According to patents, Electronic Arts is currently experimenting with a new matchmaking system that relies less on fairness and aims to make players spend more money.
Matchmaking in online games should be as fair as possible, right? After all, you want to test your skills against players who are as good as you are. However, Electronic Arts is currently planning something different, according to several patents.
Matchmaking with the goal of retaining players
The matchmaking that EA has in mind has little to do with fairness. This is about long-term player retention. Because those who stay attached to a game for a long time are also more likely to spend additional money in an item shop. EA’s patent, called “Engagement Optimized Matchmaking Framework (EOMM),” is supposed to work as follows:
- A player who frequently loses matches becomes frustrated and is close to quitting the game
- The dynamic matchmaking recognizes this and assigns easier opponents to the player (EA assumes that three lost matches is a reason to be frustrated)
- The player enjoys their victories and is motivated to continue playing
- The system then assigns them harder-to-beat opponents again (after all, three wins in a row are not optimal for player retention)
- If the player loses interest again by losing matches, they are matched against weaker opponents to regain fun in the game through victory
Players are to be enticed to buy items
The system goes even further, as it can be adjusted in many areas. For example, regarding in-game items, the idea is:
- A player is matched with an opponent or, in a co-op game, with a teammate who owns cool items
- You feel tempted to own these items as well
- After the match, the player visits the in-game shop and buys the items
It is therefore a kind of psychological manipulation. It is no longer about creating a fair match between two players, but rather ensuring that gamers remain loyal to the title for as long as possible and are always tempted to buy something in the cash shop.
So far, this is still theory
Whether such a system will actually come one day is not yet confirmed. Electronic Arts has only registered the patents for this and is apparently conducting some internal tests and experiments. Such a system could be possible in almost all online games, such as Star Wars Battlefront 2, FIFA, or Battlefield 1.
Similar adjustments are also possible in single-player games through the Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment system (DDA). Here, the difficulty level is dynamically adjusted depending on whether the player is struggling or finding everything too easy.
After the two patents became public, there has been great excitement among players. Matchmaking should be fair and not manipulative. A statement from EA is still pending.
Also, Activision has reportedly registered a dubious patent: Activision patents cash shop items – Destiny 2 reportedly not affected
