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Hear me out.
Please keep in mind that it's late at night, so that is my excuse if this post is incoherent babble
.
Rewind a few years, back to late 2002. A little game called Battlefield 1942 is released by a little known developer out of Sweden, Digital Illusions CE, or DICE. The game came out of nowhere, and was a massive success, going on to sell more than 3 000 000 copies worldwide. The game was fun, despite having such a simple concept. You were given free rein of an entire battlefield, with tanks, planes, ships and a whole bunch of other vehicles which you could actually pilot. Vehicular combat had not been done successfully on the same scale in any other previous titles, so BF1942 was really an evolution in online warfare. BF1942 spawned numerous modifications, which offered something for everybody. If you were a WWII buff who liked authentic detail and realism, there was Forgotten Hope. If you wanted to take up arms in the Indochina conflict, there was Eve of Destruction. If you were into modern warfare, there was the infamous Desert Combat - the mod that would ultimately spawn Battlefield 2.
Fast forward an unpopular iteration, Battlefield Vietnam and a few years, and you have Battlefield 2, a true, full blown sequel to the massively successful BF1942, including a whole bunch of new features. One of the features which was being touted by the developers most often was the persistent stat tracking system where you kept a presistent identity, and your online avatar would 'level up', earning ranks, awards and new weapons, the more you played, and the better you became.
Fast forward another year, and here we are. Let's take a look at just a few of the problems which plague BF2 currently, and which I think can be directly linked to persistent stat tracking.
Karkand - Let's face it - 24/7 Karkand servers make up nearly 1/3 of the total number of BF2 server. This is completely ridiculous, considering the game ships with a staggering 11 other maps! Karkand isn't played because it is the best map, rather, because it is a map which facilitates easy, and abundant points. It is perfect for those who want to camp the alleyway spawn points in an armor. It is perect for those who wish to exploit specific features, like glitching into buildings. It is perfect for those who want to spam grenades and claymores. It is perfect for those who jump and dive in the air to avoid fire. It is perfect for people who want quick, easy points.
Points.
Points are the reason people play Karkand. It is by far the easiest map to attain points. People can jump around and spam grenades as much as they wish, and nobody will make a peep, because each and every one of them is doing the exact same.
Instead of adaptingto such threats as aircraft, Karkand-ers would rather eliminate them entirely. BF2's combat is entirely "rock,paper,scissors" in that every weapon and asset has another weapons or asset which can counter it, and each of these weapons also has a weapon which can counter it and so on and so forth. People whine about tanks, altogether failing to notice that there happens to be a kit specifically intended to deal with armored threats. The inability of the typical BF2 player to adapt and overcome specific obstacles and challenges which they deem "too hard" had led to the incessant Karkand playing.
People play Karkand for points, as I see no other motivation for playing it almost exclusively. If these people really were playing for fun, they would venture outside of their dusty, brown city, and explore other vistas, such as a large nuclear plant, or a dense fog filled jungle. Some people have payed upwards of $50.00 for a single map.
Mods - Mods were commonplace in the two previous Battlefield games, and were usually of higher quality than the unmodified game. People had no qualms with playing such mods, because they had nothing to lose.
This has changed with BF2.
Now, people have everything to lose. They may lose their whole virtual penis if they play a mod because, god forbid, mods are not supported by the official ranking system.
"With no ranking system and awards, how will other people know that I am better than them!"
Modifications offer a whole new experience for free, and unfortunately, too few players will even give them a chance, because they lack the one thing which makes BF2 great. Not the gameplay, or the sound, or the visuals, but the ranking system.
The ranking system rewards lone wolf play. You are rewarded more often than not for individual accomplishments instead of team play. This has caused a whole new breed of player to emerge. These are the players who 'own' that tank or jet you just happened to get in to. The same players whom will shoot you out of the cockpit using their M95, or lay C4 on a road which you must use to travel.
The ranking system itself is a good idea. It's a bit like communism. It looks good on paper, but once you throw actual people into the mix, it crumbles. Awards keep you coming back, and make you feel as if you have actually accomplished something. What you should really try to accomplish instead of getting your Expert Sniper Badge, is having fun.
Sorry for this verbose post, but I had to get that off my chest, and would like to think what you as a community thinks about the ranking system.
Also, please forgive any spelling mistakes or other errors with my grammar. I'll go over this post in the morning and correct any mistakes whcih I may have missed.
Please keep in mind that it's late at night, so that is my excuse if this post is incoherent babble
.Rewind a few years, back to late 2002. A little game called Battlefield 1942 is released by a little known developer out of Sweden, Digital Illusions CE, or DICE. The game came out of nowhere, and was a massive success, going on to sell more than 3 000 000 copies worldwide. The game was fun, despite having such a simple concept. You were given free rein of an entire battlefield, with tanks, planes, ships and a whole bunch of other vehicles which you could actually pilot. Vehicular combat had not been done successfully on the same scale in any other previous titles, so BF1942 was really an evolution in online warfare. BF1942 spawned numerous modifications, which offered something for everybody. If you were a WWII buff who liked authentic detail and realism, there was Forgotten Hope. If you wanted to take up arms in the Indochina conflict, there was Eve of Destruction. If you were into modern warfare, there was the infamous Desert Combat - the mod that would ultimately spawn Battlefield 2.
Fast forward an unpopular iteration, Battlefield Vietnam and a few years, and you have Battlefield 2, a true, full blown sequel to the massively successful BF1942, including a whole bunch of new features. One of the features which was being touted by the developers most often was the persistent stat tracking system where you kept a presistent identity, and your online avatar would 'level up', earning ranks, awards and new weapons, the more you played, and the better you became.
Fast forward another year, and here we are. Let's take a look at just a few of the problems which plague BF2 currently, and which I think can be directly linked to persistent stat tracking.
Karkand - Let's face it - 24/7 Karkand servers make up nearly 1/3 of the total number of BF2 server. This is completely ridiculous, considering the game ships with a staggering 11 other maps! Karkand isn't played because it is the best map, rather, because it is a map which facilitates easy, and abundant points. It is perfect for those who want to camp the alleyway spawn points in an armor. It is perect for those who wish to exploit specific features, like glitching into buildings. It is perfect for those who want to spam grenades and claymores. It is perfect for those who jump and dive in the air to avoid fire. It is perfect for people who want quick, easy points.
Points.
Points are the reason people play Karkand. It is by far the easiest map to attain points. People can jump around and spam grenades as much as they wish, and nobody will make a peep, because each and every one of them is doing the exact same.
Instead of adaptingto such threats as aircraft, Karkand-ers would rather eliminate them entirely. BF2's combat is entirely "rock,paper,scissors" in that every weapon and asset has another weapons or asset which can counter it, and each of these weapons also has a weapon which can counter it and so on and so forth. People whine about tanks, altogether failing to notice that there happens to be a kit specifically intended to deal with armored threats. The inability of the typical BF2 player to adapt and overcome specific obstacles and challenges which they deem "too hard" had led to the incessant Karkand playing.
People play Karkand for points, as I see no other motivation for playing it almost exclusively. If these people really were playing for fun, they would venture outside of their dusty, brown city, and explore other vistas, such as a large nuclear plant, or a dense fog filled jungle. Some people have payed upwards of $50.00 for a single map.
Mods - Mods were commonplace in the two previous Battlefield games, and were usually of higher quality than the unmodified game. People had no qualms with playing such mods, because they had nothing to lose.
This has changed with BF2.
Now, people have everything to lose. They may lose their whole virtual penis if they play a mod because, god forbid, mods are not supported by the official ranking system.
"With no ranking system and awards, how will other people know that I am better than them!"
Modifications offer a whole new experience for free, and unfortunately, too few players will even give them a chance, because they lack the one thing which makes BF2 great. Not the gameplay, or the sound, or the visuals, but the ranking system.
The ranking system rewards lone wolf play. You are rewarded more often than not for individual accomplishments instead of team play. This has caused a whole new breed of player to emerge. These are the players who 'own' that tank or jet you just happened to get in to. The same players whom will shoot you out of the cockpit using their M95, or lay C4 on a road which you must use to travel.
The ranking system itself is a good idea. It's a bit like communism. It looks good on paper, but once you throw actual people into the mix, it crumbles. Awards keep you coming back, and make you feel as if you have actually accomplished something. What you should really try to accomplish instead of getting your Expert Sniper Badge, is having fun.
Sorry for this verbose post, but I had to get that off my chest, and would like to think what you as a community thinks about the ranking system.
Also, please forgive any spelling mistakes or other errors with my grammar. I'll go over this post in the morning and correct any mistakes whcih I may have missed.
ratio, and play certain maps to affect their scores.
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