Fans are making an interesting demand for Call of Duty Warzone 2 to Activision. The thing is, it’s not an unreasonable request.
They think Activision should punish players who quit on their teams while they’re still playing. It’s something that other live service games already use to good effect, and it’s something gamers are already used to in other games as well.
What they are specifically looking for is a five minute matchmaking ban, where players have no choice but to wait until the five minutes are up before they start playing again.
Of course, players who quit are a problem that can be present in every live service game, for games as different as Tekken 7, Splatoon, and Rocket League. While there are cases where people do not choose to quit, but leave the servers due to technical issues, it is a common frustration for players to have someone with them in a lobby who doesn’t like losing, and drops out of a game just because they don’t want to have a loss on their record.
The five minute matchmaking ban is a good solution for both situations. Trigger happy players who don’t care about ruining the game for others will be forcibly disciplined by such a ban system, so that either they stop misbehaving and allow themselves to lose, so everyone has a better time, and maybe they can learn to actually play.
On the other hand, players who have technical issues should probably be limited from affecting other people’s games too often. In this situation, it really shouldn’t be thought of as a penalty for the player that keeps getting disconnected, so much as it is a safeguard for matchmaking, and a QOL improvement for most players overall.
Now, just a few days ago, Call of Duty: Warzone 2‘s sibling game Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 had its beta. That beta had a huge problem with cheaters, that Infinity Ward claims has given them valuable data to improve their anti cheat system Ricochet. Ricochet could also implement a system that gives out five minute matchmaking bans too. Activision could implement through the different games they have coming out now and in the near future.
This boils down to a fundamental concern in competitive games, both online and offline. While it may feel good to ‘punish’ a cheater, it may be more important to keep the games enjoyable for everyone. There can of course be other punishments for people who quit, that may fit the different anti cheat systems and rules that Ricochet is already set up for and enforces. However, instead of improving the game by chasing cheaters away in a roundabout way, Activision can also enforce rules that focus on other priorities. In this case, the players just want to keep playing and loving it.
Call of Duty: Warzone 2 will launch on November 16, 2022. It will be available to play on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC via Steam and Battle.net.
Source: Dexerto