Activision’s Matchmaking is Wrong for Competitive Play

This thread supplements my original argument against algorithmically handicapped Competitive Play. Closed four times without answer to my complaint, it spans half a decade. My message has been viewed and upvoted by thousands of competitive Overwatch players:

Plea for democracy

My polls have proven, with strong majority votes, that players want transparent terms of use for Competitive Play and non-discriminatory treatment from the matchmaking system. We have rejected algorithmic handicapping of ranked matches with votes of: 295 to 56, 320 to 42, 386 to 64, 403 to 50, and 528 to 94.

Objective

Overwatch players want to know if and how a patent, belonging to Activision Publishing Incorporated, is being used in Competitive Play. The patent was filed on May 14th of 2015, titled: “Matchmaking System and Method For Multiplayer Video Games.” I cannot provide a page link on this forum, but anyone can find it on the United States’ Patent Office website.

Background

I have refrained from referencing this patent for a long time, to avoid making wrong or unnecessary assumptions about the implementation of Activision’s Matchmaking in Blizzard Entertainment products. I have argued on principle and reason that the algorithmic handicapping we know about, from the disclosures of Blizzard representatives, is wrong for ranked competitive play.

In my campaign on this issue, I have strictly focused on a statement that we have from Scott Mercer, Principal Designer of Overwatch, about the function of its matchmaker and supporting systems: Match Making Rating (MMR) and Skill Rating (SR). See my thread for a detailed analysis of Mercer’s statement which simply reads between the lines and fills in the gaps with logic. It makes no assumptions about the operation of Activision’s game holdings, or their implementation of this patent in Overwatch.

Necessary assumption

In a perfect world, good argumentation and persistence might effect change. But this is not a perfect world. After half a decade of stony silence from Activision/Blizzard reps, I must admit my thread is stymied.

To continue discussion of gamers’ rights in ranked competitive play, we must assume that Blizzard/Activision have implemented a version of their 2015 Matchmaking patent in Competitive Overwatch, as they have done in the Treyarch/Activision Call of Duty franchise. And we must examine the patent more closely.

Examination

The abstract of the patent (number: US 10,322,351 B2) reads as follows:

“A matchmaking system and method is provided that facilitates optimization of player matches for multiplayer video games. The system may provide a generalized framework for matchmaking using historical player data and analytics. The framework may facilitate automatic determinations of an optimal mix of players and styles to produce the most satisfying user experiences. The system may dynamically update analytical processes based on statistical or otherwise observed data related to gameplay at any given time. In this manner, the system may continually tune the matchmaking process based on observations of player behavior, gameplay quality, and or other information.”

Nowhere in its description does the patent suggest this system could be applied to a ranked/ladder style game. I’m sure that consideration would be lost on the examining lawyers, unless there are gamers working at the United States Patent Office. And I know that the USPO does not determine or enforce the law. But I know that the Federal Trade Commission is supposed to enforce consumer protections against false claims in advertising, such as calling an algorithmically handicapped game mode ‘ranked Competitive Play.’

The FTC website states that:

“The FTC Act prohibits unfair or deceptive advertising in any medium. That is, advertising must tell the truth and not mislead consumers. A claim can be misleading if relevant information is left out or if the claim implies something that’s not true.”

With vague wording and deception by omission, Activision is tricking players to accept an absurd and dystopian paradigm for online gaming: algorithmically handicapped ranked matches. To understand why the ranked game mode of Overwatch is not truly competitive, and why the branding of ‘ranked Competitive Play’ is false, we must examine anti-competitive aspects of design in Activision’s patented matchmaking system.

According to Activision’s patent description, the “scoring engine” (analogous to SR/MMR) allows the Matchmaking system to operate based on variables that:

“May include, without limitation . . . a relative skill level, a presence of preferred players (e.g., clan mates or friends), a team composition (e.g., play style, avatar specialization), a time that a given player has been waiting to be matched (e.g., in a game lobby), a player preference, and/or other information used to assess a potential match).”

“Relative skill level” is a crucial aspect of the problem with this design. It implies that the matchmaker is discriminating between players within the same ranks of the ladder, which defies players’ reasonable expectation of impartial, non-descriminatory treatment in ranked competition (i.e., randomly generated matches of players at the same rank). The patent goes on that:

“In one implementation, the analytics and feedback engine may analyze game data (e.g., whether a given game level or match favors play styles)., historical player data (e.g., types/styles of player, strengths/weaknesses of players, etc.), and/or other information to assess a quality of player experiences.

“The analytics and feedback engine may analyze game data to determine satisfying types of game play that should be provided through the matchmaking process. For example, the analytics and feedback engine may determine whether given combinations of role types (e.g., sniper, run-and-gunners, etc.) lead to satisfying gameplay. Such analysis may be performed for specific portions of a game (e.g., a game level) and/or generally for a game.

To illustrate Activision’s business interest, the description continues:

“In some implementations of the invention, analytics and feedback engines may determine the quality score based on one or more business factors that describe a business value derived from a given gameplay session. For example, and without limitation, a business factor may include a business concern such as an amount of revenue derived from a given gameplay session (e.g., number for amount of in-game purchases, number of impressions of an advertisement or other rad-based revenue stream, etc.), a level of customer engagement, and/or other information that can be used to assess level of value derived from a given gameplay session.

“For example, player information may include, without limitation, a style of gameplay (e.g., aggressive), a role preference (e.g., an explicit by the player of such preference), a role actually played, a duration of gameplay sessions, a number of gameplay sessions played in a given login session, in-tame items used or purchased by the player, membership in a clan or team, preference to play with clan mates or friends, demographic information of the player (e.g., geographic location, gender, income level, etc.), win/loss records, scores, and/or other information that may be used to determine whether a player will enjoy a given gameplay session, a match and/or a game.”

Reasonable expectation of fairness and transparency

I assert that the implementation of Activision Publishing Inc.’s patented matchmaking invention in Overwatch’s “Competitive Play” violates reasonable expectations of fair and transparent competition, by algorithmically handicapping players’ ranked matches. I further assert that Activision/Blizzard’s branding of a handicapped game mode as ‘ranked Competitive Play’ is false advertising, enforceable under U.S. Code, “Section 54. False advertisements; penalties.”

Semantics

As often happens in legal issues, our dispute involves semantics. Nowhere does Activision say the word ‘handicapping,’ in the description of their patented Matchmaker. But that is skirting a historically recognized term of game culture and gaming industry. It doesn’t take an expert to infer that many aspects of the Matchmaker (described above) constitute handicapping. But if we don’t know the details of our involvement, how can we consent to using the system, and being used by it as designed?

By withholding critical information about Overwatch’s design, Activision has created a comprehension vacuum in which nobody but their own staff can say what is going on with Competitive Play and its underpinning systems of ranking and handicapping. The patent refers glibly to ‘gameplay quality’ and measures of ‘satisfaction.’

Fairness versus ‘quality’

There can be no doubt that the invention of Matchmaking sacrifices fair and transparent competition. The sacrifice is in order to make Overwatch more addictive as a product, at the expense of its best players, by systematically derailing their careers and converting their efforts into spectacle, turning the ladder of competition into a farce.

In one passage of depraved usury from the patent description, Activision even describes how would measure your biometrics for the purpose of making your experience more difficult and addictive:

“Examples of quality factors include, without limitation, a player quitting a match or gameplay session while other players are still playing (indicating dissatisfaction), a duration of a game session (e.g., a longer duration may indicate greater satisfaction), a gameplay performance factor (e.g., a kill-to-death ratio in a shooter game, a lap time in a racing game, etc., where greater performance may indicate greater satisfaction), a player engagement factor (e.g., a speed of player input, a level of focus as determined from camera peripherals, etc., where greater engagement may indicate greater satisfaction), a competition level of a game (e.g., whether lopsided or not, where evenly matched games may indicate greater satisfaction), a biometric factor (e.g., facial expressions, pulse, body language, sweat, etc.), explicit feedback from a player (e.g., responses to a survey), and/or other observable metrics related to gameplay.”

Call of Duty

There has been similar discussion among players in Call of Duty, another Activision game holding that employs a very similar-sounding Matchmaking. Dextero has published an article on this controversy, with links to the patents they see as related, including the one that I have identified as relevant to Overwatch.

Democracy

In 4 years and 5 polls on Blizzard/Activision forums, players have consistently voted that handicapping (MMR) is wrong for Competitive Play. The silence of game holding companies like Activision/Blizzard is not an answer to our concern. If they will not participate in the discussion, consumers and citizens must proceed without them.

Gamer’s rights

I believe our rights are concerned when matchmaking operates based on discrimination of our skill and play styles relative to our rank, and certainly when “demographic information of the player (e.g., geographic location, gender, income level, etc.), win/loss records, scores, and/or other information … may be used to determine whether a player will enjoy a given gameplay session, a match and/or a game.”

Citizens and consumers, take action

I urge legislatures and regulatory bodies around the world to ban the algorithmic handicapping of ranked competitive games, for reasons that are fully described in my original thread on the subject (linked above). We must stop eroding and start bolstering antitrust laws for consumer protection. Game holding companies like Activision pose risks to public safety with their products.

Games are social media

Multiplayer games like Overwatch are forms of social media. And like other social media they are long overdue for examination by regulatory bodies.

Multiplayer games are even more consequential than other social media. Their voice over IP lets us hear other human beings and have real conversations, instead of stilted text exchanges. They are where we work together as teams toward common goals, instead of scrolling feeds of random content. They are our proving grounds, where we strive in seemingly real, three-dimensional space against real human opponents. They are vastly more immersive than media like Facebook and Twitter.

My stake

Why do I persist in my argument, after 4 years of stony silence from Activision/Blizzard? There is a soft spot in my heart for this genre of games because I met my wife in Team Fortress 2, Overwatch’s spiritual predecessor. I ran that game’s biggest and most respected clan at launch, The Last Gunslingers.

Because of my life experience, rank and reputation are meaningful to me, especially in online games. Games like Team Fortress 2 and Overwatch are allegories for battle. Their matches evoke the fighting spirit that we all have, which burns bright in our darkest moments. I do not argue on my own behalf, I argue on behalf of thousands of gamers who share my spirit and vision of pure, transparent competitive play.

My threads on this forum are emblems of a universal struggle. In Activision’s Matchmaker patent, we see the inherent, inexorable conflict of interest between public good and private gain. In the Matchmaker, Activision has patented a frustration engine that algorithmically turns the most skilled and effortful players against each other, in every match.

Call to action

Players and citizens, we are faced with a daunting challenge. If we do not stand, we lose a turning point in a fight that is bigger than this case. Tell your elected officials that you want tech companies regulated. Tell them that you want anti-trust and anti-discrimination laws against the deceitful and exploitive operations of game holders like Activision. Like and share this post if you agree that MMR should be removed from Competitive Play.

1 Like