Something we’ve all experienced – in one form or another – is rage-quitting due to someone being so far in last place that there’s just no further need to keep playing, so they end the match. In doing so, your progress is usually lost and you don’t get credit for coming within 1 second of handily beating another player.
When it comes to DriveClub, Evolution is doing their best to eliminate rage-quitting altogether through its use of Challenges, allowing even people in dead last to get something out of the race. Game Director Paul Rustchynsky took to the PS Blog to explain how they’re approaching rage-quitting:
I play a lot of racing games and I’m a pretty good driver, but I’m not always the guy who’s in first place. I like to have fun and take risks, rather than obsess about perfecting every single corner. The problem for drivers like me, and I think we’re in the majority, is that racing becomes too intense and intimidating when it’s all about winning.
It’s demoralizing when you make a mistake and it costs you the race. With DriveClub we challenged ourselves to design a better game that deals with this aspect of racing. What we’ve come up with is a racer that constantly gives you new goals to aim for, whether you’re way out in front of the pack or find yourself spinning out of control because you pushed your car a little too far.
Rustchynksy added:
In so many racing games there’s that ‘all or nothing’ mentality. One moment you’re in first place, and then suddenly you crash and you’ve lost everything. The preceding few minutes of superb driving count for nothing.
With DriveClub, if you’re racing online and you make a mistake it’s not game over. You don’t lose everything and you’ve still got dynamic Face-offs to keep playing for.
Examples of the smaller challenges within races include maintaining a high average speed, holding a racing line, or pulling off a long drift, and if you achieve these, you’ll gather points for your club and set new markers for your friends to try and match. If, however, you quit a race, you’ll lose everything you’ve already collected and stop contributing to your club.
Do you think this is a good measure to help eliminate rage-quitting? Let us know in the comments below.
