Why are competitive multiplayer games obsessed with finding each player's 50:50 W:L rank?

[Geisterkarle]

I think you are missing the point!
The 50:50 "ideal" in eSports is about the "playingfield". For example your soccer example Every team plays on the same field with the same ball and the same goal. Everything is the same. Yes, some teams will always win. But thats because the players in the teams are different! And those are the variables, that can change and make a difference!
If soccer was not like described, but the field was tilted by 5 degree in one direction and the goal "at the top" is 2/3 as wide as the other one and also we have only one hour of play without switching sides ... would that be fair to the team playing "uphill"? No! The game would not be decided by the better team, but most of the time, who plays on the "better" side!

In online multiplayergames it is sometimes very difficult to even out those playingfields!
Examples:
In SC:BW, because there were no changes to the races anymore, the map-designers actually were important to create maps, that are "even". Many maps are called "favored" for a race, because they have a higher win rate and a map, that is 50:50(!) over all matchups is hailed as great and people want to play it! Just playing on the same map was not enough, to balance the races!
In CSGO) not only the two teams have different starting points on the map, but also some weapons are only available to one side. I'm not that into the game atm; but quite possible the "discussion" if the AK (terror side) or the M4 (ct side) is the better weapon is still ongoing. But the teams have to switch sides, so any "problems" in that regard are quite minor. It comes down to execution and strategy.
DotA/LoL/HoN/... has many different heroes with different skills and strengths and weaknesses. Yes, there is a draft in the beginning and a team can "outdraft" an opponent, but it would be really bad, if one team gets a hero and everyone watching would be "oh, ok, they won now!" just because it is so strong in every regard. If so and teams with that hero would have a 75% win rate... you can't put that on skill difference anymore! People will be bored!

The last sentence is maybe also a very important for Online Multiplayer Games. If the game gets boring, people don't play anymore. In DotA there was a time, the first 8 picks/bans would be in the area of 10 heroes. They were the strongest. And people were like "oh yeah, this again..." and I don't know about 50:50 winrates during such times, but the game was changed, just to "spice" things up! And that is the difficult part!

 

[Fulbert]

I'm sure that at some point or another, everyone's thought, "I know I'm really good at this game, I'd love to log on and just stomp some noobs." But modern games make this incredibly difficult. If you're playing competitively, chances are you have a competitive rank, which (when it works) should match you up against opponents you have a 50/50 chance of winning or losing against. So even if you're in the top 10% of any given game, unless you're playing on a smurf/friend's account, you might have a bit of trouble showing off just how good you really are to your friends.

"Stomp some noobs", eh? You lovely lovely person.

My theory is, W/L ratio other than 50/50 would mean someone will have a better score at the expense of others and new players still learning their ropes would have to suffer so that few pros can enjoy their power fantasy at their expense. Leaving sportsmanship and basic human empathy aside, such a situation would send a clear message to any person considering picking up such a game that they would be better off spending their money elsewhere, and the player base would quickly degenerate into a dead sea of salty pros feeding on each other. And without new players it would be up to you and your few co-players to sustain the game with micro-transactions. Would you manage that?

 

[bjj hero]

Most games have an unranked mode if youre worried about playing someone of similar ability.

I dont like stomping noobs. No one gains from that and it can put people off the game. I mainly play Overwatch and Tekken competatively on my xbone. Ranked works well their in certain circumstances.

It forces you to pick your strong charecters, otherwise the 50.50 bit goes out of the window. Unranked is good to play my less able charecters.

Habing said that, I love running into someone genuinely good on tekken, beats me three rounds. Then in the rematch I get a round off him as I get a feel for his play. It feels like progress and that Im getting better.

I find this set up more frustrating in OW as I am reliant on others. Its so disappointing to get 3 gold medals and still lose. WTF are the rest of the team doing? Or that player who insists on playing hanzo or widow all the way through when his counters are out...

 

[jklinders]

Seal clubbing is a common recreational activity done on some unranked online games. I get why you want to do it (a feel good match where you get to be the hero and crush all is nice once in a while) but if new players get pissed on enough by you lot then you will eventually suffer a loss of player base that will kill your game. It's no wonder that some games have tried to combat this by giving newbs a break from you lot.

It's still pretty easy to find places where you can do this if you look. But no one anywhere actually likes or respects a seal clubber.

 

[Elijin]

The real world examples that don't use these systems do so due to a lack of reasonable participants and divisions, not because 'its not meant to be done that way'.

And aside from that, its for player retention. Look at server based games that don't do ELO matchmaking, 1 year later. Its became a hostile environment where new players get so thoroughly stomped by veterans that they immediately write off the game. With no new blood, the player base slows seeps away until you have a dead game.