Activision Files Patent for Matchmaking that Encourages Microtransactions

[McJob]

http://au.ign.com/articles/2017/10/17/activision-files-patent-for-microtransaction-minded-matchmaking-system
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/activision-clarifies-its-patent-for-encouraging-mi/1100-6454147/
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/10/activision-patents-matchmaking-that-encourages-players-to-buy-microtransactions/



"This was an exploratory patent filed in 2015 by an R&D team working independently from our game studios. It has not been implemented in-game," a spokesperson for Activision said.

[Ad Bot]

[Kringleberg]

this has gone too far

[Shift Kitty]

jesus christ

[querty67]

Activision needs to just forget off and die, they don't do anything good anymore so they should jump off a bridge into a dry riverbed

[cblock360]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrYnZ7ZxRe4

[PhantOS]

tune in next week for "any company that follows a capitalistic business model is the spawn of satan" with your host, entitled gamer #12

[Rally]

That's cool that's cool, but can it match-make me with Hot Gamer GFs?

[Spartan923]

tune in next week for "any company that follows a capitalistic business model is the spawn of satan" with your host, entitled gamer #12

Ah yes, because when I buy a game I want to be put into matches with players who may or may not have items that give them an unfair advantage because they gave the publishers more money. And then continue to be put into these matches until I either cave and buy the pay to win items, or leave.

[PhantOS]

Ah yes, because when I buy a game I want to be put into matches with players who may or may not have items that give them an unfair advantage because they gave the publishers more money. And then continue to be put into these matches until I either cave and buy the pay to win items, or leave.

its more like "you can play this conveniently rocket-jump-based deathmatch without a rocket but it'll be less fun" but sure if you want to completely ignore that photo and go with your own wildly incorrect adaptation of the model then sure, i wont judge

what part of "tune match variables" led you to conclude that one person will have an unfair advantage over the other?

[Conan]

also its in the games best interest to not skew actual multiplayer gameplay - to me this sounds more like a way to sell cosmetics rather than pay to win stuff. very few people appreciate pay to win and aa devs know that. they arent gonna cannibalize 80% of their sales just so 20% can spend their parents money and stomp newbies - no amount of dlc would make up the sales loss. the best way they can keep making money off a game is by having high player retention, at least for single release non-mmo games. cant sell dlc if nobody is playing the game, right?

contrary to “popular” belief, game companies are companies and need/want to make money. they arent going to actively pursue practices that wont make them money in the long run.

[kongo]

also its in the games best interest to not skew actual multiplayer gameplay - to me this sounds more like a way to sell cosmetics rather than pay to win stuff. very few people appreciate pay to win and aa devs know that. they arent gonna cannibalize 80% of their sales just so 20% can spend their parents money and stomp newbies - no amount of dlc would make up the sales loss. the best way they can keep making money off a game is by having high player retention, at least for single release non-mmo games. cant sell dlc if nobody is playing the game, right?

contrary to “popular” belief, game companies are companies and need/want to make money. they arent going to actively pursue practices that wont make them money in the long run.

i think what's making everybody get riled up over this patent is the part of it where it says "place first player in a gameplay for which the item is effective", implying it's for stuff that makes your character stronger

i'd really like to hope they're going to use it to put people in matches where other people have some cosmetic rather than putting quickdraw mcgraw in matches against a literal death star until quickdraw buys the death star

[Conan]

ah ok i missed that part of the graphic. i hope acivision isnt stupid enough to put it into practice

they may be just trying to patent wall competitors or something, it seems like an average freemium mobile game scheme. at the very least i prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt over them knowing how to design games considering how long theyve been in existence

[HellHound]

sad! businesses can barely make enough money for games with millions of dollars in sales...

[RedGajin]

ah ok i missed that part of the graphic. i hope acivision isnt stupid enough to put it into practice

activision makes cod games, which have dlc/random drop guns that are def better than defaults (someone can correct me if im wrong, im def not a competitive cod player). this just seems kinda sleazy to intentially match those players against non-paying players

[Shift Kitty]

Ah yes, because when I buy a game I want to be put into matches with players who may or may not have items that give them an unfair advantage because they gave the publishers more money. And then continue to be put into these matches until I either cave and buy the pay to win items, or leave.

It says to flag the player as someone who wouldn't buy that item if they don't buy it after that session. So that they don't get put into that situation again.

its more like "you can play this conveniently rocket-jump-based deathmatch without a rocket but it'll be less fun" but sure if you want to completely ignore that photo and go with your own wildly incorrect adaptation of the model then sure, i wont judge

what part of "tune match variables" led you to conclude that one person will have an unfair advantage over the other?

I got brain damage trying to read the first part of your post so I'm just going to ignore that.

As for the second part. It's not "tune match variables", it's "tune matchmaking so that these players are put into the same game as each other". And the last part "Place the player into a game where that item is effective" which implies that the item has some sort of gameplay advantage. That's where the unfair advantage comes from.

I want to be matched with players who perform roughly as well as I do whether or not they spent money. I don't want the game to be forcing me with/against some pay2win whale that's going to carry the game.