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Sidemen streamer Vikkstar has shared his thoughts about skill-based matchmaking in Call Of Duty.
Skill-based matchmaking, a function that automatically pairs players of similar skill and experiences together, is a controversial issue within the Call Of Duty community.
- READ MORE: ‘Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’ review: top-notch production can’t mask its problematic politics
It’s designed to give everyone – from novices to pros – a similar experience with the game, however it’s also been criticised for being applied unfairly and making some players feel like they aren’t making any progress. Because players constantly link up with players of a similar skill level, as they get better, so do their opponents.
As EuroGamer reported, at the start of October Call Of Duty fans even had skill-based matchmaking trending on Twitter while they deliberately killed themselves in-game to get in to easier lobbies.
Now Vikkstar has provided his take on the debate. “I totally understand why the developers are putting it in the game,” Vikkstar told the CharlieIntel podcast. “If you’ve got more novice players, they’re going to enjoy the game more playing against other novice players, and that is the majority of the playerbase,” he said.
“I don’t like it, it hinders content creation."
What’s the fix for SBMM in #Warzone?
CI Podcast #10 w/ @Vikkstar123 | Presented by @Xfinity: https://t.co/UxZRt3OFNl pic.twitter.com/9pQziQy4Mq
— Call of Duty News (@charlieINTEL) November 21, 2020
While Vikkstar does play competitive Call Of Duty, he also produces entertainment streams, and said that skill-based matchmaking hampers that creation. “From the perspective of my audience, they don’t truly see any difference between my lobbies and their lobbies,” he said.
He added that a more ranked system where players would get a symbol or score to show their ability would go some way in providing an incentive for top players to compete in skill-based matchmaking.
Vikkstar’s content often contains novelty challenges, such as trying to win Warzone with only vehicular kills or only crossbow kills. It’s something, Vikkstar said, that gets much more difficult with Call Of Duty’s skill-based matchmaking.
“I was doing a lot of fun challenges at the start of Warzone, and that was really fun. But now, for the past few months on Warzone, if you don’t use the most meta weapons, you do not stand a chance of winning. I’ve been there sometimes for six or seven hours, trying to win with pistols only, for example,” he said.
Earlier this month, the launch of Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War on Xbox Series X/S saw record-breaking internet usage in the UK as players downloaded it en masse.
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