Blur lead designer Gareth Wilson has been commenting on one of the racing genre's most obligatory features -- the leaderboard -- making a bold claim that, despite the appearance of leaderboards in nearly every game on the planet, the amount of people who actually care about being number one is minimal. Apparently, topping the leaderboard is a goal only a select few people ever strive for.
"I think the whole leaderboard thing is a bit of a red herring," he explains. "I don’t think the majority of people really care that much about being number one in the world. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still going to have leaderboards of who’s the best on certain tracks. But PGR3 was a good example of this, you could download the world’s best ghost, and you could race against it and at the first corner, it’s gone. Mere mortals such as me couldn’t keep up with that sort of thing."
Blur will make things a little more user friendly by allowing friends to send time attack ghosts to each other. By adding the ability to trade laptimes amongst those of a more comprable skill level, Bizarre Creation hopes that players will create their own personal leaderboards, giving them a lot more to care about. It's a good idea for sure, and should pay off. Could make a great addition to our own Friday Night Fights.
That said, how much do you care about leaderboards? Does being number one in a certain game get your rocks off? I reckon nobody cares about leaderboards unless they get to number one in something. Only then do leaderboards become important. I'm sure once they lose their position, gamers magically going back to not caring about them again.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
10:00 AM on 05.25.2009
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It's all about bragging to my friends : "Ha, I totally owned you", but not the rest of the world cause there's always someone better than you.
I like leaderboards so I can check my rankings against my friends. Usually they have a friends list filter.
even the worst games have these now, does anyone care who the top ranked player in Halo Wars is?
Only the first and the second in the leaderboard care about the leaderboard.
Not the first, but among millions who entered their code, 14 isn't bad.
I like it there, for me to attempt if I so choose.
But he's right, very few people do care about that.
That said there is nothing worse than seeing some game claim onlineabilityness aaaand it's a leader board...
Interesting to look at if the games boring though...
Anyways, my experience with them has always been to play a game, have a moment of pride, then feel bad because about thirty-five thousand people in the world can do it better than me. Then I move to another game, forget that leaderboard, then repeat the process.
Its times like that when i'm glad my Xbox 360 isn't connected..
I agree with the guy from Bizarre Creation, leaderboards are essentually useless and how you stack up against your friends is far more important than what random guy in Alabama boosted his way up to the top of the leaderboard.