I thought about this while reading various discussions about Torchlight on the Internet. Many gamers don't want to buy it because, it's only got an SP mode, and "you can't show off your loot to everyone". I pre-ordered it because I only ever play single player games.
I was playing Half-Life Deathmatch and Quake III Arena over TCP/IP some ten years ago but after that I completely lost any interest and never really tried it again. I've yet to play a single game online on either my PS3 or 360, except for maybe 2-3 bouts of Gears of War.
I installed Shin Megami Tensei Imagine and Everquest II and that got me so bored that I uninstalled both of these games in a hurry.
I guess I could never stand the lag, and playing with faceless people just never interested me. If I play with other people, I want them to be right next to me.
Online games never end, it's just an arena where you can improve your skills over and over again, but ultimately you're never done improving them. I prefer a good SP game that always stays the same over the years, and that I can put away and forget about once it's completed.
Sometimes I almost feel like an alien. I simply don't get the fascination everyone has with online gaming...
In practice, I play very little multiplayer, but I have nothing against it on principle like you seem to. If it's fun, it's fun, right? Now that there are gamerpoints and leaderboards, you can even feel like you're progressing towards some goal like you do in single player.
Online games are fun, but I generally only need one every few years. The occasional TF2 match is enough to sate the urge for human competition.
Of course that may be because I want all my games to be challenge-free and humans won't stand still while I slay them by the thousands.
Until the kid gets a little older, I'm not interested in the online part of games. I have to be able to stop playing at a moment's notice and that sucks if other people are relying on me.
I tend not to play much multiplayer either, mainly since I don't really stick with one game for very long. I never really feel 'ready' for multiplayer (who really wants the total noob on their team, after all?), and by the time I wrap up the single-player game, it's time to move on to something else.
I have played MMOs a fair bit, but it's even starting to leak into there. In EQ I was an enchanter, a fairly group-dependent class, but in WoW lately I've tended to just play by myself, casually and at my own pace. Which eventually left me with a level 80 prot warrior that had hardly done any tanking...
My multiplayer interest nowadays is more about things like leaderboard comparisons.
I am pretty neutral. I rarely have time to play online MP for any substantial length of time and have always appreciated a good single player experience over the randomness of matching up in MP. Plus, my experience level never make it to a point where I need MP in order to be challenged. I am not into honing my skills to fine points. I wish I could, but I do not have the patience.
So the fact that Torchlight (and any other game for that matter) does not have MP does not make one bit of difference. In fact, the point Runic made that they eschewed MP to better focus on the single player experience means that I was more likely to buy it.
So, you can rest easily in your knowledge that you are not any wierder or more alien than I am. ;)
Well, I can definately relate. The only multiplayer I've played and am really interested in is co-op where I'm in the same room with my buddy playing through some campaign. Some games force you to go via LIVE to do that, so I guess that would count as an "internet multiplayer" officially.
Otherwise I'm a solo player too. No MMO or a chaotic deathmatch skirmish has really tempted me. Last time I actually really engaged in that was Descent 2 in our Comp Sci LAN labs at varsity (in 1996)...
So, I'm also struggling to understand the mad rush towards multiplayer. A good structured game is just so much more appealing than a sprawling never ending grind or a madhouse deathmatch/CTF arena...
I'm normally a single player kind of guy, but L4D really pushed me into multiplayer. The game is way more fun with humans opposing you, it's not so much that I'm playing with people per se (although the Qt3 steam group is a great bunch of people, L4D wouldn't have been the same for me without them), it's the elevated difficulty that a human provides that an AI never would be able to.
The main issue for me is getting slaughtered outright for a long time before you learn the ropes-- it just isn't worth the frustration, and I'll never have enough free time to get better enough. Even FPS shooters on PC, where years of CS at work usually serve me well in getting a decent 1:1 kill ratio, grind on my ability to have fun from dying incessantly. At least racing games are pleasurable for the entire race, even if you don't make the top three, but make a giant mistake and you have to wait too long to restart again.
The best case scenario, co-op with friends, requires so much coordination and waiting around to happen (after convincing everyone to buy the same game, another uphill battle if your tastes are niche like mine) almost every time I've tried half the people (myself included) have had to bail for one reason or another after wasting valuable gaming time trying to hook up.
In concept, it sounds great, but in practice the only reliable way to do it is to have everyone in the same room, and that means playing a sports or arcade game, mostly.
get more gamer friends? =)
But seriously, the appeal for multiplayer in diablo-like games like torchlight, and that other up and coming xlive one is that they are far more fun running around with your buddies snagging loot and synergizing some combos with your different skillsets. Cover the mage while he's casting a spell, etc.
Singleplayer will never go away though, and i think there is plenty of room for it here at qt3, its definitely not a minority. As much as i like gaming with my buddies, I also need games that i can play by myself and start/stop whenever. Also games tend to be much scarier and more immersive single player.
Staff also touched up on a subgroup, not quite online stranger, not quite friend, the Qt3 groups. You get a much better chance of friendly people on there, I've gotten much more mileage out of L4D because of it, and I suspect that will transalte to borderlands as well.
I'm honestly more interested in a good single player experience myself as well. I do play online stuff here and there, like WoW or Jumpgate, but mostly I like to keep to myself. ^_^
Works better for MMORPGs, too, as I played WoW solo until 60, quit, and then discovered it all over again because of the Drop BEars.Originally Posted by JoshV
I rarely play multiplayer as I prefer the single player experience. I will play with friends but due to time constraints that's pretty rare.
I'm mostly a single player except for having played mmorpgs in the past and sometimes playing co-op games with one of my friends.
I've mostly passed the point where i will load up some game i could play single player and play with random people online.
Someone on this board put it in a way that resonates with me: it stops being about entertainment and starts being about obligation. L4D is in fact the latest offender, more so than say, CoD4 on Live, since a single campaign takes an uninterrupted hour, and I always feel guilty about popping in when I have a) 15 minutes or b) to take frequent breaks. Plus (something like) CoD4-360 is typically anonymous mouthbreathers, and L4D is QT3ers or Shackers, which only makes it *more* of an obligation.
I'm weird like that, I guess.
TF2 once a month is about all I need as far as vs. multi goes.
On the other hand, I *do* enjoy the occasional scheduled coop game with actual family and friends. Titan Quest and DDO, lately.
Strategy games are much better against real people. Maybe TBS more than RTS, since some d00dz still get into RTSes. LSN players really are gentlemen.
Isn't LSN on a subscription based thing? I'd still be playing that online if I didn't have to pay per month.
I love online gaming, in general, although the older i get the more hands-off i prefer the interactions. I'm not fond of having to get on Mic and hear some coast kids being cool and saying racial slurs for shits and giggles in order to have any coordination. I'm quite happy to jump into a random game of Bad Company and (hopefully) not hear anyone on speaker for 15 minutes or so. But i suppose, in general, i've moved away from online gaming as i've gotten older. I haven't played an RTS online in ... over a year? At least with any attempt at being skillful at it anyway. RTS games just are the unfortunate domain of kids, and jumping into War3 after all this time is nigh impossible.
someone need to throw up a poll on how old most of the QT3er are.
Don't tell me that 40+ years old balding with 2.5 kids are the average age around here.
read this thread is depressing.
I've never done PC online gaming -- that thread about dedicated servers scares me, in fact -- but if you have real friends on the 360, online gaming becomes the next best thing to sitting on the couch next to your friends in college. Shooting the shit over casual Halo, or getting all stressed out in L4D, or MST3King Gears of War co-op, it's all pretty great.
Online gaming is largely an extension of socializing. If you have friends, you'll enjoy multiplayer games like nothing else. Single player games have their place and time, and I more than look forward to playing Modern Warfare 2 and Dragon Age all the way through.
Multiplayer brings people together, and that's a beautiful thing.
You're not the only one. I couldn't care less about online play. I'd typically only want to play a game with friends and we live close enough that if we're going to play a game together, we'd play a board game in person.
I play computer games as a solo hobby, not as a way to socialize or test myself against other people.
I'm always down for a seriously good game like BioShock or Fallout3, but the human factor adds so much to a game, I wouldn't want to be without it. I'm still playing L4D, and it's not because of the graphics or AI, lemme tell you.
H.
You know what's more beautiful than that? Spending some quality time with yourself, because you are worth it. And by you I mean me. You are not worth it.
I used to be adamantly singleplayer in my orientation, but I will confess that a well done cooperative mode, (same screen on console, online on PC), is definitely a plus. I'd never avoid purchasing a game for lack of a multiplayer mode, though. In fact, that's more of a selling point for me, especially in genres that traditionally have a strong multiplayer emphasis, such as shooters or RTS games. An absent multiplayer means I can be assured that they spent all of their time and budget on the mode I will actually play, and my game experience is likely to be better for it. It also means they're not likely to pull bullshit moves like leaving entire factions out of singleplayer.
I like multiplayer for games that are a little slower paced these days, like RPGs or Worms back in the day (christ Worms 3D with friends was a blast). I can be convinced to play stuff like L4D or Borderlands but it's not something I particularly look forward to after the "ooh shiny!" factor the first week or two after release.
Count me amoung the single players. I generally hate online play. Team Fortress classic was my big love affair with online. I do like being connected to others when playing. Such as seeing their leaderboards, achievements, and creations.
Same here. My everyday life already has too many people in it - I game as a way to get away from other people, not socialize with them.
I once tried to play Starcraft online. My shame nearly made me leave the internet forever. Damn 11 year old kids and their frigging build orders...
Yeah, it is. When my 6 months was up I didn't renew just so I'd stop playing it at work... :)
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