Currently, many players are only interested in using OPENHOST to more easily host private rooms. More often than not, they set their profile to Black List once and are done with it. A few other users like to use White List instead but these are fringe cases.
The Black List mode for OPENHOST is by far the most popular method for utilizing the feature.
Many players, however, are not interested in the Black List behavior persisting into public rooms and they would rather not have to set the OPENHOST mode to Disabled each and every time they play in a public room. They also would rather not have to make a new FC just to play in more balanced public rooms.
There are multiple reasons for why many players find the Black List mode of OPENHOST undesirable in public rooms, but here are the main ones:
#1: It breaks the VR matchmaking system much more than Friend Rosters do.
Generally, players who use OPENHOST for private rooms only have high VR racers added to their friend roster. When the people on their friend roster join a public room, the VR in the room is relatively similar for the whole room.
On the other hand, when a random player joins because the player has their FC set to Black List, the VR in the room is no longer consistent and you have a bottleneck, so to speak, for the room. This is because that player tried to add someone with high VR and now can join them. With their lower VR and more often than not, lower skill, the item balance and flow of the room becomes ruined due to more frequent usage of the lightning bolt by the player who joined that's stuck in the back.
In addition to this, if the Host of the room changes to the low VR player who joined, low VR players could then join the room. This would then result in a completely mixed room that has no item balance whatsoever.
But then you could say: "Couldn't a content creator just rally all their viewers into a room anyway?"
Yes, but most players who are not a fan of Black List in public rooms will leave if a Content Creator brings their viewers with them. It's even less of an issue nowadays because the player who leaves can start a new public room with CTGP-R's new feature for it, and then have their roster join.
#2: It discourages players from streaming public rooms or using the name they're known by for their Mii.
Random players join reputable players, so the reputable players have started not using the name they're most known by in rooms. In addition to that, they will not stream their rooms so that random players cannot determine who they are in the room, so they are less likely to be joined. Both of these may not seem like major things, but the effect they have is still noticeable:
It's very sad for certain players as it used to be a very significant part of a player's experience with Mario Kart Wii within the game's legacy. Players used to love keeping track of the race count between players but now with OPENHOST, no one is really adding each other mutually anymore. I genuinely believe that if players only had the option to use Black List in private rooms, the popularity of using friend rosters again would return to a degree.
Combine all 3 of these reasons with the existence of the Mogi Lounge ladder, and it gives a very good idea as to why the activity in public rooms for players with higher VR has been so much lower. Losing a portion of the ratings system makes it harder for the ratings system to work properly.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
Now you may be thinking: "Don't content creators need OPENHOST Black List for public rooms in order to more easily facilitate playing with viewers?"
Why yes, yes they do. The solution is not to get rid of OPENHOST Black List mode for public rooms as a whole, instead look carefully at the title of the thread.
The solution to these 3 problems is to have a toggle for Black List Mode between it affecting both Public Rooms and Private Rooms (you could all it "All Rooms") and Private Rooms ("Private Rooms Only"). You could even have a third option for Public Rooms ("Public Rooms Only") but I do not see a single use case for it.
With this solution, it allows players who wish to only have the Black List mode in private rooms to be able to set their OPENHOST Mode once, keep the same license, and be done with it. At the same time, this also allows Content Creators and other players who still wish to use the standard behavior of Black List (where it also applies to public rooms), to be able to do so as well.
With all 3 of the problems resolved, Worldwide activity by the playerbase with higher VR should increase and the matchmaking system should have an easier time creating more evenly distributed rooms. More evenly distributed rooms are more enjoyable for a majority of people, resulting in a better Wiimmfi experience for everyone.
Please feel free to discuss and provide further input!
The Black List mode for OPENHOST is by far the most popular method for utilizing the feature.
Many players, however, are not interested in the Black List behavior persisting into public rooms and they would rather not have to set the OPENHOST mode to Disabled each and every time they play in a public room. They also would rather not have to make a new FC just to play in more balanced public rooms.
There are multiple reasons for why many players find the Black List mode of OPENHOST undesirable in public rooms, but here are the main ones:
#1: It breaks the VR matchmaking system much more than Friend Rosters do.
Generally, players who use OPENHOST for private rooms only have high VR racers added to their friend roster. When the people on their friend roster join a public room, the VR in the room is relatively similar for the whole room.
On the other hand, when a random player joins because the player has their FC set to Black List, the VR in the room is no longer consistent and you have a bottleneck, so to speak, for the room. This is because that player tried to add someone with high VR and now can join them. With their lower VR and more often than not, lower skill, the item balance and flow of the room becomes ruined due to more frequent usage of the lightning bolt by the player who joined that's stuck in the back.
In addition to this, if the Host of the room changes to the low VR player who joined, low VR players could then join the room. This would then result in a completely mixed room that has no item balance whatsoever.
But then you could say: "Couldn't a content creator just rally all their viewers into a room anyway?"
Yes, but most players who are not a fan of Black List in public rooms will leave if a Content Creator brings their viewers with them. It's even less of an issue nowadays because the player who leaves can start a new public room with CTGP-R's new feature for it, and then have their roster join.
#2: It discourages players from streaming public rooms or using the name they're known by for their Mii.
Random players join reputable players, so the reputable players have started not using the name they're most known by in rooms. In addition to that, they will not stream their rooms so that random players cannot determine who they are in the room, so they are less likely to be joined. Both of these may not seem like major things, but the effect they have is still noticeable:
- The amount of Worldwide streams on Twitch by more reputable players is lowered, causing a stigma that Worldwide streams are only for "casuals", which isn't healthy and causes unnecessary division in the community.
- The amount of sentimental value when archiving lobbies is significantly reduced when you can't even tell who you're playing with. This was not the case on WFC where friend rosters were the only way to get in rooms of consistent VR so people weren't discouraged from using their main name.
It's very sad for certain players as it used to be a very significant part of a player's experience with Mario Kart Wii within the game's legacy. Players used to love keeping track of the race count between players but now with OPENHOST, no one is really adding each other mutually anymore. I genuinely believe that if players only had the option to use Black List in private rooms, the popularity of using friend rosters again would return to a degree.
Combine all 3 of these reasons with the existence of the Mogi Lounge ladder, and it gives a very good idea as to why the activity in public rooms for players with higher VR has been so much lower. Losing a portion of the ratings system makes it harder for the ratings system to work properly.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
Now you may be thinking: "Don't content creators need OPENHOST Black List for public rooms in order to more easily facilitate playing with viewers?"
Why yes, yes they do. The solution is not to get rid of OPENHOST Black List mode for public rooms as a whole, instead look carefully at the title of the thread.
The solution to these 3 problems is to have a toggle for Black List Mode between it affecting both Public Rooms and Private Rooms (you could all it "All Rooms") and Private Rooms ("Private Rooms Only"). You could even have a third option for Public Rooms ("Public Rooms Only") but I do not see a single use case for it.
With this solution, it allows players who wish to only have the Black List mode in private rooms to be able to set their OPENHOST Mode once, keep the same license, and be done with it. At the same time, this also allows Content Creators and other players who still wish to use the standard behavior of Black List (where it also applies to public rooms), to be able to do so as well.
With all 3 of the problems resolved, Worldwide activity by the playerbase with higher VR should increase and the matchmaking system should have an easier time creating more evenly distributed rooms. More evenly distributed rooms are more enjoyable for a majority of people, resulting in a better Wiimmfi experience for everyone.
Please feel free to discuss and provide further input!
