IWNET: Facts, Verdict and Solution
Infinity Ward (IW), creator of the Call of Duty/Modern Warfare series are about to release Modern Warfare 2 (MW2). By now, you would have heard about their completely new multiplayer setup and the 160K+ petition for dedicated servers. In a podcast on bashandslash.com they interviewed Rob Bowling the community manager at Infinity Ward. I’ve gone through their chat with a fine toothcomb and picked out the facts. If you don’t have time to listen to the chat (over 2 hours) then the following notes should give you the facts as they currently stand. I’ll then give my opinion on this decision along with a solution.
Facts
- IWNET – matchmaking for PC users just like consoles and L4D
- Helps you play against people your own rank
- Will replace in-game browser – no other option
- No dedicated server or server list
- Rely entirely on IWNet for matchmaking and finding games
- Still has private match – customize game and invite people to server
- Can’t put it up on dedicated servers you rent
- IWNET currently focussed on matchmaking only – big plans for its future
- Games running off users PC – along with consumer grade internet
- Everything will go through IWNET
- Matchmaking NOT through steam
- IWNET runs in conjunction with steam
- No more PunkBuster, using VAC for anti-cheating
- IW want to improve Multiplayer game on PC and make it easier for everyone
- Clan matches will use private games
- Complete control over who can come in, including kicking and banning
- Changes how IW is able to update and support the PC version
- Allows more control and structure
- Good from development perspective
- Can change all features of game without having to find server or run a server
- Helps reduce piracy, but this was not a driving force for creating IWNET
- All made in-house, working on it for a while
- Will listen to feedback and make changes in the future
Verdict
This is great for casual gamers and not so great for hardcore gamers. The biggest sticking point for most people is the lack of a dedicated server. There are two major issues from this:
- Less Customization. Clan matches, and many players, love their customizations. Without dedicated servers, the extent to which gamers and server admins can mod/tweak the game is greatly reduced.
- Lower Performance. Dedicated servers have a lot of CPU power, and more importantly, high throughput and low latency internet connections. Consumer grade internet connections (particularly here in Australia) can’t compete with the connections of most dedicated servers. This will result in a lower user experience and limits on player counts.
The biggest boon for casual gamers is the ease in finding a game and playing against players your their rank. This is great for “first-timers”. It’s easier for them to join a game and they should be playing against other low ranked gamers.
This is the core reason I think IW have invested so much time and money into IWNET. Multiplayer games are by their very nature viral. If a gamer purchases MW2 and sits through the singleplayer game, there’s a chance they will tell their friends what they are playing. However if that same gamer is converted to a mulitplayer gamer, they will actively encourage their friends to buy the game and join them. The more gamers IW can convert to multiplayer, the larger their sales.
Solution
The podcast was fairly light on technical details, however I saw a solution that would keep the 160K+ petition signers happy, without ruining the player experience for first-timers. Rob mentioned a number of times that clan matches, and “custom matches” can be set up through private games. The simple solution is to allow these private matches to point themselves at a dedicated server. This would likely take some further engineering time, however it would be a fairly small investment compared to the mammoth task of implementing IWNET. This would allow full customization on the server side and would be an “opt-in” situation. This keeps the user experience clean, while allowing full customization for hardcore players.
Conclusion
This is the second large petition in the games industry this year. Have you signed either the IWNET or L4D2 petition? What are your thoughts on IWNET and where do you see PC multiplayer gaming moving in the future?
I am concerned about this IWNET and how many of their servers will be in Australia?
If you listen carefully to the podcast you will notice they talk about IF hosting servers for players to play on, solving the problem of limited.
Where does this leave smaller user base nations were traditionally most servers are provided at the ISP level.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Doolwind, Chris Hampson. Chris Hampson said: RT @Doolwind: IWNET: Facts, Verdict and Solution – http://bit.ly/IWNET [...]
iwnet is awesome! No lag and you get into the game right away. I wouldnt recommend this new feature for hardcore gamers though
IWnet has said it will help end the hackers with aimbots and wall hacks. Well I can tell you now that is a lie. The first 2 days I played no problems. Now I can not get into a game that does not have aimbots or wall hacks being used.
I agree, all they need to do is cater for both communities, hardcore gamers aren’t saying that all casual gamers should have a tough experience because hey, once of a day I was a casual gamer too. Your clear solution shows that they lacked foresight and wisdom.
About the hacking thing, I encounter more hackers on a console type system and because those services are maintained by a company, they have rare patches. I think if this was their main point of IWnet they have failed. I think the many examples of community versus hackers has shown us that a highly motivated(or be it angry), active (actually sees the hacker) and experienced player base is much better at stopping the small minority than one guy sat behind a desk.
Jonathan
The amount of players using aimbots and wall hacks is unbelievable i cant get a game without someone having some sought of hack
- i play MW2 from Australia.
– 11am there are no players playing MW2, the time wait to get into a game is average 5minutes, i end up in a game with a latency of im guessing 250-300ms
– 9pm the same thing, there just isn’t anyone playing the game and so i can either play with some crappy latency or .. not play
– there is no list of players playing, so i can’t select the mode/map to join .. its all guess work. eg: click on “Domination” and hope for the best, sit for 5minutes; no games. Try “Team Death Match” .. same thing.
– hackers/cheaters? yeh, this game seems to be riddled with them, with no moderation to deter or stop them. every day i will come across at least one, even came across a team of cheaters. (one player/cheater, 4hours game play, prestige lvl 70 <- WTF!?)
– Peer 2 Peer gaming for the PC, its not the new thing. This game should've been released in the US only, countries like Australia there just isn't enough players to support Multiplayer; if i play for two hours at least one hour is spent looking for a game/host; in game and out, i kid you not!
– there are some good aspects of the game, but for myself, i didn't buy this game for the pretty pixels or the grippingly short single player campaign, i bought it for multiplayer; it has left nothing but a sour taste in my mouth
– my verdict, pass on this floating turd of a game
Meanie said it all, I spend half the time waiting for game. Can’t choose map/style, IWnet fail.
I am so disgusted with the amount of cheaters playing now it’s unbelievable. All I am asking is that IWnet or whomever controls it will do something fast about all the hackers playing. We have all spent our hard earned money on this game and now the hackers have taken over.
I live in Perth Western Australia and had used up my download limit for the month but decided to give a game of MW2 a try earlier this afternoon. After about 15 mins of waiting for matches to be setup, lost connections, host changes and plain bad hosts I got maybe 6 minutes of game time. Whilst waiting for the next game to start, it told me I had lost connection to steam, AFTER the map had loaded. I thought “enough of this crap” launched TF2 and was backstabbing snipers in less than 3mins with a ping of 5 to 16. And I also played on heaps of other servers just like that one. Dedicated severs. Played for 2hrs with no cheaters! What the hell were they (if at all) thinking? It’s like a big “Screw you pc gamers, you wanna play our awesome game? Go and buy an Xbox” from InfinityWard!
I have had this game for about 2 weeks now.
I will NEVER buy another game from this company.
1. Its over run with hackers.
2. IWnet goes down for hours at a shot.
3. There are constant problems with IWNet. you get kicked after each round.
4. you have to wait in the Lobby foever , then half the time it kicks you or restarts the lobby because it unsuccessfully tried to combine your lobby with another.
The game itself is very good. But the IWNet part makes it virtually unplayable.
If you like PC games AVOID IWNet like the Plague.