modern multiplayer games have developed such an insane EOMM system and most people don’t even realize it because it works so well. i’m a well above average COD player, have been for a long time, and all my friends are terrible. they talk about how fun it is and how well they play without me, and once they play with me they’re getting curb stomped every game. EOMM has maximized user engagement for the vast majority of players that aren’t very good. when you are good, the game expects you to go above and beyond expectations every game, which just makes public matches not fun. if i play pubs by myself, it’s like every match i’m playing on main stage at COD champs.

in the most recent MW2, it was often easier to play ranked than pubs because it’s so extreme. and even in ranked, if you queued with one good friend, then you’d get 2 dumpster teammates against 4 good players. it’s absurd.

we can bitch about it all we want, but that formula these companies have come up with is printing money more than ever before. if you play a game regularly and are fairly invested in it, your concerns will be taken far less seriously than the sea of casuals that just pick up the game and it put it down every now and then