Online multiplayer games -- doomed from the start?

[bargora]

I was just corresponding with PDF and lamenting the downfall of Steel Battalion: Line of Contact. You see, the asshats ("money-matchers") have figured out ways to access unlimited funds, thereby ruining the game's economy. Other asshats ("bin campers") hold multiple accounts and hoard all of the limited release super-special mechs. This is in addition to the usual n00b-hunter asshats; and just last week a new exploit became widespread, allowing asshats to infinitely duplicate rare mechs and optional parts, including an uber-rare part that prevents destruction of your mech.

PDF replied that he had quit playing Dune 2000 online some time ago because the asshats would quit the game as soon as they thought they might lose.

So what's the deal with online games? Are they all doomed to eventual domination and ruination by roving gangs of asshats? Can an asshat-proof online game be devised?

(Note: The SB:LOC player-base has suggested numerous ways that the game could be patched to frustrate asshatery. Capcom, however, is just a little too busy to do anything helpful. So sorry. Maybe next time. Asshats.)

[Half Japanese]

I wish. Clans amplify the problem even more. I've seen people fake lag-outs on Xbox Live so their clan could redo the map they were losing on (during clan matches). The bottom line comes out to the fact that humans are assholes by nature. Stick around any forum long enough (even this one, which is one of the most friendly places I've ever seen) and you're bound to see this again and again. Relative anonymity gives folks a security blanket to do whatever they want in the virtual world, without fearing reprecussions for their actions in reality. That must really suck for Steel Battalion though, as that game has a fairly high entry-price that you assume would alleviate the assholes somewhat.

Microsoft really should implement a feedback system that ACTUALLY DOES SOMETHING for Xbox Live. Too often I'll be in a close match and have some team-killing assholes come in and start shooting teammates instead of the opposing force....and there I sit, only being able to wish cancer upon them, as the feedback system is like a mailbox with a black hole on the other side.

[thegreatescape]

First thing i thought of after reading thread (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-04-21)

If you ask me the only way to deal with asshats is punishment.
Online console games need admins the same way pc servers have them, and console games need serials that can be banned (though there would need to be a way for used games to be checked before accepting them for trade-in) and early leavers should get marks against their account (ala yahoo games).

Ill probably get flamed to hell for this, but online console games need to be like Enemy Territory- Admins that kick+ban smacktards, auto upgrading anti-cheat (still lacking but meh), and the ability for players to kick players through a voting system. When ET was released people expected it to be smacktard heaven because its free (bans less effective), but because of the ease of smacktard removal its fairly uncommon.

[Kamino]

IMO, online gaming is definitely doomed. I had SOCOM,and tmbo, for ps2. SOCOM was horrible. people were shooting through walls, glitching INTO walls and shooting from them, etc etc. the cheating was just pathetic.
in any case, i will never buy an online only game....

[calthaer]

I wouldn't confuse / lump in multiplayer cooperative gaming with multiplayer competetive.

Anonymous competetive is doomed, yes. Competing against friends or within a limited tournament / tiered /ladder structure (with feedback that works) certainly has promise.

Multiplayer cooperative = r0><0r and is the best thing that multiplayer has going for it.

[portnoyd]

Multiplayer cooperative = r0><0r and is the best thing that multiplayer has going for it.

Did you guys ever finish SS2? Hehe.

People will always be looking for the hack or the cheat or the advantage in online play. It's just something you have to deal with, and a lot of times stuff like that can be fixed.

Example, my clan, =[IRA]=, played originally Medal of Honor Allied Assault. It's so rampant with cheating, that my friends who don't cheat and are REALLY good, get banned from servers for cheating! One guy can't play on any server but our own, because any server still around that has a decent population has already banned him because he's so good, everyone just thinks cheating.

But within all this, there are still people who play the books, are skilled/become skilled, and have great fun, even on an anonymous/clan level. With MOHAA populairy waining, this is fewer and farther apart, but it still exists.

Another example, Star Wars Galaxies. I played this for 6 months. Not cheating, but everyone took advantage of any bug they could. They were fixed, and the world went on. Thanks to the power of nerfing, advantages and bugs were taken care of relatively fast.

I'll be the first one to admit, SWG is inherently broken. Any game were you can macro EVERY CLASS is broken. But I still had fun with it, bugs and overpowered classes and all. You just rolled with it. I wouldn't abandon SB:LOC just yet. Give it some time.

dave

[petewhitley]

I'm a rabid XBox LIve player. I rarely encounter cheaters or asshats, mainly because I have a pretty thick friends list I stick to for most of my online gaming, and I play games that have like 16 players at most. Of course, MMORPGs and some other PC online experiences are a different story. Depending on the genre and the infrastructure, you can often completely avoid such troubles.