GamerBlake90
Blue Blurs for Life!
I apologize if what I have to say in this thread annoys you, because I don't intend it to come across as complaining or bitching or however you care to word it. But it's what I believe to be a good question that needs voicing.
Had they, or had they not, promised a spectator mode for players participating in King of the Hill gatherings? Because after playing in a few, I couldn't find a way to sit it out and let the other players have their fun like how one can in Tekken Tag 2 (this is especially important for streaming purposes). I may be overlooking the command to do so, or they may not have included such a mode at all, which deeply disappoints me.
So yeah...WTF?
EDIT: UPDATING THIS POST TO FURTHER CLARIFY MY CONCERNS.
Basically, the game does have a Spectator Mode, and at the same time, it doesn't. What do I mean by this? The only time you get to spectate matches in a King of the Hill - or multi-player gathering in case people need a better definition - is when it is not actually your turn to play, and when it is your turn, you don't have the option to sit back and let the next player have their go. You have to play it out. I find this problematic for a reason Primiera already outlined: what if something comes up and the player cannot take their turn immediately so they need to pass it on to the next person? Because you cannot be skipped over, the other player is forced to waste time waiting out the 60-second clock at the character and stage select screens before getting a free win so the next player can come forward. This can cause a slow-down, obviously.
"Well, if the player is going to join a group and then go AFK (away from keyboard - or in this case, controller), they shouldn't even have joined in the first place."
It's dependent on the player's tendencies. If they just join every KOTH session and then sit there wasting the time of his fellow players, that's one thing. But at other times, a player may have taken care of their shit and thought nothing would come up, so they join a King of the Hill to have fun with numerous players, and then an unexpected inconvenience slams them in the face. Is that their fault? Personally, I would not say so. And given that we don't have any way of knowing what our opponent is doing on their end (unless you have a headset on), it wouldn't be right to judge harshly.
Another issue is, as I already mentioned, streaming online tournament matches. For those who come from the MK9 era, you may be familiar with how I have used my stream to assist those wanting to host online tournaments, so that people who are eager to see hype matches will not be left hanging. Like with Injustice, we could not skip a player's turn in an MK9 King of the Hill, so during an official set between two other players I had to leave the gathering and rejoin it after the outcome of each match, or - and credit goes to Pig Of The Hut for this option - use the kombat kode that would knock both health bars down to 1% so as to quickly conclude a fight and let the player who lost the previous match retake their place on the stage. This helped a bit, for sure, but not as much as the option to pass your turn would.
"Can't they just get their own streaming equipment and broadcast their matches to you guys?!"
Not all players have the option to stream, nor will they always have the sufficient equipment to set one up. And in these tough economic times, finances get harder to come by. Also their connections might not be suitable to support a stream, as they typically require strong upload speeds. Our purpose as a community is to help everyone enjoy a common cause for supporting a game, hence why some like myself have offered our services.
"When hosting a tournament, why not just check which players have the option to stream, and then have them stream their own matches so one person won't have to join every KOTH and broadcast matches, then when they finish the viewers can move to a different stream channel and watch that player's matches? They could do this for the duration of the entire tournament."
As well thought-out as that suggestion might sound to you, I have to reject it. The idea of making our viewers visit multiple stream channels just to watch matches for one tournament is a tad preposterous, and unrealistic. I'm sure some of us have the patience to put up with this, as it's fairly easy to click our way through one channel after another, but others, not so much. And again, there is the concern that some players' upload speeds may not be sufficient for stream support. It would eliminate so many burdens if we simply used one channel to cover all tournament matches instead of alternating between numerous channels.
"Why is it so important that an online tournament be streamed, anyway?! Not everyone cares about it and the netcode sucks ass!"
I'm going to admit right now: whoever asks me the question right above this paragraph is basically going to get treated to a lecture along the lines of, "Do you realize how stupid that just sounded?" If players can't watch live matches, why bother hosting a tournament in the first place? Do you think private events would get as popularized as public events? I don't think so! When a tournament gets very hype, especially with competitive grudges involved, they'll want to see the unfolding action! It's what players thrive off of. However, as far as large-scale events go (I'm talking at least like 32 players or more at a tournament), I do agree that it would be a tad much to stream all matches while we ask other players to wait instead of letting them play off-stream, as it would slow down progress. That's why you usually see only a few bracket matches per round getting streamed, and why only all of Top 16 or Top 8 get the spotlight.
Also, regarding the netcode for Injustice: Gods Among Us...I have been hearing mixed reports about it. I think the experiences vary for players depending on how good or bad their connection is. For me, I have had nothing but stable online experiences since I picked up Injustice, and I have mostly had good luck finding okay connections to play on back in the MK9 days (for those wondering, my connection is like around 30 download and 7 - 8 upload and I do play with my console wired with an ethernet cord). This even includes King of the Hill gatherings, save for the occasional annoyance of players getting kicked for no reason, but overall I have found it tolerable. My advice is to make sure your connection is sufficient and that you avoid players with terrible Internet, or your bag of lag-based complaints will keep inflating.
And of course, there may be those players who want to sit back and learn from what others do before they muster up the will to test their knowledge. So I strongly feel that the ability to put yourself in a "spectator mode" so that your turns will be passed until you are ready to play would help immensely to address these concerns.
For an example of what I mean, let's look at how online lobbies for Tekken Tag Tournament 2 function. When your turn comes up, you have fifteen seconds to confirm that you are ready for the incoming match. If you do not hit the confirmation button before the time limit expires, you are forced back to the bottom of the list and will have to wait your turn again. If a player remains unresponsive for numerous times in the same lobby, the host has the option to kick them so they can stabilize the progress of the session again by clearing their spot for another player to take. This helps make for convenient settings to stream tournament matches as well as make it so players can attend to whatever comes up while they are involved in the session.
So...yeah. I am no programming expert, so I dunno if it would be possible to add these features to the game's online options as it stands, but if it is I would definitely consider it. I apologize for the rather lengthy post, but I wanted to be sure I clarified my core reasons for bringing up this issue in the first place, and maybe give some food for thought.
Had they, or had they not, promised a spectator mode for players participating in King of the Hill gatherings? Because after playing in a few, I couldn't find a way to sit it out and let the other players have their fun like how one can in Tekken Tag 2 (this is especially important for streaming purposes). I may be overlooking the command to do so, or they may not have included such a mode at all, which deeply disappoints me.
So yeah...WTF?
EDIT: UPDATING THIS POST TO FURTHER CLARIFY MY CONCERNS.
Basically, the game does have a Spectator Mode, and at the same time, it doesn't. What do I mean by this? The only time you get to spectate matches in a King of the Hill - or multi-player gathering in case people need a better definition - is when it is not actually your turn to play, and when it is your turn, you don't have the option to sit back and let the next player have their go. You have to play it out. I find this problematic for a reason Primiera already outlined: what if something comes up and the player cannot take their turn immediately so they need to pass it on to the next person? Because you cannot be skipped over, the other player is forced to waste time waiting out the 60-second clock at the character and stage select screens before getting a free win so the next player can come forward. This can cause a slow-down, obviously.
"Well, if the player is going to join a group and then go AFK (away from keyboard - or in this case, controller), they shouldn't even have joined in the first place."
It's dependent on the player's tendencies. If they just join every KOTH session and then sit there wasting the time of his fellow players, that's one thing. But at other times, a player may have taken care of their shit and thought nothing would come up, so they join a King of the Hill to have fun with numerous players, and then an unexpected inconvenience slams them in the face. Is that their fault? Personally, I would not say so. And given that we don't have any way of knowing what our opponent is doing on their end (unless you have a headset on), it wouldn't be right to judge harshly.
Another issue is, as I already mentioned, streaming online tournament matches. For those who come from the MK9 era, you may be familiar with how I have used my stream to assist those wanting to host online tournaments, so that people who are eager to see hype matches will not be left hanging. Like with Injustice, we could not skip a player's turn in an MK9 King of the Hill, so during an official set between two other players I had to leave the gathering and rejoin it after the outcome of each match, or - and credit goes to Pig Of The Hut for this option - use the kombat kode that would knock both health bars down to 1% so as to quickly conclude a fight and let the player who lost the previous match retake their place on the stage. This helped a bit, for sure, but not as much as the option to pass your turn would.
"Can't they just get their own streaming equipment and broadcast their matches to you guys?!"
Not all players have the option to stream, nor will they always have the sufficient equipment to set one up. And in these tough economic times, finances get harder to come by. Also their connections might not be suitable to support a stream, as they typically require strong upload speeds. Our purpose as a community is to help everyone enjoy a common cause for supporting a game, hence why some like myself have offered our services.
"When hosting a tournament, why not just check which players have the option to stream, and then have them stream their own matches so one person won't have to join every KOTH and broadcast matches, then when they finish the viewers can move to a different stream channel and watch that player's matches? They could do this for the duration of the entire tournament."
As well thought-out as that suggestion might sound to you, I have to reject it. The idea of making our viewers visit multiple stream channels just to watch matches for one tournament is a tad preposterous, and unrealistic. I'm sure some of us have the patience to put up with this, as it's fairly easy to click our way through one channel after another, but others, not so much. And again, there is the concern that some players' upload speeds may not be sufficient for stream support. It would eliminate so many burdens if we simply used one channel to cover all tournament matches instead of alternating between numerous channels.
"Why is it so important that an online tournament be streamed, anyway?! Not everyone cares about it and the netcode sucks ass!"
I'm going to admit right now: whoever asks me the question right above this paragraph is basically going to get treated to a lecture along the lines of, "Do you realize how stupid that just sounded?" If players can't watch live matches, why bother hosting a tournament in the first place? Do you think private events would get as popularized as public events? I don't think so! When a tournament gets very hype, especially with competitive grudges involved, they'll want to see the unfolding action! It's what players thrive off of. However, as far as large-scale events go (I'm talking at least like 32 players or more at a tournament), I do agree that it would be a tad much to stream all matches while we ask other players to wait instead of letting them play off-stream, as it would slow down progress. That's why you usually see only a few bracket matches per round getting streamed, and why only all of Top 16 or Top 8 get the spotlight.
Also, regarding the netcode for Injustice: Gods Among Us...I have been hearing mixed reports about it. I think the experiences vary for players depending on how good or bad their connection is. For me, I have had nothing but stable online experiences since I picked up Injustice, and I have mostly had good luck finding okay connections to play on back in the MK9 days (for those wondering, my connection is like around 30 download and 7 - 8 upload and I do play with my console wired with an ethernet cord). This even includes King of the Hill gatherings, save for the occasional annoyance of players getting kicked for no reason, but overall I have found it tolerable. My advice is to make sure your connection is sufficient and that you avoid players with terrible Internet, or your bag of lag-based complaints will keep inflating.
And of course, there may be those players who want to sit back and learn from what others do before they muster up the will to test their knowledge. So I strongly feel that the ability to put yourself in a "spectator mode" so that your turns will be passed until you are ready to play would help immensely to address these concerns.
For an example of what I mean, let's look at how online lobbies for Tekken Tag Tournament 2 function. When your turn comes up, you have fifteen seconds to confirm that you are ready for the incoming match. If you do not hit the confirmation button before the time limit expires, you are forced back to the bottom of the list and will have to wait your turn again. If a player remains unresponsive for numerous times in the same lobby, the host has the option to kick them so they can stabilize the progress of the session again by clearing their spot for another player to take. This helps make for convenient settings to stream tournament matches as well as make it so players can attend to whatever comes up while they are involved in the session.
So...yeah. I am no programming expert, so I dunno if it would be possible to add these features to the game's online options as it stands, but if it is I would definitely consider it. I apologize for the rather lengthy post, but I wanted to be sure I clarified my core reasons for bringing up this issue in the first place, and maybe give some food for thought.
Really makes it less stressful sorting through so much. I have no fucking clue how to use them myself as I've never touched 'em, haha.
