How To Turn Off Skill-Based Matchmaking In Modern Warfare 2
Skill-based matchmaking has become a hot-button topic in gaming lately, especially in "Call of Duty." In early "Call of Duty" games, such as "Black Ops" and "World at War," skill-based matchmaking was less prevalent. Instead, all players would get thrown together into one lobby primarily based on network connection (per Charlieintel). Because of the system's randomness, skilled players often found themselves in a lobby with lower-skilled players, allowing them to get impressive kill scores. Conversely, lower-skilled players could get into a lobby with players much better for them, making for a miserable experience.
To combat the system's randomness, "Call of Duty" eventually upgraded its skill-based matchmaking system to more accurately assign a matchmaking rating to each player. Then players would get matched up based on their skill level rather than connection. But a player's matchmaking rating isn't static, as players can increase their matchmaking rating by performing well and lose their rating by performing poorly (per PCGamer). Although skill-based matchmaking is standard practice in many games, many "Call of Duty" fans hate it.
Popular "Call of Duty" streamers such as the Timthetatman have criticized the system in the past, stating that they missed the randomness of the old system. Recently there was rumbling in the community that Activision finally listened to the complaints and allowed players a way to turn skill-based matchmaking off "Modern Warfare 2" and "Warzone 2.0." But as it turns out, this may not be entirely true.
A new trick that may or may not work
This technique for supposedly turning off skill-based matchmaking was first showcased by Zackeryeet in a video titled "MAKE YOUR LOBBIES EASIER In MW2 and Warzone 2 With This ONE Setting!" In the video, the YouTuber claims that manipulating the party finder system will disable skill-based matchmaking. To do so, the video instructs players to head over to the "Modern Warfare 2" preferences screen in the main menu. Then, under Play Style, select Casual for both Primary and Secondary Play Style.
However, many have stated in the comment section of Zackeryeet's video and in response videos of their own that this technique doesn't work at all. Skeptics argue that the Play Style feature finds teammates with a similar mentality, but not a similar rank. Because there is no definitive proof this trick works, it's hard to say whether it is a simple placebo effect. Although, Zackeryee, in his video's comment section, continued to argue that the technique works, so it may still be worth a try.