IWNet, another nail in PC gamings coffin
Posted in Games on 16-Jan-2010 at 12:03 pm UTC
So Modern Warfare 2 has been out for some time now and I thought I’d jot down some of my thoughts on how I’ve found the multi-player portion of the game, PC version of course.
IWNet
I am unsure if Infinity Ward were just being lazy or they truly believed that their IWNet system was going to change the face of PC gaming. For those of you unfamiliar with how the system works it functions like a Console match making system.
I believe that from the outset their were three flaws in the plan to give PC gamers IWNet:
- The player numbers for match making won’t be there for the PC version and players could end up waiting and having to re-check for available matches repeatedly and slowly get bored and go and play another game.
- PC gamers will go for the servers with better pings and can generally expect all players on that server to have a similar ping (else the server will forcibly remove those high ping players), being placed in a match with player that aren’t in the same hemisphere is not good
- PC gamers won’t play the new big thing if they perceive it to be flawed and looking at the figures on Xfire (yes it’s not the be-all and end-all of stats I know) the original Modern Warfare is still being played by more people than the sequel.
OK so it may not seem like much but combine those with the fact that there is no functionality to add clan tags the whole thing really doesn’t seek to give the PC any benefits.
So perhaps they didn’t plan ahead and think things through but the result is a poorly functioning system when the total number of players is less than 150,000. Finding and remaining in a match is nearly impossible, sometimes you end up with various message that all stop you searching for a match and force you to retry over and over.
If you haven’t been exposed to the match making system that is IWNet you should watch at least some of this video to get an idea of the frustration that faces players http://www.wegame.com/watch/iwnet-why-do-we-bother/
Hackers
link – There is a darker element to the way in which the IWNet system runs and that is the number of hackers in the game. One of the reasons for the gaming using Steam was to use the VAC system and combined with the IWNet system reduce the number of hackers. Sadly this doesn’t work and there appears to be no way of reporting hackers or their exploits and as soon as a fix is make they start on a new one.
Without dedicated servers with admins these players continually ruin the game for other players and against force more people to cease playing through frustration.
Result
The multi-player element of the game isn’t what I or thousands of other player expected compared to COD4, of course we are now the minority and aren’t the focus of developers like Infinity Ward. Very sad but true.
I’ve been playing MW2 for about a week now. I read your post and decided to give the multip a few solid hrs of play. Now I played the snot out of MW1 and World at War and a populated (but not full) well moderated server was never a guarantee. And the software the hackers used often advertised being able to circumvent the voting system so the only solution really was for a server forum or an online admin. And then there was the 3 nade perk…:’ (
IWnet really is far too controlling, but as a unclanned noob player ive had nothing but decent experiences with MW2 multi. I would like more control over what types of matches I play. Like let me design a playlist of sorts with favorite game types. But even playing in the morning during the weekday I would get in a round as often as I wanted. I’ve had 1 game with a hacker (he even spammed chat with his website) so everone just left and found another game. In MW1 you wouldn’t want to leave a low ping server as it usually took forever to find that particular one, so you would just grin and bear the hacker hoping a mod would step in. Also the community is far less douche baggy. Mostly just get ‘gg’ after a match with no ongoing name calling and baiting.
So I see your point, yet have had better gameplay experiences with IWnet then I ever did with MW1. I guess I prefer a heavier handed server moderation structure for skill based games, and IWnet is far from perfect but I think it’s a step in a better direction.
I problem is without dedicated servers and the population to backup the system the local match hosting is doomed to failure.
I’m glad you managed to get matches without too much effort or connectivity problems.
I agree the multiplayer element of the game isn’t bad and can be enajoyable, it just wasn’t though through for the PC market.