Since Pong and Spacewar!, the history of videogames has been one of increasingly complexity. But a few titles successfully buck this trend, and this is how an Epic Glitch led me back to Rocket League addiction.
Earlier in 2020 Psyonix made two big changes to their car football game. The first was that it switched to a free-to-play model, but at the same time they removed Rocket League from Steam and chose to distribute it via the Epic Games Store for the PC.
I’ve owned Rocket League on the Xbox One for a few years, but lost interest over time as it seemed I’d be forever locked in a struggle to improve my ranking in competitive games. The matchmaking system for Rocket League is pretty effective at putting you up against players who are slightly better, and solo queue can be frustrating when you often have team-mates wanting to quit after 30 seconds because you didn’t do exactly what they expected.
Still, I thought I might as well download a free copy for the PC. In theory, I should have been able to link my new copy under my Epic Games Store account with my existing Xbox Live profile, but despite many attempts and suggested fixes, it’s never worked.
That failure of modern technological complexity has actually made me fall in love with Rocket League all over again.
Rocket League on the PC is significantly better than on the Xbox One. More powerful hardware allows for better graphics, but it just feels faster and more fluid. And the switch to free-to-play means many more people in casual and competitive modes, so there are significantly larger numbers of opponents around my skill level.
But starting from scratch was key. I’m frustrated to miss out on the cosmetic bonuses Psyonix has provided to people who previously bought Rocket League. And yet, I’m overjoyed to have begun playing with a completely new account.
It meant my initial placement matches to decide my level in the ranking system wasn’t based on my previous performance. As a result, I was matched with a lot of people whose experience was a lot less than mine, giving me some easier wins and a big confidence boost. Even with the occasional toxic team-mate or inevitable mistakes on my part, I’ve ended up as a Platinum player, which is the highest I’ve been. And I’ve actually been making noticeable improvements since rediscovering my love of Rocket League.
It’s ironic that five years since release, with all the effort that went into an effective ranking system and two different business models, the best thing that happened for me in Rocket League was being unable to transfer my progress as intended. And the confidence boost that some easy wins gave me.
Maybe more games should think about making their competitive matchmaking systems slightly less efficient at times?