A month ago, Deadlock promised a revamp of its matchmaking system, and it appears that a developer from Valve's upcoming MOBA-hero shooter has found the perfect algorithm to implement, thanks to a conversation with the AI chatbot ChatGPT.

Deadlock's New Matchmaking Found Using ChatGPT

The new matchmaking algorithm for Valve's upcoming MOBA-hero shooter, Deadlock, was discovered through ChatGPT, as revealed by Valve engineer Fletcher Dunn in a recent series of posts on Twitter (X). "A few days ago we switched Deadlock's matchmaking hero selection to the Hungarian algorithm. I found it using ChatGPT," Dunn shared, along with screenshots of his conversation with the chatbot. In the conversation, ChatGPT recommended the Hungarian algorithm for Deadlock's matchmaking needs.

Deadlock's MMR Matchmaking Criticized by Fans

A quick search on the Deadlock subreddit reveals players' negative feedback on the game's previous MMR matchmaking system. "I have noticed that the more games I've been playing, naturally I get harder games with better enemies. But I never had better/equally skilled teammates," one player commented, echoing the sentiments of others who expressed disappointment over the matchmaking. Another player noted, "I know it's alpha, but at the very least looking at how many games people have played would be nice. It felt like every one on my team was in their first/second game vs people who actually know what they are doing. Feels pretty bad."

(c) r/DeadlockTheGame

The Deadlock team responded swiftly to the criticism from its player base. Last month, a developer communicated on the game's Discord server, stating, "the hero-based MMR one doesn't work very well [at the moment]. It'll be more effective once we finish a full rewrite of the [matchmaking] system we are working on." According to Dunn, they were able to find the most suitable algorithm for the matchmaking system with the help of generative AI.

"ChatGPT has achieved an important milestone in its level of usefulness for me: I have a tab in Chrome that is reserved for it, always open," Dunn shared in a separate tweet. The Valve engineer openly embraces the utility that ChatGPT offers, recently stating, "I'm gonna keep posting my ChatGPT wins, because this thing keeps blowing my mind, and I think there are some skeptics who don't get how amazing this tool is."

While celebrating this achievement, Dunn also acknowledged the mixed feelings about using generative AI. "I am kind of conflicted because it is often replacing asking the question to another human IRL, or at least tweeting it out to the virtual braintrust. I guess this is good (the whole point?), but it's just another way for computers to replace human interaction," he shared. In response, one social media user commented, "I think the skepticism comes from the narrative some corporate people are trying to push that AI is going to replace programmers."

Algorithms help sort sets of data based on specific parameters, rules, instructions, and conditions. This is evident when you perform a search on Google, and the search engine returns results based on your query. In a gaming context, where at least two parties are involved (e.g., A and B), the algorithm can consider A's preferences to match them with the most suitable teammates or opponents. Dunn asked ChatGPT to find the most appropriate algorithm "where only one side has any preferences," to solve certain problems and find the optimal "match" in a bipartite matching setup.

Despite these efforts, some fans remain dissatisfied and frustrated with Deadlock's performance. "That explains why there has been a sudden increase of complaints about the matchmaking. It has been awful lately. All thanks to you fcking around on ChatGPT," one fan wrote in response to Dunn's tweet. Another fan criticized, "Go work instead of publishing screenshots of ChatGPT on Twitter, you fcking disgrace. A millionaire company can't fix a beta game in a year."

At Game8, we believe that Valve is working on something remarkable with the upcoming release of Deadlock. You can read more about our thoughts on the game and our experience with its playtest in the article at the link below!