Earlier today a webcast from BASHandSlash.com that involved an interview with an IW employee, community manager Rob Bowling, revealed some rather bizarre (at very least) new information about Modern Warfare 2's online gameplay. In short, and to quote Zips, Site Director from CS Nation:
IW has control of the game IWnet servers will host multiplayer DLC will be a charged item for PC No dedicated servers Matchmaking system used to play with similarly ranked players VAC instead of PB Semi-capable password servers Semi-capable ad-hoc servers Competitive play is dead MW2 mods would not be possible Full integration into Steam
In other words, it's removing control away from players under the guise of "making it simpler".
Now, I have nothing against IW-Hosted servers as an option, and making it more accessible to new players, or people without the money for a dedicated server, seems like a pretty good idea. The gaping hole of this logic comes when they downright force us to give up dedicated servers, which is basically destroying what makes online great on the PC.
Despite what the I.W. employee claims, online gameplay on PC has always been superior due to the level of customization and control it allows. You buy your own servers, you make your own rules and you shape your own content. Your server basically becomes your "home". You ban who you want, you do what you want, and whomever doesn't like it can stay out. None of this is possible once you put it all under a company's wing. Regardless of what anyone says, being FORCED to play it on their servers means that, ultimately, it's their rules, and whatever they decide goes, because you CAN'T just leave and play on your own server. What if tomorrow Infinity Ward decides having the word "gay" in your name is not allowed? It's not like this kind of thing never happened before. Or that maybe swearing is not allowed.
Ultimately, this is not about having "LOLDICKGAYFAG!" as your user name, but over the fact that you no longer own the online portion of your game. You loan it. And you're subject to the whims and machinations of whomever at I.W..
Forced Matchmaking is yet another colossal dickmove... While it's nice to have the option to "quick join" a game, I think we all know by now how fun FORCED Matchmaking is (and how well it works).
These are all things that could potentially be great news if they were all added as options, but making them mandatory over the "tried and true" formula feels dictatorial and coercive at best, and self-destructive at worse.
Let's hope this is just a misinformed employee, and that we will get our dedicated servers and full control of our own game, at least as an option.
Update: As reported here in the escapist earlier today Robert Bowling still seems resolute that this is the best for the PC owners, and seems to show no signs of backing down. Nice.
I'm not that bright when it comes to this stuff, but it basically sounds like it will be working like how the 360 version does, ya?
I also don't understand why they wouldn't let others have the ability to host their own servers. Do they not pay less if LOLDICKGAYFAG! is paying for his own server?
well I gues us consel gamers don't know how crappy we have it since.........well................that sounds just like the last 2 online systems to me, I guess PC gamers had it different?
Man sounds bad for the pc players but us xbox ones will be ok. Any way no matter what way the game is IW will do good for us they know this is the biggest game to come out this year and if it goes wrong it could be the end of call of duty after the last game call of duty WAW was bad the only thing I think that made that game playable was the zombies mode.
Guitar Gamer: well I gues us consel gamers don't know how crappy we have it since.........well................that sounds just like the last 2 online systems to me, I guess PC gamers had it different?
Haha, thats what I was thinking. OH NO! Its exactly the same as all the other online FPS... wait a tic!
Then I realized it was on PC, so I no longer care.
Wow, MW2 is trying to screw over its fanbase? Who could have seen this coming considering they wanted to charge more in Europe to see if they could get away with it?
What, the, shit?! Pay for DLC on Steam? Are you fucking kidding me? Matchmaking instead of server browser, on STEAM/PC? Someone clearly wasn't thinking. While I don't really know much, I can't think of a logical reason as to why one would do this? It can't really cause a bigger profit or such. No dedicated servers?
AH fuck this, if I wanted a dumbed down experience I'd be playing it on the console. Next thing you know the PC will have auto aim.
Guitar Gamer: well I gues us consel gamers don't know how crappy we have it since.........well................that sounds just like the last 2 online systems to me, I guess PC gamers had it different?
Haha, thats what I was thinking. OH NO! Its exactly the same as all the other online FPS... wait a tic!
Then I realized it was on PC, so I no longer care.
like wise, now I shall go back to my crappy non chosen servers and paid DLC, it is such a travesty
Well this is just IW slapping their dicks across the face of the PC community.
The only thing I like is VAC instead of PB. Atleast VAC doesn't kick you for absolutely no reason. Everything else, I absolutely hate. Fuck you I.W, you just slapped your dick across our faces and laughed.
If that's all true, then I'm glad I'll be able to buy Borderland instead. I'll consider getting MW2 IF players have control over the game servers, like they always did. Playing with or against clanners, competitive play, and all of that shit, that's what defined multiplayer games.
For one, it will have dedicated servers; they just wont be player run dedicated servers. They will be run by IW.
This combined w/ VAC (which is better than PB in that it does bans of ALL servers for cheaters & doesn't require players or server admins to do the banning) will make it A LOT harder for cheaters to get away w/ it. It will also prevent cheaters from trying to just change their key and switch servers once they get banned.
None of that concerns me except matchmaking only, which is odd. I guess it's so they can fight cheaters and main control of achievment hunters/unlocking exploiters. or something.
oppp7: Wow, MW2 is trying to screw over its fanbase? Who could have seen this coming considering they wanted to charge more in Europe to see if they could get away with it?
IW isnt charging more money, a small money grubbing corporation is doing that you may not of heard of it, its called Activision. EDIT:
oppp7: Wow, MW2 is trying to screw over its fanbase? Who could have seen this coming considering they wanted to charge more in Europe to see if they could get away with it?
IW isnt charging more money, a small money grubbing corporation is doing that you may not of heard of it, its called MICROSOFT and EA.
oppp7: Wow, MW2 is trying to screw over its fanbase? Who could have seen this coming considering they wanted to charge more in Europe to see if they could get away with it?
IW isnt charging more money, a small money grubbing corporation is doing that you may not of heard of it, its called MICROSOFT and EA.
The PB thing's great, I absolutely loathe PB, it kept kicking people out and was a huuuge pain to get back working (I've never seen pbupdater work once).
Getting mods out however is awful, mods are part of what makes pc gaming different and lots of games wouldn't have been as successful were it not for the modding community and custom maps etc.
Plus IW servers can be bad as well, has anyone tried playing left for dead on pc on official servers? If you're from certain parts of the globe, Portugal in my case (so I guess this would apply equally to Spanish people), the official servers lag quite a bit. If this is the case it can ruin multiplayer altogether for some.
Matchmaking isa the DUMBEST thing I have heard for PC online gaming.
VAC is the only step foward here.
Mods would nto be possible? Fuck off. So no bots for LAN? What absolute shit. Noone mention a boycott, those things are retarded, just hope to hell someone cracks it.
And I'm from Australia. If they don't have servers set up here in Australia... Christ.
While I am a console gamer and don't PC game, this is due to financial issues as well as a hatred of dealing with keyboards because I honestly like a console controller most of the time. That said, this sucks.
PC gaming has the best Multiplayer for a reason and this takes a shit on it. So much for mods and private servers. D:
Haha, thats what I was thinking. OH NO! Its exactly the same as all the other online FPS... wait a tic!
I know you people who never were able to afford, or "knowledgeable" enough to maintain, a gaming PC have no idea what we mean when we say this is actually terrible, but you guys have been getting the second rate stuff all along.
See, I'm going to play TF2 in a little while, and when I do so I'm going to log on and look between one of my favorite servers, with settings I like (or closest available), and play with the people I want. These were servers I've visited before, enjoyed the experience, and choose to stay on. Tomorrow, a server of a mapping community I'm part of will be running a "gameday" event, where we get to test and give feedback to maps still under construction. We upload and update these maps whenever, and play them whenever. If you act like a complete dickhole in those servers, you will be banned, because we think you're an idiot. Likewise, you'll think we're idiots and you'll go to a server you like (full of people we'll most likely consider idiots and that, which, most likely, will be reciprocal) and enjoy playing with them, and most likely ban people like us thinking we're idiots.
It's a perfect system. Everyone's happy. Everyone gets their own place, and if they don't, they can make it!
This is actually one of the reasons I play L4D a lot less than TF2.
What IW is doing here really is just dumbing it down, not as a side option, but attempting to grab us by the balls, trying to retain full control over the product they sold us.
If you want an analogy, imagine I buy a plot of land. I get a permit to build a house. Then as I go to build a house there, the guys that sold me the land go "Nono. You can't build a house there!" "But it's my land, and I got a permit..." "Well, that means we can build our house there and let you live in it!".
Caliostro: I know you people who never were able to afford, or "knowledgeable" enough to maintain, a gaming PC have no idea what we mean when we say this is actually terrible, but you guys have been getting the second rate stuff all along.
See, I'm going to play TF2 in a little while, and when I do so I'm going to log on and look between one of my favorite servers, with settings I like (or closest available), and play with the people I want. These were servers I've visited before, enjoyed the experience, and choose to stay on. Tomorrow, a server of a mapping community I'm part of will be running a "gameday" event, where we get to test and give feedback to maps still under construction. We upload and update these maps whenever, and play them whenever. If you act like a complete dickhole in those servers, you will be banned, because we think you're an idiot. Likewise, you'll think we're idiots and you'll go to a server you like (full of people we'll most likely consider idiots and that, which, most likely, will be reciprocal) and enjoy playing with them, and most likely ban people like us thinking we're idiots.
It's a perfect system. Everyone's happy. Everyone gets their own place, and if they don't, they can make it!
This is actually one of the reasons I play L4D a lot less than TF2.
What IW is doing here really is just dumbing it down, not as a side option, but attempting to grab us by the balls, trying to retain full control over the product they sold us.
If you want an analogy, imagine I buy a plot of land. I get a permit to build a house. Then as I go to build a house there, the guys that sold me the land go "Nono. You can't build a house there!" "But it's my land, and I got a permit..." "Well, that means we can build our house there and let you live in it!".
Sounds bad doesn't it?
Sounds like a load of elitist bullshit to me. And I HAVE a gaming PC, thanks for generalising :)
Guitar Gamer: well I gues us consel gamers don't know how crappy we have it since.........well................that sounds just like the last 2 online systems to me, I guess PC gamers had it different?
Haha, thats what I was thinking. OH NO! Its exactly the same as all the other online FPS... wait a tic!
Then I realized it was on PC, so I no longer care.
like wise, now I shall go back to my crappy non chosen servers and paid DLC, it is such a travesty
You'd be moaning to if you had things taken away from you in the game.
OT: Seems like an odd move, and I can't help but think there may have been some details 'mis-translated'.
Haha, thats what I was thinking. OH NO! Its exactly the same as all the other online FPS... wait a tic!
I know you people who never were able to afford, or "knowledgeable" enough to maintain, a gaming PC have no idea what we mean when we say this is actually terrible, but you guys have been getting the second rate stuff all along.
See, I'm going to play TF2 in a little while, and when I do so I'm going to log on and look between one of my favorite servers, with settings I like (or closest available), and play with the people I want. These were servers I've visited before, enjoyed the experience, and choose to stay on. Tomorrow, a server of a mapping community I'm part of will be running a "gameday" event, where we get to test and give feedback to maps still under construction. We upload and update these maps whenever, and play them whenever. If you act like a complete dickhole in those servers, you will be banned, because we think you're an idiot. Likewise, you'll think we're idiots and you'll go to a server you like (full of people we'll most likely consider idiots and that, which, most likely, will be reciprocal) and enjoy playing with them, and most likely ban people like us thinking we're idiots.
It's a perfect system. Everyone's happy. Everyone gets their own place, and if they don't, they can make it!
This is actually one of the reasons I play L4D a lot less than TF2.
What IW is doing here really is just dumbing it down, not as a side option, but attempting to grab us by the balls, trying to retain full control over the product they sold us.
If you want an analogy, imagine I buy a plot of land. I get a permit to build a house. Then as I go to build a house there, the guys that sold me the land go "Nono. You can't build a house there!" "But it's my land, and I got a permit..." "Well, that means we can build our house there and let you live in it!".
Sounds bad doesn't it?
I don't understand the point of this big long post.
Caliostro: I know you people who never were able to afford, or "knowledgeable" enough to maintain, a gaming PC have no idea what we mean when we say this is actually terrible, but you guys have been getting the second rate stuff all along.
See, I'm going to play TF2 in a little while, and when I do so I'm going to log on and look between one of my favorite servers, with settings I like (or closest available), and play with the people I want. These were servers I've visited before, enjoyed the experience, and choose to stay on. Tomorrow, a server of a mapping community I'm part of will be running a "gameday" event, where we get to test and give feedback to maps still under construction. We upload and update these maps whenever, and play them whenever. If you act like a complete dickhole in those servers, you will be banned, because we think you're an idiot. Likewise, you'll think we're idiots and you'll go to a server you like (full of people we'll most likely consider idiots and that, which, most likely, will be reciprocal) and enjoy playing with them, and most likely ban people like us thinking we're idiots.
It's a perfect system. Everyone's happy. Everyone gets their own place, and if they don't, they can make it!
This is actually one of the reasons I play L4D a lot less than TF2.
What IW is doing here really is just dumbing it down, not as a side option, but attempting to grab us by the balls, trying to retain full control over the product they sold us.
If you want an analogy, imagine I buy a plot of land. I get a permit to build a house. Then as I go to build a house there, the guys that sold me the land go "Nono. You can't build a house there!" "But it's my land, and I got a permit..." "Well, that means we can build our house there and let you live in it!".
Sounds bad doesn't it?
I'm a PC gamer. :( You also didn't read the rest of my post, but whatev.
Your analogy is bad, too, if they never advertised the mod community as a reason to buy the game. If a company wants to retain full control over their product, why not let them?
If the 360 gamers can deal with it so can you. It's not the end of the world.
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Earlier today a webcast from BASHandSlash.com that involved an interview with an IW employee, community manager Rob Bowling, revealed some rather bizarre (at very least) new information about Modern Warfare 2's online gameplay. In short, and to quote Zips, Site Director from CS Nation:
In other words, it's removing control away from players under the guise of "making it simpler".
Now, I have nothing against IW-Hosted servers as an option, and making it more accessible to new players, or people without the money for a dedicated server, seems like a pretty good idea. The gaping hole of this logic comes when they downright force us to give up dedicated servers, which is basically destroying what makes online great on the PC.
Despite what the I.W. employee claims, online gameplay on PC has always been superior due to the level of customization and control it allows. You buy your own servers, you make your own rules and you shape your own content. Your server basically becomes your "home". You ban who you want, you do what you want, and whomever doesn't like it can stay out. None of this is possible once you put it all under a company's wing. Regardless of what anyone says, being FORCED to play it on their servers means that, ultimately, it's their rules, and whatever they decide goes, because you CAN'T just leave and play on your own server. What if tomorrow Infinity Ward decides having the word "gay" in your name is not allowed? It's not like this kind of thing never happened before. Or that maybe swearing is not allowed.
Ultimately, this is not about having "LOLDICKGAYFAG!" as your user name, but over the fact that you no longer own the online portion of your game. You loan it. And you're subject to the whims and machinations of whomever at I.W..
Forced Matchmaking is yet another colossal dickmove... While it's nice to have the option to "quick join" a game, I think we all know by now how fun FORCED Matchmaking is (and how well it works).
These are all things that could potentially be great news if they were all added as options, but making them mandatory over the "tried and true" formula feels dictatorial and coercive at best, and self-destructive at worse.
Let's hope this is just a misinformed employee, and that we will get our dedicated servers and full control of our own game, at least as an option.
More on this as it develops.
Source: Section 8
Update: As reported here in the escapist earlier today Robert Bowling still seems resolute that this is the best for the PC owners, and seems to show no signs of backing down. Nice.