GoW 2: Kill Farming

I like the new ranking system in Gears of War 2 as it gives me something to aspire to and thereby prolongs the game's longevity. However I'm not convinced the term rank is constructive since it somehow invokes a sense of superiority, when in fact it's more a reflection of how much you've played the game. Since your rank is based on points and they typically only go in one direction, eventually you will reach the top rank. Given therefore that experience does not necessarily infer ability, one has to wonder about the determination of some to gain the top rank at any cost. It's also worth noting that gaining the top rank so soon after its introduction will inevitably lead to scepticism from others because of the huge time investment needed for the achievement. There seems to be two basic methods to artificially expedite progress to the 100 rank. Firstly the gamertag itself is somehow manipulated to immediately afford the top rank. Secondly public matches can be manipulated by a team to rack up large numbers of kills and thus experience points. This technique is colloquially known as 'kill farming'.

Kill farming is morally questionable at best and is exceedingly frustrating for the victims. Thankfully it won't happen to you very often but when it does you'll soon notice things aren't quite right. A team will get close to winning a round then change tactics or they'll down your leader but not kill him off. Both are warning signs you could be in for a very long, exasperating experience. As time goes by people from your team will leave to be replaced by bots. Pleas to end the game will be met with negative responses. Since there is nothing you can do in the face of an organised kill farming team, you are left with the galling option of leaving and taking the penalty for quitting early. As an innocent victim this can be a bitter pill to swallow.

How Epic can handle this questionable behaviour is difficult. People have suggested time limits. These would only work if there was a definite outcome to a round and not a stalemate. How best to determine a victory in some match types is not immediately obvious. People have suggested the return of unranked 'player' matches. This would probably increase the time matchmaking takes and would not help any gamers who like to work towards the rank/achievements. I wonder whether the penalty could be withheld where gamers have been in a public match for a given period of time, indicating a level of determination. In short, there seems no obvious silver bullet for games that can seem like the living dead.

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