Poll: Multiplayer without leveling up. Would it work?

[Techsmart07]

Asking whether multiplayer works without leveling is like asking whether eating food works without a fork. Of course it does, but the fork makes certain things easier. Like the fork, in the end, leveling mechanics are just tools.
If used properly, they can add a lot of value to the game. They can give players goals to aim for, and can help drive home the concepts of a player improving themselves. Leveling also invests a player in their character, making them less likely to drop the game for something else at the drop of a hat.
That being said, leveling also bring negatives to a game. It increases the gap between new players and vets, since a level 1 player probably can't even harm the player that is level 9001. This can be discouraging for new players. In some games, like CoD, this also limits a player's options and prevents them from playing how they want to play until they have invested a fair amount of time into the game.

No game inherently NEEDS leveling to succeed, it is just a design tool. There are plenty of games that implement leveling well, and are successful for it (Borderlands is my favorite example), but there are also plenty of games that are successful despite no leveling whatsoever.

 

[SuperSamio64]

Team Fortress 2: Entirely multiplayer, no leveling system, and all the better for it.

 

[Vivi22]

I mean people bring up TF2 and UT a lot but you have to admit that these games did get rather dull after sometime of playing the same thing.

Why would I ever have to admit that? Moreover, what does leveling up even do to stop that? Eventually you max out your levels and you either have the choice to keep playing at the max level (ie: doing the same thing over and over again) or restart and level up all over again (in essence, doing the same thing over again as well).

A good multiplayer game is going to have more than enough depth and complexity to last a long time with or without any leveling shenanigans. As for whether or not games can succeed without leveling, this isn't even a question to be honest. Games like Counter Strike: GO, Starcraft 2, etc. are all doing very well without leveling. In fact, in many ways they're doing better than most games with leveling.

 

[monkey_man]

I don't think Call Of Duty would survive very long if the level system would be gone, the fans would be outraged, and go back to playing older ones. A leveling system is basically only used to pad-out game play, give an additional goal. Team Fortress 2 does this too, with the hats. there are still a few games that use "reset leveling", IE every game you start as lvl 1, and level up per game, which is also cool, I would use LoL as reference, but there is a general level system, and they do get more money to buy perks. I'm more in favor of the old: everyone is equal, noone has perks granted by playtime. Team Fortress 2 does this well, by making the default weapons so good. (almost) every unlock has a disadvantage, which can be exploited. slower firing speed, less damage, extra damage taken etc. It makes the game fair, and I think that's the best system.