Meta challenges ruined modern multiplayer

In the earliest days of online console gaming, I was obsessed with competing in digital competitions. I vividly recall the arcane methods I had to employ to figure out how to get my PS2online to play games like Tony Hawk, Amplitude, and Arc The Lad: End of Darkness online. When the 360 came out and made playing online effortless, I went through the longest period in my gaming career of focusing purely on multiplayer games. Hundreds of hours were spent playing matches of Halo 2, Halo 3, various Call of Duty games, and basically any game that came out with a tacked-on multiplayer mode. I was never the best, but I loved the thrill of competition.

Then, during the first half of the PS4 generation, I started shifting away from multiplayer games back to single-player experiences. I assumed it was because the quality of those games had raised the bar for storytelling and mechanics, but it wasn’t just that. Something was changing in the way multiplayer games were designed. Now, I fully realize it was the shift toward meta challenges that every multiplayer game includes.

They create a conflicting reward system for players

Splitting your goals

You have certainly come across meta challenges if you’ve played any modern multiplayer game in the last few years. Every big game, from Halo: Infinite and Black Ops 6, to Fortnite includes them. They’re the little daily, weekly, or other type of challenge a game presents that you are meant to complete during games for some sort of extra reward. They tend to be things like “Get X kills with X weapon” or “Play X games of X game type” and such.

On paper, I think there is a good way to interpret these challenges from a design perspective. They are meant to encourage players to experiment with different weapons, playstyles, or modes that they may otherwise avoid. Giving people a reason to test out all a game has to offer is a commendable goal, but meta challenges like this completely backfire in most situations.

The problem is that when there’s a reward up for grabs, people will try to get it using the path of least resistance. If I want to complete all my daily challenges and one of them forces me to play a game mode I hate, why wouldn’t I just throw those matches as fast as possible to get them over with? On the other hand, if I need to use a weapon I’m bad with, even if I try my hardest, I will be putting my team at a huge disadvantage trying to use it. Suddenly, the game isn’t about one team trying to beat the other as it used to be, but half the people playing their own game and bringing the entire experience down for everyone just trying to play naturally. That makes it an issue that I can’t just try to ignore as long as even one other person in the game is focused on anything other than the current match.

RPG-style progression systems were a better evolution

Meta challenges encourage toxic play

Helldivers 2

I don’t mind the adoption of RPG systems in multiplayer games for the most part. Everyone loves leveling up and unlocking new stuff, so this is a natural way to keep people invested in a multiplayer game. As long as it doesn’t interrupt the balance, I’m all for it. There are certainly some exceptions, I’m sure, but this general system at least encourages people to play the game as intended.

With meta challenges, toxicity becomes far more rampant. There’s a natural clash between people focusing on their own challenges instead of the game, or worse, actively working against their team and those who are trying to play as intended. It feels antithetical to give players reasons, let alone rewards, to not focus on doing their best and winning their match in a multiplayer game.

I understand these systems are addictive and likely increase player retention far more than they push people like me away. Still, it always depresses me when I jump feel that itch to play a new competitive game and am met with a list of tasks and challenges tempting me with bonus XP or rewards before I’ve even completed a match. Multiplayer games had to evolve, but meta challenges were a change I just can’t reconcile.