Why are modern PC games so newb-friendly?

[AlgaeEater]

Basically, it seems like at some point there has been a paradigm shift among developers where they want to encourage players to remain in-game. Perhaps some future move towards serious in-game advertising?

Well if you are to talk about "noob-friendly" in the context of making games more "random" based than "direct skill" based, then I would agree.

I'll use a pretty simple example.

"Hardcore game"
Headshot means instant kill.
A bullet does exactly 100 pts of damage.
100 points of damage = you are dead.

"Newbie Friendly game"
Headshot severely wounds you, but does not kill you.
A bullet does 75 - 100 pts of damage.
You may survive with 1-25 pts of life remaining (Small % you will get instant killed)


Now in the scenario above, the more hardcore game will pretty much have a dynamic where newbie players will be owned for lunch pretty much every day. The more "newbie-friendly" game will allow those to run around a bit longer.

RTS games tend to fall into the above category. The "Rock-Paper-Scissor" dynamic is replaced with a "Does better against" system which mucks things up. So your rifleman can shoot at aircraft, your aircraft can brawl with tanks on the ground, your support units can take a few direct blasts and run away. You get my drift. In a really strict form of game, your rifleman can't reach aircraft, your aircraft can only attack other aircraft and buildings, your support units fall in like 2 hits. Point being is that you can't just run a giant blob of units into another blob of units and expect to do well and have everything done for you.

Then there's the whole "micro manage" versus "macro manage" thing and I can go on and on. So whatever the case, games are becoming a bit easier and more friendly to the new player, but I also feel that they are taking the edge off of the skill.

But truth be told, these dynamics are just a whole lot funner. You don't have to be at the top of your game all the time, you can just be a bit lazy and go blow stuff up. Games mean different thing to people I assume, and any competitive gamer will tell you that they live and breathe for the competition. They don't even really have that much fun anymore playing the game, they're just focused on beating the other player or clan for the fun.

 

[thegimp03]

The last couple of PC FPS multi-player games that I played a lot of were Q3, UT2k4, and BF2 and I mastered each game. I started playing Q3 when it came out 10 years ago, and I had a decent chunk of time to dedicate to mastering the game. I would say that UT2k4 and BF2 were both easier than Q3 to improve and do relatively well in.

Currently, I have to admit scratching my head a few times with the multiplayer in BFBC2. Maybe it's because I'm out of touch with the style of game - certainly Q3 and UT2k4 were much faster paced games - or maybe it's because I only have time to play maybe 1-2 matches a couple of nights a week, or the fact that the teams I've been placed on have been severely lopsided not in my favor. Or maybe it's the wrong servers I'm choosing. I'm hating the fact that I have basically a nerf gun compared to some other dude who puts in 4-5 hours a night and has a gun that blazes me up in half a second.

 

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

publishers want games that can turn games as mainstream as books and music so the more accessible the game is the better for the industry. It might not be best but companies care more about the sales

 

[Pia]

The thing is that if there is an overpowering aspect of the game everyone would have the ability to use it thus negating it.

Only negating it balance-wise. It can still turn the game into shit. Thus, balance mod.

The good teams would still be on top, but there would be a much larger crop of players to compete with if the mods were left out. This is basically the reason why PC fps competition is dying. No new players want to try it out because the powers that be ("pro" gamers) make the game a lot less accessible,

Explanation please. Why would they need to be less accessible? Do you mean the mod install process or something else?

and still have certain things that are overpowered in their competition mods. So now you have a mod that has the same balance problems the orginal game had, and you lose 3/4's of the people who would have been willing to try their hand at the game.

So you are saying because some particular competition mod has not managed to fix all balance issues, good players should play the considerably worse vanilla game so they would have more bad players (whom they don't want to play in the first place) to play with? Does not compute.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Wow. Please tell me where the hell the fun is in getting beaten down for the first three weeks?

If I get beaten down, after 30 minutes I'm done and move on to something enjoyable.

I just don't understand the logic there. Time is just too valuable to me.

Just be like me and automagically become the best player in any game I touch that I know for sure doesn't cheat. lol....

If everyone is cheating it makes your own performance easier to swallow.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Currently, I have to admit scratching my head a few times with the multiplayer in BFBC2. Maybe it's because I'm out of touch with the style of game - certainly Q3 and UT2k4 were much faster paced games - or maybe it's because I only have time to play maybe 1-2 matches a couple of nights a week, or the fact that the teams I've been placed on have been severely lopsided not in my favor. Or maybe it's the wrong servers I'm choosing. I'm hating the fact that I have basically a nerf gun compared to some other dude who puts in 4-5 hours a night and has a gun that blazes me up in half a second.

I don't like this either, and it's part of the reason I haven't enjoyed the BF games. In single player games, it's fun to get increasingly powerful weaponry and skills to dominate enemies, but it becomes a significant barrier in multiplayer. Instead of playing more in order to gain skill, playing more can simply yield better weapons, and the no-lifers can completely annihilate newcomers even at the same skill level. Leave the RPG elements in MMOs and single player games, imo. Emphasize skill gains instead of time sinks, at least in first person shooters.