Dice, the developer of Bad Company 2, wants you to know that you’ve been spoiled. They want you to know that your fancy friends list and reliable server browsers have made you soft. Real PC gamers don’t need sophisticated multiplayer options that function properly. REAL PC gamers are happy with a keyboard, mouse, and something on the screen to strafe around.
At least that’s what it feels like Dice is trying to say with the frequently broken, sorely lacking multiplayer interface for Bad Company 2. If you’re used to playing games on Steam, you might be expecting Bad Company 2 to have certain features. For example, you might expect to be able to go to your Steam friends list, click on a friend who’s currently playing Bad Company 2, and then join that friend’s server. Well, you better get that shit out of your head right now. That shit will get you killed on the battlefield.
Bad Company 2 doesn’t allow soldiers to use that fancy steam woozit-whatzit-friendie-listie-thingamagig-awhat-a-ma-huh to interact with other soldiers. Bad Company 2 has its own friends list that only works a little under half of the time. Sometimes your friends will be online, but the list won’t show them online. Sometimes your friend will be in a server, but the list won’t let you join the server. When this happens, a box pops up that says “Please wait” and then just disappears with no explanation, leaving you staring at the list and wondering what happened.
This prepares you for the battlefield. A friends list that worked all the time would only give you false confidence. Does a grenade work all the time? Of course not. Sometimes you pull the pin and it blows the front of your face off. And that “Please wait” box prepares you too. Things happen in battle without explanations. Is your teammate going to give you an explanation after lacing your body into the ground with a tank tread? No. He’ll just drive away and let you wonder if him driving over you was an accident or if he was that guy you murdered for the helicopter.
If I wasn't so weak and spoiled, this helicopter would already be dead.
Another thing turning fighting men into pussies is a reliable server filter system. Some games, like that communist bitch-fest Team Fortress 2, let players choose from certain filters and then save those filters for future use. Bad Company 2 does none of this diaper-filling nonsense. When you load the Bad Company 2 server browser, no filters are selected regardless of which ones you selected the last time you played. You can’t cling to that shit. You need fresh tactics if you want to stay alive.
And don’t expect the server browser to quickly apply the filters that you select. After waiting for the server browser to refresh the server list, finding out that your filters aren’t saved, and then reapplying your filters, you’re going to wait again. What? Do you want to just go off half-cocked and jump into the first server that passes your filters? Think again, sonny. Use those tedious delays wisely to plan a winning strategy or to try and figure out how to join your friend’s server through the broken friends list.
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amen.