I hate what video games have become

Re:I hate what video games have become by madrox on Monday March 28, 2022 @08:00PM (#30837050)

Arguably Rocket League does need to be a viable live service game. Without a sufficient player base, there's not enough for consistent match making...or you get matched to players far outside your skill level. Neither experience is good. Titanfall 2 is a good general example of attempting what you describe. As many have pointed out, that simply doesn't fly anymore. Quake 3 was over twenty years ago.

There are many different attempts at business models in games. Splitgate started with your suggestion and has since gone free to play. Numerous MMOs have tried subscriptions and have gone free to play. It's a sad state of affairs, but for every successful Minecraft, Stardew, or Valheim, there's thousands of failed attempts.

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Re:I hate what video games have become by badsectoracula on Tuesday March 29, 2022 @11:29AM (#30843893)

You can still run a master/default server (i'm repeating the same reply to everyone because it seems everyone has the assumption that providing a server executable means the game doesn't get to provide one or something).

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Re:I hate what video games have become by madrox on Wednesday March 30, 2022 @06:44PM (#30861758)

I'm not sure I understand how providing a means to run your own server solves all these issues. Foremost in my mind is how you ensure competitive integrity when you can no longer trust all the servers. However, that's a bit beside the point.

The point I'm trying to make is that these things have been tried by one game or another, and there's good reasons why the "run your own server" model died for the most popular games. Ignoring that is, I think, discarding a lot of historical evidence and nuance against blanket "why don't they just do X" arguments.

If there's a better way, it won't be a return to the past. It will be something new that no one has thought of yet.

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