#skill based matchmaking

cooperative games are about helping each other

i do this so you can do that

i take aggro and you heal me, so they can dps

i give you a platform so you can jump up there and mine

competitive games are about reacting and predicting the enemy player

without social contract, there is no rules besides using your tools to win, everything you can do is allowed

but with the knowledge that you are on fair ground

in a fighting game poking/all in/reacting are a triangle of predicting and being unpredictable

kart games are about knowing maps and the best times to use itens while testing mechanical mastery of the wheel

team based games integrate both aspects of cooperative and competitive games

having both aspects of interacting with and against other people

but then, why do every team game has such a toxic and anti social community?

matchmaking makes so that every time you queue you find new people and you are reliant on them

people go there to find community and fulfill the social needs that we humans have

but when every time you play, you gamble between having a good experience or a terrible one with no control in it, people decide to exert control the way they can, by being toxic

this creates a feedback loop where everyone is anonymous and with no relation to one another unless you bring people from other places, and they will not have a relation after the game ends

so people feel free to be toxic with minimal to no repercussion

this long term exacerbates, previously chill people will get toxic with time and nothing will be done about it because there is no social punishment for it

at best they aren't allowed to play

at worst they rewarded by their behavior thru being pleased that they aren't at fault for losing with no incentive to improve, either at the game or their behavior

so how can this be fixed?

the easiest way is thru facilitating long term relationships to emerge

this is easily done thru text chats besides the game that would work to talk about the different facets of the game

like a server for map makers, one for modders, one for competitive players, etc

this should all be community managed to intensive the idea of community, let redundancy be normal

outside of being able to enter this guilds, you could also enter in a single competitive team per mode

this would dictate your team to play ranked with

so playing competitively means strengthening your social bonds and coordinating just as much as it means to improve at the game

why isn't this done?

the short answers is that this isn't the expectation of what players feel familiar and that people just don't know how to do this

another answer that is more economically centered is that this frustration and uncertainty makes so queuing is a Skinner box on itself

think about it, every time you queue you are given randomly a good or bad experience

this makes more likely that you queue again even if the experience was satisfactory

because if you had a good game you are likely to queue again to keep the streak

if you are losing you can't leave on a loss

or you want to make up for the bad game with a good one, even if the bad taste left on your mouth from the bad game makes the good one worse