Starcraft 2 manages to keep players of all types hooked with leagues for their skill level.
Alas, the Starcraft 2 beta has ended. Unlike the Reach beta, SC2 sunk its hooks into me and refused to let go. It got me thinking about what types of multiplayer experiences appeal to me in my current “leveled down” state. Why was I done with Reach in 3 or 4 sessions while I played 5 times as much SC in the same amount of time? Hit the jump for my thoughts on the matter…
The major draw of the multiplayer games I’m into can be boiled down to one word: progression. I like to feel as if there is a goal I’m working towards, regardless of how well I’m doing. Modern Warfare still has my favorite progression system ever. No matter how crappy a player you are, you’re always leveling up in that game. It provides a perpetual carrot for you to keep playing for. Halo and Starcraft do it a little differently: you move up or down depending on how well you do. I prefer Starcraft 2′s method of doing this, because instead of having an absolute rank, you get to move up and down within a division of only 100 people.
The second and most obvious draw of multiplayer games is the gameplay. There is a reason why some games have huge multiplayer communities: they are a blast to play. Halo, Goldeneye, Starcraft – all the greats have amazing gameplay. After that it just comes down to personal preference and what type of game you enjoy the most. Halo is still an amazing game, but I feel like I have a better chance at being slightly competitive in Starcraft. Thus, right now, I like Starcraft better. Of course we’ll see come release time for both games.
The third thing I look for in a good multiplayer game is ease of play with friends. This boils down to both party and matchmaking and also my friends’ skills. It’s ideal to play a game where everyone is about the same skill level. I don’t really like playing multiplayer games by myself (not in a party); it’s much more fun to get a bunch of friends together and play together. I know it seems obvious, but for me, it’s crucial. If my friends aren’t playing, I probably won’t be either.
I’m past the point in my life where I think I have any shot of playing any multiplayer games competitively. In fact, I probably never had a shot, it’s just now I know it. Thus, I just want to play a game that makes me feel like I’m contributing to my team and progressing. I also really appreciate games that have strong matchmaking systems – I don’t enjoy being pwned by any stretch of the imagination.
What about everyone else? What do you all look for in a multiplayer game?
last night i logged onto Starcraft 2 anyway and tried to connect. I think I was going through Starcraft 2 withdrawal. “They shut it down? How could they shut it down? What am I going to do now?!” I was almost in a panic. Then I watched some replays on youtube suggested by eeyore and I felt better. I got my fix!
espion4ge, what did you think of the announcer? pretty good, no?
watching those replays makes you realize how deep that game is. they basically managed to replicate starcraft, and yet do it differently.
Halo wars is the best multiplayer game ever. Maybe you could do a few posts on this classic!
Halo wars r pretty gud guy. He kills aleins and doesn’t afraid of anything.
I know how you feel about SCII beta! I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with it, as it can be very frustrating for me to play and it’s almost too intense at times (esp 1v1), yet it can also be very rewarding and is especially good fun as team or FFA with friends.
To appeal, multiplayer games have to be, well, great games. If they are broken even slightly, it can ruin the multiplayer. You also have to enjoy “the real game” for no-holds bar competition in that game – don’t play Street Fighter and complain about throws for example, you’ll never be happy (well, just play with a few friends that agree with you if you like). For this reason it’s very personal what tastes you have in multiplayer competition. That’s nothing unusual, it’s the same as sports – how many people enjoy all sports equally to play?
I also hate dumb level-up systems that reward grinding with actual in-game elements (yeah MW2 again! But other games have sadly copied it) although it’s fine to reward players for grinding, just do it with non-game benefits (like SCII and Halo Reach do). That really puts me off a game.
To enjoy multiplayer you also either need to generally be very very good at a game, or, far better, is if the game has good matchmaking systems – http://agoners.wordpress.com/2010/07/05/more-on-matchmaking/ IMO this is why you say you feel it’s more fun at SCII because you “feel competitive”. Great matchmaking should make anyone get that good feeling – it’s why I enjoyed Halo Reach beta over any other FPS I’ve ever tried.
For your ideas.. I think progression is an interesting one. Are you saying you need the game to visibly illustrate your progression to you? See, last weekend I played a ton of SF2:HDR and SCII beta. Now the beta I was on a horrible losing streak, 0 points in Bronze league (1v1, I am much better on teams) and then I tried a new build, got it working well, and won 5 straight. I got a load of ladder points and also some Achievements and icons and stuff along the way too. SF2:HDR meanwhile, I played an epic 3 hour session against one of the best players I know. I was playing my best character and he was playing about half the characters in the game. I lost 60-10 or something over that time, yet I thoroughly enjoyed it, and whilst I didn’t gain anything in terms of visible things in the game, I felt myself improving at the game. I know inside me that I’m levelling up my SF2 game right now – if only slowly, as I’m starting to see some things that have always eluded me. However I feel equally rewarded by SCII as I do by SF2, the visible bonuses SCII gives to me don’t really matter to me – I just don’t need that carrot. In fact I’m more worried I’ve not even really become much better at SCII, but perhaps just got lucky. Time will tell.
Ability to play with/against friends I cannot agree more on. Its the reason I detest games with server/race/level splits like WoW, and why the no cross-region play is a huge blow to SCII as well. To me, all games should be like Halo Reach for multiplayer (amazing party management and matchmaking options), all games should be like L4D for co-op (drop in & drop out is vital, allowing different sized teams more easily would be even better though!), and all games should be like SCII for matchmaking and competition.
Remy – sorry for the late reply, I am overseas. Anyway, ITA that matchmaking is key. It makes or breaks games.
As for progression, I don’t care about the particulars too much – what matters to me is that I gain tangible rewards for playing. I happen to love MW2, so we disagree there, but in the upcoming Halo: Reach, if I can get some tangible rewards (or at least multiple armor/decoration unlocks that take time to get but come pretty regularly), I will be happy. SC2′s system is interesting, because you might suck, but technically you can keep getting better. I can’t wait to see how that system works out.