I like strict SBMM. I don’t understand what the fun is in either steamrolling or being steamrolled. I also hate the feeling that my existence in a match is pointless because the other team so out skills mine.

SBMM is the only way competitive online games can work.

RoboCraft, which was a genuinely excellent game, died horribly because a handful of sociopaths with the sportsmanship of a piranha made it a misery. The developers failed miserably to implement obvious and simple measures to prevent sickening newb-farming and so new players could not be retained.

“I want to be matched more often with people that are significantly worse than me at the game”.

having some asshat yelling “get good” profanities

I had a similar thought reading that. So if it’s evenly matched (that’s what I’d like...) it’s “stressful”, but if I hit the ground and die immediately by some whirling dervish enemy team, that’s the fun stuff!!! Yeah, no.

Lately, the concept of SBMM has been flattened and regurgitated so much that people misunderstand its use, assuming that its detractors just want to play games where they can steamroll people.

“if I’m playing a no-stakes match to unwind after work”

The thing about having fun in a PvP game is that it comes at an expense of someone else’s fun, including those outliers.

“Hoberman continued, noting that the team decided not to “always evenly match people” in games because those matches are always “the most stressful,” which can get tiring for the player if they happen over and over again.”

I often see higher-skill players saying things like “I don’t want all my matches to be sweaty matches.” But at the same time, this is a choice lower-skill players often don’t even have - if you’re in the bottom 10% or whatever, every match is going to be hard fought because there simply aren’t “easy” matches for you…

Which is funny because there was a time where they were very very picky about who makes games. I remember Relic devs talking about how much they had to BEG them for the 40K rights to make Dawn of War. 

It’s a new development in that it seems to have come back after a long absence for whatever reason. Licensed shovelware games were mostly banished to mobile, it felt like. Why are they coming back to PC and console?

For what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure the music cuts out because the uploader didn’t want to be copyright striken because of the TWD theme, obviously everything else still applies

The closest I can think of is Warhammer.  They will let anyone try once with it.

In the end, this is a crappy way to cheat.

Lamenting the fact that people screw each other over for minimal gain doesn't mean I'm unaware that it's common. 

“Now Bloomberg reports that the game was rushed out in half the time of a normal Call of Duty sequel, with devs working nights and weekends to meet Activision’s annualized sales goals.”

*insert the “we’re sorry” South Park business man gif here*

Hes still right though. The quoted line says “25th anniversary of the popular franchise parodying American culture" not of rockstar