I ditched team-based and solo online quite a while ago now. It's pretty much exclusively limited to co-op, and even that is a rarity for me.

Multiplayer became shit because of the emphasis on matchmaking and public servers. Private servers allowed for self-moderation (or the lack thereof if you preferred) and was infinitely better for nearly everyone. Did you want an unironically good Christian server that didn't allow swearing? It probably existed. You want one where you can troll to your hearts content? It existed. Wanted a try-hard server? You bet those existed too.

The only type of person matchmaking benefits are those delusional enough to believe the algorithm works in matching them up with others. But the hard truth is that it never does. You will never get a skin-head and a feminist to get along online. It simply doesn't happen. But matchmaking says we should put these two in a lobby and surely this will work out.

The end of the private server as the default is the biggest hit to the health of the online gaming landscape, and nothing will change my mind.