Summary
Online games are a blast, but they can quickly become frustrating thanks to one common factor: other players. Often, it’s your own teammates that cause this frustration, largely due to poor communication. Fortunately, one shooter solved this problem in the form of pings.
HowApex LegendsRevolutionized Communication
Battle royale games are, by definition, an online-only genre. The focus is on beating all other players to be the last person standing. It’s fun taking on a whole server of people on your own, but it’s much more enjoyable when you team up with other players.
However, unlike many other online games, this genre relies heavily on good communication with your teammates. You need to coordinate when sharing healing items or weapons, call out the enemies' exact whereabouts, and strategize where to go on the fly.
While voice chat is a viable option for advanced communication, it has some inherent problems. Not everybody is on the in-game voice chat; I personally never use it because I don’t liketalking to strangers. You might come across anoccasional toxic playerwho’ll ruin your day. Some players don’t speak your language which makes communication impossible.
Voice chat is usually only enjoyable if you’re playing with friends, and even then, you’re probablybetter off using Discordrather than the built-in voice chat.
Apex Legendshas largely solved this problem thanks to a groundbreaking ping system. Pressing and holding the ping button brings up a ping wheel that lets you tag locations with labels, such as “enemy here” and “going here.” The system allows for quick and precise communication, effectively eliminating the need for voice chat. It’s great forcross-platform games.
In addition to pinging the exact location in the game and on the map with a symbol, your character actually says a voice line that your teammates can hear, effectively serving as a stand-in for voice chat. Your teammates can react to your pings by saying “OK,” “no,” or “thanks.”
Furthermore, pings are integrated into the gameplay withApex Legends' legends (playable characters). For instance, Bloodhound sees the enemy players' tracks and can ping them for their teammates to see.
Pings Have Become a Staple in Multiplayer Games
Following the success ofApex Legends, we’ve seen numerous examples of games that have adopted and enhanced the ping system. The list includesValve’s upcomingDeadlock,Fortnite(added in Season 8),Valorant,Halo Infinite, andCall of Duty: Warzone.
I’ve used the system extensively inWarzone; I repurposed theDPI button on my Logitech G502to use it for pings, allowing me to simultaneously ping the enemy’s location as I shoot.
It’s worth pointing out thatApex Legendsdidn’t invent pings in online games; MOBAs likeDotAhave had pings for a very long time.League of Legendsadded smart pings years beforeApex Legendswas even announced. Rather,Apexhelped revolutionize the concept of pings by transforming them into a complete replacement for voice chat.
It Almost Didn’t Happen
You might be surprised to learn that EA actually filed a patent forApex Legends' ping system. What’s even more surprising is that instead of keeping the system exclusive to themselves or charging other developers, EA launched anaccessibility patent pledgeand made the system free for everyone. While the original intent of the ping system was accessibility, EA inadvertently reinvented the (ping) wheel and made voice chat near obsolete.
EA’s pledge is a refreshing contrast to what we’ve seen from Nintendo, who recently filed alawsuit against the developers ofPalworldfor infringing onPokémon’s monster-catching mechanics. This isn’t to say that one company is better than the other, but EA’s patent pledge is a step in the right direction toward a better future for the whole video game industry.
