How Battlefield 4's scoring system teaches new players and encourages team play

How does DICE plan on training new players to "do the right thing" in a game that demands cooperative with a team? Through points, of course.

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Chances are, if you're a hardcore Battlefield vet, you've played the beta and already know the ins-and-outs of the multiplayer game. But, there are still people that have to learn the ropes. So, how does DICE plan on training new players to "do the right thing" in a game that demands cooperative with a team? Through points, of course.

"One of the major design goals going into Battlefield 4 was to use the underlying scoring system itself both as a friendly guiding tool and as a strong incentive to great gameplay," DICE detailed.

For example, some players may not focus on trying to accomplish objectives in objective-based modes, instead opting to play deathmatch much to the team's avail. However, scoring has been adjusted to make sure that you get rewarded for attempting objectives. "As soon as you attempt to capture a flag or arm an objective, the points will start ticking into your account, even if the overall attempt might fail. So if you are trying to reclaim a base but get killed just one second away from completing the capture, you'll still be handsomely rewarded for the great attempt, for the risk you put yourself in, and for playing the objective," DICE wrote on their blog. "By contrast, doing the same in Battlefield 3 would have netted you 0 points if the flag was not at least neutralized."

Another way scoring is being used is to teach players how vehicle damage works in Battlefield 4. In fact, the way vehicles take damage has been altered from before, meaning all players will appreciate learning the game's new hit zones. The points you earn as a player will be proportional to the amount of damage you deal out. "By greatly rewarding attacks that deal heavy damage and letting players know how much damage they've dealt via the VEHICLE HIT message, the game will drive more and more players to try to achieve certain kinds of attacks," the developer posits.

Finally, kill assists count as kills in Battlefield 4. Why? "The thought here is that if you;re contributing to your team you should be rewarded accordingly, since team play is at the core of Battlefield." Instead of having players feel like their kills were stolen, they should feel encouraged to work together, even if they don't manage to get the finishing shot. "Overall, the scoring design in Battlefield 4 is meant to make everyone willing and able to contribute to the greater cause."

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    October 21, 2013 11:45 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, How Battlefield 4's scoring system teaches new players and encourages team play.

    How does DICE plan on training new players to "do the right thing" in a game that demands cooperative with a team? Through points, of course.

    • reply
      October 21, 2013 11:57 AM

      I think it's also worth mentioning, that giving squad orders as squad leader and completing them as a squad gives much more points

      • reply
        October 21, 2013 2:25 PM

        You'd think people would know this after a few years, but nope.

        Join a random BF3 server and 95% of the time whoever is SL doesn't mark any objectives to attack or defend.

        It really sucked in BF3 before they allowed custom squad creation and had a preset limited number of squads. Sometimes you were just stuck with it.

    • reply
      October 21, 2013 1:09 PM

      I already have BF4 pre-ordered for PS4, but this news makes me a lot more excited about playing it now. I'm much more a team-oriented player and I don't have lots of free time, so I'm happy to see that the guys at DICE are trying to ensure that my time is valued and that no matter what I can at least get some sort of reward for the time I'm putting in.

    • reply
      October 21, 2013 1:45 PM

      This has just changed my mind. I was going to skip BF4, but now I'm interested to see if this makes pub games experience better.

      • reply
        October 21, 2013 2:18 PM

        Never skip BF. Ever.

    • reply
      October 21, 2013 2:29 PM

      Interesting, they really are thinking trough a lot of stuff I had issues with previously. Added together the information they disseminated has changed me into a supporter and I was originally not planning to buy this instalment. Apparently whatever they are doing is working.

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