A thread to discuss good and bad implementation of online functionality in games. This isn't about whether a game is good or bad, it's about whether the online components are functional, well thought out and / or easy-to-use. 

(A note: Because internet can be shitty in China, I'll personally refrain from slagging games for things such as regular disconnects, as that could well be an issue on my side)

This is a thread to praise games that get online functions very right, and rail against those that get it wrong. Feel free to be as nit-picky as you want - sometimes annoyances are small, but they add up after 200 hours of play. 

The game I'll bring up as a mostly very good example of online functionality is Monster Hunter: World. 

The excellent:

Right off the bat, Monster Hunter World does several things very, very right.

1. SoS - Firstly, in this game you can jump into games with randoms by searching for SoS signals, which players can send up when they start a mission. This is a call for help or company. Players can search for SoSes they want to do according to rank, type of mission (assignment, investigation etc.), by monster type and by whether there are rewards available (if you join a mission more than 10 minutes after it starts, you won't get full quest rewards). This means if I want to hunt a specific monster, of help a player of a certain level, I can easily do so through the SoS system. 

2. Session choice - Similarly, when you start the game you will join a "session" - think of this like a personal server. You can just join a random public one, and you'll see quests that other people in your session post and can join if you want. If you just want solo play, you can start a personal session, and invite friends in. Or, you can join a squad (read: clan) session. So you have choices. But, there's 2 things that make this great:

2.1. Drop-in Coop - You can still see SoS signals from other sessions - they're not just from yours. So you can have a solo session, AND still choose to help out randos (or get help from randos) easily. SoS signals cross sessions.

2.2. Game Finding - Let's say I want to do arena quests. A lot of people don't want to do arena quests where you fight a certain monster with pre-set gear (not your own build) - they're somewhat niche. Well, when I choose to join a public session, I can filter what type of session I choose. In this case, i'd like to join a session for people who want to do arena quests - the game will then give me a list of sessions started by people who want to do Arenas, as well as tell me what type of session it is (Looking for High Skill players / Anyone is welcome etc.) AND also tell me how populated it is. This means there's no need for LFG reddit threads and the like. In addition, there are some "siege" monsters who can't be easily beaten by low-level random players, but progress for one group in a session helps the whole session. As certain players do more damage to the monster while they are fighting it, the whole session reaches a higher reward level and makes the monster easier to fight for successive groups. When the monster is beaten, all players in the session can collect rewards. This encourages group play, as everyone contributes. 

The good:

1. Communication - When you perform an action in the game, such as mounting a monster, your character will do a shout-out such as "I mounted it!". Similar to Final Fantasy MMOs, this game features pre-set phrases which are auto-translated into the local language of the player. This makes cross-language play super-easy. I spent a fair amount of time with a Japanese player yesterday in the Arena, funnily enough, and we got by without hassle. I could see what weapons he picked, and what he was doing, while the game translated shoutouts for me whenever he weakened a monster of we healed each other. It's a small thing, but it's great. The Japanese player also opted to join the BnB squad...so there's that, too. 

1.2. (Text) Chat - If you hold down the touchpad (on PS4) in the game, you bring up a list of recent shoutouts. The game also offers some choices depending on button presses - shoutouts, gestures (think, emotes), and keyboard...yes, keyboard. Conventional thinking is that text chat is a PC-only thing, but Monster Hunter offers in-game text chat in-session and in-mission. Plus, there's stickers and shoutouts for quick and easy communication if you want to convey something simple, or you are playing with someone who uses a different language. 

1.3. Conversation choice - simple enough, this. You can make messages personal or send them to a specific player. Again, this wouldn't be anything major on PC, but it's nice to see it implemented well on console. 

2. Background help - Before you go on a hunt, you should have a meal. You can pay for it using cash, but you can also use "voucher". Vouchers are finite and you need to earn more, but they have a couple of bonuses. Firstly, they guarantee some bonuses from the meal, but they also make it free for anyone else in the gathering hub (or you have joined a quest with) at that time to eat. It's a nice gesture that encourages helping others and i always like rolling up to eat a meal and seeing it's already been paid for on my behalf. 

The mostly good:

1. Gathering Hubs - In the main hub you can't see anyone else, but if you walk through to the gathering hub (which requires a loading screen), you can see other players in your session (as long as they are also in the gathering hub). The problem with the gathering hub is that there's several things that often require you to go back to the main area to access every few missions, such as your garden, bounties and your tailrider safari (you can send you Palicos out to get items for you and they'll return after 5 missions). When Iceborne launched, they moved a lot of this stuff into the new gathering hub, which is great, and they added a tailrider window in the main area so you no longer needed to enter your home to access your tailrider safari. BUT, they still didn't make it easy to access the tailrider safari in the new gathering hub, without entering your room. They mostly got the new hub right, but it has one or two annoying quirks. It's so nearly right, but it's not quite there, and it forces you to interrupt multiplayer sessions, or miss out on bonuses.  

2. (Squad) Session controls - if you are in control of a squad or a session, there's actually some really nice options at your disposal. You can boot problem players, for example. However, there's a couple of issues. Firstly, if you are a squad leader, you have to be online to accept new members. This can make juggling timezones to let someone join your squad difficult. There was also no option to change leaders for a squad or set a deputy on your behalf. This was mostly fixed with Iceborne. They made it so you could auto-accept squad join requests even when offline, which means you no longer need to be online to let someone in, which is great. AND, they added a "sub-leader" function, so you can make someone your deputy. BUT, they made it so that when you make someone the deputy, they need to be online to accept. Again, so close, but not quite right. 

3. Missions continue after disconnect - Monster Hunter will keep you in a mission without a hitch, even if you get disconnected from your multiplayer partner. You'll both still be in the mission, and the difficulty will scale down to single-player level. Disconnects aren't good, but this game handles them pretty seamlessly. Except for...

The bad:

1. Dropping Out and rejoining - sometimes you get disconnected from a quest. It happens. Especially if you are me. You can rejoin quests pretty easily, but the game doesn't recognise that you were previously in a mission. Why is this a big problem? Because lets say you do 35 minutes of a mission, then get disconnected. You rejoin and help your partner finish the mission. Because you rejoined at the 35 minute mark, you won't get quest rewards because it's after the 10 minute threshold. So, you can do 99% of a mission and still miss out. It's an annoyance as there are games that manage to get this right.

The Ugly:

1. Cutscenes and co-op - Monster Hunter is a great multiplayer game, but Capcom kinda shit the bed on co-oping the campaign. Let's say my friend and I are at the same point in the story - one of us can post the next quest and the other can join, then we can do it together. Right? Wrong! You can't join a quest until both you AND your partner have seen the cutscene for that quest. But, cutscenes don't happen at the start of the mission (mostly), they happen after you find the monster, which can take 5-10 minutes. So, in order to co-op, you'll both post your own quests, both start the quest, both get to and watch the cutscene, then one will drop out and join the other player, and then you can do the mission together. It's just...weird, and a pain in the arse.

The Verdict:

Monster Hunter World actually has really good online functionality, imo, albeit with some bizarre quirks. A lot of the choices present would be ones seen most often on PC, and it proves that giving choices doesn't make something hard to use. Most games give fuck all choice re. text chat, in-game chat, server choice, because there's a perception that fewer choices = easier-to-use. However, despite having a lot more menus and options, it's easier for me to find help for an activity it MH than it is in Destiny, because the latter forces you to find people on your friend list of go to an LFG group. Overall, very good.