M A R M

all clocks are bastards

good morning to everyone except that one guy in high school who made an rpg on his ti-84 graphing calculator and when i said, "woah that's so cool how did you do that??" he just said, "programming, duh"

idk what the better alternative would be, but like. in a hypothetically ideal sbmm algorithm, you're matched against opponents of equal skill in every match. and if you and your opponent are of equal skill, then all else being equal (rng, internet connection, matchup, mental/tilt, etc.) it's basically just a coin flip whether you win or lose because you're not better than your opponent (or vice-versa)... and without the social elements of competition and play with another player or players that you can actually talk to, learn from, collaborate together, or bond with... i just really don't see the point of matchmaking anymore tbh.
like it's literally designed to produce a ~50% winrate and then stabilize. obviously you can improve and play the meta to get an edge and climb, but eventually if the system is working right you'll end up at a plateau. i think this is a primary reason serious competitors in many esports don't really care about in-game ladders and focus more on in-person events...
idk. i'm not a very competitive person in general so maybe i'm missing the point but trying to get back into splatoon the past week or so has really made the scales fall from my eyes on this one lol