Matchmaking - A possibility?

[Gawain]

the real question is how to implement a rank system. one idea that comes to my mind is:
time played < x hours = "newbi"
time played > x hours (0.5x time as a merc/spy)= "middle skilled" or "good" or "expert" selectable by the player.
what i don't want to see implemented in ps is a ranking system similar to what we have in ct. it's a team game, so solo stats are kinda stupid anyways. rank mode is also bad for the attitude: you should try hard to win a game, but it's not about winning or loosing at all costs, it's about having a good time (and maybe self-improvement). imo there would be way less cheats for ct if there was no ranking system.

simply adjust the "x" above. i think 50h would be a good value. we could also start with 20h and rise x slowly to 50. and there's no relation to solo/team players whatsoever.

NO to the system of tidenburg. you're more likely too loose points against better opponents but better opponents are exactly what you should train with. 10h is simply ridiculous. and there are people who improve faster than others, so the time should only be used to detect new players (and maybe stop smurfing).

overstatement's idea for the server browser is really good.

What about people who are good and play rarely because of lack of time ? And what about people who dont have mates ?

[Westfall]

I think the basing of rank should be individually, if anything, first of all. Secondly, Overstatements idea of an optional "ranking the room" is better than anything else I've seen. Just give it another slot when creating a server.

Name of room:
PW: (if applicable)
Rank of Room: [scroll down: easy, med, hard, pro]
Team Play or Individual Players: [scroll down: Team or Individual]
Style: [Story, DM, Disk Hunt, (Any New Ones?)]
Map: [scroll side to side with picture: maps]

Of course the order in which this appears could change, but it makes sense.

Anything else that could be added?

[SITHDUKE]

Stick "Rank of the room" in the lobby filter and you can feel free to join any kind of server you want. Some other things I've been wondering about are will there be accounts or will the naming system be changeable anytime you want? Like Counter Strike, where you can change it while you play? Will they support colours? Will there be a special field reserved for clan tags?

[neth]

come on, colours are childish,

Spekkio i guess you named all important things. I hope letters will be big and tables well placed so you can easily check server's options. I would also change 'rank of room' to 'skill level' and add 'beginner' 'intermediate'  'advanced' 'elite'. Its usually hard to find a team playing so it would probably be that some teams would choose: individual only to play sooner and have a bigger chance of winning.

I really hope there will be no disk hunt, it was disaster - extraction and modems ftw.

[VaNilla]

I love Overstatements idea, that's much better than mine :P. I'll add it to the first post so more people can see your idea and we can have a little debate, I think that'd work extremely well.

Also dunno about this one so much, but maybe a gadgets filter, so say there are people who want smokes only, flash only, frag only and such then you could limit your matches to people who feel the same way.

[Westfall]

come on, colours are childish,

Spekkio i guess you named all important things. I hope letters will be big and tables well placed so you can easily check server's options. I would also change 'rank of room' to 'skill level' and add 'beginner' 'intermediate'  'advanced' 'elite'. Its usually hard to find a team playing so it would probably be that some teams would choose: individual only to play sooner and have a bigger chance of winning.

I really hope there will be no disk hunt, it was disaster - extraction and modems ftw.

Spekkio hasn't posted on this thread yet.

[Spekkio]

I think the basing of rank should be individually, if anything, first of all. Secondly, Overstatements idea of an optional "ranking the room" is better than anything else I've seen. Just give it another slot when creating a server.

Name of room:
PW: (if applicable)
Rank of Room: [scroll down: easy, med, hard, pro]
Team Play or Individual Players: [scroll down: Team or Individual]
Style: [Story, DM, Disk Hunt, (Any New Ones?)]
Map: [scroll side to side with picture: maps]

Of course the order in which this appears could change, but it makes sense.

Anything else that could be added?

The problem with this system is that it's subjective. How many times have you entered a "pros only" server, only to be kicked when you beat them mercilessly? Of course, they probably assume you are hacking because they are uber 1337 and cannot possibly be beaten straight up.

It could work overall if people are realistic and honest about their skill levels, but the biggest problem is actually in the "medium" skill level. While "newbies" and "skilled/pro/whatever" is quite clear cut, "medium" encompasses a wide range of players. Also, when I play, I don't really care about the skill of my opponent so long as he has a basic grasp of the game and knows the maps. Putting "skilled" on my server might give the wrong impression that I'm going to boot you unless you're uber 1337.

The only way rank truly works is putting in an "automatch" type feature where you cannot select your opponents. This also requires server/host syncronization (impossible in SvM's gametype). Finally, it requires the game to not be a mod, since you can really only use UT3's tools in this regard.

What I would like to see added, if it's possible, is a lobby chat/in-game IM system (in-game meaning while you're in the lobby, not literally in the middle of a round).

[AgentX_003]

well spekk that has already been in order and glanced at if you payed any attention to Seefoo's GUI  :-\

[LennardF1989]

The only way rank truly works is putting in an "automatch" type feature where you cannot select your opponents. This also requires server/host syncronization (impossible in SvM's gametype). Finally, it requires the game to not be a mod, since you can really only use UT3's tools in this regard.

What I would like to see added, if it's possible, is a lobby chat/in-game IM system (in-game meaning while you're in the lobby, not literally in the middle of a round).

Can be done in some way... If not an ingame way, we can always write an outgame menu (ie. A launcher, but it won't really make a fit in my opinion).

And yes, it's possible to have chat in a lobby.

We will see how much extendable everything is in UT, but I expect it to be the following:
You get the regular serverlist (how UT3 will give it us), but once you click a server that's still in the lobby, you will actually load a blank level (which takes like 1/2 sec). Because of the blank level, you have all features you would have when actually playing a round (ie. the GUI, the chat etc.)

[Gawain]

would be sufficient if xfire works ingame.

[Westfall]

well spekk that has already been in order and glanced at if you payed any attention to Seefoo's GUI  :-\

1 of them showed chat in a room. I think I've seen one for the lobby, but don't know if it was scrapped or not.

@ Spekkio- true story.

[neth]

Spekkio hasn't posted on this thread yet.

Right, I meant you.

[LennardF1989]

well spekk that has already been in order and glanced at if you payed any attention to Seefoo's GUI  :-\

That's a photoshopped image and will probably look way different in the beta... Wedon't even know a chat will be possible in the serverlist (though, I suppose we could do the same kind of thing as with the lobby, but it would require a 24/7 server, which I think it isn't the solution we want.)

About the matchmaking stuff, we are not going to implent any kind of stats for now, so, it would be limited to servers with icons (or tags) that show wheter the server wants noobs or pro's etc.

[B1nArY_001]

I think I would support the idea of just adding a tag on a roll-out or something next to the name. Something simple, even the old Easy, Medium, Hard flags.

I think the greater percentage of people who play this mod will use it as a tool to find good games based on their skill level. This will also make it easy for a player to find their niche and just have fun.

When they feel they are ready to step it up a notch they can join a harder server. The players on the harder servers will know that chances are, if someone joins they are either good or are moving forward in the learning process.

This is not to say everyone would use it to their advantage but I certainly think the vast majority would be wise enough to use a system like this to their advantage.

Wouldn't you guys?

[neth]

Thats nice idea but noobs will still join hard servers as usual :)