Worst disadvantage in online gaming?

[Nouw]

Wouldn't unbalanced weapons, teams be the worst disadvantage? But to be fair lag is high up on the list.

The fact that if the online is good, the single player is normally bad.

Well Bad Company makes up for this by hilarious dialogue.

 

[teebeeohh]

lags, long loading time, why is there a minute to look at the post game stats? why can't i do that while the damn thing is loading?

 

[Ramare]

Today I was playing Call of Duty 4 for my PS3, and it got me thinking what the worst disadvantage you could have in an online game. I'm not talking about game/genre specific, I'm just talking about general disadvantage you could have that pertain to the actual concept of online gaming. The worst I've seen is host advantage. I know this usually isn't a problem on PC but on console if someone is a terrible host, but not terrible enough for the host to switch, they usually have a 4 bar connection, and everyone else usually has a 1-2 bar connection.

Being me.

Elaborating more: Having improbably good tactics, but comparatively shitty reaction time for unexpected things. Considering how most games are run 'n' gun[footnote]Call of Duty springs to mind.[/footnote], or at the very least fast-paced[footnote]Bad Company 2, and Alliance of Valiant Arms spring to mind.[/footnote], this is a grave disadvantage. Having the teamwork advantage, great tactics, and good marksmanship skills mean nothing when your teammates are shit, you get insta-killed by some guy who ran around a corner inexplicably staring at your position, and you get out-sniped because the sniper you're fighting is inexplicably always on target 24/7 and has 0.05-second reaction time. And yet, even without the cradle of lag fueling willing suspension of disbelief, no one thinks these uncanny individuals hack.

And just like everyone else said, since it's true, lag.

 

[Mark Flanagan]

Lag, pure and simple. Nothing unbalances a game more.

 

[Wicky_42]

I'd say it's the overwhelming amount of [expletive deleted] online that ruin it. Why is it that given anonymity and a mic then the vast majority (seemingly) of normal people turn into asses.

P.S.

Spoiler: Largest image in the world

WTF Captcha how am i ment to type that?!?

Dude, massive image. any reason why it's so big?

I think you've pretty much covered it. Host advantage is essentially "less lag".

If there any other disadvantage to online versus local play?

Yep, i fail at cropping images in paint.

You can also just right-click -> copy image url and shove it in img tags:

Nice, easy, and no hosting involved ^_^

OT: I'd say having no hands would possibly be worse than lag. Being blind would also make it tricky to be competitive, no matter how hard you muted the 12 year olds. Just to widen the discussion a bit

 

[Odbarc]

People who think it's alright to treat people like shit because they aren't better than you. And when you are better than them, they treat you like shit because you know your better and act like it... by giving good advice (tell them what to do), helpful information (tell them things they already know), try to cooperate (tell them how to play) which they hate.

Lag isn't something that unbalances the game like everyone is saying. It's just BAD to have. No one is advantaged because of lag so it's not really a disadvantage.

Remember people; It's something that gives one player a better chance of winning over you. Lag wrecks everyone's fun.

 

[scar_47]

Lag nothing is more crippling than being unable to hurt the enemy yet still being vunerable, a bad team is second there are a few games where a really good player can carry a whole team of idiots but battlefield is not one of them crappy lone wolf tactics lead to a long drawn out loss as me and my buddy attempt to stem the tide in vain it's literally one of the most disheartening thing to realize no one wants to defend the objectives but you.

 

[Bridgeru]

I'd say it's starting a game a year or two into it's release, and being pitted up against highly skilled players.

Let me put it like this, I'm an occassional Reach player (I don't like the fanboys, but the Halo trilogy + Reach does hold a special place in my heart, for better or worse), and I constantly see two or three privates (new to the game) against several Mythic players (end-game I believe).

Oh, and maybe not a disadvantage, but when you're clinically prone to rage, getting teabagged is -very-... annoying does not begin to describe it. Imagine your whole body is on fire, not in the energetic way, in the pain way.. That's part of the reason I stick to pc/TF2

 

[Mike Laserbeam]

Having no eyes?
Or maybe if you can't reach the keyboard/controller?

They're pretty huge disadvantages.

No wait! Not having the internet! That's the biggest online game disadvantage!

 

[9Darksoul6]

Connection problems aside, I'd say the overall lack of immersion caused by the human factor; currently, for instance, most online/multiplayer games aren't (can't be) story-driven, and the ones that are aren't that great.

 

[contagonist]

Rude children with microphones.

 

[CyanLink]

Having no thumbs is the worst I can think of

 

[WanderingFool]

Lag and host connection. Ive had many deaths done on to me from having almost now connection. That actually why I have suck a better score on PC, not the controls as much as a decent connection... though lag still sucks.

 

[dstreet121]

Yeah connection is the biggest problem for me, the countless times I've seen the Call of Duty kill cam show a guy getting killed by a gun not even pointed at him really ruins my gaming experience. Like the gun shoots at the place where the guy was half a second ago and he still dies. You know what I mean.

 

[kickyourass]

I'd say it's the overwhelming amount of [expletive deleted] online that ruin it. Why is it that given anonymity and a mic then the vast majority (seemingly) of normal people turn into asses.

P.S.

Spoiler

WTF Captcha how am i ment to type that?!?

Edit
Added spoiler tag.

You mean you don't have an Arabic setting on YOUR keyboard? I thought everyone had one of those.

OT: I've gotta say the overwhelming number of complete dickholes is the biggest disadvantage for me. Lag, connection issues, bugs, they're frustrating, but I can deal with all of them, BUT having to share the experience of my connection dropping with some of the absolute worst examples of humanity makes the entire idea of online play completely wasted on me.

 

[Idocreating]

Being forced to babysit a hyperactive 5 year old whose just found your stash of Red Bull and is riding a massive sugar high and insists on bounding around infront of the screen while shouting something about ponies.

 

[MGlBlaze]

Lag is the biggest issue. It's the only true way any online game is ruined.

I lived with a bad internet connection until very recently; I can VERY much confirm that lag ruins everything. If anyone else used the internet at the same time as me (and I live in a semi-large family, so this was almost always the case) I would get a ping of over 2000 at points (not hyperbole), unable to control my character at all, shooting five seconds after press mouse 1, et cetera...

The affect it had was one of the reasons I still hesitate to play online; some bit of my subconsious recoils in horror a the prospect of online gaming because of those years even now when my internet is finally decent and I don't have to worry about it any more.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Fair enough I suppose. Easy way is select what you want, Ctrl+C -> Ctrl+N -> "Don't Save" -> Resize blank canvas to a couple of pixels by click and dragging bottom right corner -> Ctrl+V and it auto resizes the canvas to the size of the selected image.

Or, you could easily right click the CAPTCHA image and copy and paste the image link.

OT: Hmm, I think I'll be original and go with lag. I would rather play a game o 1000 screaming 12 year olds with no lag than a game with miniscule lag. Honestly, I've never felt as much anger as having pummeled 7 head shots into a guy only to die half a second after due to lag and see him run off.