| ZenfoldorVGI said: I've had this argument about 10 times today already. "Drifting" is basically when you slide around a turn, and get a boost from tapping left to right on your analog stick(what have you) to get extra boosts around turns. "Snaking" or "Sidewinding" is the behavior of using this boost technique in straightaways. Now, "snaking" is what allows advanced players to overcome "Mario Kart" syndrome. Basically, Mario Kart uses rubber band AI, even in 1v1 human play, as the powerups you get will get better the further behind you are. This luck factor, much like in Super Smash Brothers, keeps matches from being too skill dependant. However, its a mistake to call snaking explotative. It's simply an advanced technique used by advanced players. It isn't really difficult, and it definately doesn't take away from the complexity of the game. To compete on higher levels of online play, yes, you will be required to use advanced techniques. That is one of the reasons many consider Mario Kart one of the coolest and most "hardcore" franchises on Nintendo consoles. There are advanced techniques that can overcome the casual luck advantage, such as knowledge of shortcuts, powerup usage, and snaking. Flaming the game for having techniques that require advanced controlling is in stark contrast to the usual complaints against most Nintendo games, which are the are too "easy" or too "casual." I would wager to bet that drifting and snaking will always be part of this series, and imo, it is the most intricate and excellent elements of gameplay that has been added to the series since its inception. Complaining because you can't casually beat expert players online with luck based powerups isn't exactly in the best interest of the people who will be playing Mario Kart online the most, nor is it in your interest to have a shallower game and relegate it to casual online play, due to its lack of meaningful advanced techniques. Yes, snaking is tricky. Yes, it's difficult to master. No, it's not explotative, and yes the game has balances to help newer players. Drifting is quite useful and nearly required in single player mode and vs the computer, which is a perfect place to perfect your snaking. To remove snaking, drifting would also have to be turned off. While I'm not totally against this option for online play, I personally would rather have it turned on. Now, an interesting option would be to created a GCD(Global Cool Down) between your drifts, of say 3 second intervals. You would have to wait 3 seconds after a drifting boost to begin powerups for another one, or to use any special abilities of your character(powerups). This would reduce snakings advantage, while still leaving it in the game, and create a more fair online experience for casual players, while at the same time, perserving some of the advanced techniques that set the more advanced players ahead of the pack. |
The problem is not about being unable to "casually beat expert players online." The problem is that these so-called "experts" are experts at only one thing, snaking. When one single lame technique becomes a substitute for real skill, the game devolves into Snaker Kart Online, and it's no longer an interesting game. The game would be less shallow, not more, if it wasn't a snakefest.
I'm not opposed to the drifting mechanic as it was originally intended to be used, the problem is that it should not give you so much of an advantage that it's faster to drift back and forth on a straight piece of track. Knowing the best way to drift through the turns is a perfectly good skill, but they overdid the speed boost and essentially forced players to snake through the entire track in order to be competitive. That's not intricate, it's not hardcore, and it's not "deep." It's just silly.
