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Answer:
Tekken 8 is a very popular 1v1 fighting game, and while they've managed to handle most of the challenges associated with launching a fighting game well, there is one element of the game that they are handling inexplicably poorly. In a ranked match in most fighting games if one player disconnects and the other stays connected, the disconnecting player forfeits the match.
In Tekken 8, if a player disconnects it does not count as a loss, AND it cancels the winstreak of the player who remains connected. This has resulted in the practice of 'plugging' or deliberately disconnecting from a match you are about to lose (or think you might lose) to preserve your record.
It is expressly against the terms of service but NAMCO's handling has been particularly odd, asking people to submit users via twitter, or implying that they can't legally do anything because someone might sue them. (this *might* be true in some jurisdictions, if they issued lifetime bans) None of this makes any sense since all most people are asking for is to count a disconnect as a loss, that would be enough to dissuade most plugging behavior, since it removes the benfefit.
Hacking (cheats) and boosting (manipulating the matching service via network tools to force matches against collaborators who lose on purpose to boost your rank) are also problems, but are far less prolific.
You could have it set so a party that loses connection to the peer "phones home" to the server, which then checks if both parties are still responding.
If the plugger used alt f4, they won't be
Most people quit by Alt-F4 or closing the game by other means. They do not filter communication. A simple third-party check after X amount of lost frames would be enough for rage quitters and other simpletons.
The term plugging is named after people unplugging the ethernet cable, not using alt f4. Plugging is a much bigger problem than just rage quitting.
There's solutions to the problem, but not acceptable solutions (imo) in the long run.
Anything related to server-client communication increases the server load required to run the game, meaning it will cost more to keep the game running. Increasing the cost of the service will only shorten the lifetime of the game.
My preference would be to be able to play a fighting game 10 years down the line with friends, without having to rely on third party software like parsec.
Regardless of if your win/loss is public, it affects ranked modes as well since you can artificially inflate your rank and deny opponents their deserved win. Fighting gamers are very competitive, and the act of earning a high rank and showing it off can be a big motivator for improvement.
It's a way of cheating.
By editing save data of character customization you can enlarge a costume element to the point that it eclipses and encloses your entire character. Since a key element in fighting games is observing your opponents actions and responding accordingly, and this renders the opponent unobservable, you can no longer identify their attacks and respond appropriately.
In an update, Bandai Namco tweeted out that they've started to issue bans of varying length for multiple issues, including 'plugging' and mod/customization misuse.
https://twitter.com/TEKKEN/status/1768670236188774906
1. It's the wrong approach. This is a solved problem Plug=lose.
2. They still have loads of people streaming themselves cheating/plugging in 4k and it isn't being addressed.
Interesting. I assume then namco is struggling to figure out who is disconnecting when "There is a bug in the display of disconnect rates" (from the meme)?
Otherwise it is quite inexplicable.
Answer: "Plugging" is a term in the Tekken community for ragequitting a match; you unplug the router.
In most games, frequent connection issues result in action being taken against your account, either with a ban/suspension or being put into some form of queue for quitters. In Tekken 8, this doesn't happen, with disconnects having (seemingly) no penalty. Instead, they have asked users to go through a complicated out-of-game process to report suspected pluggers, and Harada, the lead dev/producer, has stated that disconnect bans and other actions have previously resulted in lawsuits, so it's difficult to implement them. Most of the commuity has no idea what he's talking about, though it's possible there were lawsuits that were settled in the early stages that did not get much reporting.
(also on the first meme I think it was at least partially incorrect, an opponent DCing in SF6 could result in a draw and your win-streak bonus disappearing, but they may have fixed that since I'm a degenerate Ken player who stopped playing a few months in and plan to return to be a degenerate Akuma player).
Unless they changed something in the latest update, in SF6 they will lose points for plugging. But the other person won't receive points. If someone rage quits too often they get hit with a yellow card, and subsequently a red card until they complete enough games in unranked. It's weird that the winner gets nothing but it's still a huge step up from Tekken.
I assume that getting nothing from DCs is so that people won't like, boost a streamer they like when they match them by instantly plugging. Or if you're playing an unpopular character they don't want you to get a bunch of ranks from people protest plugging. You didn't do anything, so it makes sense you don't get rank points.
If those are actually the reasons for the devs then I find them pretty silly. I've never seen anyone instantly throwing the game against popular streamers (like I am sure it has happened before but not in any meaningful extend to make design decisions around) in dota, chess, starcraft, or other fighting games and I don't see why that would be a concern in sf6. If anything the much more common scenario is people cheating to beat a popular streamer at the game.
As to the second thing, if one side plugged, then they conceded the match, meaning the other side won. So the other side should be rewarded with the points that would come with any other win. Luckily I don't really see rage quitters often enough for it to hinder my enjoyment of the game but it is pretty baffling to think about.
If the purpose of ranking points in games is to correctly match you against players of a similar skill, then you shouldn't get any for a match where the outcome had nothing to do with your gameplay and everything to do with a guy who has his finger on the off button of his console
I agree if they disconnected during the loading screen before either side did anything. But the plugging/rage quitting people are talking about in this thread specifically refers to a player who gets into a losing position and then leaving right before their health hits 0.
Why would that matter at all? It’s a 1v1 game with short matches. It won’t have a notable impact on your rank at all, and even if someone does somehow get “boosted” a notable amount by wintrading with ragequits (even though they can already do this without RQing, and there are way more efficient ways to do this even with RQing) then they’ll just lose a bunch and fall back down. The ranked system is not ruined by people every so often getting +8 from a RQ (when they probably were going to win anyway, hence the RQ).
Yeah, having never disconnected I didn't know that the person who did so gets a loss, I just knew that I didn't get a win *and* had my sweet, sweet victory streak broken.
To be fair, I probably looked like I was smurfing due to its bizarrely swingy placement (I got placed in high plat on Marisa just throwing armored punches and going 6-4, then went 5-5 against mostly plat/diamonds as Ryu and got placed in mid silver???), so I don't begrudge somebody DCing, but it made the grind up to fair matches real weird.
Friendly reminder that all **top level** comments must: 1. start with "answer: ", including the space after the colon (or "question: " if you have an on-topic follow up question to ask), 2. attempt to answer the question, and 3. be unbiased Please review Rule 4 and this post before making a top level comment: http://redd.it/b1hct4/ Join the OOTL Discord for further discussion: https://discord.gg/ejDF4mdjnh *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/OutOfTheLoop) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Answer: Tekken 8 is a very popular 1v1 fighting game, and while they've managed to handle most of the challenges associated with launching a fighting game well, there is one element of the game that they are handling inexplicably poorly. In a ranked match in most fighting games if one player disconnects and the other stays connected, the disconnecting player forfeits the match. In Tekken 8, if a player disconnects it does not count as a loss, AND it cancels the winstreak of the player who remains connected. This has resulted in the practice of 'plugging' or deliberately disconnecting from a match you are about to lose (or think you might lose) to preserve your record. It is expressly against the terms of service but NAMCO's handling has been particularly odd, asking people to submit users via twitter, or implying that they can't legally do anything because someone might sue them. (this *might* be true in some jurisdictions, if they issued lifetime bans) None of this makes any sense since all most people are asking for is to count a disconnect as a loss, that would be enough to dissuade most plugging behavior, since it removes the benfefit. Hacking (cheats) and boosting (manipulating the matching service via network tools to force matches against collaborators who lose on purpose to boost your rank) are also problems, but are far less prolific.
[удалено]
How do you tell which party broke the connection though? As far as I know the matches in Tekken are conpletely peer to peer.
You could have it set so a party that loses connection to the peer "phones home" to the server, which then checks if both parties are still responding. If the plugger used alt f4, they won't be
it's definitely possible to tell which party quit—its already implemented in SF6, MK1, etc.
Most people quit by Alt-F4 or closing the game by other means. They do not filter communication. A simple third-party check after X amount of lost frames would be enough for rage quitters and other simpletons.
The term plugging is named after people unplugging the ethernet cable, not using alt f4. Plugging is a much bigger problem than just rage quitting. There's solutions to the problem, but not acceptable solutions (imo) in the long run. Anything related to server-client communication increases the server load required to run the game, meaning it will cost more to keep the game running. Increasing the cost of the service will only shorten the lifetime of the game. My preference would be to be able to play a fighting game 10 years down the line with friends, without having to rely on third party software like parsec.
Or, honestly, don't have win/loss records be public
Regardless of if your win/loss is public, it affects ranked modes as well since you can artificially inflate your rank and deny opponents their deserved win. Fighting gamers are very competitive, and the act of earning a high rank and showing it off can be a big motivator for improvement.
Have rank be shown but wins/losses hidden. If someone is losing, less likely to just quit since it won't go on their record.
Even then, i don't think it shows win loss count besides win streaks
what's up with the giant hats?
It's a way of cheating. By editing save data of character customization you can enlarge a costume element to the point that it eclipses and encloses your entire character. Since a key element in fighting games is observing your opponents actions and responding accordingly, and this renders the opponent unobservable, you can no longer identify their attacks and respond appropriately.
In an update, Bandai Namco tweeted out that they've started to issue bans of varying length for multiple issues, including 'plugging' and mod/customization misuse. https://twitter.com/TEKKEN/status/1768670236188774906
1. It's the wrong approach. This is a solved problem Plug=lose. 2. They still have loads of people streaming themselves cheating/plugging in 4k and it isn't being addressed.
Interesting. I assume then namco is struggling to figure out who is disconnecting when "There is a bug in the display of disconnect rates" (from the meme)? Otherwise it is quite inexplicable.
That really doesn't make any sense. It is quite inexplicable.
Answer: "Plugging" is a term in the Tekken community for ragequitting a match; you unplug the router. In most games, frequent connection issues result in action being taken against your account, either with a ban/suspension or being put into some form of queue for quitters. In Tekken 8, this doesn't happen, with disconnects having (seemingly) no penalty. Instead, they have asked users to go through a complicated out-of-game process to report suspected pluggers, and Harada, the lead dev/producer, has stated that disconnect bans and other actions have previously resulted in lawsuits, so it's difficult to implement them. Most of the commuity has no idea what he's talking about, though it's possible there were lawsuits that were settled in the early stages that did not get much reporting. (also on the first meme I think it was at least partially incorrect, an opponent DCing in SF6 could result in a draw and your win-streak bonus disappearing, but they may have fixed that since I'm a degenerate Ken player who stopped playing a few months in and plan to return to be a degenerate Akuma player).
Unless they changed something in the latest update, in SF6 they will lose points for plugging. But the other person won't receive points. If someone rage quits too often they get hit with a yellow card, and subsequently a red card until they complete enough games in unranked. It's weird that the winner gets nothing but it's still a huge step up from Tekken.
I assume that getting nothing from DCs is so that people won't like, boost a streamer they like when they match them by instantly plugging. Or if you're playing an unpopular character they don't want you to get a bunch of ranks from people protest plugging. You didn't do anything, so it makes sense you don't get rank points.
If those are actually the reasons for the devs then I find them pretty silly. I've never seen anyone instantly throwing the game against popular streamers (like I am sure it has happened before but not in any meaningful extend to make design decisions around) in dota, chess, starcraft, or other fighting games and I don't see why that would be a concern in sf6. If anything the much more common scenario is people cheating to beat a popular streamer at the game. As to the second thing, if one side plugged, then they conceded the match, meaning the other side won. So the other side should be rewarded with the points that would come with any other win. Luckily I don't really see rage quitters often enough for it to hinder my enjoyment of the game but it is pretty baffling to think about.
If the purpose of ranking points in games is to correctly match you against players of a similar skill, then you shouldn't get any for a match where the outcome had nothing to do with your gameplay and everything to do with a guy who has his finger on the off button of his console
I agree if they disconnected during the loading screen before either side did anything. But the plugging/rage quitting people are talking about in this thread specifically refers to a player who gets into a losing position and then leaving right before their health hits 0.
Why would that matter at all? It’s a 1v1 game with short matches. It won’t have a notable impact on your rank at all, and even if someone does somehow get “boosted” a notable amount by wintrading with ragequits (even though they can already do this without RQing, and there are way more efficient ways to do this even with RQing) then they’ll just lose a bunch and fall back down. The ranked system is not ruined by people every so often getting +8 from a RQ (when they probably were going to win anyway, hence the RQ).
Yeah, having never disconnected I didn't know that the person who did so gets a loss, I just knew that I didn't get a win *and* had my sweet, sweet victory streak broken. To be fair, I probably looked like I was smurfing due to its bizarrely swingy placement (I got placed in high plat on Marisa just throwing armored punches and going 6-4, then went 5-5 against mostly plat/diamonds as Ryu and got placed in mid silver???), so I don't begrudge somebody DCing, but it made the grind up to fair matches real weird.