People who think that this isn't a problem, don't understand how client-host connectivity works, and probably aren't at a high enough level of play to see how Nintendo's netcode causes terrible issues with online play.
With the Splatoon online community as it is right now, at the higher ranks, the chances of having a lobby filled with Japanese players is significantly increased (probably because Splatoon is much more popular in Japan than in most of the West). At S-rank and above, depending on the time of day, you're very likely to get matched with 7 other Japanese players.
Why is this a problem? The way that the client host model works is that a single player out of the 8 will be selected by Nintendo's servers to "host" the session, which means that the host player's connection is used for managing the synchronizations between all of the players in the match. The host player will always see the game in real-time, while the other players will always be slightly behind due to the time it takes for their in-game actions to reach the host players connection (that time is known as the ping).
So when you play a lobby filled with Japanese players, there's a 7/8 chance that one of the Japanese players will be the host of the match. The Japanese host player sees the game in real-time, while all of the other Japanese players will be slightly behind the host, though their pings will be low because they're all physically close to the host location, since they're all living in Japan.
But what about you? You're halfway across the world, so your ping physically takes a lot longer to reach the host. That means you'll always be behind EVERYONE in the match.
This causes all sorts of problems, such as your shots not hitting, your shots hitting but the opponent not actually dying (you hear the KO sound, but magically, they're still there), players speeding up/teleporting, and overall unexpected sudden deaths and unintended misses. Having played thousands of matches of Splatoon, I can assure you that I've experienced all of these. Because the game runs in a way to maintain the illusion of well-greased connectivity, you might not even realize the subtle problems occurring while you're playing, unless you're actually thinking about the existence of these ping issues in the first place.
This is an enormous disadvantage in online play with Japanese players, because it means that more often than not, you're the dead weight of whatever team you're on, because your opponents will almost always be able to react before you, and because your actions will almost always be behind your opponents.
On the flip side, if you hit that 1/8 chance of becoming the host of the match, you'll suddenly be in a better position than everyone else, because all of the Japanese players will now have the longer ping. Have you ever had a fantastic match where you felt like you were on fire and all your shots were hitting their target? Where the enemy didn't seem to be intelligently reacting to your decisions, and you felt like you were weaving in and out of battle like a boss? ...Then more likely than not, you were just the host of the match, and everyone else was at a ping disadvantage.
That's why regional-matchmaking is a thing --- to help prevent lopsided ping averages on teams. It has nothing to do with Japanese players being better, and everything to do with making a level competitive playing field.
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Re: Some Western Splatoon Players Would Prefer Not To Compete With Japan
People who think that this isn't a problem, don't understand how client-host connectivity works, and probably aren't at a high enough level of play to see how Nintendo's netcode causes terrible issues with online play.
With the Splatoon online community as it is right now, at the higher ranks, the chances of having a lobby filled with Japanese players is significantly increased (probably because Splatoon is much more popular in Japan than in most of the West). At S-rank and above, depending on the time of day, you're very likely to get matched with 7 other Japanese players.
Why is this a problem? The way that the client host model works is that a single player out of the 8 will be selected by Nintendo's servers to "host" the session, which means that the host player's connection is used for managing the synchronizations between all of the players in the match. The host player will always see the game in real-time, while the other players will always be slightly behind due to the time it takes for their in-game actions to reach the host players connection (that time is known as the ping).
So when you play a lobby filled with Japanese players, there's a 7/8 chance that one of the Japanese players will be the host of the match. The Japanese host player sees the game in real-time, while all of the other Japanese players will be slightly behind the host, though their pings will be low because they're all physically close to the host location, since they're all living in Japan.
But what about you? You're halfway across the world, so your ping physically takes a lot longer to reach the host. That means you'll always be behind EVERYONE in the match.
This causes all sorts of problems, such as your shots not hitting, your shots hitting but the opponent not actually dying (you hear the KO sound, but magically, they're still there), players speeding up/teleporting, and overall unexpected sudden deaths and unintended misses. Having played thousands of matches of Splatoon, I can assure you that I've experienced all of these. Because the game runs in a way to maintain the illusion of well-greased connectivity, you might not even realize the subtle problems occurring while you're playing, unless you're actually thinking about the existence of these ping issues in the first place.
This is an enormous disadvantage in online play with Japanese players, because it means that more often than not, you're the dead weight of whatever team you're on, because your opponents will almost always be able to react before you, and because your actions will almost always be behind your opponents.
On the flip side, if you hit that 1/8 chance of becoming the host of the match, you'll suddenly be in a better position than everyone else, because all of the Japanese players will now have the longer ping. Have you ever had a fantastic match where you felt like you were on fire and all your shots were hitting their target? Where the enemy didn't seem to be intelligently reacting to your decisions, and you felt like you were weaving in and out of battle like a boss? ...Then more likely than not, you were just the host of the match, and everyone else was at a ping disadvantage.
That's why regional-matchmaking is a thing --- to help prevent lopsided ping averages on teams. It has nothing to do with Japanese players being better, and everything to do with making a level competitive playing field.