video games
the only other good way to play FPS games (which I like, in principle) is to play with a full team of friends
but getting 5+ people to agree on a specific game and time is basically impossible, and playing with a group of 3 or 4 is especially annoying as the remaining random teammate instantly tilts
online video game design
I find it interesting how every FPS game nowadays has a skill-based matchmaking system as the primary or even only way to play the game, and how different the experience is to older generations of games in the same genre that just had big servers where random people joined
Bonus points if the servers are community-administrated so personally involved admins actually ban cheaters without having to rely on dubiously effective automated enforcement systems
online video game design
@elomatreb plus you know a server is good when you connect and your client starts downloading assets
online video game design
@noiob ... except when this is abused and devolves into servers plastering their maps with ads (as happened on most TF2 community servers, so lots of people played on the official Valve-run servers instead that had no modifications, but no admins either)
online video game design
@elomatreb my experience with this is mostly checking out mostly empty servers on hl2 deathmatch with friends, and they usually only loaded sounds
online video game design
@elomatreb that sounds dope