Balancing gameplay and maps toward the esports competitive scene is ruining FPS games for casual players looking to enjoy playing against each other.
When professional esports cause balance changes to occur, it can negatively impact the majority of a gaming community. By balancing games such as Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege on the performance of the top percentage of players, new and casual players are left struggling to learn new mechanics, play around nerfs or buffs, and try to enjoy the game through consistent changes. This is especially true for FPS games, or first-person shooters, as the skill gap between players just starting out and professionals at the top can cause more damage to the overall gameplay than it does to help.
For players just coming into the genre, first-person shooter games have evolved from a simpler time to a mechanically complex affair. The old-school style of FPS has become obsolete when compared to the dynamic combat of modern games. This creates a general pattern of expectation for the game style and requires more complex options while in a game’s match to defeat other players, even if it means a complete remaster to accomplish that. If something proves to be too effective by the elite players of the game, the feature will typically be adjusted or re-tuned to make it appropriately balanced for professional players, rather than for casual players.
The concept of ranking systems installed into these FPS games further harms player bases with its implications in esports. By introducing the concept of skill being equivalent to rank, a sense of elitism comes from hardcore gamers belittling and driving off players that do not meet the standard shown by the top percentage. It becomes a learned behavior to enforce that players to mimic and follow the top pro players in popular esports games like League of Legends, Overwatch, and Call of Duty – either to learn harder mechanics and forego being a casual player, or to drop the game to avoid the harassment that could come with being perceived as underskilled.
Further issues can also arise from esports being the main subject of balancing and becoming the sole identity of a game like Call of Duty. By allowing the top percentage of players to dictate the rules of the game, it removes individuality and creativity in favor of a perceived meta both in-game and in real life. Real-life examples signal out talent by giving unique offers for dedicated players, like scholarships being offered for top Smash Bros. players, further enforcing privileges. Once enjoyable tasks become tedious when they are tailored to what the pros have considered the strongest, the best, or the most effective way of doing something, such as with Overwatch team compositions and the adopted fashion of what the fanbase has come to believe is the best way of playing a match.
Balancing a game around esports ruins the experience for casual players at all levels. The disparity between skill in player ranks punishes players who don’t take the game to such hardcore standards. By making a game better for the competitive scene, it ruins the casual gameplay for new and returning players who haven’t reached that pinnacle of gameplay prowess yet. There should be a different division or mode to promote these skill levels, and that idea could become a stepping stone to allow for the two different skill groups to enjoy the same games together again.
Mai Vu is a hardcore gamer, tabletop player, and RPG enthusiast who enjoys spreading her knowledge, care and fun to others all around. She is an only child with a close relationship with her family and engages in new types of games all of the time to build her own beautiful worlds. Based in Tennessee, she strives to make a change and effort by reaching out to others and encouraging many to enjoy the world of tabletop gaming, PC gaming, and come together as a virtual family.
