Squad-based shooters on PS3 doesn't work.

[Yoh3333]

Okay, first of all i love squad and team based games and especially shooters. I love the tactical aspects of games. One such game is battlefield bad company 2.

I bought it for my PS3 as my first entry into the franchise and i realy liked it. There was just 1 big big BIG flaw in it's multiplayer. People rarely used headsets (this is all for the PS3, i don't think there is the same problem for Xbox but i'll come to that in a minute) No headsets mean no communication and no communication leaves an otherwise strategic game to the lone wolf as with CoD.

I know the typical arguement "play with your friends and not randoms" but that doesn't apply for all people. I am the only one among my 30 friends on my friendlist who got the game on PS3. I then thought about it for a while and ended up thinking about a single mechanic i think should've been implemented: The ability to search after lobbies where people used headsets. I personally can't see why a game like battlefield wouldn't have that.

I now plan on getting Battlefield 3 for PC because i hope that more people have headsets, that is my hope atleast.

Point is: Do you think that games with a strategic aspect of gameplay should try to organize groups so that people can work together rather than going lonewolf? If so how do you think devs should go about it?

(Sorry if there is spelling and grammar mistakes, Im Danish so english isn't my first language)

Edit: This made me think about the upcomeing SOCOM game. Do you think that it will fall upon the same destiny as Battlefield? (i know they are different, but it is possible)

 

[FlakAttack]

I've played on the X360 and the PC and noticed HUGE differences in the style of play. On the 360, virtually no one uses their headsets (like the PS3, this is the case with nearly all the games I've played) and I can probably count the number of times an ammo or health kit went down on two hands. On PC, teamates frequently spawn on each other and support each other with little or nothing ever actually being said. One problem though is that mics on PC are sometimes bugged, meaning it does happen that even though there are mic users, no one can talk. It is very frustrating and BC2 is one of the few PC games where I have seen almost no talking amongst the players.

Despite the lack of speech in both versions, the PC players tend to work together frequently, just with less organization than if they had voice chat.

I know for a fact though that BF2's 6 man squads made it easier to coordinate people, and the fact that the voice chat in that game (usually) worked made for some great fun. I suspect if BC2 had a way of testing whether your mic was working or not, more people would use it.

Also, on a related note, I found PC players tended to be more knowledgable about the less obvious game elements, like tracer darts and spawning on squad mates. Playing on 360 felt like I was gaming with deaf/mute retards in comparison.

 

[TheDist]

I do have a ps3, though I don't often use it, in my limited experience online with it few if any people have a headset (myself included). As mostly a PC gamer I find it a little annoying on the consoles, I sit there and wish I had a keyboard to at least communicate to the others.

While I think some communication is always good, there are indeed some people who just are unable to work as a team even with ways to comunicate (and some of these make team work even harder). On the PC the best advice still is find a group to play with if you want good team work, in my opinion at least.

 

[DustyDrB]

I don't use my mic and most often have music on while I'm playing TF2. But the problem of teamwork when you can't communicate is easily solved by knowing your role. I imagine it's much the same in other games.

 

[Yoh3333]

I might add aswell that mostly when you do find 1 or 2 other people they usually do not talk to eachother, the most annoying thing however, is that about 50% of the time those people just sit there with loud music or argueing in a foreign language with someone apparently in another building because thye have to yell so loud...

I sit there and wish I had a keyboard to at least communicate to the others.

I feel like that all the time aswell, lately with DCUO. I was only playing the beta but the thing i always realised comeing back to my head was "an MMO is a social game, therefore I NEED MY DAMN KEYBOARD!!!" ... (it was still clunky even with it but that's another topic)

 

[hansari]

I don't use my mic and most often have music on while I'm playing TF2. But the problem of teamwork when you can't communicate is easily solved by knowing your role. I imagine it's much the same in other games.

This.

Not everybody can grab a machine gun and just rush in. Conversely, everybody can't grab a sniper rifle and just camp.

There are matches where this does sadly occur, but they are rare compared to the numerous other matches where people figure it out amongst themselves.

 

[Nupu]

The best Squad-based gameplay I have seen was in Project Reality (Battlefield 2 mod).
In Project Reality you couldn't survive a minute alone, you couldn't even operate a vehicle alone... okey you could use the jeeps alone but that was just foolish to steal a jeep to your own use. But anyway the gameplay was very squad based. Last time I played it (about two years ago) everyone had a headset.

 

[F'Angus]

I hardly ever find anybody with a headset... And when you do it's only like one person who actually listens

 

[Yoh3333]

The best Squad-based gameplay I have seen was in Project Reality (Battlefield 2 mod).
In Project Reality you couldn't survive a minute alone, you couldn't even operate a vehicle alone... okey you could use the jeeps alone but that was just foolish to steal a jeep to your own use.

That might also be a great way of makeing teamwork actually happen: force people to be together and work together to get an edge over the enemies through vehicles.

 

[mjc0961]

I prefer no headset with randoms anyway. It always sucks more when there's some douchebag on your team with a mic who thinks he is team captain despite not knowing a damn thing about anyone who is playing. Example, some clown might try to tell me to grab a sniper rifle and go snipe some people, and then start throwing a temper tantrum when I ignore him because I am absolutely shit with a sniper rifle and would be completely useless to our efforts if I listened. If you want to sit there and be mister boss, you need to get in a clan or play with some friends, because you really have no business trying to relegate duties to players that you don't know and thus don't know their strengths in the game. And you lose extra points if you start saying things like "I'm awesome and we would be winning if you guys didn't suck so bad!" when people ignore your bullshit orders. No douchebag, we would be winning if you would actually play instead of pretending you're the boss and whining. Now hurry up and ragequit so the rest of us can go back to having fun, thanks.

 

[baddude1337]

The same is true for either 360 or PS3, but I have noticed that a lot less people use the headsets on PS3.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Actually a lot of PS3 people have mics. Most are like me and simply keep them turned off. I don't want to tell you my name, where I live, what I think of the latest basketball game, or listen to you yell at me because I either A) stomped you into the ground or B) I didn't play the game your way. Many people that do have mics simply yell and scream and whine about all other players in the game. If I actually HEAR someone trying to use tactics and work together, then I'll turn it on. Or if I'm trying to help someone with trophies.

 

[mjc0961]

The same is true for either 360 or PS3, but I have noticed that a lot less people use the headsets on PS3.

Yeah, that's because the PS3 comes with no mic and the 360 does (well, only the 250GB model, but that's the one gamers who are likely to play such games are going to want to buy).

 

[Plurralbles]

After playing a few matches in StarcraftII and nto communicating with my person, I have a headset as the default headphones I use.

But I definitely will be getting Battlefield 3 for PS3. I don't care. I'll be talking. They can listen or they can get their own or some keyboards and start talking back.

 

[Irridium]

Its more or less the same on the 360. You can only hear those in your squad, but rarely do they communicate.

Teamwork in BC2 is lacking regardless of what platform your on. There isn't really any direction, which leads to people running around with no co-ordination. And since you can't talk to anyone outside your squad, its pretty fudged no matter what. PC is slightly better off since you can type stuff the whole team can hear, but people rarely use it for that.

This is why I think the Battlefield Commanders of Battlefield 2/2142 are so integral to a good team. They give direction, and turn chaos into order. And if its a shit commander, he'll usually be voted out of his position pretty quickly.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

Well, you speak (write?) English better than a fair amount of native speakers (writers?).

Beyond that, maybe allowing people to "rank" others, and match them together? All the nice people get to play together, and the screamers and loud music players can fuck themselves play together.

The same is true for either 360 or PS3, but I have noticed that a lot less people use the headsets on PS3.

Doesn't the 360 come with a mic? 'Cuz that's your reason right there.

 

[IamSofaKingRaw]

BS play Kilzone 2 (3 took out most of the tactical-ness unless you are playing with a clan. Playing alone, no one will help, mostly due to the overflow of COD noobs joining the game) and SOCOM 4 is soon to come out. I STRONGLY disagree that no one has a headset. Every game of KZ3 I play, half the lobby has a headset and in COD almost EVERYONE does. That rumor that no one has one is old. Maybe its just from your experience though.

 

[Yoh3333]

Maybe its just from your experience though.

it is.
I very rarely find a headset. I've never seen more than 4 people not in the same clan or just being friends (by speaking native language)