I Prefer Smaller...

First, let me say that this is definately gaming post so get your minds out of the gutter.  For posts of a more tittillating and morally questionable variety please visit Tank's blog.

Now that we're on the same page let me tell you what this is really about.  I'm seeing a trend in FPSs where developers are trying to improve their online experience by making it bigger, and by bigger I mean more players in a session.  Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3 launch exclusive) is touting their game as a revolutionary online experience simply because it will allow 20v20 battles on some maps.  Huxley (theoretical FPSMMO coming to Xbox360) will support 100v100 battles and even Bungie has stated that one of the things they are hoping to do with H3 is increase the online battle size to around 32v32.  Do you really want that?  Does that make the experience better?  Is that what is going to define a great FPS in the next-gen (other than graphics)?

One of the things people have been complaining about with Gear Of War is that the online MP is only going to support 4v4 battles.  I'm actually happy with that for a few reasons:

1. It should help to reduce lag. 
2. Smaller teams are much more conducive to actually working as a team.
3. With the type of gameplay this game looks like it's going to have 4v4 looks like the right fit. 

I applaud Epic for not trying to just make their online experience bigger but rather trying to innovate the way we play the game.  They are trying to introduce us to a new style of gameplay as opposed to giving us another shooter with different weapons, color palates, and maps.  Before I go any further let me say that I realize GoW is not a FPS but rather a 3PS (yes I just made up that acronym), but it still helps to illustrate my point that devs should be focused on innovating gameplay as opposed to just giving us bigger helpings of the same meal. 

Personally I don't really want to play in a room with 20 or 30 people.  That's just too damn big.  Just stop and think about how chaotic a 16 person room is in H2.  It's tough to get everyone on the same page to split into teams or decide what game to play next.  Then once you do get into the game it's, more often than not, every man for himself even in objective games.  And that's in a room with a bunch of your friends.  What happens when you're in a lobby with 30-40 other people and you know maybe half of them?  Can you imagine how hectic and chaotic that will be?  Then once in the game how do you even try and organize a team that size into an effective force?  It sounds more frustrating to me than fun.

Maybe it's just me but I really enjoy small team-based games with my friends.  4v4 custom games are my favorite in H2 and it's because it's more of a personalized social experience.  As opposed to being just another body in the room or on a team you can be an integral part of the team and you can communicate effectively. 

Then there is the size aspect of the maps that will have to be made to accomodate that many people.  I really don't think I would want to run around on a map that big.  Just think about Containment and how much it sucks when you respawn at your base and have to run all the way across the map just to get back into the action.  You can never find a decent weapon on respawn, the vehicles are usually already taken (BTW, Resistance won't have vehicles in MP which doesn't sound next-gen to me,) and it takes too long to get back into the action.  Now imagine a map that's even bigger than that, maybe quite bigger, and the increased amount of suck that it will contain.  Containment isn't big enough even for the 20v20 that Resistance is promising so maps are going to have to be bigger.  Sure they could adjust the respawn points to get you closer to the action but that will never work quite right because the action in a room that big will rarely be concentrated in one place. 

In the end bigger just isn't better in my mind.  I like to know my team, who is on it, and be able to coordinate effectively; and that just won't happen in giant games.  IMO devs need to be more concerned with innovations in gameplay, weapon and level design, or player-centric features like map editors than just giving us a bigger playground.  I'm sure there are people that want to experience a 64 or 100 person battle but I have a feeling that once the newness of the experience wears off there won't be enough fun to keep you coming back for more.