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Polygon: How a former Microsoft Researcher could have ruined Halo 2's multiplayer

Cranster

Cranster

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Prior to Halo 2, most online games didn't have matchmaking. Instead, the default solution to finding other people to play with online was to use lobbies. Players would select a lobby from a list, reading short descriptions to decide which one was right for them. If the lobby turned out to be occupied by jerks or more talented players, you could back out and choose a new lobby to suit your tastes.

The great advantage of these lobby systems was control. The lobby creator had the ability to set up a highly curated experience, allowing just the maps and game modes that they liked, kicking out players who didn't play their way. It was routine to see lobbies that proudly announced "no snipers" or "<specific map name> free-for-all only."

In contrast, the proposed Halo 2 system took almost all choices away, replacing them with a system where players only got to choose the general type of match (e.g. Free for all, Big Team Battle, etc.) and then Bungie would choose the map, gametype, and opponents. The image below is a near-final pre-release screenshot of the "Optimatch hopper." (The terminology we used proved not to have the same staying power as the system itself.)
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Our task as researchers was to make sure players would understand the new paradigm. Since it was so different from what our players were used to and from what had been done in the first Halo, we wanted to put the new design in front of real players as early as possible, starting with paper prototypes and written descriptions. Players were shown descriptions and wireframe interfaces for several different options of how they could play multiplayer games, including the new matchmaking system and private games, but not including traditional user-created lobbies.

The overwhelming reaction we got from our participants was, "We understand but we hate it." Almost unanimously, the players we talked to told us they wanted the level of personal control a lobby system gave them and didn't think the benefits of the new matchmaking system were worth what they were giving up. It's hard to imagine now, but the "push one button and trust us" approach came across as creepy and controlling to players who were used to choosing for themselves.

Seeing ourselves as righteous champions of the users, Randy and I went to Bungie and told them that players hated the new design and that we should consider other ways of doing multiplayer. The designers stuck to their guns, insisting that their vision of the future was better than the status quo, and history has proven them absolutely right. Players loved the new system and it became the gold standard for online gameplay. The Halo 2 matchmaking study has been the single biggest "miss" of my career. (Well, my career so far.)
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TheUnseenTheUnheard

TheUnseenTheUnheard

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Removing choice should definitely be seen as weird but I think having this style of matchmaking as a choice is a good thing. I'm glad a lot of major titles these days let you use server browser or quick matchmaking.
 
DanteMenethil

DanteMenethil

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Oct 25, 2017
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Still prefer the halo pc demo lobby system :D

I think it had a much better sense of community and cammaderie. Playlists have isolated players imo.

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dipship31

dipship31

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Oct 26, 2017
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I remember thinking matchmaking was a terrible idea at the time. Crazy to think now it's the standard.
 
BossAttack

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"Ruined."

I still maintain that Matchmaking is garbage and Lobbies/Private Servers are infinitely better.
 
Lumination

Lumination

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Oct 26, 2017
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Growing up in the age of PC lobbies, give me matchmaking any day. Just seeing the hodge podge of lobby titles in a browser gives me the impression of uncurated and imbalanced gameplay. My standards are higher now than they were when I was 10 and just jumping from one random non-committal game to the next.
 
Crushed

Crushed

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Oct 25, 2017
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Man, all this made me think of is how I really miss the server list system.

TF2 became my all time favorite game of last gen partially because I had a consistent group of people, maps, and plugins on servers for us. When they stopped playing I stopped playing, but it took years; and the many updates the game got were easier to parse and figure out because we did so in a familiar environment together. Now in games like Overwatch I just jump from one random match to the next with no sense of balance or cohesion. I jump on and play three matches with random people to see what's different and then get bored and exit.
 
Deception

Deception

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Nov 15, 2017
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Ah, the good old days where I was either kicked out of a server for being too good/bad at a game or for being a squeaker.
Halo 2 was really revolutionary for me at an age where I had just begun to get into gaming and the matchmaking system is the main reason why I loved halo 2 and put some many hours into that game. I will say, most of my playtime did happen joining random lobbies and just dropping in and out of matches. Wish we could have gotten a best of both approach.
 
TeenageFBI

TeenageFBI

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I still don't like most matchmaking systems. It's a big reason I avoid multiplayer games.
 
Quad Lasers

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Lumination said:
Growing up in the age of PC lobbies, give me matchmaking any day. Just seeing the hodge podge of lobby titles in a browser gives me the impression of uncurated and imbalanced gameplay. My standards are higher now than they were when I was 10 and just jumping from one random non-committal game to the next.
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Yeah, as someone whose formative years was spent sifting through server lists, I'm with you on this.

Bad Company 2/Battlefield 4 reminded me how much I don't miss having to comb through servers with stupid ass rulesets, egregious ticket counts or arbitrary map exclusions. Although modern games like those were the absolute worst of both worlds, whereas with older games like Enemy Territory/UT2K4, you'd at least get things like custom maps, modes and Total Conversions.
 
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Deleted member 8784

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I'm absolutely glad that proper matchmaking has stuck.
The server browsers have ruined Battlefield games in the past for me. Getting kicked from a game of some 12 year olds two-hour-long Conquest rounds because you were using the grenade launcher he doesn't like was arse cheeks.

I just want to play the fkin game, man. I don't want to scroll through long lists of bullshit rules all focused around one map.
 
Absoludacrous

Absoludacrous

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I've definitely been on the internet too long when I can clearly remember forum threads about how matchmaking was going to ruin shooters.
 
Cels

Cels

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why can't a game offer both? server browser for custom settings games; matchmaking for preset, curated conditions and ranked modes
 
Ebullientprism

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Side note to the MM vs Server debate, I just wanna appreciate how great the UI design for Halo 2's MP was. Very easy to read, minimum clutter and super fast to respond. Something future Halo games needlessly experimented with and fucked up for absolutely no reason.

Playing Battlefeild 5 (PS4) really made me appreciate the UI design of a lot of MP games. I love BF but its such an absolute garbage game to navigate when it comes to UI. And there is an assload of input lag in the menu.
 
Wollan

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I would say that WarCraft 3 was the first polished matchmaking experience that convinced me (summer 2002).
Was so nice to just click once to commence another MP battle, all handled by a very nice UI experience.
 
RedSparrows

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Feb 22, 2019
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I see the benefits of server lists, but nah, just do it for me. Taking choice away from most people is a good thing in an MP environment imo. Have had years of fun with it.

That said, why not both, etc: Halo 5's custom games browser is hardly super fluid, but it is a good addition I hope they build on.

KS93 said:
I'm absolutely glad that proper matchmaking has stuck.
The server browsers have ruined Battlefield games in the past for me. Getting kicked from a game of some 12 year olds two-hour-long Conquest rounds because you were using the grenade launcher he doesn't like was arse cheeks.

I just want to play the fkin game, man. I don't want to scroll through long lists of bullshit rules all focused around one map.
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I know this isn't all server-list games (I've played excellently curated servers on many games), but yes, this.
 
VeePs

VeePs

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I like having both options available.

But 90% of the time I prefer match making. When done well it's amazing.
 
elenarie

elenarie

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KS93 said:
I'm absolutely glad that proper matchmaking has stuck.
The server browsers have ruined Battlefield games in the past for me. Getting kicked from a game of some 12 year olds two-hour-long Conquest rounds because you were using the grenade launcher he doesn't like was arse cheeks.

I just want to play the fkin game, man. I don't want to scroll through long lists of bullshit rules all focused around one map.
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Our goal going forward is to have both, where the default options that have matchmaking are the ones we want the game to be played with, but also enable people to set up their own experiences / games.

This was really bad on BF3, BF4, and BFH where we had something like 30+ different matchmaking options, so the matchmaking pool was terrible, and most people just resorted to using the server browser because the matchmaking experience was terrible. Things have improved so much now in BFV. We're still not perfect, and can improve things more, but the matchmaking experience is not that bad anymore. :)
 
Poimandres

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Matchmaking is fine... When it works properly. Halo matchmaking in 2 and 3 could be pretty damn slow, and when you live in a country like Australia you are toast if you get matched with a bunch of Americans.

The ideal option is to have both matchmaking and server lists.
 

Pegasus Actual

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Matchmaking shines for competitive ELO based modes, and works fine for low in-game player counts. Sucks ass in something like Battlefield or really anything bigger than 6v6.
 

Deleted member 8593

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It's crazy that Halo 2 laid the groundwork for Nintendo to perfect it with Splatoon 2 by removing all choice.
 
Trup1aya

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ideally, a game would offer both a robust matchmaking system and a robust lobby system.

H2 matchmaking was cool, but the potential of H3's forge (and subsequent games) was limited by the need to inability to browse lobbies. It was still absolutely huge, but it could have been even more. communities did form around custom games, but the lack of browser was a hurdle...
 
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Paragraf

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Halo 2: It just works, we don't know ourselves. How this game ended up being that good and groundbreaking, despite development issues, is a fucking miracle. Love and Respect, Bungie​
 
hikarutilmitt

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Lumination said:
Growing up in the age of PC lobbies, give me matchmaking any day. Just seeing the hodge podge of lobby titles in a browser gives me the impression of uncurated and imbalanced gameplay. My standards are higher now than they were when I was 10 and just jumping from one random non-committal game to the next.
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This, pretty much. Browsing for servers in UT became tedious and annoying because inevitably I'd be in a lobby of just Facing Worlds and then get kicked for not playing as a sniper all day while nobody moved the flag. I also tend to not enjoy the Deathmatch game type so that limited my enjoyment, because I always preferred team-style gameplay.
 
Jroc

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I prefer matchmaking. It means I actually get to play all of the maps and modes instead of 24/7 Dust2 or Lockout SWAT
 

Deleted member 16136

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I had been a long time PC player and was used to dealing with server browsers in UT/CS/Q3, but I was getting sick of them. When the game comes out, its brilliant, servers running with standard rules and a nice map variety, absolute bliss, but after a few months people start making 200 frag servers on 1 map and they take over, to the point it becomes a pain in the arse to find a server (thats populated at least) at the time you want to play with some level of "standard" rules and maps. Add to frustrating ammount of shit servers owners put on them which meant you had to download sounds/textures and in general bullshit (which fucking sucked on 56K) really soured me on multiplayer. Sure, you could add favourite servers which suit your needs, but if when you want to play nobody else is, you either hunt for another server (needle in a haystack) or just fuck it off.

Battlefield 2 really made me hate the whole set up, the game went from something I utterly smashed non stop to fizzling out as I was sick of the same damn map being played on conquest with ridiculous ammounts of dumb rules and extreme scores to end the match ..... just for it to be the same map again, and again, and again ..... and the same thing happened with BF3/4/1, not bought BF5 because at this point its probably dreadful.

BLOPS was a funny one, great again at the start, but then as always it happens ......... crouch only nuketown rules out the arse. I was glad MW2 took the matchmaking route, I had 100's of hours of straight forward no nonsense gaming, even if it was a bit laggier than a dedicated server.

The last thing I want to do nowadays is have to hunt down a normal ass game with a normal ass ruleset. CS GO competitive mode is brilliant. My only gripe is I would have liked an "inbetween" mode between casual and competitive, same rules at competitive, but shorter round limit and have it cycle through maps (rather than having to find another game).

When I first got my hands on Halo 2, despite not really liking the game that much, the multiplayer system was fucking brilliant, and im glad it took over.
 
headspawn

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Oct 27, 2017
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Matchmaking is cool and all, but Lobbies are also still kinda great.

A healthy mix of both, done well, is the optimal solution.
 
Vilam

Vilam

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"history has proven them absolutely right"

Says who? We haven't exactly had a choice in AAA games ever since.
 
Adnor

Adnor

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I miss the sense of community lobbies would create.

Everyone knew everyone in the Jedi Academy servers I played, and if someone new joined, people would always help them learn how to duel. It was great.
 
GrantDaNasty

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Oct 27, 2017
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Matchmaking simplified the process a lot.

Not saying that lobbies don't have a place either, as I do feel you built communities around the idea of a common place to gather and play.

Multiplayer games would be likely 1/5th as prevalent if there was no matchmaking equivalent to get some butts in games asap.
 
Velocity:Design:Comfort

Velocity:Design:Comfort

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GrantDaNasty said:
Matchmaking simplified the process a lot.

Not saying that lobbies don't have a place either, as I do feel you built communities around the idea of a common place to gather and play.

Multiplayer games would be likely 1/5th as prevalent if there was no matchmaking equivalent to get some butts in games asap.
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I don't understand this time thing, it takes me less time to enter a lobby and game on TF2 on PC than it does to matchmake me
 
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