When I think about the “next gen” of gaming, I think about it with an equal mixture of excitement and fear. Excitement, because it’s always amazing to imagine what new and impressive advancements we’ll see as things move forward. Fear, because it seems that my way of gaming is doomed to die.
Growing up playing video games, I wasn’t the kind of kid that wanted company while he played. I suppose it’s because most my first multiplayer experiences were with games that simply made you take turns. So you were either waiting for the other person to die so you could play or you had that person wishing your death so they could play.
Sure enough, there were some games that actually had co-op, like Double Dragon. But even though the experience was somewhat enhanced by the fact that you had a friend tagging along, joining forces with you I always got the feeling that if I could just take on all the bad guys alone the whole thing would simply be that much more bad-ass.
It also didn’t help that my favorite games, RPGs, normally didn’t have any form of multiplayer or co-op. I knew several people that had played through Zelda as if it were co-op, for example. They simply took turns, like digital perverts. I couldn’t quite get into this form of sharing a character that I was supposed to be role-playing.
What I’m trying to say, basically, is that I grew up as a single player.
I have several theories regarding why gaming has leaned more and more towards multiplayer experiences as the years have passed. And I understand why this sort of thing needs to happen, most humans are rather social people and they crave interaction. But some of us don’t, or at least not all the time. When I do stuff like play a game, read a book, masturbate or other activities that just don’t jump to mind right now, I want to be alone. And I enjoy it alone.
I’ve tried several MMOs, I’ve tried the multiplayer mode in several games. And I have never, not even once, enjoyed it like I enjoyed playing alone. Even the few times that I (sort of) enjoyed the experience, I found myself thinking that I’d enjoy it much more if all those people weren’t there.
At first these things didn’t bother me, because multiplayer modes were something additional, some games had it and others didn’t. It wasn’t mandatory and nobody would question a game for not having it. But they do bother me now, because a game without multiplayer is now considered a flawed game, and the single player mode is now being seen as the additional component – almost like a long tutorial you play through to get ready for the multiplayer. Sometimes, it’s not even long.
New consoles like the upcoming WiiU seem to emphasize multiplayer to the point that I can seriously see how somebody like me just wouldn’t get much out of it. Some people applaud their concept of “asymmetrical gameplay” as if it promised bundles of multiplayer fun. Personally, I just see it as the promise that only one of you is actually going to have fun. The rest are here for support.
I won’t deny the possibility of having a good time playing with other people in my game – it can happen. The only games I have ever enjoyed with a multiplayer component were Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, and that’s because it basically consisted of being aware that other people in the world were playing – and sometimes they’d invade your world and try to kill you. You never spoke to them, you never had to share anything or take turns or anything like that. They were just another enemy that was a little more difficult and generated much more tension. Other people I don’t have to talk to – my favorite kind of people. And still, I always end up thinking that if we develop video game AI enough, we won’t need those people either.
With some of my favorite, characteristically single-player games like God of War and Dead Space going the way of co-op, the future of gaming looks bleak to me. They say that the single player mode won’t be diminished in any way, but we all know that’s not true. It’s just extra resources that could’ve gone into making the single player mode much better, even if it was already good to begin with.
It’s sad, to me, that for some people making games better is synonymous with getting more people to play with you. I’m not a family person, I don’t care if your children like to play with you, and I don’t think there’s anything special about the fact that might have met the love of your life somewhere in Azeroth. I just want to kill, race and jump stuff in private.
Good hunting;
O
Reading the comment, I’m getting an idea. A multiplayer RPG, but not massively multiplayer. You’ll just create a band with a bunch of friends, or maybe total strangers, and you set forth for adventure as a team, fighting perils together, saving the world etc… but never or hardly ever interacting with any other players than your team.
wait… that’s a tabletop RPG isn’t it?
we’re much alike here (we even kinda look alike…
– gaming has always been that (rare) time for myself!
although me and my flatmate from college used to do some pseudo-multiplaying on those classic cRPGs (i.e. might&magic-series), where you chose a party of four. we were usually both identifying with a different char (me always being the warrior-guy
), then went adventuring – one “walking” the keyboard, the other hacking away with the mouse!
I call it the ‘lowest common denominator’ effect. Game companies are now in it just for the money, preferably with a long term monetary investment on the players behalf. So games are written to get the most number of people playing, I call this the ‘idiot’ factor. If a game is too complex the ‘idiots’ won’t be interested. Now complex games like Crusaders of the Dark Savant, Myst and Zork are at best made by indie games companies and become very difficult to find while the mass market reaction type games like MW3, COD, Halo and every RTS ever made dominate the shelves. You’ll also note that these types of games all have an inherent ‘not my fault’ factor built in where blame for mistakes can easily be put on someone else, either a team member or opposition. This soothes the mind of the ‘idiots’ and allows them to continue through the world with a minimum of stress that they may actually be what is wrong with the world.
Yeah, I’m right there with you O… I hate that multiplayer is now the big thing. I like the RPG aspect of mmo’s but when I play them I play them like they are single player games. I ignore friend requests and party invites and just go about the adventures by myself. It might take me longer to get through some of the quests because they are built for teams to tackle, but I get a greater sense of satisfaction when I complete them alone.
Also, I just don’t like having to wait on others to make up their minds on what they want to do, or deal with the idiots who decide that Leroy Jenkins is their role model and go running off to slay whatever without thinking anything through first and generally getting the whole crew killed.
I don’t like having to deal with idiots and assholes either, and when you do online multiplayer it just sucks. People think they are the Gods gift to gaming and if you’re not as good as they are then you must be a sucky noob.
There really aren’t enough games for people like us who prefer to do things alone in the gaming sense… and they are getting fewer and further between.
Definitely Agreed for the most part, both on the comic and what most people have said.
Single-player let people develop skills and tactics against long odds. Dark souls and Demon’s Souls played in offline mode (Disabled internet in console options) allowed one to get used to the AI very quickly, the Boss fights in Demon’s are much much harder to fight and in Dark Souls the Environment and regular enemies killed you more then the bosses ever did. Once you slap on the multiplayer part the skill sets change. Communication using no words and only actions and a few emotes made it easier to defeat all enemies albeit with them having more HP, but the flip side is you get the ‘Pro’ players mixing in with the casual and regular players who are not on the same skill level (Or dupers, or hackers, or etc) This made the Experience more of an annoyance.
The mass produced MMO’s and FPS games churning out follow the same ranking/level tier system that expect as time goes you should get better and thus should be able to play on par with anyone your level; That is a falsity making gamer who prefer lone wolf style and quieter play avoid the online part of games. It doesn’t help that being an Introvert gamer keeps you only playing with yourself or a few people. Fighting games were bad for this back before all the online hype; You had a friend with King of fighters, or Soul Caliber, or Street fighter and what not. They had the game and had more practice with it creating a skill disparity between the people who’d come over and play.
Now I can not say Co-op or Multiplayer doesn’t have its advantages. Mercenaries 2 is a good example. You could co-op with one other person, you still had to fight an army of people and it was not very easy trudging though hundreds of guys with nothing but what you could steal, and a few artillery strikes you horde or abuse. But its the interesting things you can do with a friend that made it Hilarious. A good example is when a friend and I were taking on a convoy, I got the idea to pick up a tank and drop it into the group, which we would then hop out and take the tank and level the rest; I skipped a part and said ‘bugger it Let me get in the tank, and you drop me on them.” This eventually lead to the idea of “Hey… you know we are literally Flying a tank right?” and Shenanigans were had!
Co-op and Solo play are still good for 1-4 players, Especially for introverted gamers or people who don’t really want to compete. MMOs and online FPS’ are best left to people who just like to one-up or compete with one another. As an introverted gamer myself I’ll stick to my Smaller friends list and have Enjoyable times with close friends and on my own.