Advanced Warfare Is Built Equally For Casual and Competitive Gamers,

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Call of Duty’s community is often seen as a two-sided coin — you’ve got your casual gamers on one side and competitive gamers on the other, and it can be tricky balancing act attempting pleasing the two.

Treyarch’s Black Ops 2 was the first to publicly push eSports features in a Call of Duty title, leaving casual audiences feeling uncared for, according to more vocal members of that community. Infinity Ward’s Ghosts seemingly took a few steps back in the eSports department, leaving the competitive crowd starving for more support.

According to Sledgehammer Games lead multiplayer designer Greg Reisdorf, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is built equally for both audiences.

“Casual gamers are the majority of our audience, and the game is built for them. But the game is also built for eSports,” Reisdorf told Gamasutra in an interview.

“A lot of it is making sure we know what the eSports community is interested in, so we can build features to help them,” he continued. “We listen to their feedback and want to provide them with support, but just as much as anybody else.”

Reisdorf believes that a more competitive shooter, however, leads to a more balanced experience for all parties involved. He says that, “at the end of the day, it has to be a competitive game – if it’s not competitive, that means it’s not balanced. That means no-one’s having fun, and it’s not going to be around for very long.”

Do you agree with Reisdorf’s thoughts? Do you think Sledgehammer can strike a balance between the two sometimes conflicting crowds?

Posted: Aug 25, 2014 9:58 pm
Related Forum: Call of Duty Forum

Source: http://mp1st.com/2014/08/23/advanced-warfare-built-equally-casual-competitive-gamers-says-lead-mp-designer/

Comments

d0xyPosted: Mon. Aug 25, 2014

I never post comments on articles on TTG, IGN, or even on YouTube but I've been playing Call of Duty competitively for years and I feel like I should voice my opinion for once.

Being able to please both the casual and competitive CoD players is going to be tough, sure, but I think it can be done. I felt like Black Ops 2 did it well, and I don't understand why casual gamers felt neglected in that game. League Play and CoD casting didn't interfere with the public playlists and for casual players to feel "uncared for" doesn't make sense to me. There was plenty to do in BO2 for the casual community: pubstomping, quickscoping, zombies, search, and other random shit that casual CoD players enjoy doing. The only viewpoint I can sort of understand is that League Play wasn't welcoming to casual players, as they would usually get destroyed by the players that play League Play frequently in their first few matches, discouraging them from playing competitively. Even if they had trouble at League Play, if they were dedicated enough, they would rise from being Bronze Ranks to Gold and even Master ranks after enough practice. This allowed new casual players to join the competitive community of Call of Duty.

Ghosts, on the other hand, left the competitive community feeling "uncared for." There wasn't any form of League Play for months and even when the competitive playlist did come out, the only form of ranks similar to that of Black Ops 2 was attainable through playing with a clan, versus the solo ranks that were attainable in BO2. Without ranks, the competitive playlist was unbalanced, setting up pro players against newer players, almost certainly discouraging casual players from playing competitively.

For Advanced Warfare to please both types of players, I'd have to assume they're going to have their own form of League Play, CoD Casting, ranks, seasons, and hopefully in game tournaments. I still don't fully comprehend how casual players felt neglected in Black Ops 2 but if there was some way to introduce players into a competitive playstyle, perhaps it'll be easier for casual players to begin playing competitively. Perhaps if they were to show a quick tutorial video on how play like a pro (callouts, pre-nades, class loadouts, jumpshots vs dropshots).

I can only hope that this new Call of Duty makes competitive play more exciting with their exo-suits and jetpacks.

-Fullmetal Guts

GossipPosted: Mon. Aug 25, 2014

Im a casual player but I like watching comp COD.

AR15Posted: Mon. Aug 25, 2014

I do not personally think that you can build a game tailored to two totally different sides. Competitive and casual are two completely different things. Do not really see how this is going to work out.

KixaPosted: Mon. Aug 25, 2014

I really never got into this "MLG" stuff i usually just play normal.

DarnedNutPosted: Mon. Aug 25, 2014

I like to play Cod at times when my nerves are steady but I don't play it like when I was younger, It's still a good game to me but a lot of people don't like it and it's their choice but some people do like to play it and they'll find a way to have fun with it =)

OrthoPosted: Mon. Aug 25, 2014

I could careless since I don't play gamebattles. I play regular online MP and no matter who it is it's always the same experience

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