Ashwin Hary
Edward 1
Microsoft Sets Out to Stop Boosters
October 11th 2006 09:22
You may have read my posts earlier in the week about the problems of lag, glitchers and cheaters in online gaming. Well, one problem I failed to mention is boosting. Boosting is basically the practice of one person deliberating losing so that someone else can win, hence 'boosting' their rank in a particular game. Some people will go to all sorts of lengths to be on top of leaderboards or rankings, and are prepared to boost over and over again, to make their rank that much higher. This practice can, and often does, make leaderboards virtually pointless. Well Microsoft has finally decided to do something about it.
With the release next month of their massively anticipated third person shooter Gears of War for the Xbox 360, Microsoft has told developer Epic Games that they cannot allow players to play ranked games with their friends. They have even stated that they plan to disallow gamers playing with friends in ranked games, on any game. They can still play together in unranked games, but in ranked games must join random groups of people if they wish to play.
Whilst this has actually been the practice of many developers recently, including Ubisoft and EA, with their Splinter Cell and Fifa franchises respectively, many games rely on team communication, and even emphasise how important it is to be familiar with your team members. Mega-hit Halo 2 pretty much relied on the ability to play ranked and clan matches together to boost its fun factor, and there has been a major outcry amongst Xbox 360 games across the world over this.
However, Microsoft might just be onto something. Not allowing people to manipulate who they play with in ranked games should virtually eliminate boosting in its most common form, and will also improve the matchmaking functionality of all titles. Players will be better able to be matched with players of their skill level if they are joining games independently of anyone else.
It remains to be seen just how big MS's committment to this endeavour really is, but there's no doubting that this move has the potential to change the way people play in a massive way. For a company that heralds its console's unique 'friend-friendly' features, its a remarkable turnaround. The fact they are willing to put at risk the attractiveness of the 360's biggest selling point illustrates just how big a problem boosting really is.
With the release next month of their massively anticipated third person shooter Gears of War for the Xbox 360, Microsoft has told developer Epic Games that they cannot allow players to play ranked games with their friends. They have even stated that they plan to disallow gamers playing with friends in ranked games, on any game. They can still play together in unranked games, but in ranked games must join random groups of people if they wish to play.
Whilst this has actually been the practice of many developers recently, including Ubisoft and EA, with their Splinter Cell and Fifa franchises respectively, many games rely on team communication, and even emphasise how important it is to be familiar with your team members. Mega-hit Halo 2 pretty much relied on the ability to play ranked and clan matches together to boost its fun factor, and there has been a major outcry amongst Xbox 360 games across the world over this.
However, Microsoft might just be onto something. Not allowing people to manipulate who they play with in ranked games should virtually eliminate boosting in its most common form, and will also improve the matchmaking functionality of all titles. Players will be better able to be matched with players of their skill level if they are joining games independently of anyone else.
It remains to be seen just how big MS's committment to this endeavour really is, but there's no doubting that this move has the potential to change the way people play in a massive way. For a company that heralds its console's unique 'friend-friendly' features, its a remarkable turnaround. The fact they are willing to put at risk the attractiveness of the 360's biggest selling point illustrates just how big a problem boosting really is.
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