The weird killer/survivor divide on counterplay
This is more of a dumb rambling
There's a lot of discussions popping up about which killers have counterplay, what killers don't have counterplay, etc etc. Personally, I think every killer has plenty of counterplay. The discussion should be about whether they are too strong in their area of strength or whether the killer should be changed so it feels like what a survivor does have more of an effect. But I digress.
When survivors talk about counterplay they're talking about whether or not there was something they could do in a certain situation to counter the killer. The idea is that, provided the killer knows what they're doing, if a situation has no counterplay then there is no survivor-killer interaction.
Now here is the other side of the same coin. Some time ago, it was really popular to talk about the power role in the game (some still talk about it but it was a bigger thing a while back). It is essential the same argument as the survivor one. What can you do as a killer to counter what a survivor does when no matter what the killer does the survivor can counter it. If the killer has to be reactive and hope the survivor plays poorly to win, then who is in control? No killer-survivor interaction, since every chase boils down to bloodlust against a survivor who plays perfectly
I don't know how BHVR could solve this other than make killers with the perceived feeling of control/counterplay on both sides. I think the closest thing they have is Ghostface but I don't think they did it on purpose.
Random closing thoughts: I think every single killer in the current game has situations where there is nothing a survivor could do to counterplay that killer. The general counterplay to this is to not end up in that situation. For some killers this is easier to do while for others this is more difficult. The nerf with Billy seems to be to increase skill ceiling while limiting the amount of situations where there is no counterplay. Whether or not that's a good idea or fun is a whole other debate. Then there's spirit who does have counterplay but it doesn't really feel like you're doing anything against them.
Here's a hot take: base spirit is close to ghostface in terms of counterplay. You're essentially playing the same hide and seek mind game + stealth. It just doesn't feel like it.
Take whatever thoughts you'd like from this. I just hope people understand a little bit more about both sides.