COD: Modern Warfare 2 SBMM: Can you really turn it off?

Virtually every multiplayer game features a skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) mechanism in some form or another. It is done to guarantee that players play against opponents who are on their level or have minimal discrepancies.

But SBMM has always been a controversial system in various games as sometimes the right servers are not being selected, causing long matchmaking queues, not matchmaking properly, and so on.

Due to the series’ cult following, the criticism for a title like COD is always going to be massive.

Now several COD Modern Warfare 2 players are complaining about the game’s broken SBMM (Skill-based matchmaking) system (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9).

Players believe that there is little ‘casual play’ in the game because every match is incredibly competitive/hardcore. At the same time, pro-level gamers believe their teammates are not at their skill level.

COD has always been a game that you enjoy with your friends, however, that element is gone in MW 2 owing to the SBMM system’s poor implementation.

There is no game mode that allows players of all ranks to simply join in and have fun without worrying about their rank or performance.

@Activision @InfinityWard @RavenSoftware stop punishing the players that made your company a success over a decade. SBMM is a nefarious horrible system that has had such a negative impact on this franchise. It’s disgusting and corrupt. Shame on all of you. #MWII #ModernWarfareII
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Key takeaway: SBMM isn’t fun when you’re supposed to carry kids who for some reason equip riot shields, only to keep them on their backs and hide together in a room or kids who run backwards from spawn to lay prone with a sniper looking completely the wrong fucking way.
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As a result, players are requesting that developers disable or tone down SBMM. There are a few YouTube videos circulating that claim that by following these steps, you can turn SBMM off or at least have easier lobbies:

1. Select ‘Shoot House’ game mode
2. Go to the ‘Find a Party’ option
3. On the top right corner, there will be a ‘Preference’ option, select that
4. Go to the ‘Play Style’ section and change the ‘Competitive’ to ‘Casual’ from the drop-down menu
5. Do this for both ‘Primary’ and ‘Secondary’ Play Style.
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Changing these options will place you in matches with players searching for casual play.

The gamers who have attempted this prospective method of turning off SBMM have had conflicting results. Some claim it works well, while others claim they see no change.

Now that the rabbit is out of the hat and the videos to tone down SBMM have gained popularity, the supposedly casual lobbies have actually got tougher.

This is because the hardcore players have begun doing the same things and have spoiled the lobbies for everyone else.

This is a typical example of mob mentality because as soon as this technique became popular, everyone began using it, causing the lobbies to appear the way they were before.

This is a really unfortunate situation because a game of the standard of COD Modern Warfare 2 should not have such problems.

We hope devs take note of this player feedback and provide them with some game modes or settings where they can just sit back and enjoy the game.

NOTE: You can also check out the COD saga tracker for updates on other bugs and issues.

Featured image: COD: Modern Warfare 2

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