» Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:38 pm What is this?
This is a petition for Splash Damage to add a party/lobby feature in Brink's multiplayer and co-op modes. This is mainly for console players (Xbox 360 and Playstation 3). A party/lobby system lets you play with your friends in a match while on the same team. Similar features are in the Battlefield, Call of Duty, and the Halo series. Currently, the only way to play with your friends in Brink is to join a game in hopes there are open slots by time you invite your friend into the match. Then you have to see if your friend can connect. This process is slow, frustrating, and un-needed to do with 2 players who want to play together. Imagine if you want to do it with a full party of 8 players.
This is a common feature in shooters now and with Brink being the most team-based shooter that has come out in a long time, a party/lobby system is needed in this game more than any other, yet, it lacks the feature.
How can they fix it?
There are multiple ways to integrate a party/lobby system into a shooter. Almost all games do it differently in little ways, but all have a main focus (you can play with your friends). I have played Battlefield, Call of Duty, and Halo and used all of their party systems and I can assure you Halo does it the best, so I will use that one as an example.
In Halo: Reach, once you enter the menu, you automatically see all of your friends playing the game on the right. You can quickly select any friend without going into the Xbox guide and invite them to your lobby with one click on the controller. You will be the host of the lobby because you invited them. You can invite a total of 8 players to your party because that is the max players that can be on one team in Halo: Reach (It is the same for Brink). Once this is done, you can select any match in multiplayer and you will always play with your team in the same game on the same team, making for an enjoyable experience.
This dodges the long and frustrating process of finding a game with open slots in hopes your friend can join in time. This already takes long for just 2 players wanting to play together and nearly impossible for 8.
How will this feature affect the game?
It will save it from frustration that will only grow in due time until a good chunk of the population will later drop it. The main focus of this game is teamwork and a feature that supports that notion the most is not in the game.
I for one love this game and what it represents in shooters, but if a party/lobby system is not integrated into Brink soon, people who like to play with their friends when they log into an online service will move on to the next generic shooter as soon as it comes out.
Cause
Please sign this, so the innovative developers, Splash Damage, will see this and hopefully understand that this feature needs to be added into the teamwork-based shooter, Brink, because without it, something that is phenomenal may turn into what it should not be, a quick rental.
