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Activision Patents Pay-To-Win Matchmaker (rollingstone.com)
New submitter EndlessNameless writes: If you like fair play, you might not like future Activision games. They will cross the line to encourage microtransactions, specifically matching players to both encourage and reward purchase. Rewarding the purchase, in particular, is an explicit and egregious elimination of any claim to fair play. "For example, if the player purchased a particular weapon, the microtransaction engine may match the player in a gameplay session in which the particular weapon is highly effective, giving the player an impression that the particular weapon was a good purchase," according to the patent. "This may encourage the player to make future purchases to achieve similar gameplay results." Even though the patent's examples are all for a first-person-shooter game, the system could be used across a wide variety of titles. "This was an exploratory patent filed in 2015 by an R&D team working independently from our game studios," an Activision spokesperson tells Rolling Stone. "It has not been implemented in-game." Bungie also confirmed that the technology isn't being used in games currently on the market, mentioning specifically Destiny 2.
We should be horrified at mass shootings like the Las Vegas massacre and many of the other gruesome attacks that have taken place in recent years. First person shooters provide a training ground for violent people to act out their rage, practice their tactics, and obtained pleasure from killing. Over time, that pleasure decreases from first person shooters, and the most violent types move on to acting them out on real people. First person shooters should be banned because they lead to violence in real life. Activision's patents should be useless because they're built around dangerous games that need to be outlawed for the good of society.
Definitely not! In fact, it's not in *any* of our games, but **especially** not in Destiny 2! We would never do that! (Please play Destiny 2!)
Wargaming.net sure has. They have a patent on almost the exact same thing in World of Tanks.
eom
My wife and I had our first child nearly a decade ago. Michael was born healthy and seemed to be developing normally. A few months before Michael was to start kindergarten, his pediatrician administered a couple of vaccines, one of which was the MMR. Everything seemed normal at first, and Michael started kindergarten at the end of the summer. After a few months, we noticed that Michael seemed more distant and communicated less, preferring isolation. Initially, we thought it was related to his experience at school and spoke with his teacher to ask if there was an explanation. The teacher wasn't aware of any reason for the change in behavior, but noticed the same thing that Michael seemed to be losing interest in playing with other children at recess and was increasingly isolated.
Lacking an explanation for this trend, we took our child to a counselor, who noted the unusual behavior but failed to provide a hypothesis to explain why. Then we returned to the pediatrician to see if he could find an answer. No obvious medical problems were found, so he recommended that we continue trying to encourage Michael to interact not only with us but to engage socially with other children. Despite our best efforts and those of his teacher, Michael continues to become more isolated and less social, as if he was off in his own world. As Michael was coming to the end of kindergarten, the teacher expressed reservations about him being prepared for first grade. Alarmed by this, we again pressed the pediatrician for an explanation. After visiting specialists over the period of a couple of months, we eventually received the diagnosis: Michael was autistic.
This was shocking to us. A year ago, Michael seemed like a normal five year old, excited to be around his parents and to play with other children. And now he was diagnosed with autism. Although the doctors were unwilling to make the connection, the truth dawned on us that the MMR vaccine has caused our child to develop autism.
My wife and I strongly want to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. However, the value of a vaccine in preventing illness is not worth playing Russian Roulette with the possibility of a child developing autism. We have seen the dangers of vaccines first hand. We have since had two more children, and have pledged to not subject them to any vaccinations. We couldn't live with ourselves if we knowingly subjected our children to a risk of autism. No parent who loves their children could put them at such a risk.
So they are starting to separate out the proletariat on the gaming front.
They may have started a proof of concept for Marxism. We shall see.
I am willing to bet that in 5 years, all of Activision/Blizzard games with be using this exclusively for matchmaking.
The millennial that doesn't like most of the stuff designed for millennials.
YOU FAIL IT!
Before Apple had IAP, you paid a few dollars for a game, and got a decent amount of levels. Often, there was a sequel, so you spend $3.99 or so, bought that.
Then came IAP. Games which were challenging but fun became a lot harder, in order to force people to buy powerups to beat the game, or the game would have a delay if you lost... of course, you could pay something to have the delay removed. Additional levels? More dosh. Even a basic tower defense game became so loaded with costly powerups that the whole genre wound up collapsing.
If I want Farmville, I'll play Farmville. The whole gaming genre has been so polluted by this P2W crap that it just isn't worth the time, and since older games that have not been recompiled for 64 bit which haven't been updated are wiped off Apple's App Store, what is worth playing is pretty hard to find.
It is said that when there are cheaters in a game, nobody wins. When the PROVIDER is cheating, that goes double. But as Cory Doctorow has pointed out, if you can't check the source code, how do you know for certain?
Computers can match things, Duh!!, so putting in a game, for a preference makes it special.
When are these losers going to accept the fact that software algorithms are copyright-able but not patent-able!
discuss
With ___ you lose.
... as no self-respecting gaming company will want to license it.
AC comments get piped to
It's customized matchmaking based on preferences. So, you buy a sniper rifle, and you want to play on maps where sniper rifles are popular, for example.
-- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
You should try Game Of War: Fire Age. I've spent over $14k on it, and I am still only barely able to keep up. It's absolutely crazy, every day they release new powerups and things that make everything else you've bought up to that point completely obsolete.
Nothing says horrible like a company who distances themselves from a patent they filed without ever actually implementing or selling the technology.
I.e. the Dunning-Kruger sufferers of players, that are pretty bad by do not know that. Well, I predict they will make great business with that model, but quite a few players will find themselves disgusted and repulsed by these games. I certainly will very carefully check before I ever buy anything from the again.
Incidentally, why can you patent such stuff? this is both trivial and highly immoral. Both should make this completely non-patentable.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I once got in to Hearthstone briefly. This was the first time I have ever tried a card game or anything like that. Let me also say that I have been in to game theory since the 70's, probably before the Hearthstone's developer's parents were even born.
I first learned how the game worked. I was able to climb to the top rankings even then. I then developed a set of Lua scripts that calculated the best plays based on the game at hand. Well, in short, I got banned. Not because they thought I was using a bot or cheating (and I wasn't, I was just playing as a regular human-controlled, me), but because I won too often even against people that payed lots of money for superior stacks that should have wiped me off the floor.
Oh... OK. Fuck you too, morons.
I do not see how an "invention" like this deserves to receive government protection. I thought patents were meant to encourage innovation. This seems to encourage making money instead, which I think spits in the face of real inventors and their inventions that provide real value to society. I would argue that all "inventions" used for the purposes of purely entertainment should never be granted.
A former co-worker plays World of Tanks, and spends at least $1500 a month on it... and he still loses left and right.
As an aspiring indie game dev who likes single-player games I have to say I really like these moves by places like EA and Activision. If they want to piss off their user base with game play choices that people hate, and abandon single-player games exclusively for P2W MMOs, hey go for it.
I'd like nothing more than these titans to exit the scene. I can only hope when the time comes people will choose with their money what game choices they like and not just hop on the mindless consumer bandwagon.
Hear me out on this. The practice described in the patent is total garbage and a very bad thing. However, the patent itself is excellent. If Activision owns the patent on this, then other game makers would have to pay to do the same thing, thus making them less likely to do it, thus making it less likely for us to see the practice used in actual games.
This is why I avoided smartphone games in the first place. I keep some Chess games and single-player puzzlers like Monument Valley on my Fire, but multiplayer? That's console or PC, and I'm picky there, and willing to pay on upfront cost to avoid P2W.
Except they're not alienating their users.
The free players? They don't care about them very much.
Think about the other posts where people spent 1500+. That one player represents 40 players buying a 60 dollar game...(the game store doesn't take a cut, hence not 1500 \ 60)
I would patent that idea Sam I Am!
I would patent it electronically.
I would patent it with a computer.
I would patent it online.
I would patent it every time!
I would patent it with nanobots.
I would patent it as a drug.
I would patent it as a business process.
I would patent it in an office!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
All former Cryptic games, as well as King of Dragons/9Dragons use spreadsheet based advancement. Thanks to source leaks I have been able to investigate this more thoroughly and basically all major current-generation MMOs have advancement spreadsheets determining your level to damage output to ensure you advance at more or less the same rate regardless of the type of mobs you attempt to grind. So even if it seems like you are getting more XP per kill, oftentimes they have it calculated out to ensure that your XP per hour comes out the same regardless of which mobs you kill, which quests you take, or where you travel.
If you are still playing MMOs, understand that they are built like another job. If you play them to level up, or compete in PvP you have already lost. If you want to truly enjoy the games you need to think outside the box and outside your level and have fun making a cool character, or exploring the visuals of areas you are far too low level to fight in. Because if you waste your time grinding your way up, 1-5 years of your life will be gone and you will realize you wasted them all mindlessly clicking buttons just like your 9-5 for 2-8 hours every night.
Take it from someone with experience: Modern videogames have taken all the interesting mechanics out of videogames so they can better choreograph your experience. Unless you like enjoy being someone else's puppet, don't grind for experience, or equipment you spent months attaining that you will throw away when the next expansion comes out.
And if you do tire of it, come and look at the world of indie/open source games. There are a lot more out there than you realize, some just as addictive but with gameplay breadth that will keep you coming back just to try things in a different way, sometimes even without resorting to mindless violence.
But if I play in a game and my rivals can buy their way into superior position, I would stop playing.
Once all the rubes leave, where are they going to find unlevel playing field to help these paying dudes?
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Your blog has been submitted to the fbis anonymous coward tipline!
I've also sent a report to the IRS detailing your Amazon referrer income!!!!!!! Yay!
So no 1040ez or TurboTax free for you this yeah... Booooo!
Balance is essential in a fun game. New players should have time to get up to speed, but otherwise everyone is on a level playing field. The only distinguishing thing being the player's skill, reflexes, strategy or whatever skill the game demands.
I have faced a similar 'unfair' situation three times among chess players. Nobody literally paid for an advantage, but they did it indirectly.
Each time, a group of ordinary people discovered that we all knew how to play chess. Each time, none of us were expert. Each time we had a very enjoyable time exploring this game as a learning experience. Each time, people outside our group joined in, creating a group of 30-90 people. And each time it became competitive, and the fun slid out under the door.
Certain players, maybe 10%, began studying. Within two months substantial libraries were being accumulated. Money was wagered. Friends became enemies. A few players went on to become serious but the vast majority lost interest and left the group. What could have been fun for all was compromised by those seeking an (unfair?) advantage.
There are also people who study to excel in Scrabble and spelling bees, etc. Let them compete against other anal retentive types and leave the fun contests to regular people.
...omphaloskepsis often...
You said you were still using a c64 20 years ago there were no fps games for the c64.
Which part of the story is the lie?
This is... awful, really, this company like to scam and cheat their customers so much that want other companies to pay them for scamming their customers...
Also, World of Warcraft didn't make it first? and later League of Legends? and later EA?
I would like to know how much money they did invest in R+D to come with this geniality and those economic scientifics that made such huge advancement in the scamming field. ;)
Oh well, that comes from Activision... I though they were dead since the 2000's.
The whole point of buying or acquiring anything is to take it somewhere it will be useful.
Activision has discovered the secret to making money with online games: let players pay to enter newbie areas and slaughter the low-level masses.
They'll make billions.
Looks like creimers trolls have won again
Just sayinâ(TM)
First person shooters should be banned
Current research says you are full of it, i.e. nothing of what you say is actual fact. Please go away ans top spreading lies.
No, no -- he's right. Remember the "Punch the Monkey" Ad that used to appear on articles? It made me want to get violent and punch the screen itself every time I saw it.
Maybe he meant "First Person Punchers" instead.
If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
The whole gaming genre has been so polluted by this P2W crap that it just isn't worth the time, and since older games that have not been recompiled for 64 bit which haven't been updated are wiped off Apple's App Store, what is worth playing is pretty hard to find.
There's no P2W in Counterstrike, just skill...
Apple takes a 30% cut for in-between game purchases...
Never understood that. The whole challenge and joy of free to play games is to play them free and still win.
55+% WR free to play all the way. Tier 8+ average. The key is mostly tank angles. And weak spots. Fantastic game.
The best multiplayer game I've played is still HalfLife.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
How about we compromise. You pay the upfront cost for a regular game and then through updates and patches we slowly convert the game to pay2win after you've bought it!
"For example, if the player purchased a particular weapon, the microtransaction engine may match the player in a gameplay session in which the particular weapon is highly effective, giving the player an impression that the particular weapon was a good purchase,"
So...I get to enjoy the perversity of griefing, without having to do the tedious chore of out-grinding everyone else for superior equipment?
Sweet!
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
As long as you pay for it.
Oh, and as an added bonus all superior players who manage to wipe the table with you despite your upgrades will be labeled cheaters and banned.
Oh, next step: Replace human opponents with AI bots that are artificially dumb, so that the player feels properly superior. Hey, it works for dating web sites, why not for games?
Based on the comment threads I have glanced through I think most people are missing the big picture here. Sure it is bad that Activision has a pay-to-win mechanism in the works but is this really something that should be patent-able?
Then came IAP. Games which were challenging but fun became a lot harder, in order to force people to buy powerups to beat the game.
And before before IAP were arcades, where games were very hard, in order to force people to put in more quarters.
Your comment is interesting because it is like history repeating itself.
Arcades games were hard, because that's how they made you spend money.
Then home consoles came in and used arcades as a model, which meant hard games.
Then later, developers realized that there was nothing to gain by making game hard and frustrating as they were one time purchase, so games became easier.
And now, with the pay-to-win model, difficulty as a money maker is coming back.
Interestingly many old gamers say they miss the times where games were hard (I doubt they really do), well, it looks like those times are coming back.
Creimer boasted about walking 2.5 mph for 20 minutes. You know the fat guy who walks in the middle of the sidewalk swinging his arms and wobbling as he walks so there is no fucking way you can get past him?
Cdreimer is that idiot. Except on a fucking treadmill
we will have a party
Unless they are getting the patent to block everyone from doing so, and also don't use it themselves, then it's Ok, otherwise good luck with your games, as you won't see me buying any of those.
There is a difference between hard for a challenge, versus hard just to extract dosh from people. The people who made games like Gorf and Sinistar didn't give a rat's ass if someone could beat it or not, which actually meant doing well was an achivement. The people who make the cheesy apps on smartphones only care about forcing people to pay $1.99 for a sack of brains for their zombie farm every couple minutes.
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