Halo: Reach Will Punish Quitters, Says Bungie

[Jewrean]

If you're being routinely disconnected from Xbox LIVE and now you're feeling the pain more than ever, this would be an opportune time to phone up technical support and finally resolve your issues. A solid connection is better for everyone involved. While you're rooting around, you should check your NAT settings, too. Maybe think about upgrading your firmware.

I'm already an expert with my routers. Everything is port forwarded correctly and NAT couldn't be better. It could be a mixture of my ISP, the distance I am away from the local exchange, and general incompetence not on my end. The response above is a blanket statement and personally I have already addressed the issues it has raised. My connection is still shit, but thanks for helping.

 

[Jewrean]

There will ALWAYS be annoying people on Xbox Live

I understand this and I'm not bothered by them. The only time it becomes an issue is when I am at a genuine disadvantage based on my connection. If a scum bag beats me on an even playing field, I'll take the shit.

Yes, some games

All games for me. Maybe 1/20 work well.

so in leaving the main thing you accomplish is ruining the fun everyone else is having

I understand that but the point is it shouldn't come to that. Are you telling me that my opinion means nothing in comparison to a game of people? Are you telling me to jump around having as little fun as possible in a laggy game whilst waiting for the count down timer to hit 0 whilst everyone is blaming me for my apparent lack of effort?

That I think warrants a punishment

Why? If I'm not having fun then why should I put the game disc in in the first place?

Bungie aren't doing this as a final laugh to the people who have crummy internet connections

Which is why I'm upset I have been segregated into another group of rage-quiters that I am not apart of.

I see the Australian get just as many chances to play 'host' as the American does

I regularly see Americans host 90% of games I play. Even when they are outnumbered.

Again, I don't really care what it's like for everyone else at the moment. I'm telling you what happens on my Xbox personally. Nothing but a shit storm. I've washed my hands of online console gaming so there's no point arguing over it anymore. I never had fun on the Xbox online.

 

[Frank Thompson]

I'm guessing that Bungie thought about people having to quit for legitimate reasons. They won't ban people that leave when they need to. I'm guessing that it checks to see if the player is getting owned and how many times they leave in a row. If you're in a game with better palyers, tough it out. That's the only way to get better. I'm still a player of Nazi Zombies on CoD 5, and hosts ending the match after bing two hours into a game really pisses me off, especially when it's their own fault for doing something stupid and expecting the rest of us to bust our butts just for them.

As for people with bad connections, have you thought about the fact that you lagging also takes away fun for other people? When the plug you full of lead just to get killed because you were glitching aorund? Bad connections slow down other people and IMO are almost as bad as rage quitters.

This will encourage people not to ruin online gaming. 99.9% of gamers pull douche moves at least once a day because the people they're playing with can't do anything about it. Instead of getting a punch in the face in the real world, you get a 15 minute ban online? If you have a life, that shouldn't be too much of an inconvenience.

 

[The Bandit]

HAY GUIZ IF I QUIT ONE TIME IS BUGIE GOING TO BAN ME THATS NOT VERY FAIR A TALL SRSLY WTF WHAT IF MYH INTERNET DOESNT WORK IM GOING TO GET BANNED SCREWE YOU UBNIGE

Please think before you post. If you habitually quit, you aren't quitting because you have things to do, you're quitting because someone got the sniper before you did. This isn't going to be "if you quit ten times, you get banned" it will be "if you quit ten times in one hour, you will get banned."

On a slightly different note, bathroom breaks? People quit when they have to pee?

 

[Silver Patriot]

If you're being routinely disconnected from Xbox LIVE and now you're feeling the pain more than ever, this would be an opportune time to phone up technical support and finally resolve your issues. A solid connection is better for everyone involved. While you're rooting around, you should check your NAT settings, too. Maybe think about upgrading your firmware.

I'm already an expert with my routers. Everything is port forwarded correctly and NAT couldn't be better. It could be a mixture of my ISP, the distance I am away from the local exchange, and general incompetence not on my end. The response above is a blanket statement and personally I have already addressed the issues it has raised. My connection is still shit, but thanks for helping.

Told you you wouldn't like it. Their stance (or at least their stance at the time), for better or worse, is that a bad connection is bad for everyone involved. Though as I said before, they are working on their part in it as well.

 

[Obsidian Rocker]

Hey, want to know something Bungie? If I pay my own hard earned money to buy your game then, as long as I don't break the rules, I'll play the game however I damn well please. If I wanted to leave games early then I will. I hardly ever do, hell, I find rage quitters as annoying as hell as the next person, but do you guys want to know a secret? Whether you like it or not, that's their choice. Don't like it? Tough. Deal with it. It's like people who complain in MW2 about OMA noob tubers or other stuff. Yes, it's a bit unfair but they're not breaking any rules so quit whining and use that brain to figure out a way to outsmart them and beat them. And come up with a better "insults" for when you get into petty squabbles with other people while you're at it.

Anyway, rant over.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

So if I join a lag-heavy game and quit out because I don't want to play a slide-show, Bungie punish me and stop me from playing a game that I've paid for? If I quit out of a game because someone's just knocked on my front door and I don't want to get AFK fragged 10+ times I get banned?

Think it through Bungie, there are more legitimate reasons for people quitting games than you seem to think.

 

[Cheesus333]

Hey, guys! Bad connection? Or maybe a busy schedule with frequent interruptions? No problem! Bungie is here to hel-... uh, no, I guess they're really not.

As a person whose Xbox Live connection works on a basis of 'I'll do it when I feel like it,' this troubles me. I don't want to be punished for having a room slightly too far away from the router.

 

[Vrex360]

So if I join a lag-heavy game and quit out because I don't want to play a slide-show, Bungie punish me and stop me from playing a game that I've paid for? If I quit out of a game because someone's just knocked on my front door and I don't want to get AFK fragged 10+ times I get banned?

Think it through Bungie, there are more legitimate reasons for people quitting games than you seem to think.

Hey, guys! Bad connection? Or maybe a busy schedule with frequent interruptions? No problem! Bungie is here to hel-... uh, no, I guess they're really not.

As a person whose Xbox Live connection works on a basis of 'I'll do it when I feel like it,' this troubles me. I don't want to be punished for having a room slightly too far away from the router.

Two in one, oh man I'm on a roll here. Such a an adrenaline rush!!

Anyway:

As I said in my post on the front page, with direct quotes from Bungie as well as links to articles explaining it in greater detail:

[HEADING=1]What Bungie actually means to say on the matter is here:[/HEADING]

<quote= Bungie>So, you may be wondering why we haven't fixed the quitter problem yet. Thing is, we probably have, but we just haven't turned it on yet.
As we speak, the Banhammer is watching, amassing data about who's been quitting, the manner in which they have quit, and who suffered as a result of that quit. Numbers are feeding into complex heuristics and deep databases, and somewhere in the middle of it, our very own disembodied soul howls for revenge.

"Swing Banhammer, swing!" you cry out. Well, problem is, this is a Beta and we don't want the Banhammer swinging wildly until we know for sure that the numbers coming in are correct, and that the Beta itself is stable and not disconnecting people (creating the illusion of quitting.) Currently, we are only logging data for future action.

So what do we have in store for when it goes live next week? Let me pull back the curtain just a bit:

For starters, our Banhammer is getting more data than even Halo 3 produced, which is going to let us dial it in and more aggressively deal with habitual quitters. The real jerks are going to run into this, and then you're not going to see them online anymore. It'll be great.

Second, quitting a game will forfeit any credits you may have earned for that game. In fact, it may even cost you some credits. We're waiting to see how effective the Banhammer is before deciding exactly how much.

Lastly, and all new for Reach, we have a new type of ban called a Quitter Ban. This is a relatively soft ban, so we will be using it quite aggressively, activating after only a handful of quits and lasting a rather long time. What does it do? A player with a Quitter Ban will be temporarily unable to re-enter Matchmaking for 15-30 minutes following any further quits.

Oh, and we're playing around with some gametypes which end early (think "Sudden Death") when most of a team quits out, so that you don't need to play 8v1 Slayer to 100 (aka. "Hide and Seek".) You may see some of these in Matchmaking if we're unhappy with the other countermeasures.

As custodians of the online experience, we will be monitoring and adjusting out countermeasures as necessary to keep things ticking along nicely, without games being marred by habitual flakes who quit when they don't get the Sniper Rifle first. So in the meantime, enjoy the Beta!
And quit quitting, because we are watching, and it is going into your personal Banhammer dossier.

(Special pre-emptive note: Online game designers are familiar with "virtual guilt", whereby a perfectly upstanding, innocent player will feel irrationally nervous and guilty upon hearing about a potential punishment. And now, you're familiar with the concept too. Well, relax. We are very deliberate about our enforcement policies, and if you're not a habitual quitter, we're not going to ban you for that one time that your internet cut out. And if it cuts out every game, well, you should probably use the downtime between games to call your ISP and get a technician out. It'll be for the greater good.)

[HEADING=1]They are not talking about permanently banning people from the system based on singular acts of rage quitting!
The longest anyone will be banned for is twenty minutes and only if they are frequently quitting from matches, like ten times in a thirty minutes.[/HEADING]

Also:

http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?cid=26432

Towards the end of this article it is mentioned that in fact before you even get a fifteen minute suspension, you get a weekly probation period. Bungie also note the connection issues other countries face and have done their bit to fix that up and have now got the tools needed to fix up connection issues. So the fear of being suspended based on connection issues is not something you need worry about as Bungie are aware of this problem.

EDIT: Incidentally I just realized how obnoxious I must have just come across then, I apologize for that greatly if I came across as such in any way.

 

[tsb247]

I've always disliked Halo... Now I feel more justified than ever. Bungie has shot themselves in the foot with this one. How can anyone even think this nonsense is a good idea.

What about those who squeeze games in to small amounts of free time and can't finish a match due to time constraints?

What about those who have dodgy internet connections?

What if you don't like the server and simply want to leave without finishing a match?

There are just far too many legitimate reasons for quitting, and I think Bungie is stupid to ignore them.

And had you actually read a few posts down on the first page before letting your anti Halo/Bungie bias speak for you you would realize that they have taken your issues into account.

Not only did I read the OP, which seems to side with me calling the measure, "Heavy handed," but I also read Vrex360's explanation that's apparently from Bungie (I read the connection issues portion, but I'm willing to bet they will still encounter a problem with connections issues somewhere down the line), and you know what? I still hold the same opinion. Surprise! Not only is it ridiculous, it is unbelievably idiotic. There are better ways to fill in the gaps when someone quits an online game. I would go so far to say that Bungie is just lazy and doesn't want to do the extra legwork to find a real solution; like AI that kicks in when a player drops - as in so many other online games. It's not perfect, but it would be a start.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that you should learn how to contribute in some way to the discussion rather than simply nagging at people who have a problem with the topic. Three posts in a row nagging three different people? Seriously? With 860 posts it would seem you have been here long enough to learn that practice is generally frowned upon here. Or have you?

 

[Obsidian Rocker]

SNIP

Way to miss my point there, camp

 

[Siberian Relic]

I know how Bungie feels. When I'm in the moment, in the thick of combat, it's extremely irritating to have other teammates drop out, skewing the balance of the teams. That puts both undue pressure on my team and offers unfair advantages to the other.

Then I turn off the game, step outside, and remember that video games are nothing but pixels, lights, and a mix of fancy sounds. It ceases to exist the second the system goes off.

 

[Vrex360]

SNIP

Way to miss my point there, camp

EDIT:

Sorry, mistook your post for someone elses

Okay, seriously:

Rage quitters are annoying yes this is true and it's a fact that people already screw around in different gametypes as well in other games with the noob tubing and such.
But the thing is, rage quitting can actually completely mess up the balance of the game and I'm not just talking about team sizes changing.

I've played games where the connection completely died just because someone left halfway through and the whole thing had to reset. Other times where the host left and it had to be changed halfway through so the speed suddenly slowed down to unplayable proportions.
People who rage quit and do it frequently can actually completely mess up entire matches altogether and if they know that this behavior is being monitored, in theory they will stop doing it.

 

[ActionDan]

I hate it when as soon as people get a negative score, they rejoin the server to reset their score. This mostly happens in CS:S but it's still annoying.

 

[Silver Patriot]

I've always disliked Halo... Now I feel more justified than ever. Bungie has shot themselves in the foot with this one. How can anyone even think this nonsense is a good idea.

What about those who squeeze games in to small amounts of free time and can't finish a match due to time constraints?

What about those who have dodgy internet connections?

What if you don't like the server and simply want to leave without finishing a match?

There are just far too many legitimate reasons for quitting, and I think Bungie is stupid to ignore them.

And had you actually read a few posts down on the first page before letting your anti Halo/Bungie bias speak for you you would realize that they have taken your issues into account.

Not only did I read the OP, which seems to side with me calling the measure, "Heavy handed," but I also read Vrex360's explanation that's apparently from Bungie (I read the connection issues portion, but I'm willing to bet they haven't figured that one out yet), and you know what? I still hold the same opinion. Surprise! Not only is it ridiculous, it is unbelievably idiotic. There are better ways to fill in the gaps when someone quits an online game. I would go so far to say that Bungie is just lazy and doesn't want to do the extra legwork to find a real solution; like AI that kicks in when a player drops - as in so many other online games. It's not perfect, but it would be a start.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that you should learn how to contribute in some way to the discussion rather than simply nagging at people who have a problem with the topic. Three posts in a row nagging three different people? Seriously? With 860 posts it would seem you have been here long enough to learn that practice is generally frowned upon here. Or have you?

They are working on ways to balance uneven teams

Oh, and we're playing around with some gametypes which end early (think "Sudden Death") when most of a team quits out, so that you don't need to play 8v1 Slayer to 100 (aka. "Hide and Seek".) You may see some of these in Matchmaking if we're unhappy with the other countermeasures.

However, they want to punish people who habitually quit out of Ranked Matches. I seriously doubt that they would be as strict in Social Matches.

Also, with all due respect to the OP, I don't think the author understands the full story. The article is vague and talks about "removing quitters from the population" which implies taking steps much greater than what Bungie has described. Logan got the information from Xbox360 Achievements who extracted the information from an interview. Fair enough. However I doubt either one got the full story from Bungie on how Bungie planned to do this. In fact, the article made it sound like Bungie was going to permanently ban quitters and I wouldn't doubt that the OP thought that was what was going to happen.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

I've always disliked Halo... Now I feel more justified than ever. Bungie has shot themselves in the foot with this one. How can anyone even think this nonsense is a good idea.

What about those who squeeze games in to small amounts of free time and can't finish a match due to time constraints?

What about those who have dodgy internet connections?

What if you don't like the server and simply want to leave without finishing a match?

There are just far too many legitimate reasons for quitting, and I think Bungie is stupid to ignore them.

And had you actually read a few posts down on the first page before letting your anti Halo/Bungie bias speak for you you would realize that they have taken your issues into account.

Not only did I read the OP, which seems to side with me calling the measure, "Heavy handed," but I also read Vrex360's explanation that's apparently from Bungie (I read the connection issues portion, but I'm willing to bet they will still encounter a problem with connections issues somewhere down the line), and you know what? I still hold the same opinion. Surprise! Not only is it ridiculous, it is unbelievably idiotic. There are better ways to fill in the gaps when someone quits an online game. I would go so far to say that Bungie is just lazy and doesn't want to do the extra legwork to find a real solution; like AI that kicks in when a player drops - as in so many other online games. It's not perfect, but it would be a start.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that you should learn how to contribute in some way to the discussion rather than simply nagging at people who have a problem with the topic. Three posts in a row nagging three different people? Seriously? With 860 posts it would seem you have been here long enough to learn that practice is generally frowned upon here. Or have you?

Putting bots into matchmaking on a popular FPS sounds more of a lazy idea in my opinion. And please, you are nagging someone right now. With over 1000 posts you should know about not resorting to insults when arguing.

I do think the OP should be changed. It is misleading in that it implies that you will be banned forever.

 

[awsome117]

Not only did I read the OP, which seems to side with me calling the measure, "Heavy handed," but I also read Vrex360's explanation that's apparently from Bungie (I read the connection issues portion, but I'm willing to bet they will still encounter a problem with connections issues somewhere down the line), and you know what? I still hold the same opinion. Surprise! Not only is it ridiculous, it is unbelievably idiotic. There are better ways to fill in the gaps when someone quits an online game. I would go so far to say that Bungie is just lazy and doesn't want to do the extra legwork to find a real solution; like AI that kicks in when a player drops - as in so many other online games. It's not perfect, but it would be a start.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that you should learn how to contribute in some way to the discussion rather than simply nagging at people who have a problem with the topic. Three posts in a row nagging three different people? Seriously? With 860 posts it would seem you have been here long enough to learn that practice is generally frowned upon here. Or have you?

AI that kicks in? What, are they just in the back of the map waiting for someone to drop? (sarcasm) And besides, what level of difficulty do you make it? Can you make it follow commands? What if more than one person drops, and more than half the team is AIs? Do they pick up weapons? I could go on with this, but I think you get my point.

As you said before, sure the system isn't perfect, but it's a start isn't it? And I believe they are going to have people join in-game if some one leaves.

And just curious, what are "real" solutions that you would think are better than this "fake" solution.

 

[Haunted Serenity]

Finally no longer will it be 6 on 1 or some horrible combo. I hate people who quit to avoid losses. It happens all the time.

 

[DarkPanda XIII]

Meh, I could really care less, but I understand both the irritation of people just randomly leaving, and other times when I have to leave when I find myself in a 'hounds hunting fox hunt, and I'm the fox', which happens a little too often for my tastes.

Still, seriously? I find it offensive when I have such a negative feedback mostly because I leave fights early due to, well, being in a fight, the points are 1 to 40, in favor of the opponent, and one of your partners keeps killing you just because. Or hitting you with a baseball bat, or...yeah, you get my drift.