It's a great game, but it's hard to argue that it didn't change the genre, and all of multiplayer video games, for the worse. Multiplayer games can no longer be designed to just be fun. They must also be addictive, they must retain players, they must keep them coming back, etc. using every manipulative trick in the book like XP bars and unlocks. You might say MMORPGs did this first, but this was the application of that feedback loop to a competitive action game.

[–] ItalianSkeletonGaming@mastodon.social 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

@ampersandrew @simple Whenever someone says that X ruined Y, I always hypothesize that it may be the opposite case: the reason why so many copied its addictive nature is because the publishers themselves were already searching for ways to maximize player engagement, and therefore increased revenue through monetization.

COD itself didn't ruin multiplayer games, it only showed an easy and replicable way

If you may forgive the metaphor: a weed can only spread if the soil itself is fertile

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Potentially true. Or it was an accident that proved more lucrative than they thought it would. At the very least, it got there first and showed everyone else how to ruin multiplayer games.

[–] TORFdot0@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

The RPG mechanics didn’t ruin the genre although I did prefer the mechanics of earlier CoDs where in multiplayer everything is unlocked and you just use whatever you want.

What ruined the genre was the free-to-play style monetization and season pass paid update model.

Black Ops 2 was the first CoD to have paid skins, but we would have no idea how bad things would become. By the time Fortnite came along the multiplayer FPS genre was already long ruined

[–] uhN0id@programming.dev 12 points 4 months ago (2 children)

When this game came out I hated it because I loved the original Call of Duty games that were super slow paced and more realistic. But eventually it became my main game playing till 4am on Xbox with friends. I miss the simplicity of COD MW.

[–] Summzashi@lemmy.one 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Call of duty was never super slow paced. You must be confused with Operation Flashpoint or the likes.

[–] uhN0id@programming.dev 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Maybe not super slow paced like Squad but super slow paced compared to today's COD.

https://youtu.be/GfrEy6xcyec?si=QL4lMkM4QvabkgvQ

Back when you'd hold positions and provide cover fire while someone would slowly push up or flank etc. It was a much different game before MW released.

I used to play this at gaming cafes in the early/mid 2000s with my buddies before we all had proper gaming computers alongside Battlefield 1942. Definitely not confusing it for Operation Flashpoint haha.

[–] dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

While I preferred MW2 to MW, I still really liked MW and thought it was better than all others besides MW2. I just got really good at cheesing certain class combos in MW2, which was the only way for me to be good at those games. I'm only OK at FPS games and was able to make use of things like the riot shield for holding points or heartbeat sensor and reload perks for C4 to get good K/D ratios. In MW I got a decent percentage of my kills from Danger Close because I died a lot, and goddamn that was a funny way to kill someone. I also felt MW2 was less sniper-friendly, and I suck both as a sniper and against snipers.

[–] Zannsolo@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

The original Call of Duty was my favorite. I didn't have a good computer so I played it at a LAN center for a good while. The game also kicked off a domino of events in my friends life when I gave him a CD key for it.

My friend got pretty good at the game and joined a competitive CAL-M team, and even played at a CPL championship tournament. Well after he graduated college one of the people he played with on the team and he started a company making websites. When he told me what he was doing, I told him just don't blow too much money on it.

They ended up pivoting from their original plan of making fitness blog sites, among other niche sites they felt could generate ad revenue to making flash game sites.

They did moderately well in their endeavors and scored some high ranking search results for a few categories of flash games. They were making hundreds of thousands each and he moved to another to save on income tax. In the new state he met a woman and they ended up getting married, so I was able to draw a direct path from me giving him a CD key for cod to him getting moderately wealthy and finding a wife.

Unfortunately the last domino hasn't fallen, and it turned out she was a lieing, money grubbing, cheating whore. Flash games died out but my friend moved on to other things. He is doing great, happily remarried and we both had our first kid within about a month of each other.

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Three Ahoy videos within two months?

[–] micka190@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

We're eating good in 2024!