[pynappo]

There's different levels of SBMM (skill-based matchmaking) though, most games nowadays have a choice between ranked (where the appeal is the well-matched games and the possibility of increasing your rank) and quick play (where the appeal is the low queue time and more casual play, and the matchmaker basically is making sure that the lobby is filled with players who are very roughly in the same skill range)

While I also have fond memories of pre-SBMM Halo/CoD from the 2000s, they're more focused on pure shooter mechanics rather forcing players to work together to win an objective, so doing well but losing still feels fine. I find SBMM is needed in more objective focused esport games like overwatch, because the game is designed such that it's harder to do well individually (and thus have any fun) if your teammates aren't doing well.

[bob1029]

> it's harder to do well individually (and thus have any fun) if your teammates aren't doing well.

Perhaps this is the actual cursed aspect. In a free-for-all context (i.e. a team size of one), you would never have this kind of a problem. As you increase the mandatory team size to six, you are creating an entirely new universe of effects to compensate for.

In my experience, 99.99%+ of the frustration in Overwatch and League of Legends emerges from dealing with your own teammates, not your opponents.