Halo 1 & 2 for PC
This topic has moved here: Subject: Matchmaking: A Possible Answer to Halo: Combat Evolved PC's Dec...
  • Subject: Matchmaking: A Possible Answer to Halo: Combat Evolved PC's Dec...
Subject: Matchmaking: A Possible Answer to Halo: Combat Evolved PC's Dec...

Something smells fishy...

I'll admit I did not buy Halo: Combat Evolved the year it hit the shelves in 2003. I bought the game in 2007. But I wasn't exactly young in 2003. I was 14. So I remember (pretty well) other kids playing Halo: Combat Evolved PC online.

I played Halo: Combat Evolved PC multiplayer a lot in 2007 and have continued to play it on a regular basis.

Recently, I noticed there was a significant amount of vacant servers. There were always vacant servers but currently it seems the amount of vacant servers have increased. There were so many vacant servers it's like the accumulation of junk and debris around Earth. The servers just hang around like unwanted space junk.

There were less people playing Halo: Combat Evolved PC online multiplayer then there used to be. Therefore the lack of player activity was the primary cause of vacant servers. The servers that were at one point more active suffered a decrease in player activity also.

I felt sad when I thought how Halo: Combat Evolved PC will probably be ancient history 10 years or less from now. So I decided to ponder what could solve the vacant server problem in Halo: Combat Evolved PC. I came to the conclusion that multiplayer could benefit from a matchmaking system instead of dedicated servers. It could be a matchmaking system similar to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Of course I know that this will never happen. But if it did happen the current situation might be greatly improved upon.






[Edited on 11.04.2010 3:32 PM PDT]

  • 11.04.2010 3:30 PM PDT

Grenades are like RAM, you can never have too much

Interesting theory but usually vacant servers are vacant because

A) the owner bought a one year package from gameservers or another hosting site and since then has moved on to other games or the clan that owns the server split up
B) the server was owned locally and is just ignored by its owner because his interest or clan is dead.
C)the admins/maps/mods are disliked and therefore its ignored

people play on select servers because they are usually the best in their opinion and ignore others because they are the worst, a matchmaking system would just spread people out or force them to play on crappy brazilian servers


...HUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUAHUEHUAHUEHUEHUA

  • 11.04.2010 8:37 PM PDT

Xfire username: rustbandit

Add me to your friends list if you haven't already. It's a lot more fun to play with people from The Maw and people I know than random noobs.

I don't think adding matchmaking features would help increase the population. PC gamers have never really cared for matchmaking systems anyway. Matchmaking tends to over complicate things, in my opinion.

I can still find decent games online when I go on to play. The game's population will decrease over time, that's just how it is.

  • 11.04.2010 8:38 PM PDT

Something smells fishy...

Posted by: RustBandit
I don't think adding matchmaking features would help increase the population. PC gamers have never really cared for matchmaking systems anyway. Matchmaking tends to over complicate things, in my opinion.

I can still find decent games online when I go on to play. The game's population will decrease over time, that's just how it is.

Yes I agree that adding matchmaking features would not increase the population. But it might bring the current population closer together. Players would be able to meet who have not met before.

I believe the decrease of population size is causing the population to polarize. Players tend to play on servers that they are familiar with; thus polarization. So if matchmaking becomes an integral part of Halo: Combat Evolved PC then the population could consolidate.

This is all really hypothetical. I don't believe matchmaking will become an integral part of Halo: Combat Evolved PC. I just like contemplating the many possibilities of how things could be different.

Rough draft: list of hypothetical matchmaking features
1) The ability to select game variants.
- Select map
- Select game type (Slayer, CTF, King...etc.)
- Select weapon set (Classic, normal, Human...etc.)
- Select grenade set (Normal or Infinite)
- Select vehicles to be available (Warthog(s), Banshee(s), Tank(s)...etc.)
2) Instant message style chat.
3) Voice chat.





  • 11.04.2010 10:51 PM PDT

This is the average H2 Fanboy.
Xfire: JacobGRocks.
50 in H2/H3? Great, but you still fail at this.

Matchmaking is a poor idea, especially the implementation bungie uses. Just pop in Halo 3, and try to matchmake today. H2X was the same way right before the shutdown. And many people threatened to boycott mw2 pc because it used matchmaking (even though they went ahead and bought it anyway.)

And most of the Halo CE population plays Version 1.00, since it's easy to pirate with the no key trick and pirated keys.

[Edited on 11.05.2010 6:13 AM PDT]

  • 11.05.2010 6:12 AM PDT

Posted by: Nessy

The bungie.net community is the halo PC community that is renowned for being unbelieveably sucky.

I believe there is literally only 1 person responsible for updating Halo PC anymore (Sawnose) and I highly doubt that he is going to touch this game ever again. Creating a matchmaking system would be quite the project for a team of coders, let alone 1 person.

Also, Halo PC's strongest attribute is dedicated servers. Long live dedicated servers.

  • 11.05.2010 2:07 PM PDT
  •  | 
  • Exalted Legendary Member
  • gamertag: Btcc22
  • user homepage:

I could quite likely cobble a half decent matchmaking system together in a couple of weeks with a few alterations to existing tools.

Having said that though, I still have the next incarnation of Halo Anticheat to get done. Perhaps I'll take a look once that's done as a little fun project.

  • 11.05.2010 2:13 PM PDT

Posted by: Nessy

The bungie.net community is the halo PC community that is renowned for being unbelieveably sucky.

No one is cheating anymore in Halo PC.

  • 11.05.2010 2:45 PM PDT
  •  | 
  • Exalted Legendary Member
  • gamertag: Btcc22
  • user homepage:

I'll take your word for it then. Thanks!

Besides, it's far from just being about cheating.

  • 11.05.2010 3:21 PM PDT

Something smells fishy...

The matchmaking idea is really just hypothetical. Sometimes I enjoy contemplating about things that probably will not happen.

I always find it interesting to view things from the standpoint of "what if." You know like "what if" statements.

Example: "What if matchmaking improves the Halo: Combat Evolved PC multiplayer experience."

  • 11.08.2010 5:36 AM PDT

E4web

Posted by: JacobGRocks
And most of the Halo CE population plays Version 1.00, since it's easy to pirate with the no key trick and pirated keys.


This is why I use the version changer. I never fail to find a game.

  • 11.10.2010 4:17 AM PDT

My Youtube - Halo 2 Online Co-op
BUNGIE AND MICROSOFT FAILS HALO 2 VISTA.

Everytime someone buys a copy of Halo 2 Vista, a puppy dies.

Matchmaking is a bad idea.

You've got a useful game browser, which displays pings, and can dynamically update them when you select a server.

There are also filters, some are redundant, and some are most useful.
filter out games that are over 50ms. :D

  • 11.10.2010 4:55 AM PDT
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  • Elder Heroic Member

Join the Modacity Forums - a community focusing on the modding abilities of Halo PC, Halo CE, and Halo 2 PC.

If people are happy playing on their favorite servers, then let them be. Why are you forcing them to do something they don't? The whole beauty of dedicated servers is that players have freedom to choose where and for how long they want to play. Matchmaking sucks ass for that very reason. The decrease in population is not due to players sticking to one server - it's because the game is SEVEN YEARS OLD, and there's been tons of new games that have come out since Halo PC's release, each taking away from the game's population. Please keep matchmaking out of all PC games. It's insulting to even consider it.

If anything, matchmaking is more of a deterrent to smaller populations because it needs to find a full party of people who are currently searching for a game. Even if you manage to find a party, you're still not guaranteed you are going to get the map or gametype you really want to play.

If your rationale is that people are leaving because they don't want to play on different servers, would you call the decline in Reach's population since launch on the fact that it has matchmaking, therefore it should have dedicated servers?

  • 11.10.2010 12:29 PM PDT

Something smells fishy...

The population of Halo: Combat Evolved PC is in decline.

The point of this thread is to initiate conversation about hypothetical ways of combating polarization due to population decline in the Halo: Combat Evolved PC community.
-Sorry I wasn't very clear before-

I believe the Halo CE PC community tends to polarize. Players in the community, in my opinion, tend to gravitate towards the servers they normally enjoy playing on.

I know that the decline in population is essentially due to the fact that the game is old. I also know that matchmaking will not become a part of Halo: Combat Evolved PC. I also don't want it to become part of the game. I was just contemplating what could bring the Halo Community closer together.

  • 11.10.2010 6:51 PM PDT