KEEPER OF THE PACK

Raids offer the steepest challenge, and greatest rewards, in all of Destiny. Yet by the time 2015’s TheTakenKing was in the wild, only 27 per cent of all players had completed one. Team requirements are demanding: you need six players, they need to talk, and must be able to survive some stressful situations without falling out. That, evidently, was too much for some, but it’s something Bungie is seeking to address with a new system, Guided Games. Essentially an in-game LFG system that lets willing players find like-minded clans to take on challenging content with – and vice versa – it’s the brainchild of M E Chung,

Destiny 2’ s social lead. After stints working on Tomb Raider,

Bioshock and Halo, she finally found what she was looking for at Bungie: a chance to work on a game that put social interaction at its core.

The system comes from Chung’s time as a competitive

Counter-Strike player, and later as part of server communities in games such as Ultima Online and

Star Wars Galaxies. “Social is not a thing people seek,” she says. “You don’t see people on Facebook writing, like, ‘I’m feeling really social today’. But to me it’s about, how can I help people feel like their life was worth it, and valuable? For me it’s always been about the time you spend with the people you love. Other people are going to be better doctors than me; others are going to be better scientists. If there’s anything I can do to help, it’s going to be building these experiences so that people have these longterm memories with the people they enjoy playing with.” There will be other benefits for clan members: if you don’t finish the Nightfall one week but a clanmate does, you’ll get a reward package in their honour. Alternatively, if you’re like the guy that ragequit our raid group and never came back, at least you’ll be able to find a new team a little more quickly.