I'm not sure if this is already planned to be a thing. But there should be a standalone client that people who don't own PA could download to watch others play the game. It would be cool if I have a friend who wants to check out what the game is about and could jump in and watch me play a match. This would probably be similar to DOTA2 when it wasn't available to everyone.
As much as I like the idea, and am in favour of it; I can think of one massive cause for concern. What can you do to prevent me from streaming my own match in a way that lets me see what my opponents are doing?
A: Wanting an actual challenge instead of just being a ****. But most gamers have no sense of not being a ****. B: Only one connection from a single IP Address allowed at once? I know CS:S severs often had an autokick script to prevent exactly this problem from occurring.
An IP check might work. By no means perfect, but it'd stop a lot of the technologically illiterate from doing it.
If could also not function for ladder matches, or if it did it functions with a size-able delay, like a 3-5 minutes. still not perfect, but the ways you could still help a friend or whatever are severely limited by such a delay. Mike
DOTA2 matches are currently streamed with a five minute delay I believe. However, since PA matches can range from a shorter match to very long matches the delay would probably have to reflect this. As much as I think the service should be available to anyone to view the match you could possibly elect into a match where only those approved by either side could view their side of the match. For example, I choose to keep my match stream private while approving my friend to watch the match. This would give access to my friend to see anything I am doing and could personally see on my screen. This method might not be worth the programming cost if everyone chose not to use it. But I think for every day play most people wouldn't elect out of this.
If you are that concerned about it simply turn off live spectating. They will be able to watch the game later anyway.
This seems like a pretty awesome idea. Having a time lag or simply having the option to disable streaming should get rid of any exploits.
wow love this idea far down the line (a year after release at least) it would be amazing to have a mobile streaming app that would let me check in on how my clan's galactic war was doing.
yes please! And as streaming improves, I could imagine being able to scroll through the time bar of the galactic war, seeing how each battle unfolds thru chronocam footage ... definitely brings a new level to the spectator sport side of competitive gaming
This would be absolutely amazing. However, one caveat: Please please please, take some lessons from Sony Online Entertainment and their external gizmos for Planetside 2 - as an example of how NOT to do things. Done well, it would be a Godsend. I've more confidence in Uber to pull it off for PA than I do in SOE ever getting PS2 right.