First off, thank you for the info about finding out if it is me that is hosting any particular match. I did not know that. Actually, there are many, many things about the game I do not know.
In the game I have no idea what kind of player you are, so I am in no way suggesting any of this applied to you in particular....you may be another like me, only with a far greater supply of patience and understanding that I possess....
I do know I am guilty of dashboarding, but let me first ask for a definition of dashboarding? is it anytime a player exits the game before it is finished? Or only when it is the HOST who exits said game? Either way, I am guilty of both, but I'd like to know what all it encompasses...
As for when I do it, I don't give a hoot about the stats.... Sure, I look at my own stats, but I have never compared them to anyone else. Sure, during each battle I want to kill as many times as I can and I want to die as few times as I can manage. I'd say nobody buys this game for reasons far from these either. But I already know I'm not the best, so I'm not looking at the numbers that way. I only care about the numbers regarding how they get my weapons attachments to become available and new weapons to replace the one I am currently inferior with. Those are the stats that matter to me and I don't accumulate them if I'm not in the game shooting something. So the numbers and stats you talk about might motivate you, and I agree that they motivate many, they don't motivate me and have nothing to do with me dashing out of a game.
What does? Yup, you already mentioned it. Getting mad, a lot of times by getting "killed to many times in a row".... but you seem to be blind to the fact that that situation can affect different people different ways and that not a single one of them is invalid, no matter how vocal one faction or another wants to get about how they respect or don't respect the other persons' position. So why does it get me angry and doesn't you? Perhaps, because from what I can read of your gaming experience, you don't have to suffer that situation too often. I have to wonder if it were happening to you every (or near every) battle you participate in would you still be on your side of the fence? I'm thinking perhaps someone who doesn't experience the aspects of gameplay that cause these problems might not have complete empathy for those who do...especially when the situation profits this very person.
I think Black Ops is an awesome game and I do love it, but I guarantee it is a love/hate relationship that is NOT healthy. I shelled out my $$ for the game just like everyone else, as well as the $$ for my LIVE account to be able to access multiplayer. I understand how those out there suffering from dashboarding can be frustrated, but those of us who do it deserve as much joy for our money as anyone else who bought this game.
You mention that many dashboard for getting killed too many times in a row and something about being selfish?? I think it is selfish of all of the overachievers to think they can demand those of us not enjoying things to stay in there so they can shoot us over and over. What, is that some new sport?? Is it really that fun for you to repeatedly shoot the less skilled or less fortunate instead of testing yourself against someone as good as you are?? We spend our money for the game, start playing it and don't advance with the curve like others might have.....add in to that situations in gameplay that are directly due to software and/or hardware physics and mechanics and are out of our control, and yet it seems to be expected of us to fall and our sword and accept not having any fun in order to cater to the ones who are??? Others say the only reason to dashboard is because of stats....apparently a closed mind there because there are definitely other reasons to dashboard.... like perhaps the vague hope that the next one won't be the same? If I was paying 25 cents for each play like in an arcade I wouldn't be dashing cause I would lose my quarter every time. But this game was bought and paid for in one fell swoop and thus (other than maintaining the Live account, which is a factor, but this isn't the only game that utilizes the Live account, so I think it's not quite the same) and thus it doesn't cost me money to dashboard here.... Stats are a motivator for SOME, but to across the board apply that reasoning to everyone is ridiculous.
It appears to be established by the experts that the one chosen as host gets punished for having the best connection.... is the host the ONLY one that experiences this or can multiple players in the game all be under similar unfair circumstances at the same time? I know that not everyone's internet connection has identical speed and reliability, I do know that all of us playing it on an Xbox are pretty much playing it with essentially identical hardware... it seems to me like at worst, the programmers could have come up with code that treats 12 players out of a 12 player match all equally....and it seems to me they failed.
How about aiming when trying to shoot someone? It never made sense to me that as I am running around playing the game, every time I try to draw a bead on someone I take a lot of time getting pointed at them. There have been times when I was standing in a place my "victim" wasn't aware I was there, giving me ample time to cautiously aim at him. I am very often aimed slight to the right or slight to the left, but almost never dead on. Well, aiming to the side you can't kill anyone, so I start to pan over to get on them...except a little nudge of my joystick takes me from one side of them all the way to the other side of them...so I do a little bit of back and forth as I try do dial it in....There have been times when I just simply could not adjust it the small enough amount to yield success....I had to strafe sideways a bit to get it...... A and B were paths on each side of the victim and no pathing existed to get the gun in between those two lines.... Yet when I watch the films and watch the good players playing in attempts to learn things to make myself better I never see them having this problem.... Attribute it to their skill over mine? I would agree that more players out there than not have skill above mine, so I'm not gonna just dismiss that out of hand, but I think it goes towards the statistically impossible to ask me to accept that EVERY one of them just is better... I know some of it has to do with the sensitivity of my joystick setup..... right now I'm at 6.... I have been slowly building up, I used to have to keep it at 3 to have any hope of killing anyone.... we all use pretty much the same joystick (yeah, I have one of those specifically for black ops also, but the special buttons meant to make my gun pan slower are not in a convenient place on the underside of the controller for my fingers to utilize it comfortably so I wasted my money on that sucker in respect to the reason for purchasing it). So again, I say there have to be many and many out there who are just better than me at utilizing the joystick, but again I say it is statistically improbable for me to think they ALL are just better.....
I do know that I have had battles where I am shooting someone first, getting many hits (but probably not as many actual hits as the misses cause I admit the simulated kick of the gun takes me off target easily and quickly). I have gone to the point of reviewing the battle tape afterwards. I can get it to the spot in the film where the maddening event takes place and watch again and verify that what I saw during the heat of the moment was actually what happened, that I was firing first and had some hits....but when I switch to viewing from the perspective of the other guy and watch it again the way he/she saw it all go down is a bit different and he is firing first. So one camera says I am right.. another camera says I'm wrong. They both can't be right. The software makes the call behind the scenes...one loses and one wins....the problem as I see it is that the developing team failed to create the situation where both players SAW the reality instead of one seeing it right, the other seeing it wrong and being asked to accept the loss even though it appeared not to be a loss. How about the dozens of times when I have shot someone multiple times with no result and have them casually turn to me and one shot me with all the leisure they need or could want.
How about spawning after death?? How many of us have spawned in direct sight of an enemy and gotten killed again before we can really do anything about it? Or how many times have we spawned somewhere really close to where we just died and we can really quickly run to where we know someone is and perhaps get that very revenge? Is either situation good gameplay? Not in my book. We should never be spawning within a certain distance of an enemy. There also should not be a spawn point that is in direct line of site of a sniper position... get lucky and a guy keeps respawning right in front of you and you can really rack up the kills.....or you can be the guy getting killed over and over... Of course this wouldn't apply to tactical insertion because the player is picking the spot they want to spawn in...if that happens to be a bad choice that is on them and not the developers....
Perhaps, instead of blaming dashboarders for this situation, why not put the blame where it really belongs (in my opinion)? The game developers. Why? Well, first off they control EVERY aspect of their game environment....so anything that is possible to do is possible because of them... anything impossible is impossible because of them.....so if someone can exit the match in progress the developers must have thought that was a justifiable and correct course for some players to take...otherwise it would be impossible... or they could have just as easily decided....oh, say anyone who dashboards has their soldier stay in the game, taken over by the AI and still accumulating actual stats, stats that you may be less proud of than the ones you could get on your own... or just not allowing it at all....once you are in you are in, short of a power failure.... but no, they allowed it didn't they?
Additionally, on the occasions when I am still in the game when it ends prematurely because someone else has dashboarded I don't get upset. I guess I might if I was the one leading everyone else with kills in that battle, but I don't think so (I'm never the leader so I don't expect to be put in this position either)..... if the game is being that unfair to you I encourage you to dashboard. If those on high running the show actually think it is a problem they should fix it in the code not in the conduct of the players. I have tried throughout this whole message to not be inflammatory, but in this case I have no desire to hold back. Any time a game developer creates an environment and then sets people loose in it they should expect players to look for things that benefit themselves and when they find those things they should expect them to exploit them for their own purposes. To think otherwise is incredibly naive. You don't solve problems like that by trying to dictate how the players comport themselves in the game. You tweak the code to make the situation no longer game-breaking. Punishing players for doing something the code in the game clearly allows is immature and lazy to my eyes.
Lastly, I apologize for the book above and applaud all those who actually made it to the end of it if they did. I'm not going to attempt to attack anyone in particular (unless you had a hand in programming the code for the game), just voice my frustration and perhaps offer a few places where someone who knows more than me can offer something helpful, like the original poster who taught me how to know when I am the host. I am open to helpful suggestions. I don't want to hear things like "suck it up" or similar lines of thought (you are welcome to express them, but I'll gloss over things that seem to me to be an such attack).
For instance, I am aware a lot of things can help when things start going wrong. One of my worst faults is to pop back into the game and immediately rush towards the spot I was killed looking for revenge. I have died many many times from that and those situations are completely my fault (when the other issues described above are not added on top of my own stupidity to increase the likelihood of my continued untimely deaths. Those kind of deaths, even if many in a row, do not make me as angry as when I feel I have been cheated. I think many of us would agree we all take it more personally when we feel we are getting cheated. Additionally, I know that sometimes running can be the worst thing you could be doing because you can't bring your gun to bear quickly, so calculated movement from cover to cover can help. I know to watch the films of those who are better because they do handle themselves better than I do, especially in the heat of the moment.... I know tweaking the setup to more accommodate one style of play versus another can make a big difference... I know that it is really important to get to know the map. Know where you are more exposed and where you are less exposed.. Know where others tend to run and where they don't....
Can anyone actually offer something helpful that would compensate for the problems I feel the game creates and make the game more amicable to more of us?
