Counter to Elitism

[Almalexia]

Now, imagine a reward system based on player skills. For example, you enter in a dungeon as a WHM, and you get a pool of points. Each time a member dies, you loose points, when you Cure in combat, you gain points, etc...at the end, you got a reward based on the amount of points you have.

This way, if you know your job, you'll get a better reward, and if you don't...well, you can't complain for being a bad player. And a good casual player will be rewarded far more than a bad hardcore player.

If this system were run by a nonhuman, it would easily punish the wrong people.

Let's say you have a PLD backed by a WHM. Despite the WHM's best efforts, sustaining the PLD becomes impossible. Too much healing rapidly depletes MP. The PLD finally eats dirt and the mob goes on a rampage, wiping the party.

The system says the WHM should be punished--

But wait.

The PLD didn't use damage mitigation abilities very efficiently. So, really, the PLD is to blame--

But wait!

This all could have been prevented if the BRD used Soul Voice and gave the WHM enough MP to see the battle through. The system would never have noticed the BRD is to blame--

BUT WAIT!

As it turns out, the BLMs were overcautious with nuking due to enmity concerns, but they could have safely dealt thousands more damage. The battle would have been over more quickly if not for the BLMs--

BUT WAIT!

The DRG dealt the bare minimum of damage necessary for reward then alt-tabbed to complain about immersion on the Lodestone. The system didn't realize it was being played by the DRG--

BUT WAIT!

You didn't invite a MNK. What's wrong with you?

BUT

WAIT!

The chat log reveals the WHM never once let the PLD cure himself: clear evidence of an incompetent WHM. So, the system was right all along in punishing the WHM.

Right?

Wrong.

It was a Salvage-style dungeon and the PLD never had his magic unlocked. Furthermore, the mob frequently inflicted amnesia and kept the PLD from effectively mitigating damage.

Is any programmable system sophisticated enough to measure all these variables and allot points fairly? No. It would be as superficial as a parser without any regard for context or non-numerical performance. "Knowing your job" would scarcely factor into it.

The game shouldn't be scoring individuals for party-based content anyway. That's the party's business. The game should only impose impartial measurements such as time trials or completion of objectives--something the whole party can work on. Otherwise, the game will devolve into a bunch of people playing together by themselves instead of cooperatively.