Multiplayer vs. Single Player

[Heijoushin]

Hey guys,

 

I was just playing a game of Starcraft 2. My team was losing, and one of my teammates started raging at everyone. I can of course handle losing, but arguing with someone online really puts a bad taste in my mouth. I know that sounds naive. But when you're playing a game you love and you have to stop and trade insults with some troll, it spoils the experience for me. 

 

The point is... I don't really get multiplayer games. Gaming, to me, is about escapism. Getting away from the toxicity of noisy human beings. I dunno, maybe it's different if you have good buddies to game with. But the whole modern trend of games moving towards multiplayer (so companies can make big bucks of subscriptions) makes me sad. I'm so happy for games like PoE which are all about the single player.

 

What do you think?

[Oerwinde]

I play games to get away from people. I used to do more multiplayer when I was single, but with 2 kids, gaming is my only escape from human interaction so I tend to avoid multiplayer. Soloed The Old Republic to level 35 before I got bored with awful MMO gameplay. I would rebuy at full price if they rebalanced that game for single player.

[Janmanden]

Online gaming is a total hit and miss all the time until you find some decent people to play with that you stay connnected with.

 

It works best if you become part of a community and stay in touch, get personal and talk online to add more character than just letters. It's a lot of work, but it pays off.

 

I've been part of the same gaming community for almost seven years and still keep in touch from time to time. It was much easier, when I was single.

 

 

[Darkpriest]

depends. i have an unhealthy fix for DotA and now DotA2, but I also simply need good Single player games, mostly RPGs and TBS/RTS, a good shooter once in a while is nice too.

 

so my list comprise of titles like:

 

DotA

Starcraft

Dawn of War

Company of Heroes

Baldurs Gate (1/2)

Icewind Dale (1/2)

Planescape:Torment

Wasteland 2

X-COM:EW (Long War)

Civilization series

Total War series

Divinity: Original Sin

Diablo 2/3

Mass Effect series (FPS light)

Wolfenstein The New Order

MiddleEarth: Shadow of Mordor

Heroes of Might and Magic series

Might and Magic series

SimCity

DeusEx:HR

(tried System Shock 2 recently but the seriously outdated graphics is just too much even though it is still a very good game )

The Witcher series

Fallouts 1/2 and New Vegas (even though I hate the TPP combat)

 

 

and quite a few more with similar concepts and well designed

Edited March 1, 2015 by Darkpriest

[teknoman2]

i play both single and multi depending on the mood

[Rosbjerg]

I love coop with friends and feel that it's the superior gaming experience, but I loathe random strangers in multiplayer outside of select communities. So I'll often stick to SP between coop sessions.

[Mamoulian War]

The only multiplayer I play, is Gran Turismo 6, but it is an exception. It lasted one year until I finally found non toxic and clean players to race with. I never play with random people nowadays, because gaming companies are doing almost nothing to prevent player toxic behaviour on-line.

[Hurlshort]

Sometimes I'm looking for a bit of socialization, sometimes I'm not.  The reason I tend to like MMO's is because they allow both in the same world, and every once in awhile I will find myself in a very natural group, where I'm out fighting bad guys, and I run across another person doing the same, so we team up for a short while.  I've developed a few friendships this way, in fact I've had better luck with that than seeking out any type of guild or community for a game.

 

But as Oerwinde said, now that I have kids, most nights I would prefer a single player game where I can just escape and relax, without any pressure from other people.

[Tigranes]

It's not got much to do with escapism for me, but there's multiple reasons that I usually do SP.

 

Firstly, MP takes logistics. You gotta get people together, arrange a time, not have anyone bail (which is difficult when you and your friends are no longer 13)... and I generally don't enjoy playing with random people, unless it's against them. I don't see the appeal of random groups in MMOs any more than I'd enjoy talking to random people on the subway (which, of course, some people do like to do).

 

Secondly, to me gaming is about getting in a zone, not about relaxing. I don't watch television, I don't generally like to just 'relax' - I don't see the point. (Part of that, of course, is a not physically intensive day-job.) So for one thing, I play a lot faster than most people in a non-hardcore setting. If I can't skip over the dialogue when I'm done reading, or the other guys take more than a couple of minutes to do whatever they're doing in a shop, it just kills the pacing. 

 

I did enjoy random drop-in rounds of Diablo 2 back in the day. The logistics were quick, you hardly ever needed to talk to each other, everyone just jumped in and got going and people who were slow or clearly off the pace naturally dropped out. 

[Malcador]

I was just playing a game of Starcraft 2. My team was losing, and one of my teammates started raging at everyone. I can of course handle losing, but arguing with someone online really puts a bad taste in my mouth. I know that sounds naive. But when you're playing a game you love and you have to stop and trade insults with some troll, it spoils the experience for me.

You're right that sounds incredibly naive. Maybe smarten up and not trade insults with a troll ?

 

I tend to prefer single player games, based on the constant issue of interruptions at home and all and friends have awkward schedules sometimes. But I do always keep a couple of MP games in rotation so when friends and I have time we can play something like WoW, D3, SupCom or Raven Shield. Returned to shooters with pubs after a break, is quite satisfying to gun down these annoying people

Edited March 1, 2015 by Malcador

[Gorgon]

I Like both. Absolutely hate most singleplayer games designed for multiplayer coop. I'm thinking Borderlands, Dying Light, Ascreed,  Farcry etc. The point of playing a couple of people together is to fight other people, not a stale AI. 

[Darkpriest]

I Like both. Absolutely hate most singleplayer games designed for multiplayer coop. I'm thinking Borderlands, Dying Light, Ascreed,  Farcry etc. The point of playing a couple of people together is to fight other people, not a stale AI. 

 

 

although I admit I loved going through old Duke Nukem 3D with my cousin on direct connection cable near 15 years ago or slightly more, and later on System Shock 2 with MP mod. But playing in the same room a really good game had its unique appeal recreated only in the late night sessions of various games in the internet caffes with half a dozen of friends and bear&pizza all night sessions

[Fluffsy]

I'd say that I play and like both types of games, however as I grew older I started to become very selective about the multiplayer games I play. I guess my multiplayer preference would be coop and small team PvP and no shooters.

 

Currently I only play league of legends (barely, only when 4 other friends are into it) and do occasional PvP invasions in Dark Souls 2. Before I had great interest and played a lot of WoW arena PvP, but currently I have 0 interest in playing any type of MMO or game that resembles MMO structure (huge maps with tons of fetch quests and mindless grind). That is probably the reason I can't play through DAI for the second time, too much time wasting. 

 

I really hope that at least half of the PoE side missions will be more than some "go there - do this - come back for reward" type of quests, or if they are, I hope they will at least give us an opportunity to make a statement and express an opinion, so we can actually role play and create a personality for our avatar

[babaganoosh13]

I play local MP only. 1 - there isn't good internet for gaming where I live.

2- Stupid kids who have nothing to do but play a particular game and know where I will spawn have all but killed it for me online anyways. It took me the better part of a week to get my first airstrike in COD4. I aignt got time for that. Not to mention the last time I played Halo online and got the controls mixed up with COD. Star Wars TOR was fun though when I played it last.

[Leferd]

I used to mostly play MP games growing up in a pre-Hi Speed internet world.

 

LAN Warcraft 2, Command & Conquer, Red Alert. Plus NHL, Madden, FIFA, etc., on the Sega Genesis with friends and siblings.

 

Ironically enough, it was after the proliferation of broadband networks that I stopped playing multiplayer and I now almost exclusively play SP.

[Mamoulian War]

I used to mostly play MP games growing up in a pre-Hi Speed internet world.

 

LAN Warcraft 2, Command & Conquer, Red Alert. Plus NHL, Madden, FIFA, etc., on the Sega Genesis with friends and siblings.

 

Ironically enough, it was after the proliferation of broadband networks that I stopped playing multiplayer and I now almost exclusively play SP.

 

Same with me. With the end of support of LAN in games, I quit almost all MP gaming. Nothing beats having friends in the same room and yelling at them directly to their face

 

The only "multiplayer" we are playing now, is Pen and Paper Pathfinder.

Edited March 1, 2015 by Mamoulian War

[Lychnidos]

I play Dota 2 semi-regularly, though I haven't played in the last two months. Also, I play LAN Warcraft DotA and AoE 2 with friends. Online multiplayer never drew me much, I only play if my friends do, the adrenaline and intensity were always much higher in LAN games.

Edited March 1, 2015 by Lychnidos

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I mostly stick with single player because most of my friends have hectic schedules and I don't trust anons.

[marelooke]

I used to play MMOs rather intensively, besides the fact that I just don't have the insane amount of time to spend that I used to back then there's also the fact that the communities seem to have changed quite a lot, and for the worse imho. People are a lot more competitive, a lot less helpful and a lot more rude than they used to be.

 

As for co-op, I just don 't have anybody to play with: playing with strangers doesn't appeal to me and most of my irl friends also have little time for gaming, trying to get our schedules to align on top of having limited time just doesn't appear to work.

 

So the last years I've basically been playing solo (or with PUGs, in the few MMOs I still "play")

Edited March 1, 2015 by marelooke

[LadyCrimson]

I've always been a single-player. Even the MMO/online games I've played, I've largely gone it alone as far as those games would allow me to. I have occasionally played with randoms or online friends in the past but not much at all in recent years.

...then my husband decided he like the Borderlands series and we've played a lot of LAN co-op. Which has been a lot of fun in the mayhem category. But I still vastly prefer playing all by my lonesome and games that are designed to be played single-player. It is definitely a type of escape for me...I don't play games to be social. Although I have spent time in "towns" just chatting, but then when I want to actually play, I run off by myself.

That said, I do get/understand that competitive gameplay is certainly more fun against humans than stupid-AI, and co-op can definitely make a combat more tactical/fun. Even so, (with no offense to my husband), 99% of the time, "I want to be alone."

[Larkaloke]

It depends quite a bit on the type of game for me. I don't outright hate multiplayer, surely, but I have a preference for singleplayer. I'll generally be leery of a game which I can't play singleplayer, but not one I can't play multiplayer. It also depends heavily on the type of multiplayer experience. LAN multiplayer is always cool by me. MMORPGs never are, and everything else falls somewhere in between.

 

If we're talking, say, shooters or strategy games, it's nice to be able to play against real people. Multiplayer is a plus. I actually enjoy playing against the computer generally as much as playing against actual players (I can play against the computer whenever I want, and there's no expectation of me talking in game, and I don't usually like doing that) even in those cases, but the option is a good thing.

 

I like LAN multiplayer for roleplaying games. I enjoy playing through Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, and so forth with certain people (my brother and I have always had a lot of fun with LAN games, and then the occasional friend). I don't like any other sort of multiplayer for RPGs in general, although Neverwinter Nights I think had a good idea there -- it's just not so much my cup of tea. I'm not enough of a people person to want to play with a whole bunch of people I don't know for long periods of time.

 

MMORPGs always fail, to me. They have some promise, or would, if people actually roleplayed in them... but they don't, and it's just a bunch of people running around with silly character names shouting about what loot they've got for sale, the plots almost never work with that many people, and then the mechanics tend to be of a sort I don't like anyhow. There are ways I think a MMORPG could theoretically be cool (massive player organised battles, for example), but it would have to have a really great community and a sufficiently loose and player-driven, changing main plot.

 

Generally though, I have to deal with masses of strangers enough in day-to-day life, and I don't need that in my gaming as well. I do enjoy LAN gaming with a few friends, or my family; I'm rarely in the mood for more than a few FPS matches against people as a whole.

Edited March 2, 2015 by Remmirath

[Humanoid]

I probably bias towards single player, though that's because multiplayer has an inherent handicap in that the game genres most commonly seen in multiplayer - FPS, RTS, ARPG - are those that I don't enjoy playing regardless. On the other hand, I've been a WoW player for the majority of its lifespan, so that sort of balances out the lack of multiplayer in pretty much every other title I play. That said though, I'd played it in a fairly insular manner since a few months in, withdrew completely from the pick-up-group scene (i.e. strangers) the moment I found a guild (then subsequently co-founding my own out of the ashes of that first one).

[GhostofAnakin]

Mostly single player.  I don't mind the occasional MP, but it depends on the game.  Just stop ruining my single player games by adding multiplayer features that end up making both look less than stellar.

[Bryy]

TEam Fortress 2 is the best multiplayer. Hands down.

[redneckdevil]

Mmmm I play a lot of single player games but sometimes I just wanna turn my brain off and enjoy playing with other people in killing floor, cod, battlefield, and sometimes with borderlands.

I guess if it has a story I like playing single player because I set the pace but sometimes like with Diablo and borderlands I like to play cool but usually after I have gone thru the single player part by myself. And sometimes u just need to turn ur brain off and just kill other players ingame, satisfaction of beating a live opponent instead of an AI one sometimes.