Matchmaking (from the English "matchmaking") is a mechanism that spares players from having to arrange every game manually. Instead of looking for opponents in chats and on forums, a player joins a queue, and the system finds suitable participants on its own and creates a match for them. The word is used both for the matching technology itself and for the game mode built on it: "go into matchmaking," "play on matchmaking."
How it works
When a player starts a search, they enter a queue. The algorithm gathers a group of people who suit each other according to a set of criteria. Most often it takes into account:
- rating or a hidden skill estimate, so that a newcomer doesn't play against experienced players and strong players don't get bored against weak opponents;
- region and connection latency (ping is the response time between the player's computer and the server), so that the match runs without lag;
- party composition: whether the player is playing alone or with friends;
- waiting time: the longer the queue, the wider the algorithm searches for suitable people and the looser the requirements become.
Ideally, the goal of the system is fair matches between evenly matched sides, in which the outcome is not obvious in advance. The rating part of such systems is built on an estimate of the player's level; you can read more about it in the articles on [MMR](/mmr) and [ELO](/elo).
Where it is found
Matchmaking exists in practically all mainstream competitive games: in CS2, in Dota 2, and in other projects. Only the implementation differs. In some places there is a separate rating that rises and falls after each game, in others there is an unranked mode for relaxed play. Besides the developers' built-in system, players also use third-party platforms, for example [FACEIT](/faceit), where matching is also based on rating.
A typical situation
A player logs in in the evening, presses "Find game," and sees a waiting timer. If they are playing at an unpopular time or at a very high level, the search drags on: there are few people of suitable skill in the queue at that moment. If the search goes quickly but the opponents seem noticeably stronger or weaker, people usually say that "matchmaking is broken." Such complaints come up constantly: any matching system has to strike a balance between queue speed and evenness of strength.
How it differs from a pub and a scrim
Matchmaking should not be confused with a [pub](/public-match) in the broad sense: an open game with random people, where matching may have nothing to do with rating at all. A [scrim](/scrim) is not the same thing either: it is a practice match between teams that the sides arrange in advance themselves, rather than receiving it from the system.
An important feature of matchmaking is that it depends on the service. If the developer's servers are unavailable, the queue does not work and the game search stops, even though the game itself may still launch.