Dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA) + AI research = coming Skynet in predatory business practices. Sega Sammy who owns Relic is also in the Casino business but not AAA gaming. Due to regulations in Japan, it's called Pachinko which resembles a slot machine.
Scripted EA Games & DDA | More proof Fifa 17/18/19 is a Casino
Initial dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA) research and exposé was done by Fifa players. Since then other gamers/Youtubers have helped spread this story. DDA is likely also implemented in EA Star Wars and Madden games. Activision which owns Blizzard (since 2013) has a similar patent.
Gambling at its finest.
The paper talks about a new model of dynamic difficulty for increasing player engagement. The example that they give is for a platform game, but say that it is applicable to other genres. I'm yet to digest the paper in full.
Edit:
And here's the patent for slider manipulation: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2017/0259177.html
My own summary/some highlights:
If users experience gameplay that is too hard/easy, they will stop playing – therefore companies seek methods to dynamically adjust difficulty
Method involves selecting a seed value for a “knob” (think sliders). Knobs are set to maximise the amount of time people will play for.
Adjustments to the seed values reflect recent gameplay more than less recent (reason for bouncing between 5-0 wins and 1-0 losses in squad battles?).
A machine learning algorithm is used to decide on the seed value, based on interaction data
Knobs are set based on your current perceived level of engagement. This might be determined by factors such as how long you play the game for, AND WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE SPENT MONEY ON THE GAME (Emphasis my own, see detailed description section, paragraph 5 - seems a bit dodgy if this is in competitive game modes)
“Some other non-limiting examples of features of the video game that can be modified, which may or may not be detectable by the user can include providing extra speed to an in-game character, improving throwing accuracy of an in-game character, improving the distance or height that the in-game character can jump, adjusting the responsiveness of controls, and the like. In some cases, the adjustments may additionally or alternatively include reducing the ability of an in-game character rather than improving the ability of the in-game character. For example, the in-game character may be made faster, but have less shooting accuracy.” - Doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to apply this to FIFA.
It doesn't say explicitly that this methodology applies to FIFA, or whether it only affects certain modes - but a lot of it is consistent with my own experience and that of others.
The response to this little finding has been overwhelming. After publishing, I received a message from u/CatalystFCP with code that seems to give actual detail on how momentum works. I believe this has been shown before, but now that this has reached critical mass, let's take a look. The following is from the same file as in PART 1:
EDIT proof via u/lilsmooga193119
Editor's note: No matter where any of us fall on the 'momentum' debate, I believe we all really love football, and want FIFA to be great. EA, if you read this, just let us know what is going on. You may think that randomness will lead to more pack openings, and more addiction, but nothing could help the player base grow more than an awesome game. Go back to basics.
Today we announced that we will be bringing Age of Empires I, II, and III Definitive Editions to Steam! You can check out Phil Spencer’s full piece, including more exciting PC news, on Xbox Wire here.
The Age of Empires franchise has long been at the center of the PC gaming community, cherished not only by us, but by our millions of players across multiple generations. As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Age of Empires II, we are excited to share the results of our continued dedication to the games you know and love, remastered with the latest tech in game development.
In addition, we want you to be able to enjoy these games no matter where you play. By releasing Age of Empires I, II, and III: Definitive Editions to Steam, we are letting you, our fans, decide where you want to play, explore, and create new experiences with our games.
More information on the Steam releases of the Age of Empires: Definitive Editions will be released soon.
Recently, we announced three of our Definitive Editions will be coming to Steam, giving our community the choice of where they want to play. With E3 fast approaching, kicking off with Microsoft’s Keynote on Sunday, June 9, we are excited to announce that we will be on the floor with Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition!
Attendees will be able to experience stunning 4K Ultra HD graphics, a new, fully remastered soundtrack, and 4 new civilizations during an on-hands demo of the game.
Not attending E3? Not a problem. Click here to sign up as an Age of Empires Insider and stay up to date on all things Age announced during the conference as well as get access to perks such as:
Updates about the latest developments to the Age of Empires franchise
Opportunities to provide input to the development teams via Insider surveys
The chance to be selected as a participant in special playtesting events for unreleased Age titles and features
*SNIP*
The problem is that Anthem does not have five years to learn all this. BioWare has never developed a live service loot shooter before, so they’ve effectively just been thrown in the deep end and forced to learn how to swim.
It may not be fair to compare Anthem’s erased roadmap and Destiny’s perfectly followed one, but these games are competing for the same types of players at the exact same time. And Bungie is using five years of development experience and lessons learned to churn out timely new content on schedule, while BioWare simply can’t match it.
STOCKHOLM – May 31, 2019 – Paradox Interactive, a publisher and developer of games for worldwide audiences, today announced their participation in Xbox Game Pass for PC, an upcoming monthly gaming membership program from Microsoft. Xbox Game Pass for PC will offer unlimited access to new releases and classic titles on PC for members, including a selection of games from Paradox Interactive.
Xbox Game Pass for PC will launch in select markets, with titles from Paradox Interactive included on day one.
For more information about Xbox Game Pass for PC, check out the announcement on Xbox Wire and watch the Xbox E3 2019 Briefing on Sunday, June 9 at 1pm PDT.
I'm quite surprised that after the roadmap delay last month, Epic did not decide to focus more on providing promised and pretty essential storefront features. The near-term goals (1-3 months) have been delayed once again. As an example, cloud saves, which were supposed to ship in May, are now targeted for a July release. I can't find a previous version of the roadmap, but the vast majority, if not all near term goals have been postponed. You can see the roadmap here. This, along with the whole Anthem situation just shows how much credibility RoAdMaPs that developers like to share with the community deserve.
“It’s nearly perfect for consumers already,” said Sweeney. “There is no hope of displacing a dominant storefront solely by adding marginally more store features or a marginally better install experience. These battles will be won on the basis of game supply, consumer prices, and developer revenue sharing,”
It’s an odd quote considering the Epic store’s lack of social features in its current state, and only included a search function in its client this week. But it does explain a heavy developer-first strategy that has seen the Epic Store snag some key exclusives.
“We’ve worked to ensure it’s genuinely worthwhile for developers to move to the Epic Games store," said Sweeney.
"We’re giving game developers and publishers the store business model that we’ve always wanted as developers ourselves.”
Epic Games is allowing a duo who have been punished for cheating in this SAME tournament move on to New York with a guaranteed $50,000 and play in the biggest E-sports tournament in history.
solartech0
What did they do, specifically?
GameWizrd
They had friends feed them kills/points during qualifiers and were very blatant with it. The whole community knew about it yet Epic decided to only ban them for two weeks in a tournament that spanned several months and didn't give them any other form of punishment.
Denmark
SturmTigerCobra
ihitto(wwU)
PanzerGrenadierAngreifen
TheMachine
Relic Entertainment
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