What is a forced loss?

Competitive Discussion
1

I always see people saying “Forced Loss”, what does it mean exactly?

EDIT: this was made in 2018, stop necroing this

2

After a bunch of wins the game gets harder, since you are both in a higher rank, and the matchmaker is trying to balance the game with someone who is winning a lot.

The combo of which means you can get really hard games.

How much of it is just the playing in a higher Sr, and how much of it is matchmaker is up for debate.

You can get quite the skill gradient across a short range of Sr. So the change can be quite the shock to people.

As you go further up, you will reach a point where the games are just too hard for you to keep winning, so you are gonna lose.

The matchmaker is opaque as all hell though, so there could be some truth to the matchmaker having trouble picking where you are, and throwing unreasonably hard games in.

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3

Its the term delusional players use on a loss when they can’t accept the other team was better or they were not good enough to win every single game.

Most players that don’t have some mental issues realize losses happen to literally everyone.

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4

im just gonna assume this is low hanging bait and leave…

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5

Easy a forced loss is an unwinable game after you stomped your enemies.

Those happen a lot in Platinum, they are not those Diamond sixstack vs Platinum solo quer games. But those with seemingly balanced SR on both sides. Why seemingly? Because half your team is made of fake Platinums playing like Gold or worse.

6

It’s a theory created by bad players trying to blame everyone and everything but themselves. They think if they’re performing too well, the match maker will put “bad” players or throwers/leavers/trolls on their team to keep them at their rank. (This is obviously untrue if you couldn’t tell)

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7

I have no clue, I just bring pop corn and watch kids cry :hear_no_evil::hear_no_evil:

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8

I can tell you’ve never smurfed, go on place in bronze 1000 SR or so and work your way up to 2400. I bet you would lose your first game in bronze because of leavers and a lot in silver and gold to some huge bs reaching your real rank in what 1-2 weeks. Yeah as a player who plays 1400 SR higher I am sure you like losing down there slowing down your progress.

My 2nd acc is now at 3k and started at 1k two seasons ago. If that account taught me one thing its that the worst players in high plat (~2900) can still play like your averge 1800 player.

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9

It’s when you have a couple bad games in a row and the matchmaker saw all of it, and now it wants you back in gold sooner rather than later and will stop at nothing to make that dream a reality.

10

It means “I don’t want to take responsibility for my actions and losses so I’m just going to blame the matchmaker and claim that it literally forces me to lose whenever it feels like it”

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11

It’s a team game, sometimes other players on your team carry the burden of blame. Considering a single thrower nearly always results in a loss, the probability is that the minority of the team causes the loss for the majority. This has always been the root cause for conspiracy theories like forced 50/50.

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12

What? Did you mean to reply to me? Because I can’t see how any of your reply relates to what I said or how it relates to the original topic. FYI I have played in bronze as well as silver :man_shrugging:

13

It means some people think:

  1. they should win every game

  2. they have no responsibility for their losses

Accordingly when they lose, then someone else must be to blame. Thus, it’s either Smurfs, throwers, hackers, or the mysterious forced loss system.

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14

In reality, what Overwatch uses is a gaming system just like adaptive testing.

Think of it this way:

In an adaptive test, every time you get a question right, the next question is a tiny bit harder. Every time you get a question wrong, the next question is a little bit easier. This repeats until they have found your knowledge level.

In an adaptive game, every time you win a game, your next game matches you against people a little bit harder. Every time you lose a game, it matches you against people a little bit easier. When you hit a 50/50 win/loss rate, you have found your skill level. Whether that is bronze or top 500, matters not. It’s adaptive.

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15

This topic is about the term “forced loss” Its literally the term players use when they feel the MATCHMAKER is doing something shady. The delusional belief the matchmaker is forcing you to lose so you dont rank up.

It doesnt have much to do with a single thrower or the minority causing problems for the majority. Unless you count the posts like yours which seem to further go on to blame matchmaking on forcing a thrower onto your team ect. All of these things are not based in fact.

also the quote:

You literally picked a partial sentence completely out of context to further only your point. The entire quote reads quite different.

Why isnt this the part you quote?
Why doesnt your response outline that you will not win every single game you play regardless of the reasons and that it has nothing to do with anything FORCING you to lose.

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16

You miss this part of my post?

It’s a conspiracy I don’t subscribe to.

17

Well that was random…

18

it’s what bad players think is keeping them in low elo.
news flash it doesn’t exist.

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19

I’m one of the people who uses the term “forced loss”, here’s what it actually means.

A “forced loss” is when you are placed into matches that you have around a 25% chance of winning. A top 500 player might be able to win, but no person in your current tier (unless they are a GM or top 500 smurf) could win this match, no matter what you do.

These “forced losses” seem to occur at the same time for most people. It usually happens right after you cross into a new tier threshold, or when you are one game away from entering that tier. It’s not that the other team is was so good and you are way out of your league, it’s that you can easily observe that you have no real chance of winning, your entire team is getting completely demolished.

What people usually don’t talk about are the “forced wins” where you are on the other side of this. Your team is demolishing the other team, you could actually go afk and eat spaghetti and still win…these types of matches usually happen after a long loss streak.

20

People don’t talk about forced wins because of negativity bias. Forced wins are just as real and frustrating as forced losses.