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Kill/Death Ratio or KDR is a prime example of this. In the pursuit of higher KDR, some players can and have resorted to the following:
Hide and Shut Down. When they realize the battle is lost, some players hide and shut down, hoping the clock will run out before they're found and killed in order to protect their KDR. Other players sometimes have to wait 7 or more minutes for the match to end or the KDR hog to get killed. This would almost never happen if there was no KDR to protect.
Zombie-Style Swarming. This is when the team swarms around a lone enemy 'mech hoping to get the kill shot and end up shooting their teammates in the back. I've seen a teammate get teamkilled this way.
Kill Trolling. I've spectated this so I know it happens. Guy zips around the battlefield in a light 'mech looking for enemy 'mechs that are nearly dead. He spots one murdering his teammate and sees the enemy is still in somewhat good shape. Rather than save his teammate, he looks around and spots a weaponless enemy being hit and about to die then shoots that one instead hoping to land the killing blow and inflate his KDR (and ego) while doing only 1 to 5% of the damage.
Gaming the System. In the group queue, it's possible for a guild to have a "designated hitter" before they drop. Whenever possible, that's the guy who's supposed to land the killing blow. The guild can then advertise that they're elite because all their members have high KDR.
Teammates as Clay Pigeons. These guys basically wait while the two teams duke it out, then swoop in after their teammates take the bulk of the damage dished out by the enemy. They can then shoot the heavily-damaged enemy 'mechs to dish out the last 1-5% of the damage needed for the kills then say "Look at me! I have high KDR!"
Last but not least, KDR sometimes simply means having the dumb luck to land the killing blow. It happens to me and I'm sure it happens to everyone else.
Because all of the above can be used to artificially inflate one's KDR, the stat becomes meaningless. Not only does KDR fail to reliably show who's a better Mechwarrior, it also encourages players to do things that are detrimental to their team and/or a hassle for everyone else in the match.
What's the Solution? Get rid of KDR and put up stats that are more meaningful. One possibility is Average Match Score. This would reward teamwork (assists) and players who play a role well (spotting, for example). PGI can even tweak Average Match Score by reallocating how many points you get for each action (kills, assists, damage, spotting, etc.), unlike KDR which is fixed (you can't partially kill or be somewhat dead -it's all or nothing) and untweakable.
Ditching KDR in favor of more meaningful stats (suggestions are welcome) will allow us to more accurately determine Mechwarrior quality and lessen the unwanted behaviour listed above. Note: Win/Loss might still be a usable stat, but maybe only for teams.
Edited by Triordinant, 18 August 2014 - 11:59 AM.
