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William is a smart dude. And I've been thinking about this stuff wrt Tekken a lot.
As time goes on I think the way this game is designed is giving people a complex. In particular, ranked mode is an absolute disease. It couldn't be more harmful if it was designed to be. https://twitter.com/williampietri/status/1359893867118555143
As time goes on I think the way this game is designed is giving people a complex. In particular, ranked mode is an absolute disease. It couldn't be more harmful if it was designed to be. https://twitter.com/williampietri/status/1359893867118555143
There's a kind of personal drive into the digital addiction that William describes, but games _absolutely_ help you get there.
Game developers are given a ton of space, rent-free, in all of our heads. Some of them (hi Valve) literally hire psychologists.
Game developers are given a ton of space, rent-free, in all of our heads. Some of them (hi Valve) literally hire psychologists.
Tekken does almost everything it can to mentally ensnare players, particularly high-competition players but also schmoes like me, in a system that
1) make you feel bad, and
2) channels those bad feelings into further play.
1) make you feel bad, and
2) channels those bad feelings into further play.
For a while I was only playing quick match, instead of ranked. @AED_TKN and I have both been re-ranking accounts, kind of a "core sample" of players as we go up, and...yeah.
This game is full of sad and angry players trapped in that purple-blue space and it SHOWS.
This game is full of sad and angry players trapped in that purple-blue space and it SHOWS.
Most people call purple/blue "the start of real Tekken", and the way the score system changes there definitely means there's a large pool of people who can't climb from there. I've been sitting in there for years, when playing ranked.
And that's fine; that's not the toxic part.
And that's fine; that's not the toxic part.
The matchmaking isn't very good. Some of this is historical FGC jank, but because of the way that high-level players start in purple ranks, at any given time you might just get bopped by a Tekken God Prime slumming it on an alt account.
That feels unfair. that makes people mad.
That feels unfair. that makes people mad.
The way that rematching works means that there's an iterated metagame. We all see win-and-quit or even lose-as-quit players. When that happens, most players seem to get salty about that? FT1 takes a lot of thought and practice out.
And it feels unfair, and it makes people mad.
And it feels unfair, and it makes people mad.
The optimal strategy for winning _any one game_ in purple/blue, outside of being just too good to be playing in purple/blue, is to have a novel strategy that you can employ at full blast, win, and leave before the other player can possibly adapt.
This feels unfair, and...well.
This feels unfair, and...well.
(I am in many ways as guilty of this as anybody else. I play Hwoarang. I have my own share of jank and sometimes I blow people up in a 7 second round. But I rarely FT1 unless a connection sucks, ranked or no, so, enh. Half credit?)
But the trap is that this is the optimal way to win _one game_, not to, as say the kids, git gud.
The game encourages you to not be good by offering the short-term reward off of gimmicks that don't help with foundational understanding.
The game encourages you to not be good by offering the short-term reward off of gimmicks that don't help with foundational understanding.
Players don't understand this. I didn't until @AED_TKN pointed it out to me, and then it was obvious.
"I have 1K wins in blue and I'm hardstuck" yeah because you play like hell. (I still do play poorly. I am very bad at this game.)
"I have 1K wins in blue and I'm hardstuck" yeah because you play like hell. (I still do play poorly. I am very bad at this game.)
The swamp gets worse though? Because like...trying to git gud, trying to play a more positional and _coherent_ style of Tekken, almost guarantees you get bodied forever by the gimmick winquit stuff.
This feels unfair! And it makes players mad!
This feels unfair! And it makes players mad!
The part that feels malicious, though, is the way those bars filling makes people feel. It's the usual animal-instinct reward mechanism you see in most predatory games.
This may sound like I think Tekken 7 ranked is predatory. That would be correct. Its design reveals it.
This may sound like I think Tekken 7 ranked is predatory. That would be correct. Its design reveals it.
Because of the way ranks are discontinuous, it is easy to feel absolutely robbed in a FT3 where you lose 1, demote, and win 2 and are worse off than when you started. Or even more. The other day I lost 2 against a player who stuck around for a while. Then won 4. Down a rank.
This is unfair! And...it makes players mad.
I keep coming back to this because Tekken has a quality you see in particularly messed-up addiction loops: getting mad makes you grind harder. Because it feels achievable. It feels like getting over the hump is in sight.
I keep coming back to this because Tekken has a quality you see in particularly messed-up addiction loops: getting mad makes you grind harder. Because it feels achievable. It feels like getting over the hump is in sight.
I do think this is why half the Tekken ranked (also tournament, but that's a little different) players seem to be in some state of existential malaise most of the time. Like they don't act mad. It's a different kind of upset. They act forlorn, self-doubtful, they act *sad*.
That existential sadness is what happens when you're mad too long and you blow an emotional tire.
And it comes from this game, living rent free in our heads, making that stupid badly-considered rank-point bar a measure of some kind of self worth.
The mechanics behind Tekken God Omega are positively abusive, too.
The mechanics behind Tekken God Omega are positively abusive, too.
Internet shitheads always exist and will always exist. Granted. Absolutely granted.
But for real: should games be mechanically designed to _make more of them_?
Because Tekken feels like it is designed to make more of them.
I dislike this. I dislike supporting this.
But for real: should games be mechanically designed to _make more of them_?
Because Tekken feels like it is designed to make more of them.
I dislike this. I dislike supporting this.
So here are my takeaways:
Stop playing ranked. They can't fix it, or at least won't. It's bad for our brains. Stop playing ranked. You are letting it own your brain.
Many people, myself included, say "oh I don't care". We are all liars. We cringe at DEMOTION MATCH.
Opt out.
Stop playing ranked. They can't fix it, or at least won't. It's bad for our brains. Stop playing ranked. You are letting it own your brain.
Many people, myself included, say "oh I don't care". We are all liars. We cringe at DEMOTION MATCH.
Opt out.
Second: play more with people you know. The Your friends may not be "at the same skill level" but neither are the people matchmaking (ranked or quick) gives you.
I actually have trouble with this because playing people I know makes me feel bad, win or lose. But it seems right.
I actually have trouble with this because playing people I know makes me feel bad, win or lose. But it seems right.
That's pretty much what I've got. To enjoy Tekken and not to just chase a weird endorphin rush, I think that's what the overwhelming majority of the sadsack angry types lurking in the blue/purple swamp ought to do. Won't do, but should.
Anyway, here's my tl;dr:
Anyway, here's my tl;dr:
Actually one more thing--"but skill levels".
I learned way more deleting my save data and playing quick matches against 1st dans than I have learned in a year of blue/purple. I got better.
Playing blue/purple again undid that because I'm always panicked.
Food for thought.
I learned way more deleting my save data and playing quick matches against 1st dans than I have learned in a year of blue/purple. I got better.
Playing blue/purple again undid that because I'm always panicked.
Food for thought.
I _learned to sidestep_ by playing people who did not, with The Bar as their anxiety-inducing ally, act like they're here to win one and bail.
Playing in the blue/purple swamp again I immediately threw that all away.
It comes back in lobbies with friends, though.
Why?
Playing in the blue/purple swamp again I immediately threw that all away.
It comes back in lobbies with friends, though.
Why?
Also ALSO, last one: yes, much of this applies to any game. We all know this.
- Most games don't expose the treadmill so viciously.
- Tekken gives a player way, way, way more ways to fraud you out than most games.
- Most games have a healthier social presence? Less feedback.
- Most games don't expose the treadmill so viciously.
- Tekken gives a player way, way, way more ways to fraud you out than most games.
- Most games have a healthier social presence? Less feedback.
