Towards a cohesive matchmaking system
Sarisel
.::' ( O ) ';:-. .-.:;' ( O ) '::. Join Date: 2003-07-30 Member: 18557Members, Constellation
.::' ( O ) ';:-. .-.:;' ( O ) '::. Join Date: 2003-07-30 Member: 18557Members, Constellation
I'd like to propose a motion to generate ideas that promote self-awareness and choice for future NS2 players. Rather than spending developer time on systems that directly restrict access to servers, why not invest some time instead on creating tools to help players choose what servers are best suited for them?
<i>Server Stats</i>
Already, it is possible to filter servers based on ping, map, and number of players. Perhaps it would be possible to determine some useful indicators from other server stats.
1. Skill biases
Take the last 3-5 rounds of P:K:D stats on a particular server. These include overall, team, and individual stats.
Determine which individual players are outliers (abnormally high or abnormally low) in the P:K:D stats, how many of them exist, and for which teams.
Now we have something that we can potentially play with:
A) How many outliers consistently play on the same team? This might give an idea of stacking. Server filters can be set up to filter out games where a certain % of total players are outliers over the last 3-5 rounds.
B) To what extent are the outliers different compared to the average players? If someone's mean P:K:D is several standard deviations away from the server mean over the last 3-5 rounds, then that could be an indication of skill bias. Players in the server could be made aware of this and the outlier could be voted off if he is undesirable. In the server browser, the presence of outliers could be indicated to the player and maybe a threshold value set to filter out undesirable servers.
2. Stacking
What is the server's win:lose distribution for teams over the last 3-5 rounds? Of the players that are present within the server, what are the individual marine:alien roles chosen over the last 3-5 rounds? Over the last 3-5 rounds, are there a certain number of players who consistently play on marines and aliens when the respective teams win? If so, then there is a good possibility that stacking is occurring. The detection of stacking could be made a little bit more robust if team P:K:D distributions are also factored in here. In the end, the result is a value that can be set to filter off servers in the browser window that are showing evidence of stacking. If done properly, this will encourage admins to monitor fair play on their servers.
3. Competitive, casual, and open servers
Is there a way to determine at a particular time via recent server stats if a server's player base is more competitive, casual, or perhaps inexperienced? I think there may be a way. For example, in NS1, competitive play usually follows a very rigid format in terms of time spent per round - usually under 15 minutes. I think there may be other statistical signatures that can distinguish different server types if the developers ran some stats in beta testing on games between experienced FPS gamers versus games between casual gamers. The idea is to find an expression for server "skill" based on as few statistical variables as possible. Personally, I think it may be a combination of average time-per-round, mean total kills per minute per round, and mean points:kills ratios (if assists are accounted for, which will give an indication of where teamwork is taking place). Once these signatures are established, the player can adjust his server browser to filter out undesirable server skill levels.
As you can see, the idea is to use stats in a way that enables the player to find servers that fit his criteria. With a short tutorial and maybe a "server filtering wizard", it would be possible to make the filtering process fairly straightforward or even automatic.
<i>Enhanced Reserved Slot Systems and Server Info/Ratings</i>
The original topic by Firewater is <a href="http://unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=104062" target="_blank">here</a>. In addition to reserved slot servers and server icons, why not let server info be more customizable? The admin can fill out a short survey that defines his idea of what his server should be like. For example, he can rate his server from 1-5 for the importance of socialization, teamwork, fair play, etc - subjective criteria, right? But it does give a player a general idea of what the expectations in a server might be.
What if each unique steam_id gives the player an opportunity to rate their game experience (from 1-5) in that server for a particular day? In the end, we can have something like e-bay's seller ratings, showing a chart that indicates the % ratio of people voting in a particular range and the average. What's the point? Players who are browsing through their server list can filter for servers that meet a certain rating requirement.
<i>Debriefing</i>
Based on a player's performance, an optional feature could be one that gives the player a summary of what roles they played over the course of an NS2 session (stats included on P:K:D, wins and losses), what servers they played on, and how successful they were overall. Then, recommendations could be made about where a player could improve, which servers may be more/less challenging (based on stats mentioned earlier), and so on. This feature will serve to inform players as to how to improve their NS2 experience and I think it would add a touch of class to the game if it were ever developed.
I know that not all of these ideas are perfectly sound and might have flaws that need to be fixed. However, the idea is to leave choice open to the player and foster autonomy rather than assuming that limiting the player to certain servers will solve problems. If we're going to promote matchmaking, let's do it in a way that is inclusive rather than exclusive.
<i>Server Stats</i>
Already, it is possible to filter servers based on ping, map, and number of players. Perhaps it would be possible to determine some useful indicators from other server stats.
1. Skill biases
Take the last 3-5 rounds of P:K:D stats on a particular server. These include overall, team, and individual stats.
Determine which individual players are outliers (abnormally high or abnormally low) in the P:K:D stats, how many of them exist, and for which teams.
Now we have something that we can potentially play with:
A) How many outliers consistently play on the same team? This might give an idea of stacking. Server filters can be set up to filter out games where a certain % of total players are outliers over the last 3-5 rounds.
B) To what extent are the outliers different compared to the average players? If someone's mean P:K:D is several standard deviations away from the server mean over the last 3-5 rounds, then that could be an indication of skill bias. Players in the server could be made aware of this and the outlier could be voted off if he is undesirable. In the server browser, the presence of outliers could be indicated to the player and maybe a threshold value set to filter out undesirable servers.
2. Stacking
What is the server's win:lose distribution for teams over the last 3-5 rounds? Of the players that are present within the server, what are the individual marine:alien roles chosen over the last 3-5 rounds? Over the last 3-5 rounds, are there a certain number of players who consistently play on marines and aliens when the respective teams win? If so, then there is a good possibility that stacking is occurring. The detection of stacking could be made a little bit more robust if team P:K:D distributions are also factored in here. In the end, the result is a value that can be set to filter off servers in the browser window that are showing evidence of stacking. If done properly, this will encourage admins to monitor fair play on their servers.
3. Competitive, casual, and open servers
Is there a way to determine at a particular time via recent server stats if a server's player base is more competitive, casual, or perhaps inexperienced? I think there may be a way. For example, in NS1, competitive play usually follows a very rigid format in terms of time spent per round - usually under 15 minutes. I think there may be other statistical signatures that can distinguish different server types if the developers ran some stats in beta testing on games between experienced FPS gamers versus games between casual gamers. The idea is to find an expression for server "skill" based on as few statistical variables as possible. Personally, I think it may be a combination of average time-per-round, mean total kills per minute per round, and mean points:kills ratios (if assists are accounted for, which will give an indication of where teamwork is taking place). Once these signatures are established, the player can adjust his server browser to filter out undesirable server skill levels.
As you can see, the idea is to use stats in a way that enables the player to find servers that fit his criteria. With a short tutorial and maybe a "server filtering wizard", it would be possible to make the filtering process fairly straightforward or even automatic.
<i>Enhanced Reserved Slot Systems and Server Info/Ratings</i>
The original topic by Firewater is <a href="http://unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=104062" target="_blank">here</a>. In addition to reserved slot servers and server icons, why not let server info be more customizable? The admin can fill out a short survey that defines his idea of what his server should be like. For example, he can rate his server from 1-5 for the importance of socialization, teamwork, fair play, etc - subjective criteria, right? But it does give a player a general idea of what the expectations in a server might be.
What if each unique steam_id gives the player an opportunity to rate their game experience (from 1-5) in that server for a particular day? In the end, we can have something like e-bay's seller ratings, showing a chart that indicates the % ratio of people voting in a particular range and the average. What's the point? Players who are browsing through their server list can filter for servers that meet a certain rating requirement.
<i>Debriefing</i>
Based on a player's performance, an optional feature could be one that gives the player a summary of what roles they played over the course of an NS2 session (stats included on P:K:D, wins and losses), what servers they played on, and how successful they were overall. Then, recommendations could be made about where a player could improve, which servers may be more/less challenging (based on stats mentioned earlier), and so on. This feature will serve to inform players as to how to improve their NS2 experience and I think it would add a touch of class to the game if it were ever developed.
I know that not all of these ideas are perfectly sound and might have flaws that need to be fixed. However, the idea is to leave choice open to the player and foster autonomy rather than assuming that limiting the player to certain servers will solve problems. If we're going to promote matchmaking, let's do it in a way that is inclusive rather than exclusive.
Comments
That said though, it seems like you've put a fair amount of thought into this. I like it.
Therefore, I would give a cautious approval to the idea of easier-to-generate Server Stats, and an enchanced RSlot System. Votes are an interesting idea, but open to possible abuse with regards to people voting negatives as a form of protest/harassment. A big problem for servers targeting a specific section of the community, all the moreso if that section is vastly outnumbered (perhaps a group of friends, or a top tier server).
I like the suggestions, but we need to flesh them out more specifically. Should this be addressed in the individual threads, or do we try and unite them here?
Right now we already have discussion being raised between the use of statistics and the use of player voting to rank servers, so this topic would go in two different directions. I support creating separate topics for these two discussions while posting new matchmaking ideas here. The common goal is still to improve matchmaking by taking out some of the guesswork a player has to do in order to find a server that fits his needs.