And I thought I was the forum curmudgeon. (Destiny)

by squidnh3, Monday, November 01, 2021, 11:09 (1125 days ago) @ ManKitten

Funny. From my PoV, PvP is neither balanced NOR fun. Just purely competitive.

It's always hard to have PvP conversations on the internet because the words used to describe what different games are trying to accomplish have shifted over the years. In fact, Bungie only recently made the concession to refer to PvP as "PvP" in their TWABs rather than "competitive" due to the different connotations.

In this context, "competitive" means a game centered around creating a level playing field in each individual game, where the goal for each team or player is trying to win. Drilling down further, it most often takes the form of emphasizing decisions and skill throughout the length of the game, attempting to avoid "slippery slope" gameplay where an early advantage by one team becomes immediately insurmountable (this goes back to the whole BR vs. AR thing in Halo). Usually this kind of gameplay is accompanied by a ranking system that promotes personal and team improvement over time.