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Dogwater49 t1_j6c7u2i wrote

It's literally a braindead curated experience now. They don't openly acknowledge it, but you can see the obvious hit registration variance. They cater the experience to maximize player retention. If you continue to play while getting shit on, they'll feed you some bones once in a while, but mostly make you fodder for those who can't aim for shit and will quit easy when they lose. It goes back quite a few years.

I remember back in black ops 1 or 2 I'd go on a streak for days when I come back, then all of a sudden I start getting dunked on, even in scenarios where the situation is solidly in my favor. After a few days of that, I'd quit, try again a few days or weeks later. Low and behold, huge high-performance streak that fizzled out after a few days. That's when I started to suspect.

I had thought the same thing about World of Tanks, especially since they were already into the real money ammo crap. It makes too much sense business-wise to not turn it into a controlled odds casino game.

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AmelieBenjamin t1_j6cctyu wrote

Overwatch does this as well. When you start your session it matches you up against inferior teams but the more you win, the harder it gets because it puts you up against better teams until you lose. So for example me and my team won 6 straight today which has to be the most we won in one sitting, if we had kept running I’m certain we would have hit a hard MMR wall. Usually we win 2 or 3 and then get shitted on

Weirdly with a 5 stack there’s less variance though because with less than that it will literally give you worse randoms to balance the teams if you and your party have been playing well and the reverse if you’ve been losing. Plus the best two or three players can consciously communicate and pick up slack from the weaker players/mitigate weaknesses (vs having the skill and hero pick of the randoms fluctuate/change)

It’s honestly scary how well designed it is to keep you chasing those dopamine highs after the inevitable lulls

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