(Of the victims)
Everything under the sun has been said about Leagues, and how the level of entertainment it provides ranges between watching a child who refuses to blow their nose insist on rambling at you, an inch from your face, with a glisten trailing down their lip, and the sensation of nails scratching against a chalkboard while you beat your head against said chalkboard.
The mechanical problems of divisions, pips, MMR, class (im)balance, etc, have been detailed and reiterated and seconded and third-ed and forty-fourth-ed. So I’m not gonna discuss that.
I’m no expert really. I have some remarks and suggestions but it’s possible there are major holes in them I haven’t noticed.
But something has really struck me about leagues: how its dynamics of reward and punishment reward dishonorable behavior and punish honorable behavior, in such a way as to specifically cultivate feelings of distrust and dissatisfaction among honorable players, and do disservice to dishonorable ones by denying them any right to a reputation of preeminence even upon achieving victory.
I’ll explain.
Reward and Punishment
The pip system awards or detracts between 0 and 3 pips. According to the system as it is now, and as it seems to have been intended by design, how do you gain pips (reward)?
You can gain pips by beating an equal or “superior” team.
You can gain pips by losing to a “superior” team.
How do you lose pips (punishment)?
You can lose pips by beating a “superior” team (in numbers, if you have a DC)
You can lose pips by losing to another team.
How do you gain/lose zero pips (neither reward nor punishment)?
You can gain zero pips by beating an “inferior” team.
You can lose zero pips by losing against a “superior” team.
Do you notice a pattern here? With every match, the possibility of reward or punishment is completely inconsistent with your level of ability. It’s just as much determined by circumstances beyond your control. As one player you cannot control:
What team you are paired against (superior or inferior, determining whether you stand to gain reward without punishment, or punishment without reward)
What members of your team disconnect
And outside of a full party, you cannot influence in any way the level of ability of your other teammates (even in a party, you are completely at the mercy of others’ skills).
In this system, a player or group of players engaged in the leagues, playing as it is meant to be played, from the beginning, soloQ or with a group of people they know, are at a severe disadvantage. They might gain pips, lose pips, or gain/lose nothing at all. For playing consistently, they can receive a completely inconsistent set of rewards, punishments, and non-reward/punishments.
However, one way to achieve certainty is to put yourself in a position of dishonor, by confusing the system itself, via throwing games or by including lower-ranked people in your party.
By this means you can reliably face groups with a lower skill level than your own while being considered “equal” by the MMR system, guaranteeing a pip gain in the event of a win. This is obviously a superior course to the honorable, “intended” reward/punishment system which is completely inconsistent.
Incidentally, the practice of inconsistently rewarding or punishing the same behavior is a tactic employed in methods of mind control. Obviously this isn’t deliberate on GW2’s part (or at least I hope it isn’t), but this tactic is used to generate feelings of inferiority, hopelessness, and self doubt.
I’m not sure what is intended by the pip system, but regardless of the intentions, it is clearly generating the emotions produced by similar systems used elsewhere. Levels of dissatisfaction, frustration, and discontent are very high.
But, I mean, come on. This is a kittening videogame. This is playable content that is advertised to everyone, loudly and repeatedly. Why is it set up in this way?
