After a lengthy webcast on BASHandSlash Infinity Ward’s community manager, Robert Bowling, confirmed that dedicated servers for the PC community will be dropped in favour of IWNet, a matchmaking service provided by Infinity Ward.The announcement was met with disappointment as BASHandSLASH (via Kotaku) moderators told Bowling that the current PC communities are “structured in such a way that it relied on having dedicated servers,” meaning there is no interest in changing the way matchmaking works and that the community are happy with its current set up.The new system proposed for IWNet means the matchmaking service will run along side Steam (which has been making all the news headlines this week) and will match you up with players of your rank. It will also mean there are “no dedicated server list[s],” and that you’ll rely on IWNet for “matchmaking and your games, but you still have your private matches,” according to Bowling.The main concern for community and clan members is that the ability to customise games in a hosted or modded game could be coming to an end. There will be hardly any control over any matches, making the service feel more akin to the likes of console gaming, according to Josh Pickler of planetmedalofhonor.com.”The server community is what’s made us. It’s what defined us,” he said, going on to say that “IWNET is getting the PC community to turn into consoles. You’re trying to re-write our history.”The system seems to mirror that of Battlenet, currently being implemented by Blizzard for all of its products, and will allow community managers and developers to track, learn and better service the PC community.”From a development standpoint, it’s very good on how we can access and update the PC community.”I know the team has huge plans for what IWNet develops into, and this is just the beginning. It’s hard for me to speak personally towward IWNet, because that is a code heavy project,” said Bowling.So, again, PC gamers…thoughts?***UPDATE***
