If you haven’t heard, PC gamers started a petition over the lack of dedicated server support in Modern Warfare 2. As of this moment, the petition is at 106422 total signatures with mine being one of them. I felt strange signing the petition because I normally don’t put my signature on anything that wasn’t previously covered by female clothing.
Several blogs have posted about the petition. Jim Sterling over on Destructoid posted Nerd Rage: PC Gamers Start Modern Warfare 2 Petition. This was followed by an article on Gameinformer (be careful, it’s still in beta) by Adam Biessener titled Infinity Ward Responds To PC Fanboys’ Dedicated Server Woes.
The gist of both posts is that PC fanboys are irrationally upset and acting out. While I’m certain that there are a large amount of PC users acting like a bunch of frothing lunatics who can only ejaculate while holding both a mouse and keyboard, I can’t see how starting a petition that requests Activision to review the lack of dedicated server support in Modern Warfare 2 is ridiculous.
Tim Edward’s article Why I signed the Modern Warfare 2 dedicated server petition on PC Gamer does a good job handling the other side of the debate. Edwards lists the reasons some people are so upset about the loss of dedicated server support in Modern Warfare 2 and how disruptive such a decision will be to the community.
If anyone needed another example of how PC gaming was no longer on top, this situation should make it clear. The responses from Infinity Ward in Adam Biessener’s article show that Infinity Ward no longer considers or really understands the PC platform. Hell, we’re just hearing about this now less than a month from release. Jim Sterling’s post makes it even more apparent; it reads like he doesn’t even know what dedicated servers are let alone the crucial part they play in the PC gaming community. And why should he? He probably gets most of his shooting done on the console or onto his Xbox controller while playing Bayonetta.
I’m curious to see the publisher response to the petition. They’re probably pissed that the PC community even made a petition after Infinity Ward took the time to port the game to PC. This is what happens when casual gamers realize how fun it is to shoot people in the face. We should have kept that shit under wraps.
UPDATE:
Robert Bowling, Infinity Ward’s community manager, made a post on his blog detailing the benefits of Modern Warfare 2’s new IWNET system. Unfortunately, the post addresses none of the concerns that the PC gaming community has about switching to the new system instead of using dedicated servers.
I have no doubt that the IWNET system has benefits. The ability to join a group of friends and travel from server to server as a team sounds great. But it seems like this could be implemented alongside dedicated servers, and I’m still concerned about no mod support, no custom map support, and no ability to pick a server that provides a fair ping experience.
Oh yeah, and add John Funk from The Escapist to the people who don’t seem to understand what PC gamers are upset about:
Given the resemblance to another PC multiplayer controversy from earlier in the year, it almost makes me wonder: If gamers could choose either “Full LAN support in StarCraft II” or “Dedicated servers in Modern Warfare 2” – but not both – which would they pick?
I personally don’t see how the Starcraft 2 situation compares to the Modern Warfare 2 situation. The lack of dedicated server support in Modern Warfare 2 has the potential to disrupt a huge portion of the PC gaming community, the modding community, and the competitive community. No lan support in Starcraft 2 is just inconvinent at best.
