@nex said in How exactly do we expect low rated players to play the game?:
I think having this as an option on the queue page would be great, so people that don't want any AI in their games can turn it off
But still get AI in their games?! Ewwww
This is all feeling a lot like 'players are scared of fighting humans'.
I honestly don't know how much worse it is for the US, but it's hard to imagine that you HAVE to fight AIs because there are no humans (wanting to play) online.
It feels more like this 'I'm not ready for ranked yet, I need to do 28 months more practice vs AI before I'm ready' stuff is the culprit.
(I say stuff - honestly, folks, I understand. I've been gaming online for decades, I get it. The cure, and it's a beautiful, comprehensive, joyful, hand-across-the-ocean, happy cure - is just losing some games vs people, ditching the fear, and joining the community! The more we lose, the easier games get!)
I'm in no way sure, but it really sounds like making people fight AI when they're finally queueing to fight humans is counter productive. You might be right though, maybe forcing that line to be blurred is the answer. If THAT is what it really takes to make these people start playing vs humans, then maybe some trickery is in order!
I personally wish I could help overcome the whole mindset that prompts people to think 'I'm not 'ready' to fight humans, but I want an AI that doesn't cheat, but that performs on a human expert level to 'practice' against.
Like, really, WHAT is the problem with fighting people similar to themselves?
I don't know whether it's people convinced that they are trash, or whether it's people obsessed with ONLY winning ~100% of games against humans!
Either way, it really feels like the 'problem' comes down to convincing people that playing against people is fun, rather than pandering to these weird mental blocks.
I say that, I don't fully understand all the nuances at play. I only know 'ladder anxiety', and what a HUGE proportion of gamers that it prevents from joining in and having fun with the rest of us.
This game seems like one of the very worst for 'ladder anxiety' ruining the experience of so many, and I wonder whether it's because FaF doesn't create a load of game modes (like the 'fake' unranked ladders that loads of other games implement!)
All that being said, I'm only offering my feelings. I could be massively wrong. I just really want people to play games - there are SO many of us that are kinda trash at the game, and so many great games in store if we just played one another instead of fighting the AI!