Rainbow Six Siege is a game designed soley for multiplayer team vs. team gameplay, to be launched in a few days. It’s style and gameplay bring mortality and realism to the head of the experience, according to one reviewer for Wired, reminding us of the terror that both parties, police and criminal, go through in these extreme situations, including the chances of death in seconds of violence.
Games bearing the name of the late Tom Clancy generally enjoy adding realism instead of suspense of belief, superpowers or drama. Fans of the Splinter Cell series remember how few elements required them to forgive the writers for wild imagination. But one part considered to be unrealistic is teamwork, something without which Rainbow Six Siege and other gamers cannot do.
The trailer shows five police Special Forces engaging five criminals who have taken a hostage in a two-storey house. In spite of the occasional bad language, it is interesting to observe how carefully and politely the players, taking the side of the law, plan their strategy and speak to each other. They discuss the advantages and disadvantages of their plan and coordinate their efforts to beat the opposition. They actually paused and examined the situation.
Clearly this Rainbow Six Siege trailer is a simulation. But the developers of another upcoming game, Star Citizen, spoke as though they were in combat while on stage at a PAX expo. One says, “Got a closed stairwell, twelve o’clock.” Shortly afterward, another says, “Roger.”
Roger? Twelve o’clock? Who talks like that when online gaming? Barely anyone. Complicated strategic talks in online gaming are roughly as common as public swimming pools for cats.
Frequently, communication between players is ruined by a gamer’s poor connection to the internet. Instructions from your pals or instructions from your leader are masked by a jumble of electronic noise and fuzz. Sometimes, bad connections create delay, in which some players’ performances are too bad to assist their team. There’s no point telling your teammate to hide from the sniper if he’s got a few holes in him by the time his connection catches up with the game. Maybe there are thousands of enthusiastic gamers out there, focused on carefully plotting their strategies, whose passion for a professional, planned approach is diminished as they learn that no one heard their inspiring opening speech because of a rubbish connection.
Sometimes a dedicated player comes into a server with others who will destroy his hopes of a slick, cooperative experience: inexperienced or young players who lack the skill; foreign players who don’t speak your language; and lazy players who will leave their player standing still without warning so they can visit the bathroom or order a pizza.
There are many other things besides teamwork that several players value highly. Real-life players probably won’t speak to each other in the same supportive way as the developers did in their trailer of Rainbow Six Siege. There was no grief when the players were killed one by one, only encouragement to get on with the mission. Many times, the loss of a match has led to bitter tirades laced with curses from teammates, normally resulting in one player muting the other, the antithesis of teamwork in online gaming.