Meeting new people online
Okay, so we all meet people online all the time. But sometimes you can meet a fellow gamer and you actually get to know them as people and they become almost like real life friends-to a certain degree. I've met so many people recently while playing overwatch that I've had to stop adding people because my battlenet friends list had too many people. And these peeps weren't just one game and that's it. We've played a ton of games together and will probably continue to do so in the future. This is one of the best elements of gaming-bringing people together. Meeting new people is probably my favorite part of competitive gaming. Its great seeing everybody's unique personalities peek through audio and visual stimulus. We're all special snowflakes.
Kicking ass with random people
One of the best parts of competitive overwatch for me has been absolutely destroying enemy teams in pubs (public games) with random players on my team. Sometimes I prefer not to queue up with the same people every match because I like to see what different characters people use, strategies, and how they play differently from the people from last game. Sure, it's risky business with your skill rating points but it's a great accomplishment to win games with people from all over the country with no prior playtime together. You just have to improvise off the spur of the moment and do your best-like playing jazz music. That's why I like it.. Also it doesn't hurt that when you win it feels great!
You can be anti-social
For gamers its a common stereotype that we're anti-social slugs that sit in our mother's basement eating doritos and playing xbox. As messed up as that sounds sometimes its true. Its not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes I feel like being alone and online gaming is no exception. There will be times where I won't type anything or say anything if the game has mic options. Solo queue allows the flexibility for you to be as social or anti-social as you want-all while enjoying video games. Neat huh?
And now for the cons. There are just as many cons as pros.
Bad teams
You can all probably relate to this in overwatch. Sometimes you'll get into a competitive match and all the people on your team are baddies-or they don't know how work together as a team. This will happen more to people who are in the lower ranks but I'm sure it happens in the mid-high ranks as well. The worse things get the more toxic the random players on your team will get. There will always be that one guy in the corner with his mic on yelling at the entire team, telling them how to play. Then the others will tell him to shut up and that they're doing better than he is. Every freakin' time! When you constantly get placed in a team of baddies or people who just don't understand the concept of teamwork your outlook on the game can get a little disheartening. This is the worst thing about solo queue.
Constant losses in a row
This goes with bad teams. Once you get one bad team and you lose sometimes you'll keep getting paired with other bad teams and it escalates more losses for you. At some point you either fight through it and keep playing or you give up and play something else. Not a fun experience but a necessary evil.
Toxicity
When you're playing with random people things can get a little dicey. Sometimes its not a peaceful democratic experience. There are times when it sounds like Trump is yelling lines from a teleprompter. People act like assholes sometimes and have little to no respect for the others in front of the screen. There are many ways to deal with this. What you don't want to do is be an asshole back to them. It will cause them to be even more bm (bad mannered) as well as lower the morale and focus of the group. A good way to deal with toxic players is to encourage them and say that they are doing a good job. That might shut them up. I don't think being toxic to other toxic players can bring about anything constructive. Sometimes being an ass to another ass doesn't change anything. Then you're both scum. This is an ongoing issue in pretty much every multiplayer game that's ever been created. So it will still be here for years to come. However, how we deal with it as gamers can change. I feel hopeful that things will change as video games become a more mainstream industry. Things are definitely looking that way with the rise of esports and gaming becoming more of a popular thing. No more fat white guys with glasses eating doritos and drinking mountain dew. Now girls play video games and even professional athletes! Like Bob Dylan sang,"the times they are a-changin'".
We can all say that solo queue has its time and place in gaming. And that playing with friends is super fun. I don't think either is better than the other because I do both heavily. Yes, I've heard tons of people complain about how overwatch sucks for solo queue but you gotta do what you gotta do even when you're playing games competitively. Of course pre-made groups are the most ideal but gathering all your friends in one spot and time online can prove to be an arduous task. When all else fails at least there's the weekends. I'm thankful for that. The one thing that is great about solo queue is that even when you're alone at home you're always with people online. You're never completely shutting out the world or people because they are right there with you.
That's gonna' do it for this post. Thanks for reading and I will catch you later!
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