How players are selected online

[cerealkiller]

Anyone knows how players are selected online (for 1vs1 ForGlory at least)? At first I thought it was going to be worldwide random but now I think there's little chance that is true. I think +90% of people I fight are from the same countries. I'm European and I get a lot of people from UK, France, Germany, Austria, USA and Australia. I was somehow expecting a lot of Japanese players, how come I never came across one? In fact I don't recall seeing a single Asian player.
Note that I understand that these countries I mentioned probably have big amount of players but still I feel the odds are not right.

Does the system perform some kind of selection based on any parameters?

 

[GhostUrsa]

I remember reading in several articles that there is some kind of matchmaking, mostly to prevent newer players from constantly getting creamed by veterans, but that we aren't privy to what is being used for it. I remember Sakurai mentioning in an interview that they have a system in place similar to Smash Power in the background, but he didn't go into detail as to how it's calculated. I'll see if I can find the articles I'm referring to, as a basic google search yielded me older postings that went into less detail.

As for the region free matchmaking, it is but time of day is pretty important. I've played some late night matches against Asian players for example(I live in Minnesota, for time reference).

 

[Grump]

Don't forget - who you are matched up with is also directly tied to the time of day you're playing. I'm in the EST US, and when I play at noon-ish I get a lot of French and European players, but when I get on in the evening it's a bunch of USA folk.

Let's not talk about my days off work where I find lots of Japanese players in the morning....

 

[Lugihui]

I think by your win rate.

 

[Sean²]

I was always convinced it was random, but what I wonder is why I will get matched up with 7/8 Japanese players (only end up playing 0 to 1 of these) in a row before I see romanized letters again. Then I won't see another Japanese player for an hour or so.

I'm still feeling that the random factor is in play a little bit, it makes no sense that I'll play someone who is fantastic at the game followed by an obvious beginner. So many factors could come into play.

 

[1FC0]

I get so many noobs that my last 100 win rate almost never falls below 90%. I do not think that Smash 4 has good match making. Or am I just so good that there are almost no players on FG 1v1 who are not far worse then me?

 

[Grizzlpaw]

I get so many noobs that my last 100 win rate almost never falls below 90%. I do not think that Smash 4 has good match making. Or am I just so good that there are almost no players on FG 1v1 who are not far worse then me?

Well ROB is god tier in ForGlory Lag-Fi, sooooo~



Jk, I have noticed that the skilled players tend to pop up in the late hours of the night, around 12:00-5:00 A.M. This is probably because the younger smashers have gone to bed, while the older, more experienced players stay up to test their skill against random opponents.

 

[1FC0]

Well ROB is god tier in ForGlory Lag-Fi, sooooo~



Jk, I have noticed that the skilled players tend to pop up in the late hours of the night, around 12:00-5:00 A.M. This is probably because the younger smashers have gone to bed, while the older, more experienced players stay up to test their skill against random opponents.

R.O.B. is the best in lag, but much better without lag.

 

[cerealkiller]

Well the other day I fought some guy and he quit. I fought some other guy and once that one left too the first one showed up again. He was a lousy camper and I didn't bother to fight him again, I left. Two fights later he showed up again!! So there's no way it is 100% random and also, there's absolutely no way only 4 people in the world were online at that time, so the matchmaking seems actually very specific! Why in the world would they put me against the same person in a matter of minutes?

 

[blue_flavored]

I'll have moments where I'm matched up with Japanese players over and over again and they all leave. I live in Illinois so it's not like I'm close by any means. I think it's random in terms of location but not so much by skill leave/win rate.

 

[AreJay25]

Here's FG's matchmaking in a nutshell.
"Are they a person?"
"Yes"
"Pair them up"

 

[InfinityAlex]

R.O.B. is the best in lag, but much better without lag.

It's even worse when they're laser spammers. Like, who thought it was a good idea for R.O.B. to be able to reach his opponent with his laser as soon as the match starts? X(

 

[ZephyrZ]

Here's an interesting experience I had lately.

I had been playing Smash casually with my sister, when she got tired of it. So I decided to play For Glory.
Well, I forgot we were using her NNID.

I only had one For Glory match before I decided to close out the game and switch to my NNID, but...
The one match I did have was the single worst Smasher I have fought in forever. They basically spammed roll and made pathetic attempts to grab me. When they did grab me, they D-throwed and tried to hoo-hah; and they failed to land the Uair ever single time, despite me being a Charizard.

There is definitely at least some level of player skill involved in the match making process.

 

[1FC0]

It's even worse when they're laser spammers. Like, who thought it was a good idea for R.O.B. to be able to reach his opponent with his laser as soon as the match starts? X(

The laser if used as soon as the game starts is easy to avoid though. Every character can shield it and every character can mindgame it using jumps.

Here's an interesting experience I had lately.

I had been playing Smash casually with my sister, when she got tired of it. So I decided to play For Glory.
Well, I forgot we were using her NNID.

I only had one For Glory match before I decided to close out the game and switch to my NNID, but...
The one match I did have was the single worst Smasher I have fought in forever. They basically spammed roll and made pathetic attempts to grab me. When they did grab me, they D-throwed and tried to hoo-hah; and they failed to land the Uair ever single time, despite me being a Charizard.

There is definitely at least some level of player skill involved in the match making process.

Definitely? Based on what? Your anecdotal evidence?

 

[InfinityAlex]

Definitely? Based on what? Your anecdotal evidence?

To be fair, you did only really "perform" one "test".

 

[ZephyrZ]

Definitely? Based on what? Your anecdotal evidence?

I could test it more, but it was such an extreme difference from even the worst players I fight on my own NNID that I can't help but be convinced it wasn't a coincidence.

 

[InfinityAlex]

It probably would be useful if you tested it some more. If you can confirm it, then that'd be great. It would make sense though, as GSP (Global Smash Power) isn't really used for much else (in the 3DS version, at least; can't comment on the Wii U version).

 

[1FC0]

Global Smash Power is used only for solo play modes (and separately for their co-op equivalents), and not for multiplayer matches. However, according to Masahiro Sakurai, there is "some sort of matchmaking" during online play, though this matchmaking system is not visible to players.

- http://www.ssbwiki.com/Global_Smash_Power

Maybe it is GSP though that would be weird since GSP is based on solo modes. I rarely play solo but I dominate in FG 1v1. Maybe matchmaking is based on GSP and am I just getting the noobs because of low GSP.

 

[Deleted member]

I get the feeling it's a little bit like League of Legends's matchmaking system, the system searches for someone with a score equal to or close to your score (GSP, probably), and you'll be matched against them.

 

[WolfieXVII ❂]

I assumed it was random

 

[Mr. Potatobadger]

I think it's partly server based, partly random, and partly time based.

For example, let's say you start in the southern part of the US. You face people, and go "server" to "server" (these "servers" are probably groups regionally) until you get to the northern part of the US. Since the north part of the US is close to Canada, you end up facing Canadians. Canadians are related to the french, so perhaps that area of the country is connected to France somehow because of some of the population speaks french.

So now you're in Europe. You eventually make your way to the Japanese end of the server and get stuck there, until the server realizes that you're not getting any matches, (since Japanese people leave American's very frequently) so it puts you back to where you started.

That's my guess lol. It makes sense.

 

[Tino]

There's always gonna be one of those times when you get hooked up against someone who is a killing machine, you get hooked up against someone who literally does nothing or not skilled enough (dittos), or you get hooked up against someone in the same league as you are. There are all sorts of ways to get hooked up to a random person in the planet and we never know what that person will be capable of until the match starts.

 

[Nexin]

I feel as if it is a combination of randomness and servers. I've noticed that the region my first opponent is from when I start is playing is likely going to be the same region the rest of my opponents are going from as well. For example, if my first opponent is from New York, chances are many of the people I'm going to go up against are from the Northeast US.

As for skill level, It seems to be pretty random at the moment. For example, earlier today, I faced a Kirby player who absolutely destroyed me, but immediately afterwards, I faced a Peach player who never seemed to realize that using Side b while I'm charging forward smash was a bad idea.

If there is a matchmaking system, I doubt that we will ever figure out how it works unless Sakurai or one of the other developers specifically gives us the details.

 

[Goolloom]

My guess is that it has something to do with your Global Smash Power in single player modes, which is not that great because it has to do with the score you get and isn't really a ''skilled based'' way to match people (too many factors that can affect your score). It might explain why sometimes you get matched with someone that's much better than you on 1v1s or someone that's not on your level.