Fixing complaints about skill based matchmaking

General Discussion
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Matchmakers are all tradeoffs. Lets try for a different game mode with a different set of tradeoffs.

It is designed to address the issues in articles like https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/05/27/skill-based-matchmaking/

Lets see if we can get a fair matchmaker, which ALSO addresses at least some of these issues.

The TL;DR: of the issues is, “if you use a skill based matchmaker, I never feel like I am good at the game no matter how good I get”. Improving at something USUALLY comes with the feeling of it getting easier, but skill based matchmaking removes that.

For some people it is a big deal. It used to be when you got good at a game, you would get to trash the others in it, but, without smurfing it doesn’t happen in overwatch.

Lets see if we can fix it, but still keep the games fair, and VASTLY speed up the matchmaker while we are at it.

So, here is how it works. The matchmaker is looking for pairs of players, playing the same role with similar SRs.

Once it has enough players, it throws THOSE pairs together in a game, and lets it go without ANY concern about which SR’s of each pair it is using.

You could end up with a pair of silvers DPS, 3 pair of plat (Tank, Supports), a pair of diamonds (also DPS)

And now you have a match.

Since the 2 teams have similar SR’s for each player / role, you have a fair match.
Because they can be wildly different SRs, the higher SR players can feel powerful, since they get to play against players notably worse than they are.

The lower SR players get to play in higher SR games, and perhaps learn more, since, one of the winning strategies is the higher SR players helping out the lower ones. If you can get your low SR players playing better with a bit of “on the fly coaching” that will go a long way towards a winning game for you.

The matchmaker has a dead easy time since finding pairs is easy.

Everyone wins.

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SBMM complaints come from games that don’t really take all the much skill. If we’re being honest CoD games are basically just reaction time simulators. Who ever can click first wins and they add some pretty looking guns to hide this. Kills in CoD games mean nothing because they’re so easy anyone can do it so players only find satisfaction in doing insane stuff like going on 30+ killstreaks lol.

In games like OW SBMM is healthy because the game actually takes skill. In OW if you’re playing poorly but your teams wins you have fun. CoD is the opposite. You can win but if you do poorly you don’t have fun. You can lose but if you get lots of kills it’s fun lol.

This video came out long ago but perfectly sums up why CoD SBMM is trash

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We see PLENTY of SBMM complaints about Overwatch on the forums though. I’m not saying that SBMM isn’t healthy, I’m trying to build a mode which keep the healthy parts, and reduces the issues some people have with it.

This keep the “fair matches” part, and reduces the “feeling that you are not improving” part.

Another way of putting the “feeling you are not improving” is “I want to be able to dunk on people who are worse than I am”. Sure, lets make a mode where that works, but isn’t unfair.

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I don’t think it’s to the same extent. In OW it revolves around delusional plat players who think they belong in GM but the rigged matchmaker is handicapping them. CoD complaints revolve around actually good players wanting to only play people who are significantly worse than them. The CoD community is complete cancer. It’s full of people who smurf and are proud of it.

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I mean, yes, that is also a thing. But I can’t make a matchmaker which fixes that. PvE is the solution there. I’m trying to fix the parts of the complaints I can fix.

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This already happens and people absolutely loathe it. I’m fairly certain that it’s responsible for the overwhelming majority of MM complaints. The worst case scenario isn’t even that hard to reach- it takes only one role having two pairs of significantly lower SRs to brick the integrity of the entire game and ruin the experience for everyone.

What we really need to do is tighten MMR limits, and destroy RQ if need be to make it happen.

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The integrity remains though, since they are the same on both sides.

The point where this is not the main mode helps as well. People know what they are signing up for.

Not going to happen while the DPS players don’t want to wait 30+ minutes for a game. And suggesting removing RQ while ALSO complaining about losing integrity over having the same number of players playing each role, where they are almost the same SR is pretty crazy stuff.

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The other 4 players may or may not play characters that are unusually dependent on that role doing their job. Take for example Cass and Dva, who both need constant babysitting to not explode. The end result is that only fairly independent characters will lead to accurate SR ratings while the rest of the data is very noisy, if not unusably so.

From what I understand of current OQ, it’s not actually that much of a problem, as forcing this upon players leads to the resurgence of true flex players. This easily outweighs RQ when you consider the fact that MM tolerances were dropped through the floor to make RQ happen.

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I am sure a couple of rounds of OW2 OQ where they fill their side with tanks will rapidly change your point of view there.

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I loved it lmao. Triple tank mirrors felt like OW1.

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What the hell are you talking about lol

Doing better in any competition typically results in tougher competition

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Sure, and that is why I like SBMM, but there are people who don’t, and this is a way to keep SBMM, and try to solve for their issue as well.

It is a tradeoff, like everything else with the matchmaker.

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On paper, it works, in practice, nope. Throw it all out. I could open a produce stand, with all these vegetables around me.

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Overwatch has a vast amount of smurfs as well… they are proud of themselves, but will usually type something like, “who, me? lol” if you call them out.

Being a silver say, support getting dived by plat dps that you are highly outskilled by doesn’t seem like a learning experience. You don’t know that your dps will even try to help you, and if they don’t, you’re just SOL because you’re being forced to play against extremely higher level players.
Doesn’t make much sense to me.
Plus, it just breeds more toxicity, because then the higher level players will ALWAYS be trash talking and blaming the lower level players for being outplayed.

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That doesn’t sound good at all, it’s not that far off what we currently have… it’s just a case of who’s got the best highest ranked and most flexible top players (depending on match up). Depending on the SR spread the entire match is gonna be decided by these one/two people.

The only winners here are the people that don’t have to create a ton of alt accounts to dodge queues cos they’re gonna chucked in willy nilly anyways… :man_shrugging:t2:

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Play in arcade. They don’t have mmr in those game modes. Make custom lobbies.

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We have that now, and it’s called smurfing, and it’s wildly unpopular with everyone who isn’t a smurf.

It’s a ladder system. It’s not built to reward high ranks with easy matches. It’s built to provide players with more challenge as they climb. Players who want easy games should head back to Candy Land.

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And that is where the whole MM problem happens. I’ve said it a thousand times, here is another one more:
There are not enough active players anymore to create fair matches.

No matter how good an MM system is, if there are not enough players to create matches in a fixed time that makes it acceptable.

Oh no no no no … nooooooooot at all. What?
OW complexity goes way way way way way beyond a KDA, its one of the most complex games stat wise and skill wise depending on X heroes you use in an FPS. And yes, that is a BIG problem because the lack of players hits OW way harder than Apex, Valorant or any other.

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:face_with_monocle:

I don’t think that’s correct.

When I play 8 Player FFA I’m pretty much only matched against plat/dia/masters players.

An occasional gold player will join but quickly leaves after bot fragging.

An occasional GM will pass through and the games are exhilarating!!

Roflcopter….

I’ve been saying this for over a year and both the good players and rigged cultists have been telling me I don’t know what I’m talking about :rofl:

You should tell that to the rigged match maker cry babies.

Doesn’t matter how much logic you carpet bomb them with….

Their emotions and Dunning Kruger are insurmountable.

A perfect example of a logic bomb that’s always met with a “muh teemMetes”

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I personally think sbmm is a net good. The problem is that that it is fed crap information when everyone and thier mother’s alt and smurf.

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