Severe problems plaguing multiplayer

The Multiplayer Shooter Conspiracy: A Rigged Rollercoaster of Dopamine and Deceit

You ever wonder why, some days, you’re a god in these multiplayer shooters, dropping killstreaks like you’re the protagonist of a first-person action movie, and the next day, you can’t hit the broadside of a barn if your life depended on it? Well, I’m here to tell you: It’s all rigged. That’s right, these games are a dopamine-infused carnival ride engineered to keep you addicted and frustrated, feeding off your highs and crushing you with lows.

Think about it for a second. They’re not just adjusting damage values or bullet spread for fun. No. The algorithm behind the scenes is watching, calculating every move, every kill, every time you get frustrated and rage quit. They’ve built this infernal system to alter the odds, subtly and invisibly, ensuring you never get too high or too low for too long. It’s all about stringing you along for another round, another match, another hour in their endless pit of manipulation.

Ever notice how after a particularly bad streak, suddenly the tides turn? All of a sudden, you’re matched with teammates who carry you, or the enemies suddenly forget how to play. It’s not skill, not luck, it’s the algorithm toying with your emotions! The game adjusts your matchmaking, tweaks weapon hitboxes, and dials in subtle balance changes just enough to make sure you don’t quit. It’s the carrot and the stick, the eternal chase of dopamine highs.

They keep you hooked, dangling those brief moments of victory just out of reach. And when you think you’ve cracked the code, when you’re feeling invincible, guess what? They flip the switch. Now, you’re facing opponents who know your every move before you make it. It’s like the game itself has turned against you. Because it has! The developers have coded this twisted amusement park ride to spike your dopamine levels, then crush them, keeping you in the cycle of chasing that high.

And here’s the kicker: they know you’re hooked. They know that you’ll keep playing because the next win is just around the corner. They’ve turned multiplayer shooters into a sick psychological experiment, a casino where the house always wins. Your skill? Irrelevant. The game is designed to control you. You’re not playing the game; the game is playing you.

So keep telling yourself it’s your “bad aim” or “bad luck.” But deep down, you know it’s all part of their grand design. They’re pulling the strings, and you’re just a puppet chasing the fleeting rush of virtual victory in a rigged game that’s already decided your fate.

Wake up!

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Ah yes. The Illithid empire is upon us.

Didn’t they state that people who are on a loss streak will be put into games with players that are on a win streak? I’m pretty sure that was in a dev update.

Regardless, if you don’t care for the game – don’t play it. Rank doesn’t matter.

No I’m not going away, I will play this game without being cheated by it. No matter how much little satanic p-file’s want to play social puppet master.

So… quickplay then? Granted ranked games have better balancing with regards to what sort of teammates you’ll get.

???

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hi ethernyt, are you still bronze 5 on your new account(s)?

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There is a way to trick the system for longer winstreaks and shorter loss streaks

you know the ow2 reviews in steam? You see how they are overwhelmingly negative?

You see the positive ones say things like ow is their alternative to cutting, yet somehow worse?

I just returned since 2016

What I found is all the toxicity of ow1, with twice the apathy, or perhaps passive aggressive throwing

I dont know if what youre saying never happens, but I doubt that it happens as often as described.

I think some of your team get destroyed, struggle, are called out, try even harder, but just cant beat the format, the comp, the whatever.

i think what you are experiencing is the genuine degradation of the the game by the devs and also the communities original toxic element living on in some ways, but in effectively worse ways

I ask people to press z. They either dont know what it does, or refuse to in 99.9% of my games. That blows my mind, it wasnt so in ow1. Or a healer will only heal a tank, or think they are dps. Or the team stays staggered permanently.

Thats just few examples

All of this and more, refer prior post

uggggggh i just had a game, close q, i was tank. I literally could get zero heals. Any time i was alive it was hard carry. Lost the match for no reason. I just dont want to play this game. Im not interested in spending time with smug healers saying that everyone else is “4ss” at the end of the game. Honestly, im kinda on the op side with the conspiracy now, because it really seemed purposeful beyond just trolling.

Need to uninstall, cool off awhile.

Sorry for the strong language

yes they admitted they are effecting match odds

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The game is rigged unless I win! :tangerine: :man:

here here! and when we win its only because of me! but losses are never my fault!

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You get cheat in free play every 5 seconds, its the devs doing it thinking there sneaky and no one will notice.

I honestly have no clue as to what point you’re trying to get across.

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That the game is unplayable due to balancing algos creating to much gameplay interference

Thank you for finally putting a sentence in plain English, it makes a huge difference. TBH I feel like the fact that they put tilted players that are on a loss streak into lobbies where players are on a win streak to be wildly unfair. But hey, maybe something will change in the future. /shrug.

Thats not what they do in fact; there is a twitter thread from Morgan that goes into the exact details on what the “loss streak” system does.
The original patch note was somewhat misleading, but that also did not say anything about people on winstreaks.

The short of it is:
If you are on a loss streak, the system will try to prevent to put you into games where the teams would end up being “highly” different in ratings.
“highly” meaning difference enough for “uphill battle” or “expected” modifiers to appear.

The system does not prioritize putting the loss streakee player to any team specifically; only into lobbies, where a chance of getting into an “heavily underdog” team could happen.

edit:
The whole (somewhat convoluted) thread is here https://x.com/SrslyPaladin/status/1791249376859611573

Or, short version:
https://x.com/csojinb/status/1791580433450192941

As far as observability by the player, would it be fair to say that we should not expect to see Uphill Battle or Consolation modifiers after a match if there was a Loss Streak modifier on the previous match?

Morgan: Yes, that case should be less likely with this new tech!

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Do you still have no response on why no one ever measured this kind of stuff (In a live game/recording, not in “manipulated replay”)?

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Do you suppose they do this kind of rigging the system anywhere else and simply dont tell you about it?

Gotcha. Thanks for the clarification. I do agree that the initial patch notes were misleading. I appreciate the clarity you’ve added to this.