Pro or Con? - Regional Matchmaking

[Paragon-Yoshi]

I have been thinking about a series of topics, called "Pro or Con".
Where we have one subject and then you decide "Pro" or "Contra".
And discuss.

The goal is to have as much insight to both sides, both Pro and Con, as possible.
Comparing argument for and against a thing.


This time we talk about something that has already been talked about a lot, but what the heck, let's do it one more time.
Regional Matchmaking
This is something that seems to have quite a balance of Pro and Contra, as far as I have seen.

Personally, I say "Pro"!
Mainly because of, you guessed it, asian players.
My personal experience with them wasn't really great.
Most of the time they lag like crazy or destroy me with their uber-skills.
(Although you could also blame the matchmaking in general for the latter)

Yes, I know not all japanese players lag or have uber-skills and players from the same region as me tend to lag as well.
And it's true.
However, from my personal experience, japanese players definitely lag more often.
For obvious reasons.

Note that I am german and thus in the EU region.


And Splatfests so far, were perfect evidence to me that Regional Matchmaking can work.
I have seen many people having bad experiences with Splatfest, when it comes to finding people.
But for me, it has been the exact opposite.
I had positive experiences with the Splatfest matchmaking, ever since the August update.
Compared to normal Turf Wars, I have a much better and more balanced time during Splatfests.


NOTE: That I would only vouch for Regional Matchmaking AS AN OPTION, Not as a forced thing!
And also, yes, Splatfests do take longer to find people, that should be expected.
But personally, I didn't have to wait that much longer.
Plus, the whole Region is split into two teams.
So the game not only has to fill the room with 8 people, it has to split it into two teams as well, keeping the team choices of the players in mind.
Which obviously adds to the time you need to be matched up.

But with the team thing gone, I can imagine filling up a room in regional matchmaking, would go much smoother, tho obviously still take a bit longer, than worldwide.
But again, that is to be expected.
The choice is yours to make!


As an alternative, I can also imagine alternative matchmaking,that first matches you with people from the same region.
And if it just can't find enough people to fill the room from your region alone, it will fill the rest with people from other regions.

But that is just me.
What about you?

 

[Vitezen]

The only pro I can understand for regional matchmaking is reduced lag. I don't really care who I'm playing with or against when I'm with randoms. If you're having trouble with the skill level of players from other regions, that's something you need to deal with on your end.

 

[Noire]

For now, I'll say con.

Splatfest is an example of what the servers will be like in a regional match, and the horrid Matchmaking will still put me against high level players. If the lagging stops in Splatfest, maybe then the game is better suited for regional servers but not right now. I kinda also like the fact that there's players waiting to fight you no matter what time you play the game at. Regional would kinda hurt that a little.

 

[LMG]

Honestly I don't really mind playing against enemies overseas as long as there's as little lag as possible. Like @Vitezen said, I think the only pro would be the chance for less lag (it's not guranteed that you won't have to deal with someone with an insanely slow connection from time to time), and the con would be the potential for increased search times for matches (during Splatfests it's not as bad because... well, it's a Splatfest and everyone wants to get Super Sea Snails, but on normal work days the population could reach critically low levels at certain times). If anything, make the matchmaker look for players within your region first and afterwards expand the search to other regions

 

[chrisblass1]

Pro. I can match the asian players in skill, but when they start lag killing me its a whole new story.

 

[Reila]

Obviously a pro. I don't know why anyone would be against it. Make three regions for the game:

Asia
Europe
America (Both North and South)

Fairly confident there would be enough players in each region for the game to not take 2 minutes to find matches.

 

[Airi]

I would definitely like to see Nintendo implement a regional option for matchmaking. It would be nice for people to be able to choose regional matchmaking if they didn't want to play internationally. It would help people who suffer a lot of lag and would help those who simply don't like playing with Japanese players for whatever reason. It would be nice to have overall. I know a lot of Japanese players would appreciate it to. Some Japanese players are just like foreign players: they don't want to play with you as much as you don't want to play with them. So it would really help out these types of people from everywhere, you know?

Personally, I probably would still use international though. I don't experience much lag with Japanese players and I don't mind playing with them. I actually kind of enjoy playing with Japanese players because, overall, they're more supportive than EU and NA players I'm finding. I've been practicing with chargers and it's fairly obvious that I'm still learning. Many Japanese players I've been matched up with have said "booyah" when they see me actually successfully splat someone. It's a nice confidence boost that I don't really get from NA or EU players haha. ^.^"

But it would definitely be a pro for the game to have regional for those who want it.

 

[Mateiüsthesquidwarrior]

I personally prefer worldwide matchmaking in general, but it seems reasonable for the game to have a regional match option as well.

Kind of like how MK8 has both a worldwide, and a regional option.

 

[Elecmaw]

Pro, definetly. It's debatable if it's still useful to add Regional to the game what with splatoon being on it's way out for other nintendo titles, but i'd still love to see it.

Even if you keep in mind that you'll have less players to work with, i'll still take that over seeing enemies swimming in my own ink. Stopping them dead in their tracks by inking their feet is useless now because people lag too much for it to have an instant effect. I also hate getting shot by chargers when i'm directly behind a wall, or get splatted by an Inkzooka which flew several kilometers next to me.

 

[Demonic Labrys]

Pro cause I have played against Japanese players and I really needed to step up in ranked battles
But it annoys me when I get splatted for no reason like a kraken far away and I still get killed by it and the 6 or 7 of the same abilities that I see
But it should be an option to either have regional on or off

 

[Brunosky_Inc]

I posted my thoughts about this on another thread a little while ago.

In short, I'm against it. In an ideal world, the dynamics of matchmaking wouldn't change much. However, the reality is far from that. Here are my posts with my reasoning behind this:

Regarding regional matchmaking, I honestly think it'd be a terrible idea. My most ridiculous lag experiences have been during Splatfests, which are regional; and that would also mean the game would have less people to match up with. Since matches only starts when 8 players are on the lobby, having games not start because of a lack of players on one regional area at one time would be terrible for the game.

I'd much rather have global matchmaking than regional matchmaking with less potential players and hours where matchmaking would be almost impossible.

Regional matchmaking would be optional, not the only option though ;)

That'd still divide the player base, increasing the time necessary to fill a lobby on a global scale. This isn't like Mario Kart where you can have incomplete lobby games. If one of the regions doesn't let you fill a lobby your only chance would be global matchmaking, where you'll still run into trouble since now people in other regions are divided between regional and global matchmakers.

----

When i was playing splatfest it only took a few seconds extra to find games. Might be because a lot of people are active during splatfest, but i'd still love to play regional matchmaking.

Splatfests are events out of the ordinary. They take place during the weekends, which is naturally when more players are available, and by their very nature they attract more players than usual. Splatfests are far from being representative of what would happen during valley hours in player count when you include regional matchmaking.

Besides, regional matchmaking would divide the playerbase in more ways. Japanese players are numerous and close to each other, so it's highly likely a huge number of them would stick to regional since it'd just be so much better, thus taking a huge chunk of global players out of the picture.

Europe is also relatively close knit, but there are less overall players. It's likely regional matchmaking would work like a charm... when it actually manages to find enough players in reasonable timeframes, that is.

America... oh boy, America. That place is huge, and with a particularly high concentration of potato connections (dumb monopolies in the US, a respectable number less developed countries in Central and South America). As I said, Splatfests have been the times I've faced my most ridiculous cases of lag during my playtime, and without a really significant increase in game performace. You would now have regional matches with the same ocassional hickups and significant downtimes, or global matchmaking where a good chunk of the playerbase is sticking to their regional matchmaking. Not a good experience overall.

 

[LockeExile]

People complain that Tri Force Heroes doesn't have global. People complain that Splatoon doesn't have regional.

Regarding playing with "superior" Japanese players ... that's fixed by improved matchmaking. If the Japanese players you're being matched with are honestly better on average than the Western players you're being matched with (which I doubt), then somehow the Japanese players are getting a lower MMR. This is resolved by fixing MMR, not by segregating the player base.

(Do you honestly believe that they allow Western players to climb ranks more easily than Japanese players such that the Japanese players in each rank are better than the Western players in the same rank?)

 

[Demonic Labrys]

True I don't mind fighting against good Japanese players cause it helps me improve as well

 

[Noire]

The Japanese are really strong, but I'm really bad. I'll maybe jump online in a day or two and start removing myself from online anxiety and face them like a man. At least they don't lag unlike those Dial-Up connections I seem to think some Americans have. I hope the Matchmaking will be on my side, but it usually isn't.

 

[Brunosky_Inc]

We're not saying "Get rid of International!" We just would like another server option. There should be a worldwide and regional servers for turf and ranked. It makes everyone happy. There is no reason to not have one without the other. I mean Mario Kart 8 has that, why not this game?

And on the fear of not finding players on a certain server. That will happen in any online game that's not new. There will be a time where it'll take awhile to start a room. You can't prevent that in any game. That is one of the flaws of Online Gaming.

That's one of those things that sounds good on paper but it's unlikely to work in practice. Going back to my previous post:

Regional matchmaking would divide the playerbase in more ways. Japanese players are numerous and close to each other, so it's highly likely a huge number of them would stick to regional since it'd just be so much better, thus taking a huge chunk of global players out of the picture.

Europe is also relatively close knit, but there are less overall players. It's likely regional matchmaking would work like a charm... when it actually manages to find enough players in reasonable timeframes, that is.

America... oh boy, America. That place is huge, and with a particularly high concentration of potato connections (dumb monopolies in the US, a respectable number less developed countries in Central and South America). As I said, Splatfests have been the times I've faced my most ridiculous cases of lag during my playtime, and without a really significant increase in game performace. You would now have regional matches with the same ocassional hickups and significant downtimes, or global matchmaking where a good chunk of the playerbase is sticking to their regional matchmaking. Not a good experience overall.

 

[Noire]

That's one of those things that sounds good on paper but it's unlikely to work in practice. Going back to my previous post:

Regional matchmaking would divide the playerbase in more ways. Japanese players are numerous and close to each other, so it's highly likely a huge number of them would stick to regional since it'd just be so much better, thus taking a huge chunk of global players out of the picture.

Europe is also relatively close knit, but there are less overall players. It's likely regional matchmaking would work like a charm... when it actually manages to find enough players in reasonable timeframes, that is.

America... oh boy, America. That place is huge, and with a particularly high concentration of potato connections (dumb monopolies in the US, a respectable number less developed countries in Central and South America). As I said, Splatfests have been the times I've faced my most ridiculous cases of lag during my playtime, and without a really significant increase in game performace. You would now have regional matches with the same ocassional hickups and significant downtimes, or global matchmaking where a good chunk of the playerbase is sticking to their regional matchmaking. Not a good experience overall.

Sadly, you're right. While there are a lot of Japanese players, there aren't as much Americans and Europeans as the amount of Japanese, which means less opponents to fight in Worldwide. If there were regional, the Japanese would play each other exclusively and leave us with the scraps.

 

[Platinum Inkling]

I'm gonna say con. It would take way too long to find people (I remember how awful it was during the Japan splatfest). I don't mind playing with Japanese people, it's not just them that lag anyway. I'd rather play with them (even though they out play me in every way) than wait a while longer for people. Even if it was just a mode, it would take people away from the international mode, making it even worse. Maybe later on, when Splatoon has grown and it gets more games and a bigger fanbase. There's a reason Mario Kart 8 has it, because Mario Kart 8 is part of a huge franchise, which has a huge fanbase. Give it time, someday it would be great to have. But today, it would just make it slower for everyone.

 

[Brunosky_Inc]

It's already not a good experience getting owned by the Japanese who prey on low skilled people such as myself. I have an easier time with Americans, and I would be less likely to find a higher leveled player. Why do you think I play Single Player exclusively? The online is too frustrating for me getting paired with level 40-50s every match most being Japanese. On top of that, I'm level 13, and it shows. So I'm expected to get beaten over and over again from the Japanese just to be to on equal foot with them instead of slowing building up my skill with people of my level? I didn't get to start the game when everyone was the same level at launch. I came too late and it looks like I missed the train from what you're telling me.

Don't fall in that classic logic trap. Overleveled, overskilled, 360 noscope players are not an exclusively Japanese resource, and neither are low-level players a western export. You would go from overleveled lobbies with names you can't understand to overleveled lobbies with names you can understand and that take longer to fill themselves.

Yes. Regional servers would divide the playerbase. But the entire argument is void when another Nintendo game on this very same system offers the option for both and you don't see anyone complain there!

Again, going back to my previous post:

This isn't like Mario Kart where you can have incomplete lobby games (and have the lobby fill with partially more people while you play). If one of the regions doesn't let you fill a lobby your only chance would be global matchmaking, where you'll still run into trouble since now people in other regions are divided between regional and global matchmakers.

And the online will have less players over the course of this game's life. This is a fact.

I fail to see how that justifies accelerating the inevitable.

 

[Helio]

I kind of wish people would stop thinking the japanese players are any different than Americans. If they are so good they will rank up, or you are too high of rank and lose till you become your level.

If they are God-like than your problem is with people smurfing not with Japanese players. I was watching twitch the other day and two of them were smurfing to S. I've seen level 5 in turf wars get 28 kills while inking 1200.

Smurfing=making new account to smite lower level players.

Everyone thinks everyone else has a better connection, and it is lag not skill that kills them. That being said lag does happen and people closer to server have less lag. Id guess it's not affecting people as much as they think though. And yes I am old enough to have played Quake with a T3 account and watch other players suffer through lag and move like jumpy robots, while I shadowed behind them.

 

[Airi]

To be quite honest, someone's level doesn't really say much about their skill level. Some level 40 to 50 players I've encountered are so bad at the game that I honestly wonder how they got to such a high level - and most of those people were Japanese. But I play late at night so like 75% of people I play with are Japanese. This is also a discussion for a different thread though. xP

More on topic... I can understand the concerns over regional dividing the userbase of Splatoon. Being frank... Splatoon isn't actually all that big in the U.S and Europe. Yes, it did sell fairly well overseas but our player base is nothing compared to Japan's. We see so many Japanese players because the game is huge in Japan and it really took off. Meanwhile in the U.S and Europe, we still have people slamming the game without even giving it a shot simply because it's from "kid company" Nintendo. Right now, it is a bit of a gamble to have regional servers since we don't know how well the game will do player-wise in foreign countries.

I don't think it's too much of a concern with Japanese players no longer wanting to play international though. Yes, there are Japanese players who would choose regional only if given the option. There are a lot of players who hate foreign players enough to throw matches just to chase off said foreigner (I've had it happen to me where it was obvious they were deliberately throwing the match).

But this is the same for any country.

The Japanese aren't any different from us. Some of them are skilled and some of them are - trying to be nice here - not very skilled. Some foreigners are skilled and some of us are not. Some Japanese people would prefer not playing with foreigners and some foreigners would prefer not playing with Japanese people. Many Japanese people would continue to play international because a lot of them don't mind. From what I've seen online, a lot of Japanese players actually like playing with foreigners. The amount of Japanese players who hate on foreigners is very small. Frankly, foreigners seem to hate on the Japanese more than they hate on us.

Lag will happen regardless. I've actually experienced more lag with other NA and EU players than I have with Japanese players.