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I don't stream and I don't make content reliant on dumpstering opponents in PVP. I don't have a horse in this race. I used to support Skill Based Matchmaking in casual queues but now I hate it. To explain why, I reference the greatest PVP game of this generation: Clash Royale.
I have played Clash for about 3 years and am decent enough. In ranked (there is no 'casual' queue) i typically end up in the top 5% of active players each month. At the end of the month, the ladders are reset and you begin climbing again.
This period is the absolute best time to play the game. Sometimes i win, sometimes I lose. Sometimes I get the thrill of dumpstering an opponent and other times I get totally shreked. On balance I win more, but its not about that. Its about that fact that games are unpredictable.
Eventually I hit my natural elo. At that point, the game starts to be a lot less fun. I know that every single match will be the same sweatfest facing off against the same meta decks. I typically play way less when I hit my elo because its way less interesting, often frustrating.
I look back at *older* casual lobbies from other games and I remember how fun it was to get matched into a round where you just crush everyone. It reminded you that you've learned things and made progress. It didn't matter that in the previous game you were 0-12. It was fun.
This feeling of advancement isn't reserved for TOP players btw. You could be in the 60% percentile and still get favourably matched against lower skill players, giving you a fun awesome round where you feel like a superstar. That's fun. Next round you get rolled. All good.
Absent this feeling of advancement, PVP games feel like looter shooters where enemy HP increases at the same rate your lvl/dmg output does. It feels like you've put in huge amounts of work and never got anywhere since your opponents are always the same 'difficulty'.
Broadly speaking, I think ranked systems are all the SBMM needed. If it's a casual queue, just let the chips fall where they may. Im happy to get wrecked when I know I'll also get to do the occasional wrecking. I don't want every game to be some MLG scrim. It's not fun.
