MeinMMO editor Nikolas Hernes has spent a lot of time with ranked modes in video games. In League of Legends or Overwatch, he invested thousands of hours fighting against others. Actually, he has sworn off it by now, but a completely different genre has brought him back.
What is the problem with ranked modes? I have spent about 6,000 hours in League of Legends since 2014, most of that time in ranked. At the release of Overwatch, I spent several hundred hours in the competitive area. But in recent years, I have become increasingly frustrated by it.
My biggest problem is team play. It’s not about having bad luck with bad teams that you can’t carry alone, but about the mindset
when playing with such a team.
Ranked modes have a fundamentally high potential for frustration. Especially in LoL, a match can take 40 minutes. If you lose, you haven’t just wasted
time, you also drop in rank. This creates pressure because you want to perform
for the other team members as well. If you lose because you might be having a bad day, generally the whole team loses.
This pressure affects me. I don’t want to die, make mistakes; after all, I’m not only playing for myself. This is no longer fun for me, even if I win. Therefore, I decided not to play ranked modes anymore. I simply found relaxed online gaming better after such a long time.
But that changed when I started getting more into fighting games. Tekken, Guilty Gear, or Mortal Kombat brought back the competitive fun for me, but without the constant frustration.
I can only be angry with myself
Why does the ranked mode work better in fighting games? The main argument for my thesis is the format. You play 1 against 1.
The advantage is that if you make mistakes or lose, you can only be angry with yourself.
There is no team to blame, justified or unjustified. At the same time, the pressure is also missing. If you make a mistake, you get punished, but no one else does. You can’t write GG Bad Team
or spam pings. Plus, there are no toxic teammates.
Both aspects create in me the effect that I enjoy learning more about the game – but without the frustration in the back of my mind. What moves should I use when, which match-ups are good for my character? These are questions you can also ask in LoL. But in fighting games, team composition and communication with others don’t matter.
Combos in fighting games have an almost endless potential for different strategies and your own creativity.
A thrilling dynamic arises, completely without chats or pings. I learn which moves the opponent is using, but he learns as well. Even though you fight against each other without communication, mind games
also arise. I try to outplay the opponent not just in the game but also on a mental level.
As a result, I have an incredible amount of fun even with my many losses. Don’t get me wrong. It often takes a while for a fighting game to click. But the cliché get up and keep going
works perfectly in this genre and is rewarding. This is also because a match only lasts a few minutes.
The personal affinity makes me forget the weaknesses
Fighting games also have weaknesses in this area. Often, the ranking point distribution is opaque, and patches can ruin your favorite characters. But personally, I can overlook that because this genre has accompanied me my whole life.
Since I can remember, I have played fighting games. Be it with friends, family, or even with my grandma on the couch, or now currently online in ranked against others. Fighting games just have an impenetrable fascination for me.
This is not only due to the playable characters, which often range from silly, cool, or just incredibly absurd. But also due to the music, the stages, and the completely crazy lore that sometimes lies behind it. A bear that has learned karate? That sounds like the best game of all time.
Because of the personal connection, I can forgive the frustration factors more easily than in League of Legends or Overwatch. Another advantage is that new fighting games regularly come out. This makes it harder for me to lose interest, because they differentiate themselves despite being in the same genre.
A Tekken is fundamentally different from a Mortal Kombat or a Street Fighter. At the same time, you learn basic aspects in all games that you can use in other titles, even genres.
This assessment is only personal. Many love to play in ranked with a fixed team, and I can understand that. Winning a tight match in the end with a 5-man squad of friends is an incredibly satisfying feeling.
But I prefer to dive into 1 against 1
matches to let myself get beaten up and then practice for hours in the virtual training room. As long as the characters look cool, I can imagine nothing better. Fighting game tournaments are also known for crazy stories: Masked player defeats a pro in an important Tekken tournament, is disqualified shortly after
