Tryg, on 26 March 2012 - 09:41 AM, said:
The flaw in a setup like this, aside from the fact that it assumes someone will learn the ins and outs of piloting a mech in one or two matches, which, if you haven't played at least one of the previous titles, getting used to piloting a mech will take a little more then that, especially considering the use of a throttle as opposed to the more common movement from other games the newer sorts will be accustomed to.
It was a generic number. I agree that it will probably take more than 2 matches for new players to get use to piloting a mech.
Tryg, on 26 March 2012 - 09:41 AM, said:
But the main flaw in it, is that how do you code a system to tell the difference between someone rushing the enemy lines, and a scout who's rushing into the field only to get picked off by a lucky shot or ambush?
As smart and powerful as computing is today...it is still relatively ignorant when it comes to discerning motive. Take two accounts, both of which for arguments sake have identical 'average' stats. One rushes in with the intent of getting killed, the other rushes in planning on designating some targets for his commander or a lance of fire support mechs. Both are taken down quick by the enemy side. To the computer, these players both just did the exact same thing, where in reality, one was just exceedingly unlucky and the other was trying to get himself killed.
Because of things like this, relying on coding to determine intent...is going to be quite difficult, because unless it's blatently obvious, the computer will be too dumb to understand the difference between bad play and bad luck.
The system is going to have a database. I would expect that the players performance (duration, and contributions to the match) would be tracked. Lets use your example of two accounts with identical average stats. The first player (Abby) is only in it to get c-bills and XP and doesn't care about winning. However non-participation (standing at the starting point) doesn't provide the c-bills and XP. So Abby charges right up the center getting blasted away in seconds. The scound player (Scout) heads out to tag targets and gets hit by a lucky shot, he still manages to tag the mech that took him out.
Now lets take this a little further. Five matches later, Abby is still charging into the enemy and dieing. Scout is really haivng a bad day and has been headshot at the start of every match. Still he has been able to tag at least one mech in each match for his unit. Even though Scout is trying he is still performing badly. Abby isn't trying and just performing badly.
Now after each match the commanders should get to report on the other unit members, and the unit members should report on the commanders. Abby gets a negative report from the commander for disobeying orders. While Scout gets a positive for following orders, but a side note to get some scouting lessons.
The computer then adds the positive and negative reports to the performance review and the players are rewarded accordingly. During the first match the reward would be similar. But each successive match would have the reward vary with Abby getting less and less, while Scout's reward would remain about the same for each match (I am assuming that the outcome of the match is the same and the reward is the same). Poor performance with a positive rating should not be as heavily penalized. But there should still be a penalty.
Scout may need to learn how to scout but he is trying. Abby may play well once in a while, but the poor behavior she has built up will still impact her rewards. Until she has offset the negative rating with more positive play she shouldn't gain full rewards.
Note while the player is ranked as green the increased penalty should only be reduced c-bills and XP for poor performance and a negative rating from other players. Once the player is ranked as a regular, if they have a negative rating or gain one, then the penalty should become more strict. Example: Abby is a regular and wins her match. She has particpated, this time, but with a negative rating her employer will no longer pay for full repairs on the mech. If her negative rating drops low enough she may even be required to pay for all repairs. Her house may even take away her starting mech and give her a different one that is already damaged and she has to pay to repair.
Added to that, building up a negative rating will mean that Abby is less likely to be invited into matches and can only get pugs. She would also have the problem that most mercenary bands wouldn't want her, as her presence would reduce the value of contract offers.
I am likely going to be trying hard but be a poor player in the beginning. I don't want people who are actually trying to be severly penalized, but they should still be penalized. On the other hand, people who rarely try most of the time should feel the affects as their poor play is costing other players as well.
6
That is rather pathetic and discriminating approach and definitely not a solution as it serves noone but yourself and it just opens the box of pandora. Plus you can always setup new character accounts, so all your efforts to control the game would be futile in any case. 
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I imagine they would pay you if you survive, so you might be able to repair it indefinitely!
