Just as I recently gain a new determination to get good, and take responsibility, surrender my SR and learn… I fall down a rabbit hole… and now I don’t know what to think… I don’t even know if I really want to play the game or any game anymore…
Backstory- I’ve been thinking recently that the “Blaming-dps” trend recently is a result of the matchmaker being desperate to place the many-qued dps into a match, resulting in angry tanks/support etc etc… I end up finding someone who mentions Activision/Blizzard patent and I started reading it. All of it. It’s really dry… But here’s the link to it and the notes I took while reading it… it progresses into something much much bigger…
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(To get a shorter version, you can just read the bolded parts)
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https:// patents.justia. com/patent/10376792
“The one or more match variables may include, without limitation, a latency between players, a relative skill level, a presence of preferred players (e.g., clan mates or friends), a team composition, 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.[…] For example, a player may tune coefficients by indicating gameplay preferences […] The system may respond to such a preference by tuning a coefficient related to playing with preferred players (e.g., friends, clan members, etc.) such that playing with preferred players has more importance when generating a match score. […] For example, if a player has been waiting in a game lobby for more than a predetermined length of time, the scoring engine may place more weight on getting the player into a match sooner (e.g., tune a coefficient related to wait times).”
Note:[So my theory on dps being improperly matched with higher skilled tank/support -due to desperately trying to get them into a game, may be correct.]
“In another example, if a player has been performing poorly (e.g., getting killed at a rate higher than the player’s historical rate), the scoring engine may dynamically adjust one or more coefficients to match the player in a game that will improve the player’s performance . For example, the player may be matched with easier opponents, matched with better teammates, and/or placed in a game that is more tailored to the player’s preferences.”
Note: [So if you do well, you’re more likely to get matched in the next game with people who require carrying – if you do poorly, you’re more likely to the matched with people who also preform poorly?]
“The analytics and feedback engine may analyze player data to determine the player style/role that is most effective for the player based on historical information associated with the player. For example, the analytics and feedback engine may determine that a player is most effective or otherwise most enjoys playing as a sniper, which may cause matchmaking to skew towards matches where the player may play in a sniper role.”
Note:[So what? A support who has to pump out healing will be matched with teammates who require a lot of healing on their next game? That’s not good! People don’t want to be heal-bots – they want to support their team in multiple ways.]
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---->This is where it takes a turn<-----
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“In some implementations, the system may identify one or more NPCs to serve as an opponent to one or more human players. The system may generate a match score for a group of NPCs and use the match score as a proxy for the group’s level of difficulty. For example, a combination of NPCs having higher match scores that resulted from higher values for a match variable related to performance may represent a “more difficult” to beat opponent than those with lower match scores. The system may therefore dynamically select NPC opponents based on match scores and an appropriate level of difficulty to be provided to the player (e.g., more skilled players may be presented with NPCs having higher match scores).”
“In one implementation, the system may generate NPC profiles analogous to player profiles. In this manner, the system may analyze NPCs in a manner similar to player analysis. The system may therefore continually improve NPC performance and selection based on NPC profiles, which may take into account NPC logic, strategy, and/or other NPC characteristics.”
Note:[WHAT?! So profiles, stats, mmr, everything fabricated and effected just like a normal player? Are these why high-ranks are seeing so many cheaters? Because these “people” using “aimbots” but having terrible game sense - are really just BOTS who’s data has been crafted to make them look like they’re making real game-sense mistakes?!]
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---->And that’s when I start searching to find out how commonly video game companies use bots to make players think they’re versing players….<-----
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https ://ww w.nature .com/articles/d41586-019-03298-6
An article about StarCraftII (A BATTLE NET GAME!) using AI to beat top human players
“Before the team let AlphaStar [The AI] out of the lab and onto the European StarCraft II servers, they restricted the AI’s reflexes to make it a fairer contest”
https ://www.forbes.c om/sites/paultassi/2019/10/19/everyone-loves-fortnites-new-dumb-idiot-bots/#b35a8b17106a
“Fortnite, of course, did not invent the concept of bots, nor is it even the first battle royale to implement them, as PUBG has had them for a while now. But finally putting them in Fortnite seems to have cured the casual/hardcore divide to a certain extent, as it’s kind of a win-win concept for everyone.”
https ://www.newscientist. com/article/2172612-ai-trained-on-3500-years-of-games-finally-beats-humans-at-dota-2/#ixzz64ZTLL7uD
“For example, for an AI to be successful in the real world it needs to interact in real-time, not by taking turns like in most board games. And similarly, it may not be able to see the whole picture all of the time so needs to be able to make decisions based on imperfect information.”