In the end, we managed to walk away with $17.65 after playing with our pool of $40.00. And although we considered the possibility that the Skill Rating system might be wildly off, our opponents%26rsquo; scores were never leaps and bounds ahead of ours. In fact, somewhere out there, a bunch of different gamers have collectively won a bunch of our money by theskin of their teeth. It also crossed our mind that we might be able to win it all back and then some, but we figured it be best to quit while we were ahead.
We chose to focus mostly on the Score Based rounds at Mesa Duel mainly because it's the only map that you can try out by yourself with bots for free. Without any knowledge of the spawn points for ammo boxes, armor, or other players, we just didn't feel comfortable charging blindly into a Deathmatch or 1 vs. 1 match without having felt out the area first. We could've started a free match with other players to familiarize ourselves with the games other modes. The only problem is that with such a tiny pool of online players at any given time, making starting games with others takes some work.
We have to admit that having money on the line added a bit of rush to our overall experience. But in the end, the prospect of earning cash was dampened by the lack of any long-lasting fun to be had with SkillGround's games on their own.
According to CEO Jon Walsh, "big name titles" are on the way and that's just what SkillGround needs right now. With a few compelling titles to draw gamers in and keep them playing, SkillGround's deserted lobbies might fill up. But until then, big winners like Detonator will have to enjoy being the big fish in a small pond of players because the current selection of generic and mediocre titles just won't hook many players in for now.
