The XBox Live 360 Difference: True Skill

[bapenguin]

Many people ask the question, "Why should I pay for XBox live?" Most see it as a system that contains a buddy list and voice chat and offers nothing more. Halo 2 gave us a glimpse of what a matchmaking service can offer, and now Microsoft wants to take it to the next level. The next Generation of Live will feature TrueSkill ranking for matchmade games over all titles. IGN (http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/662/662347p1.html) has a look into it.

In addition to creating a much improved space for online gaming, whether it's customizing your desktop, music lists, or becoming part of online communities, Live on Xbox 360 will change the patchwork of ranking systems from previous games by replacing it with the TrueSkill Ranking system for all Xbox Live games on Xbox 360. Admittedly, this sounds a little Draconian. And in a very real way, Microsoft does want to be a part of everything you do, which is quite scary. But the TrueSkill ranking system isn't Bill Gates taking on the form of the Flood and sweeping through your mind for data like you were Captain Keyes in Halo 1. No. And the TrueSkill ranking system won't make you a better player, but it measures your skill better than other systems have to date
Would you like to know more? (http://www.research.microsoft.com/mlp/trueskill/Details.aspx)

I really hope this pans out, an accurate system that takes into account player ranking, feedback and gametypes could yield enjoyable online gaming most of the time. Those annoying 12 year olds ruined Live for a lot of people, so lets hope this system can help get rid of it.

[Lexicon]

If it actually works and gets rid of all the team killing, mommies not home so I can be an ass players then it might actually get me to sign up for xbox live again. When it got to the point where 2 out of every 3 games were ruined from the start with idiots I gave up.

[Murmillo]

or at least let all the 12 year olds play with all the other 12 year olds. Going to suck for them when they realize its going to end up feeling like middle school for them all over again.

[EvilBob46]

And this new matchmaking feature completely redeems the fee? Whatever. Microsoft should have made Xbox Live free this time around. They could've financed it by releasing new content over Xbox Live and attaching a fee to that. The fact that they've implemented yet another attempt at getting matchmaking right doesn't change that.

[Conner Dain]

Right, and I believe in the Easter bunny, too. Let's get real here. Microsoft wants to sell units. Microsoft wants to sell games. Microsoft want's to sell the Live Service. Will they limit the market to hard-core "serious" gamers or will they sell out to the casual gamer? (The annoying 12 year old who calls you gay.)

You have one guess.

[Murmillo]

Conner, RTFA!

they are not limiting anything, they are wanting to try and make match making and those with similar game styles a hell of a lot better. If I say I'm into casual gaming, the system is going to do its best to keep me away from those who think that calling somebody gay because they killed me before I killed them is "cool".

[51|RandoM]

woohoo, hype comes in many flavors.

[mkelehan]

The whole idea is that, yes, the 12 year olds will be matched with each other, the pros will be matched with the pros, and the casual majority will be matched with the members of said majority closest to their skill level. Have all the cynicism you want; I like it, and look forward to playing highly populated games with it.

[Heretic Machine]

Ya, nine year olds really need something else to brag about.

[Morrolan]

Right, and I believe in the Easter bunny, too. Let's get real here. Microsoft wants to sell units. Microsoft wants to sell games. Microsoft want's to sell the Live Service. Will they limit the market to hard-core "serious" gamers or will they sell out to the casual gamer? (The annoying 12 year old who calls you gay.)

You have one guess.

I've never had a 12 year old call me gay. If people are calling you gay, it's probably because you're a homosexual. Think about it.

[FallenStar]

Maybe I have a higher tolerance, but those 12 year olds never really bothered me. Of course I've had my share of annoying pricks, but I just ignored 'em. The people that bothered me were the older and supposedly more "mature" crowd who would do nothing but drop F-bombs and use racial slurs.

[bapenguin]

They aren't getting rid of the annoying 12 year olds, they will simply be matched up against other annoying 12 year olds. (No offense to the non annoying 12 year olds).

[Goronmon]

The 12-year olds don't bother me as much as the people who drop out of ranked games and Halo 2 seemingly at the drop of a hat. Though the people who scream and crap into the mic constantly can get quite annoying as well.

Then again, I have been known to play this song (http://www.ebaumsworld.com/flash/hipponoodles.html) with my mic sitting in front of the speaker while I play for hours, mwuahahahaha....

[Zeal]

Gimmick...

[ArkMan]

I've never had a 12 year old call me gay. If people are calling you gay, it's probably because you're a homosexual. Think about it.

HAHAHA, dude that is priceless.


* Gold star for funniest comment I've read in a long time.

[*Legion*]

And this new matchmaking feature completely redeems the fee?

Yes. Worth every penny and more.

[saran_js]

I've never had a 12 year old call me gay. If people are calling you gay, it's probably because you're a homosexual. Think about it.

and here I thought that gay really meant that you were in a very happy mood.

Damn you villianous destroyers of the Queen's English.

[DriveALW]

I've never had a 12 year old call me gay.

Well, it's tough for a 12 year-old to talk when you're sitting on his face.

Don't ask how I know that.

[Vandenh]

It makes sense... MS is slowly integrating all the features that developers had to make themselves. Matchmaking, ELO ratings, UI stuff... Live is a development plaform and MS wants all 360 games to have online support, so it makes perfect sense to do this. I was actually wondering why the current Live implementation didn't have this. In the future expect MS to continue doing this... when developers have to roll their own code for common features, MS will try to move this to a common Live architecture.

All these negative comments are amazing. You people need to get out more or get a functioning brain.

[Stryfe01]

Right, and I believe in the Easter bunny, too. Let's get real here. Microsoft wants to sell units. Microsoft wants to sell games. Microsoft want's to sell the Live Service. Will they limit the market to hard-core "serious" gamers or will they sell out to the casual gamer? (The annoying 12 year old who calls you gay.)

You have one guess.

Interesting how ppl are blaming "annoying 12 year old"...I believe i've played with all ages on Live and those kids are just as annoying as that racist adult, that "fuck you" teenager who brags about being high playing games all day. So blaming one group doesn't cut it. i'm 26 and i've had brilliant rounds of Halo 2 with pre-teens, teens and adults, and i've had horrible games. It's just how it is, no matter if your playing PC or Live!, you'll get annoying assholes.

[Morratut]

Gimmick...

You are a troll.

This is going to be great. If you are playing a game and he is racist, playing music in the mic,dropping out of games all the time. You will have to the power to put all of them in the same stupid shitty pot.Very quickly his rep will go down and thats it.

The rest of us will be having fun with good close matches. It works in Halo2. I've had so many 49-50 in that game i've lost count.

[bean19]

The 12-year olds don't bother me as much as the people who drop out of ranked games and Halo 2 seemingly at the drop of a hat. Though the people who scream and crap into the mic constantly can get quite annoying as well.


Dropping out of games annoys me too, but I was never much of an Xbox Live player because PC multiplayer games were and are far superior.

What I want from the XBox Live system is faster game matching. That's what I disliked with Halo 2. I tended to only play when my Friends were on because we could form a Party and the wait between matches was greatly reduced.

I always worry about rating systems based on player feedback. I often get called a cheater in FPS games when I'm good at them (I'm not nearly as good as some people, but I tend to be a large step above average), and I'd hate to end up ONLY playing with 12 year olds because of it. Also, I LIKE being able to go "pubbing" and totally decimate people. What happens if I get a TrueSkill rating that makes me actually have to play against good players all the time?

And does the TrueSkill rating go across genres? If so, then I'll be challenged in FPS games and totally rolled over in car games (which I suck at) because I'll have to play above my skill level.

Oh well. I'll play whatever is fun in multiplayer anyway and most likely I'll get a nice healthy friends list that will make most of this irrelevant.

Maybe they'll have some good online co-op games with voice come out. That would be really cool.

[Vjornaxx]

Some of you guys are making assumptions without reading the article. This ranking system has nothing to do with player feedback. The point of this system is to come up with a rating system that can represent a player's skill faster and more accurately. You know how long it takes to increase your rating in Halo 2? Well, this system is designed to be a lot faster than that. From what I gather, it assumes that you are of average skill (level 25) if there is no data on you. As you play, it compares your performance to the entire population playing that game. The result of your performance in that game determines if your rank goes up or down. It basically figures out how well you perform based on a bell curve and also calculates how much variance there is in your performance. The more data (i.e. the more games you play) the smaller the variance and therefore, the more accurate it's assessment of your skill.

This has nothing to do with age or maturity of gaming. The system is designed to measure skill. Feedback, gamerzone, and skill are all taken into consideration when matchmaking and this system is concerned only with skill.

[mister_slim]

Sounds interesting. I'm not sure if the article is unclear (what is wrong with the writer?), but it seemed like they were making some odd assumptions. It will also be interesting to see how game specific the algorithms are. Of course, I don't play much online anyway, so it isn't that exciting to me.