That’s what made the FIFA 17 rubber-banding accusation such a popular news story this year in the first place - while it was obviously frustrating for players who considered themselves competitive during online play, there were a number of pro players whose livelihoods were threatened as well. Essentially, FIFA 17 employs something called “adaptive difficulty”, which calculates momentum and supposedly adjusts the game to be easier for players doing badly and harder for those who are thriving. Eurogamer interviewed FIFA creative director Matt Prior and asked him about the rubber-banding issue, and Prior had this to say:
While Prior has a point, simply claiming that the developer hasn’t programmed the game to be more lenient with poorly performing players might not be the definitive answer accusers are looking for. It’s true that many competitive online players experience temperamental outbursts where luck or cheating is blamed with no basis, but the rubber-banding issue and the evidence unearthed by those looking into it feels different. Fortunately, Prior explained the game’s system in a bit more depth to clarify:
Essentially, what Prior is saying is that the game has code in place that assigns error to individual players based on a number of factors, but that these factors never take into account how the player themselves is playing or the situation within the context of an individual game. That defender that missed a tackle and gave an opponent’s Neymar Jr. an easy look at tying the game? They might’ve just been tired.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether or not the FIFA community will accept this explanation as fact. Perception of the game’s fairness is a big deal for FIFA, though, and with the worlds of video games and sports becoming ever closer, maintaining a reputation of legitimacy will become increasingly important moving forward.
Source: Eurogamer
