I genuinely cannot tell how much better I have or haven't gotten. I seriously have no clue, because the game literally feels the same, and I feel punished for trying to be good.

[@garymapes6955]

Same the real mw2 was amazing

[@winlover37]

Right there are some matches where I feel like I completely forgot how to play. It's unreal

[@daveoceanic5]

Never got to experience "killing it" with MW2; only got told to "git gud"-and worse-over the radio. Sorry but I don't have six hours a day to sink into it in the hopes that I'll start having fun someday. The developers know that the game will be a tiny, unprofitable, niche thing if the hardcore Twitchy pros drive all the casuals away (go check out the RTS/T Wargame: Red Dragon to see that in real time), so they have to keep the casuals invested. Thus, SBMM.

[@nerdstrangler4804]

@@daveoceanic5 Never got to experience killing it either. But getting better was a helluva lot of fun. Since skill progression tends to be logarithmic in nature, it felt like at the rate I was progressing I would be pubstomping in no time. Even if I ultimately plateaued somewhere slightly below average. The journey to slightly below average was the most addicting, rewarding and motivating experience of my online gaming career. I don't know if you are incapable of self-improvement or simply don't enjoy it. But I don't think you are representative of most people. I think most people, regardless of skill level, enjoy the sense of accomplishment derived from self-improvement. And most people, even with minimal time investment, tend to achieve rapid improvement when learning a new skill.

[@DLBBALL]

​@@daveoceanic5 Just play a game you enjoy more? Also how would CoD have gotten big in the games before EOMM was added, ex. MW2, BO2, etc?

[@owenclarkmusic]

I've noticed as I get older I'm starting to gravitate more and more towards single player or indie co-op games. The last COD I played was MW2019 and I had a lot of fun playing with friends and being sweaty, but we would literally play all day because we had very few responsibilities and the pandemic was going on. I hardly ever touch competitive games now because it feels like work... getting keyed up and competitive isn't what I want to do when I get time to relax. I don't care about getting good anymore, I just wanna have fun, y'know

[@esperfire3779]

This is exactly how I feel. I know I am older and probably slower than I used to be, but even back as a teenager I was never interested in being the greatest player in any shooter, my goal was always to be "Above Average" and have fun. In most shooter games I had around a 2.0-3.0 KDR, and I took pride in that. There were a couple of games like Titanfall, S4 League and Alliance of Valiant Arms that just resonated with me and my KDR was way higher in those games, but for the most part I was content with a simple 2.0+ ratio, and would routinely mess around with off meta gameplay elements just to enjoy them. EOMM punishes you for not doing your absolute best to win at all times. It punishes you for getting better at the game. It punishes you for daring to try something different. I'm really close to uninstalling MW2 between the horrible matchmaking and the absurd lag compensation that makes me question my actual skill level every single game.

[@theitechlab]

Great way of putting it. I've moved back to single player games (and Fallout 76) as of about a month ago because I don't want to treat playing games like a job. Games are supposed to be fun, not stressful. I just want to have fun after a day of work, not come home and sweat it out against a bunch of tryhards.

[@anthonyduffy6953]

I'm the same. I'm 37 now and mostly only play single player games. The last cod I played was black ops 2. When I game now I mostly just want to chill out and see some cool stuff. I play racing games online sometimes, but only because the all have lame AI in single player.

[@thescottishguy6025]

Great video dude. As a 35yr old guy ive been through the journey of fps games and for the last few years have been completely done with them for all these exact reasons. Im always explaining to my 11yr old nephew about how companies rig gaming to try and get players to spend (in the hope it stops him wasting all his cash on fut points.. to no avail). Gonna make him watch this video as youtube has a knack of getting through to him

[@daveoceanic5]

It's odd, because I ended up leaving FPS games due to the exact opposite experience. Working full/overtime and having a relationship just didn't let me have the ridiculous number of hours I would need to sink into Halo 3 and MW2 just to not get my ass handed to me every match. Spawn camping and getting quick-scoped through walls across the map were definitely the last straws. I ended up quitting the FPS genre (and eventually multiplayer games entirely) and sold my Xbox 360 because the minimum skill level require to have fun was just too damn high. Sorry, but I fully agree with the comments the video parodies at the beginning; opponents of SBMM seem to me like streamers who depend on dominating lower-skill players on Twitch. It utterly kills any fun that casual players could have in multiplayer (unless they get paired with a couple of high-tier monsters for a game or two) and drives them away from the game. People hate being the cannon fodder, who knew? The developers wisely saw that they'd lose a lot of revenue turning their product away from broad appeal and into a niche meant for professionals only, and chose to keep casuals interested. Whether you think that's a bad thing (OP sure does, but he's a KZbinr) or not depends on your dedication to a particular series, but each games' hardcore NEETs are going to insist that "their" game is kept pure and ultra-competitive while the "other game" can go appeal to "filthy casuals".

[@wyattbarnett3877]

Try metroid prime that's a fps

[@loner9832]

@@daveoceanic5 By keeping a level playing field with a handicap? I'm 30 and that's such a cop out bullshit, never was a thing with QUAKE 2/3 arena,DOOM/Unreal Tournament what ever happened to skill? yes skill, whatever happened to it? Games used to be played, now it's simply put on god damn auto pilot... which is what this is, the fuck man? do people now want a particiation achievement to make themselves feel better? because that's what this is. this is a problem, why even make games? why even play? if it's going to be like this..

[@xTRUExiNsANiTYx]

@@daveoceanic5 SBMM makes every match feel the same no matter how good you actually are. It essentially turns causal game modes into ranked playlists, which aren’t fun all the time. My favorite game right now is Rocket League. It has an insanely good ranked system for when you want grind and really sweat some games out, but it also has a causal playlist that just about everybody from all skill levels can enjoy. I’m a high Diamond/low Champion level Rocket League player (which for CoD terms is probably like having a 2.0 KD. It’s a lot better than average but nowhere near great). I can still play Rocket League with my friends who have barely played the game at all and still have a good time on the casual playlist. That’s just not possible in an FPS with strict SBMM like CoD. The beauty of a casual playlist without strict SBMM is that you never know what you’re going to get in any given game, unless you stick in the same lobby. Sometimes you kick ass, sometimes you get your ass kicked, sometimes it’s just kind of okay. That was the magic of CoD back in the day. It was the ultimate casual game. Now all of that magic is gone

[@maelstrom7862]

Respect to the yt algorithm for pumping out videos like this from smaller creators on my feed. This was a great video and deserves all these views

[@mommaduck79]

Yeah i noticed that recently too. Getting recommendations from practically unknown creators only like a few hours after they upload when the video still only has like 50 views. Im actually surprised at the quality of the videos and how well-catered they are towards my interests too.

[@rinsmiff]

On the subject of ping...when you play in a region that has a smaller playerbase, but still has local servers, you lose out on many of the game modes simply because the system cant find enough people to fill a server with the same skill bracket. Modes like Ground War and Invasion are completely dead in my region so 160ping servers are the only option.

[@Yeags]

Infinity Ward out here gatekeeping entire playlists. Ridiculous

[@MSFHFEV]

I think the only solution to this is always have a ranked playlist and a social playlist on launch. And make the social playlist COMPLETELY ping based and random players. That way when you’re tired after working and just wanting to solo que you can play social or go in with a friend that isn’t as good and not hate the experience. Then when you gather some friends or a team and feel like trying you can enter ranked. The days of HIDDEN ranked social playlists need to end. I managed to hit master in apex legends and my casual experience was permanently punished. If I que up with a friend new to the game now in casual duos we get absolutely s*it on. I don’t understand why my casual experience is now ruined in that game because I did well in one ranked season.

[@RParis-ov2rq]

I've been telling my friends, gaming has pulled a fast one on most of the player base. Most games are turning into sophisticated slot machines. MW2 is an FPS on the surface, but functions more like a slot machine. That is what SBMM is, a program that picks the winners.

[@r.d.9399]

The gaming industry needs to be regulated much more seriously. They're literally predators of children.

[@CrNcHyFROG5]

One of the most well-spoken, thought-out videos on this subject that I have seen. Adressed every issue I’ve ever had with SBMM/EOMM. Couldn’t have said it better if I tried. Incredible fuckin’ job, man. Earned a sub from me, looking forward to more content from ya!

[@moonflakes22]

There is no chill nowadays in fps games, everyone is a sweat and I blame the competitive scenario. I remember back in the day when I used to play black ops with my friends, we didn't care about KD ratio, we didn't care about meta weapons, we didn't care about proper call outs, we were just having fun with the weapon we liked the most while just talking random stuff through our mic. At the time, I noticed with my friend's little brother that he was actually really into the competitive aspect of the game, going as far as getting angry with my friend if he was using "suboptimal" weapons and such. Don't get me wrong, it's always good to be able to improve and perform better, and I know that fun is a subjective thing, but how much fun are you really having if 8/10 games you get railed by someone better and rage because you are too aware of your competitive performance.

[@Medieval_Dead]

Damn fine summation of the modern hell of online shooters.

[@Yeags]

Glad you enjoyed💪

[@kevinbellock6825]

This video points out perfectly a big part of the whole fun in the Halo 2-3, MW and MW2 days was being able to see your progression. Improving K/D and noticing the big games happening more and more often was what kept you coming back. That part is completely gone these days. My friends newer to gaming had NO IDEA they were even bad at the game until they started playing with me and got into my lobbies. It only recently has started to sink in that they even CAN get much better at the game because they were never exposed to better play styles in their lobbies.

[@FollyOx]

You are spot on with this video, i can't play COD anymore because of exactly the problem of not being able to see progression

[@r.d.9399]

If I can't play with my friends and family without sbmm or whatever the fuck you want to call it I'll just play another game.

[@heshecandowhat]

Why I gave up on cod years ago.. used to love pub stomping kids with my friends, now we all play other games that aren’t call of duty RIP the good days!

[@VerdictofOdin]

“I have agency! I have free will!” Marketing Department: 😂😂😂

[@iguess2739]

I used to play MCC. What most matches were like were tilted, usually being 35-100. One side obviously together in discord calling out placements, spawns, etc. The opposing side had no chance if they didn't have the same setup. Even with matches my friends were in felt like either it was a chore to play (where everything is micro calculated ahead of time) or we just had fun and lost. Eventually I found myself having way more fun griefing and purposefully losing - which is not what the intent of the game should be. I've had good matches every once in a while. But them being the exception and not the rule, combined with being temp banned for griefing too much got old fast. I stopped playing altogether, as did my friends. These hardcore guys can dominate the field every day, but they can do it with less people. The player count now hovers in the 4,000s on steam and I am not one of those people.

[@nappa3550]

I love MCC, but man, the game is dying. Reach BTB (which I like playing, it's what helped me get better) is filled with premades.

[@BOKtober]

SBMM only works in casual games when the players are unaware of it but once you turn the screws too tightly and players can clearly see that SBMM is essentially pre determining the outcome of each match the whole things collapses in on itself

[@Tiznado]

This is why i quit cod and league of legends. The games are rigged and that takes the fun out of playing

[@potheadraccoon8536]

literally why i quit overwatch 2

[@gaspara9817]

I'd argue the opposite. It only works in a well structured, highly visible system in which the players can tell exactly where they stand in the hierarchy, can understand how the system decides where they are (and it must be very transparent) and is well structured such that people feel the system is not easy to manipulate to intentionally make matches unfair (the proverbial smurf/ringer/team w/ a low mmr friend problems).

[@xFalconn1]

@@potheadraccoon8536 at least the devs of overwatch have openly spoke about this and have said there changing the matchaming

[@nwordjoe9356]

​@@potheadraccoon8536 u guys can play ow2? It won't let me use any of my emails

[@l1nkcs]

I can understand why people dislike SBMM but as a CSGO player who has never touched casual games like COD I think that I would want SBMM in my games if I were to ever play COD

[@TheREMIXrage]

It's funny. I remember playing Black ops back in 2010. I was never amazing at the game probably like a 1.2kd player. But I got in a lobby where me and my friend were absolutely dominating the lobby. Sometimes the score lines were like 75-10 (TDM) That shit never EVER happens any more.

[@Nevouti.x]

Yeah because now you aren't playing against noobs with 1 hour in the game, while that was fun for you, if you're a new player and constantly getting that makes the game experience awful

[@LoveIXTC]

@@Nevouti.x just because you can't lose? i began playing cod with a 0.5 kd most games were like 13-30 for me and it still was fun. it motivated me to get better, now tell me what is my motivation now? constantly playing against people on my level, never be able to play with friends i've been playing with since years. Useing always the same 3 weapons that are meta because otherwise you can't compete. Fuc* this bullshi* and everyone that defends it.

[@potheadraccoon8536]

@@Nevouti.x nah im just getting paired against grandmasters for half of my matches and then absolutely dogwater players the next 5 how is that fun?

[@Nevouti.x]

@@potheadraccoon8536 yeah really doubt that, everyone in this common section really thinks highly of themselves as they think some random assholes with mics must be twitch pro players lmao sounds like more coping for the fact that you suck

[@rylandnolan7502]

Why would I want to play if the harder I try to get better, the harder it gets

[@LuckyOctober]

As soon as you mentioned at 10:19 how one game we're doing so well, then the next 5 games we get dummied because we have weak team members. I always noticed how some games I'm at a 2.0 k/d and the WHOLE team is 0.5 k/d.

[@ramblingrenegade6346]

There's been so many times I only won a match because myself and one other guy played the objective while our teammates got mangled around the map. Its sad to see honestly

[@PROMEATHEAN]

Good sir. This was a very well made video about an issue that had been pissing me off for years. I wish you all the best in your future career

[@cromtuiseagain]

This was surprisingly well articulated. I've always known about EOMM yo-yoing your lobbies so you keep playing more due to frustration than actual enjoyment, but I never thought to think about it like a casino where that's exactly what they also do. It used to be the casino analogies pertained to loot boxes but ever since those went out of vogue and even illegal in some countries, I guess they found a way to still make multiplayer games like casinos through EOMM, though I can't quite connect the frustration with buying in game items since most of the time when I get frustrated with multiplayer I either play something else or do something else entirely; looking at the in game store doesn't even cross my mind when I get pissed off.

[@Saurygiel]

I think buying items has to do with people's retention more than anything, which is why these systems are designed this way. For example, if you are the type of person that plays a game like COD on a daily basis out of habit and get far enough into the battle pass you might have a sort of sunken-cost fallacy where the amount of hours of "entertainment" you have gotten out of the game justifies purchasing the battle pass, or buying a bundle. Even if you are aware of the problems and don't fully enjoy the game just that idea of connecting your time played to purchasing something probably persuades a lot of people. I know it's persuaded me before, since I would do the same thing with the battle pass in MW19 despite being frustrated by it all the time.

[@cromtuiseagain]

@@Saurygiel Oh yeah thanks for that. Forgot a lot of people buy battle passes before anything else and do get into that sunk cost mentality where they sank at least ten hours and find no enjoyment but still have the need to justify the money they spent.

[@DBZ272]

The only thing I don't like about this system so far is that it forces everybody into a new lobby instead of just letting you stay with the people you played with in the current lobby, I still like skill based match making for matching try hards with try hards, Unfortunately I'm considered one of them since I keep getting into lobbies with master prestiges but I do tend to go pretty hard when I actually try lol

[@EliteScentsOnly]

I’ve stopped playing since they turned EOMM up to the max level. It’s been two months. COD used to be fun. If there was that one or two guys ripping the lobby over and over,you had the choice to stay and take a beating,or try to get better and see how you can beat those players. Again,it was up to us. You can stay in the lobby and trash talk the same players or actually make good friends from trash talking. It was fun. EOMM already killed FPS’s. Great vid sir.

[@Yeags]

Absolutely man, lobbies constantly disbanding sucks and is another thing that is killing the social aspect of these games. It’s so weird when you’re trash talking somebody during the little post-game carnage report after the game ends and then you’re pulled back to the menus and the audio just abruptly cuts off lol. Thanks for watching!

[@EliteScentsOnly]

@@Yeags Oh yeah,they killed the whole social part of it. I miss making friends from all the verbal trolling during matches. Some of these people are funny as hell. And yeah,I’m always casual. I never go in trying to save the planet or act like I’m playing for a million dollars. Just want to have fun. But nope,they don’t want us to have fun.

[@classyviper1one]

Yet, I'll bet you all payed full price for this game, and will pay full price for the next "cash cow" game... Yall played yo'selves *AGAIN

[@EliteScentsOnly]

@@classyviper1one don’t quit your day job and become a carnival fortune teller. Not everyone cries then buys again. Maybe that’s your story fluffer. Not me. Scroll on🤣

[@bobbydrake2486]

I laughed hard at stay and take a beating lol! Oh man those were the days

[@MacaroniChickenStrips-cr8ii]

Yep, I finally quit COD altgether this year because I could feel the match0making system emotionally manipulating me. It's subtle but sinister. It seems to know how to keep me filled with rage yet constantly playing.

[@Nevouti.x]

It's not sinister at all lmao if you're killing it, especially going crazy like 25:2 type shit, you're clearly playing against people of a lower skill rating, a balanced experience wouldn't have you dominanting every match as that isn't fun for most players

[@LoveIXTC]

@@Nevouti.x i want games where i go 25-4 but also 12-30, it was possible until Bo4, why not anymore? also did you watch this video with the issues of this system?

[@Nevouti.x]

@@LoveIXTC yeah you want that frequently, which you think is fun, but is just you shitting on low level players, now that your paired against people of your skill or slightly higher you get shit on, very ironic

[@LoveIXTC]

@@Nevouti.x lol can't even read, stay ignorant CoD is dying because of people like you. compare the number of active players from bo2 and mw2 now and get shit on ;)

[@Nevouti.x]

@@LoveIXTC it was the fastest selling entry in 3 days but yeah go off about how it's dead lmao and you can't read clearly, your whole point was filled with emotion cause you're throwing a tantrum about loosing, grow up

[@runfree6279]

You made every point my brain couldn't put into words 🙏🏼 thank you

[@RealJayG]

It didn't take long to realize that I couldn't play long past midnight, or else I'd end up playing sweats the whole time. Maybe I'm not alone in that

[@dblmisterjokes2]

Yeah me as a shotgun player I learned the hard way sbmm is there along with the sweats so I can't even play how I usually play I have to walk around so my footsteps sr not noticed or wait until my ninja perk comes on for me to start playing aggressively without getting punished which is a joke you can check a few of my vids on my channel no lies 💯

[@finkamain1621]

@@dblmisterjokes2 I can't even play regular TDM because everyone camps and listens for footsteps. I'll play Tier 1 TDM instead and play the game like I play Siege while glued to my sights and almost never sprinting

[@GonzCerv]

@@finkamain1621 bro yes ! It’s like i can do good by just camping and playing boring but i don’t want that. It literally makes my skin crawl to play so slow. This game rewards people who play like that

[@TheIRONSTAG]

Very articulate and accurate in my opinion. I quit playing MW2 a while back but i still follow this subject concerning EOMM and such because I believe you are right, it truly does destroy FPS multi to a degree - It's not something I really considered or even REALIZED until it became a problem, turns out I guess I do play online multi for social aspect and I do play online multi hoping to see a progression of skills.

[@Viriathus81]

You completely nailed this it's exatly what happens it's all designed to keep you at 1.0 KD. I said the exact same thing last night it makes the experience terrible

[@user-vg8tv1hp9c]

I had a 1.3 KD in Cold War and that was considered top 20% or better…. It’s crazy how hard they’ve made it

[@skat441]

True, i have 0.98 winrate and 0.97 KD. IDK how people have more then 3.0💀

[@JMetal_enjoyer]

I agree to an extent, but you also gotta look at it from the bad players perspective. Just due to the nature of how KD work, if one team has an average kd of 2, the opposite team has a kd of 0.5 I agree with a lot of the points but as somebody with friends who consistently went like 0.3 in old cods, it's nice for them

[@Regolant1]

As a The Cycle player... yeah no, this shit is better than what we *used* to have.

[@beetee4262]

What? Hush, bruh.

[@Regolant1]

@@beetee4262 it's been a year. Why are you even replying

[@CrrzyFox]

Yoooo, you hit the video right in my feels. Great references to the emotional baggage and manipulation greedy corps give. This is why you can't justify unchecked wealth. It becomes corrupting in every aspect and damages humanity as a whole.

[@Yeags]

Glad you enjoyed, thanks for watching!

[@monstermunch2682]

I very much agree with everything you’ve said in this clip. Multiplayer gaming now is just corporate manipulation it’s not fun anymore. We need to have a skill rank. We need to know how we are doing and what skill our enemies are. Imagine the rush of knowing you beat higher skill players, knowing you’re improving.

[@SynphulHero]

Fantastic editing, great mic quality, and good pacing. I imagine you had some sort of script when making this video, but either way, I was engaged the whole time. Keep up the great work.

[@thatstuffguy]

It's also worse when you play with your friends that are very different in skill levels. In the past it didn't matter so much. But now, unless your whole friend group are absolute pros, no one is having fun

[@resultedchutoy3353]

Man, this is gonna sound paradoxical, but the most fun I had playing MWII was when I realized I was riding the coattails of the Algorithm, I decided to make a "troll" cosplay class that I called 'Courier Six' from Fallout New Vegas. It featured the Molotov, Stim, the Lever Action, and the Magnum. Even though I mostly lost and got recked, it still felt fun because I was just sitting around with a purposely bad class. Of course I have an AK class for when I feel like going sweatband mode, but that's when I get tired and about to get off lol. Great video again Yeags, great points and really fucking nailed how the journey felt back in the day. Can't wait to see what's next!!

[@Yeags]

Old West build. Love that shit. With these systems in place, these games really are at their most fun when you forget about your stats and just mess around. Thanks for watching bro glad you enjoyed!

[@naughtyauty]

Haven't bought a game from this Dudu company for years and NEVER FELT BETTER

[@M4XIUM]

Hopefully XDefiant proves that you don't need EOMM/SBMM in a fps game, just make the game fun and enjoyable and people will play no matter what

[@BreakingRaven]

its ubisoft i am keeping my expectations low.

[@justarandompersoniguess]

I remember initial reactions were bad for that but now I’m somewhat rooting for it if they’re sticking to no SBMM or EOMM

[@JohnSmith-ti9uq]

We don't need proof that strict sbmm is unnecessary. Gaming didn't start forcing it in every fps until like 2019. Gaming was fine before 2019.

[@ekscalybur]

There is no showing them people will play. They don't want that. They want chumps shoveling cash at them every payday.

[@Sakura_Yuki_NC]

My biggest gripe with this system is that every win and loss you get is given to you by the system, as long as it can manipulate some aspect of your team, one night i m doing 3v3s in destiny with my friend, hes an 6 to 8kd player in most games, im a decent 3 to 5, no matter what sbmm gives us as a teammate we have a 85% winrate, the fun part starts the next day when i solo queue and the first 10 to 12 matches i get my shit pushed in so far by premade teams or just by having 2 or 5 depending on the gamemode total timmehs on my team because the system needs to get my winrate corrected and its just a one sided roll the entire session, meanwhile when my friend is there he is so overwhelmingly good the system struggles and while i keep up with him in kills, i tend to die more, its super frustrating to know its a system causing you to lose and then you check the scorecards and its like alpha had 85% chance to win, yeah duh we didnt win we had 15% chance....this shit is so much bs

[@andyh2783]

Man this was spot on and explains how I feel about mw2 perfectly.....I'm a 40 year old dad gamer who used to love pub stomping lobbys in black ops one and others.....I'm barely over a 1.0 kd and struggle to even achieve that on most matches.....its getting old fast

[@Fhrxst]

W dad ❤️

[@Vid_Master]

Same, I couldnt figure out how it was possible that after months of playtime and learning all kinds of new skills and strategies, my k/d ratio hovers around 1.0 the whole time. Now it all makes sense

[@Nevouti.x]

Almost like when your paired with people your skill level you suck lmao that's not a game design flaw

[@yarcusmoungbar5051]

@Nevouti Jaspili sbmm creates bot lobbies and if a bad player does good in a bot lobby, they're forced to play sweaty nerds the next game. definitely a design flaw.

[@imhim8229]

@@Nevouti.x Wrong

[@MackyBclips]

I struggle to play warzone with casual friends, it forces them into higher skill lobbies and therefore they get rekt and have no fun and neither do i

[@GGPlex_]

I feel like SBMM also played a part in the toxic culture with gaming now. You don’t play to have fun. You play to win. You *have* to use every advantage or you’re at a disadvantage. I’m tired of the “skill issue” argument too. If you want people to get better, tell them tips and tricks that help you. That’s why the “meta” is constantly changing. If you aren’t a sole playing who is on a certain game constantly, you’re the only one who knows the change without having to find out the hard way, and nobody tells people because they dont want to get stomped on. All in all, if you’re feeling burnt out or like you’re past skill just isn’t what it used to be, play some New Vegas. Take a break.

[@HLVEYT]

It’s really the first time I’ve heard the term but I’ve been subjected to it for years. I’ve been playing Counter-Strike for over 20 years but there has been this eerie feeling about CS Global Offensive that just felt different. In previous versions of the game, you’d usually own your own server, and have to find scrims if you were playing at all professionally, or serious. You’d really get a sense of your skills increasing vs. struggle areas, etc. but with global offensive, VALVe (developer of the game) began hosting the servers and providing their own matchmaking. The games are never consistent. You’ll win 3, and then suddenly you’re missing easy shots, your team stops communicating, and you’ll lose the next 5. I never thought about how the matchmaking could be manipulated in a way like this. And it’s eye opening how well it works to keep players from always chasing that next win.

[@molsen7549]

Man you nailed every point you made in this video. EOMM may be working for Activision right now, but this model is not sustainable. CoD got lucky with the Battle Royale craze and was revived with Warzone. If they keep trying to wring their players' wallets dry, CoD will be right back to a dying franchise in 3-5 years time.

[@Francob78]

i hope this franchise dies of way faster than 3 or 4 years..........that will teach the companies to keep gaming about fun for the players and not moneymaking for the companies......It's players that have the power here, i hear many players complain (including myself tbh) but in the grander scale of things we are just a tiny percentage so the big money companies really don't give a fuck about us as long as they keep selling their shit....unless the majority of players stand united and halt the companies that are draining the 'fun' out of gaming nothing will change

[@LastRightsTV]

The title is 100% accurate

[@jamesweekes4253]

A+ for the effort man, top creator calibre, keep it up

[@mrmidnight32]

Honestly as someone who’s been too 1% and top 0% in both MW19 and MW2… I like SBMM, to a point. Playing people in my skill bracket is fun because wiping randoms is boring after a month. My self esteem doesn’t need me to drop 20 bombs to feel good. The ONLY thing I hate, is getting absolute bot teammates with a stacked enemy team because it evens the lobby MMR… and I end up going 20-3 and the rest of my team goes 4-7 or worse… Again I like SBMM, but hate being punished because I’m better than most casual players.

[@AnthonyBC93]

I remember during Call of Duty Vanbooty, Infinity Ward said the SBMM in Modern Warfare 2 would be different, "revamped", they said. The difference was it was turned to 11!

[@kellsbells201]

You did an amazing job on this video. So much info and funny

[@Yeags]

Thanks for watching!

[@gingerandbroke1402]

2:26 these people are the ones who buy all the bundles, the people sbmm protects.

[@thatoneswarmdrone6409]

The irony of all this is that people who support SBMM have this weird placebo that the algorithm actually makes fair matches, when theyre the people in my lobbies going 1/15 still getting stomped on. Only this time its by the will of the algorithm. Thank you for speaking out against this horrid algorithm. People need to hear the truth.

[@vaisata]

Nah, definitely not that bad.

[@potheadraccoon8536]

@@vaisata its pretty fucking bad what are you talking about are you twelve or havent played any fpses in the last 3 years or so

[@nooooooooope3809]

"I JUST WANNA STOMP SCRUBS AND MAKE THEIR GAME UNFUN!" QQ

[@pavmx703]

Completely agree. I don't spend money on games with sbmm. I may play them depending on the circumstances, but I don't have long sessions like I used to. It's just not fun playing under that pressure and stress for an extended time.

[@SuperSlowMotion91]

Yeah, nail on head with this vid. Been playing off and on since cod first came out in 2003, and the biggest thing that's changed that i missed is the social aspect of the old matchmaking system. You'd run into the same people now and then based both on skill and ping, sure, but you felt yourself getting better along the way. You and the boys could sit in the same lobby for hours using whatever set ups you wanted while other groups came and went with varying degrees of competitiveness, but always hot mics. New friends got made back in old cod lobbies. Legendary clans and teams formed that way too. Nowadays its MuteAll and using only meta guns, all the time, or your decade long friendships are at risk, lmao.

[@Scr0ful0us]

Well stated. Got started with MOHAA and played with a clan through COD WaW. Made lots of friends I still talk to today. Now like you, it's Mute All and there's zero chance to make friends.

[@RealStitchie]

I recommend trying Insurgency Sandstorm. No SBMM, no bot lobbies, and plenty of systems that are actually fun to play with. A visible rank and show of progression no matter what you do. The gun play is snappy and responsive, although the TTK is a bit fast. It never feels unfair or geared to make you suck. I highly recommend it over most modern shooters simply because it isn't predatory or wants to hold your hand and instead throws you into a sandbox that feels like you're getting somewhere and enjoying yourself along the way.

[@Yeags]

I’ll try it out, thanks for the recommendation! And thanks for watching!

[@RealStitchie]

@@Yeags Also be wary of recoil and toxicity. Lobbies don't disband either so more social time!

[@tihruytssgjjvsavcxtbvhj3429]

Can confirm Insurgency Sandstorm is great, and the persistent lobbies are a ton of fun. I always get dunked on but I love every minute and relish every kill!

[@shaun79maro]

I think you hit the nail on the head here. I was on destiny 2 recently and wanted to play with friends. They all declined and said it would be too stressful because of the bracket I'm in. Honestly, it kinda made me sad. The whole reason I play multiplayer games is to play with friends, if I can't do that then what's the point?

[@PARTY222]

This video deserves all the views of everyone who loves gaming and wants gaming to change I rarely make a comment or even watch a full video but the point made in this is truly terrifying and truthful.they are literally fucking with are brain knowing how to get us hooked.We all choose our own poison.

[@benkelly7499]

All the people getting upset about people wanting to pub-stomp have never been capable of actually pub-stomping themselves. It’s a great feeling getting 80 kills in a match, I probably won’t have those kind of games ever again though.

[@tuc_mage]

I am almost at 3000 hours in rainbow 6 siege and honestly feel like I am playing worse than I have in the past. It really takes a toll. Awesome video, giving me lots to mull over.

[@AmbientShrub]

31 y/o here, I just don't have it in me to sweat my balls off anymore. I only wanna play casually and have a good time with friends, and SBMM shits on all of that. Is there a wholesome developer out there that DOESN'T implement SBMM, somebody let me know.

[@sheeraz_]

Great video. You articulated my frustration perfectly with SBMM. These massive opponents swings really discourage me from playing. Going from 4KD games top of the scoreboard to a 0.75 KD at the the bottom of scoreboard for several games then back to bot lobbies. You get punished for getting better. At this point I don’t know what my real KD or how I am relative to the average player because the goal keeps shifting generating a synthetic KD.

[@kadenarden1952]

I see a lot of complaints here, but let's be honest, if you are a decent player, you'll win more often than not. I have a 1.23 W/L average and a .93 K/D average. So obviously, I'm not a great player, but good enough that in COD 2019, I consistently in the top 7% for over a year. Once again, I'm not a great player, but let's be honest, if actually having to play against players at your same skill level bothers you, or you prefer to play weaker players. Then maybe you just aren't that good.

[@Kgoutdoor]

Yea exactly. I always had a 2-2.5 KD in earlier CODs like mw2 black ops. Now i have a .97 lol

[@Vvsprodigy]

@@Kgoutdoor maybe you’re just not good anymore. Or haven’t adapted your play style to this cod. I got a 2.1 kd and still get bots sometimes never feel like it’s too much I don’t get why so many complain lol.

[@finkamain1621]

@@kadenarden1952 Not really. I still get a bunch of frags and objectives and I usually loose. Doesn't help when I play Hardpoint and I get 1:30 seconds and loose because the next highest time my teammates have is 5 seconds. So tired of carrying

[@doggupops8448]

"I see a lot of complaints here, but let's be honest, if you are a decent player, you'll win more often than not." That's a straight up lie. MWII will legitimately give better players worse teammates to compensate for their skill level, worse enough that despite your best efforts, you'll just lose anyway because the game dictated that you needed to be taken down a notch. That's why it feels fucking horrible to play solo, and I can't reliably play with friends of different skill levels because of the matchmaking. I have a 1.07K/D, and try to play the obj as much as I can since I main scorestreaks, which is probably why my K/D isn't higher. And have a .71W/L. It makes no fucking sense at all.

[@carbide4458]

I'll be honest: its incredibly hard to attempt to hear your arguments with such a thick layer of sarcasm and insults right off from the beginning. Sets the stage for the whole video being an uncritical, emotion driven roller-coaster.

[@MrUncharted12]

Don't watch it then lol 😂

[@ryansleeper1077]

You just blew my mind, and earned a subscribe. You just explained me EXACTLY as the guy who chooses not to play with friends cause I get wrecked. If I hop on solo, I have a great time. The best online community was early 2000s with ps2 and Xbox. Forums were highly active because the consoles didn't have clan support. It was awesome. As the consoles added in clan support over the next decade, I watched the community shrink massively, while KZbinrs and streamers became all the rage. Socom Combined Assault on PS2 started the micro transactions, when they started selling map packs for $14.99. that only fractured the community, as many players didn't buy the packs.

[@IronAlien]

Like for random lobbies...

[@chasaroonie9339]

I never thought of the casino analogy. That's what these "skill-based" matchmakers are now. I really enjoyed this. Thank you for sharing! Also, nice use of Cyberpunk OST at the end

[@blaynebittencourt5076]

I can't even play COD with my dad because I just dominate and he struggles. We used to play black ops 1 all the time , no problem.hes. Not even that bad , just goes to show how strict it truly is.

[@marley_sr]

I remember ol days of bad company 2, first matches, 2/10, 3/10 and worse k/d. until I learned how to play, learned some tricks etc... a few matches after, starting getting fair matches and make some positive impact, team up with the boys, rent servers for our clan. missed that days

[@Varamanam]

Please make a video showing how to use sbmmoff for better lobbies bro.

[@samcassidy8101]

I can confirm that the matchmaking system has damaged my socials as my friends have stopped playing call of duty altogether because its not only NOT FUN to sweat out every game, but they get dragged into my higher level lobbies, and its just a complete and total SHITFEST of constantly dying for them which admittedly isn't fun.

[@jessossenkopp]

People who hated occasionally playing players better than they are, complained. Instead of playing games and modes that offered tighter matchmaking (like ranked) they complained that they wanted easier public games. Companies took notice and THIS is what spawned the tight SBMM era. Companies want one thing: maximize profits. SBMM allows them to do this off the below average to average players.

[@slavajuri]

Finally found a video that describes this problem in an interesting way. Best example I have - playing LEM CS:GO in 2018 was a more casual experience game-to-game than playing CoD TDM around that time. Just my anecdote, but it seems to me these hard-and-fast systems push players into the most obnoxious ways of playing the game almost immediately - meta guns, meta perks, hard ADS playstyles - because if they stop playing like that for a second the system is designed to make them feel bad about themselves.

[@MatthewKingpin]

That FOMO shit is insane It's so strong that I feel compelled to log in to Halo MCC on PC every few weeks whenever they release a new banner - A game I haven't played for over two years - *just* to get the exclusive playercards Playercards for a game that I don't play or care about anymore, just because they are limited

[@datboyetv]

Man I gotta sub after u said it messes up the social aspect as in it makes it hard to play with friends...I have certain games I play where I have to mentally prepare myself to lose because I kno im handicapping myself/my team cuase my homies doesn't play like that

[@TemplleeGaming]

Your comment about the freedom of choices within the lobby is spot on, sometimes you wanna load into a fiesta game with a grapple and rockets and fly across the map like a Spartan air strike, but the one sweaty player on their time spawns with a BR so you get roasted, in most lobbies nowadays I feel like I always have to stick to the smart, realistic strategy instead of relaxing after a long day and having some stupid fun

[@Sunsation01]

When you said that the good players are frustrated to carry their bad friends. I can fully underline that. I want to play with my friends every day, but I can not. They are just not that good and get destroyed in my lobbies. Then sometimes there are days where I see them playing, but they don't want to play with me because they don't want to be in my super sweaty lobbies where they just get destroyed. So it comes to the fact that I hardly play the game anymore because I don't have anyone as good as me who doesn't get destroyed right away in the games.

[@PabloRodriguez-ov9sx]

Very interesting, but I think most of the actual problems people have with SBMM are more examples of it being implemented poorly rather than the concept itself being intrinsically flawed.

[@Profetorum]

When i log into one of the modern FPS titles i always feel like playing early 2000s Free To Play FPS games. Like Combat Arms, or stuff like that. With colorful menus, skins, paid guns, manipulative tactics... we went backwards

[@TheGoldenSwitch]

Social Aspect is SO TRUE!!!! my friend wasn't even level 100 and I was over level 500. Every match where I was party leader, he would get destroyed!

[@jakospades7184]

As a 90s kid, I miss dedicated servers hosted by clans that policed their server and they became communities that the regs would balance the teams for a good sense of fair play. Rip old school modded dedicated servers with ventrilo servers XD

[@wbs_original]

It all makes sense now. So frustrating to have a few decent matches that seem inline with my skill level, followed by 5 straight matches of dieing 2 seconds after every spawn.

[@reallifeshadow3552]

This is why i have more fun playing a private match with friends and bots nowadays. Feels more like the good ole days. Back when each player had their own personality that showed through the way they played the game.

[@nathantomes6538]

Epic video and you explained everything to a tee and this is the reason I avoid and don't play PVP games anymore and just finally uninstalled Overwatch 2 cause I finally hit my breaking point getting the most neuron deficient teammates I have ever seen in my 19 years of life and 15 years of gaming

[@justinr.116]

My biggest problem with it is after a while you just end up in a lobby where everyone is using"meta"

[@ColdnE30]

What a strong final message! Sorry for my bad english in the first place, I'm from Switzerland but I'll try my best: Im 26 now and wanted to quit shooters since 3 years and you nailed it pretty well why my fun has decreased over the time and I keep playing OG MW2 more than the new(er) Mw's. The EOMM or SBMM and all the microtransactions are indeed a slot machine system as you mentioned, or giving you the same feeling as playing slots I think after these 3 years of getting more and more annoyed I'll quit for good. Hello singleplayer and OG games and bye "slotmachinemultiplayer" Thank you so much for giving anybody out there a voice who is feeling the same as you / I do

[@LadyKSailing]

This was an EXTREMELY well written youtube video bro. Awesome awesome! Deep, smart, fk'n awesome.

[@Yeags]

I appreciate that! Glad you enjoyed!💪

[@lawa3767]

Dmz is a perfect example. You "win" a few matches and suddenly the bots go crazy, they see you everywhere, they shoot through walls, semtex changes the flight path in the air, very relaxing.

[@BruhYouEatGlizzy]

SBMM is exactly why I can't seem to enjoy Apex with my friends. I'm used to Siege/CS where it's more more about tapping heads but in the lobbies I get when my friends are on (plat), I get lazered immediately

[@andrewmcgrail2276]

I come from the FGC/Dota and have played shooters somewhat (OW by far the most), and I feel crazy watching this video and reading this comment section. I understand and agree with wanting to remove EOMM (in regards to microtransactions), but the idea of removing SBMM is insane. The games I see people reminiscing about *had* SBMM at least to some extent. BO2 is specifically noted as containing it, and while you do mention Halo 3 having it, I think that most people undervalue how important it is to have SBMM. Most of the points you made against it aren't really related to SBMM itself, and are more on the game itself. Connection shouldn't be anything but an automatic flag to disallow a match, as it can be gamed and I've seen examples of it in Dota with rank abuse and battlepass abuse. It's on the game and engine to properly handle different connections and speeds, not the SBMM algorithm. Rollback or other netcode implementations/tricks are core to having a good experience. The other complaint that I explicitly remember you mentioning is that SBMM discourages having new builds- that's sort of the point and how metas work. If someone found an unusual build that worked really well, *it would just be meta*, that's the definition. You may be unhappy with how the game is played at a high level or at least your level but that's not an issue with SBMM. If you're at the same level as other players and use a purely inferior build or wield it incorrectly, you losing is the predicted and correct outcome. Finally, 'not being able to *occasionally* stomp players to see how much you've grown' (paraphrasing) is maybe one of the worst reasons that I've seen for removing SBMM. Yes, newer players will not have this sense of pride and accomplishment, but the people on the recieving end aren't exactly happy about being stomped most of the time. Extend the idea of removing SBMM to 1 on 1 fighting games and it loses all credibility. *Some* players are perfectly fine to be continually stomped into the ground but it's not the majority. The reverse of that is true as well- continually stomping can be fun at first but quickly becomes boring. Every player having a 50% WR is an amazing metric to shoot for as a developer, with there being exceptions at the top and bottom of the bell curve that are effectively unable to account for. Rubberbanding rank could be considered a problem with a specific implementation of SBMM, but it's not directly a problem with SBMM as a whole. The impact of friends not wanting to play due to stress of higher ELO games is a travesty- but that's still not a problem with SBMM, that's a problem with the community around games becomming far different and more serious over the decades than they used to be. The problem is that people don't view losing as 'fun', even if it's a fundamental part of playing games. It's just easier to blame SBMM and reminisce about how it used to work anecdotally. Very few people cared about their rank in *any* game more than a decade ago, and now it's flipped a bit where some people do it be as a showcase of dedication or status, but it's almost always recognized. There's also almost always a casual mode- at least in Dota or Overwatch- which sidesteps the issue of worrying about rank almost entirely, as while it does have SBMM it's a hidden score and you're never prevented from playing with people. The only point I would agree on against SBMM is lobbies being broken up too quickly- but voting to keep the same team in OW/League is actually a feature and I very rarely if ever saw it used anyway. I honestly think most of the points and other comments made are just nostalgia, while EA/Activision may have a somewhat scummy *implementation* of SBMM. As a reminder for those wanting a similar experience to what they used to feel with varying levels of skill randomly, and long lobbies, there's plenty of communities on Discord at least for Dota where you can easily find games with the same people for inhouse tournaments to play for fun or profit. While the game may not offer the same experience that you *feel* it used to, there are other ways to achieve it with slightly more work. This comment is likely pointless and far longer than I intended, but I left it as such in the event that someone else scrolls upon it and thinks about why SBMM isn't the problem, and also for some scrolling through the comment section to know they're not the only crazy ones.

[@emmanuelguerrero8886]

I saw you’re comment and I gotta say thanks for posting this because I’m tired of seeing these complaints and I’m glad I got to see logical reasoning as to why SBMM should be in games

[@TechNinja_420]

Damn, at the end it got dark

[@sublimechimp]

I finally understand the painful emotions I went through while playing. It’s the lobbies disbanding. There’s no more connection. There’s no more warmth. We’re in a cold meat grinder matrix

[@MrDaynos]

I’ve stopped playing PvP and any other games that try to form habits to keep you around. It has been great - no need to prove myself and more time to either do other things or play a bigger variety of games. The best part though is that the FOMO for games I used to play is completely gone, and I am enjoying the games I do play now a lot more. I would recommend it.

[@COMMANDandConquer199]

I'll never believe that SBMM makes people play longer. No matter how long they parrot the research that they're paying for. It makes me and everyone I know quit faster because it's a fucking roller coaster of either smashing or getting smashed over and over.

[@happymonkeyfish]

Modern matchmaking is the reason I just play black ops 2 and smash melee now. Melee especially I feel you notice yourself getting better. I've been on Slippi for about 8 months and I've gone from a noob to being decent at it and it's so nice to watch an old replay and compare

[@ligmuhnugs]

I miss lobbies that stay together the most. You've got one single game to make a friend. In Black ops 1, I remember spending a whole evening playing with the same random people and making friends all the time.

[@emmaboyce2541]

As someone who plays a lot more than my friends. We can’t just play casually without my friends not having a good time in the lobby’s, it’s genuinely so annoying I just want to enjoy the game and have a good time with my friends. It’s so sweaty and they just get off.