I really don't get it.

What is all this obsession with online gaming these days? Why does every publisher feel the inherent need to shoehorn some kind of multiplayer element into their games?

What is supposed to be so fun about it? When I play multiplayer, I like to play with friends huddled around a TV so that we can have a laugh, have a few drinks and generally have a good time. These days, multiplayer gaming is about playing on a matchmade server against anonymous idiots who take winning much too seriously. When I say much too seriously, I mean they seriously feel an absurd fucking compulsion to win, be it through combo spamming in beat-em-ups, camping in first-person shooters, using hacks, and so on.

There's no sportsmanship, probably because it's more about winning to them than actually playing the fucking game in the first place.

Seriously, am I the only one that doesn't get it?

So we can show off our l33t sick skillz and kill you becuz ur a noob and I did your mom!!!

I hate online gaming.

Nah, you're not the only one. I just don't care anymore :D

Nope. I don't get it either, but I'm quite willing to chalk that up to an age thing in my case. My curmudgeonly nature doesn't much go for this on-line play business.

Online gaming is a convenient copy protection. Can't play online unless you buy the game.

There are other aspects to it as well. Some gameplay types just work poorly when done solo, as anyone who has played a game where you have AI team mates that you can't order directly probably can attest to (and in fast paced games, having a system for ordering your teammates around can be too distracting from the main action)

It also gives people an outlet for their competitive sides.

And sometimes it is the community that is built around a certain game that is the main draw (this is often the case with MMOs, you don't play them for the fantastic gameplay, but rather the people you play with).

I rarely play multiplayer games with strangers, but sitting on skype, chatting with friends and blasting each other to bits can be surprisingly fun, and team-based games are often even better (2v2 Company of heroes with friends is great!)

I really like coop play with my real-life friends. But those recent coop games that have that I've played so far all have a viable singleplayer offline mode like L4D, Dead Island, PayDay: The Heist etc.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, persistent online mode without an offline mode just to play a game which is not an MMO is horseshit.

Are we supposed to take this as a veiled DRM complaint (since it's turning out to be focusing on that again already in the replies) or a real argument about the state of multiplayer games?

I personally like multiplayer (shooters, UT, TF2, BC2, BF3), as long as I can be a relatively anonymous cog in a wheel (16-32+ player maps and the like). MMO PvP could be fun as well at times (Thidranki Daoc, low level Warsong Gulch WOW).

Much as I love strategy games and games like CIV or GalCIV etc I never really played those game types online.

Well, I'm not a big online gamer, but I don't think its quite so bad as you think. Sure, there are jerks like that, but it's far from everybody. I actually tend to prefer co-op MP to competative MP because its less likely to attract the highly aggressive types who like to be able to lord their kills over you. Mass Effect 3, for instance, I've had a tonne of fun with. There's actually a feeling of comraderie in taking down hordes of enemies together. It's great when you get a good group together and you stick together through a bunch of missions. There's nothing like rushing in to revive one of your team while the other two fend off enemies...

For comptetive stuff, though, I do prefer playing with people I know...

I do get what you mean. I did actually have quite a bit of fun with Space Marine's co-op mode, and even the deathmatches were quite fun at the beginning until it too fell victim to hacking and cheating.

The one thing i find with games online that require you to be online to play is that you are at the mercy of the companies to keep the servers running as once they switch it off bye bye game. That is why i will not buy diablo 3 and why i despise command and conquer 4 which i bought and even playing by my self if there is a problem with the internet bang there goes the game even in single player.


Mass Effect 3 i am annoyed that they force you to play multiplayer to improve your ems for the single player side. Although fun for the first few hours the same maps and enemies bored me to tears within hours and now i dont even bother with ME3.

I think the worst recent example of a true shoehorned, tacked-on multiplayer in game was Ninja Gaiden 3, by god that game removed everything that was ninja gaiden for what to "get on with the times"

Yeah, good old times. I remeber having a few friends at home and we were playing Ultimate Body Blows on my AMIGA CD32 (still have it ^_^), we had so much fun. I also played through Alien Breed: Tower Assault with a friend and The Chaos Engine multiple times with another friend too. I hope those times will come back one day.

Damn you online multiplayer, you ruin all the fun!!!! :/

I always assumed it was a way to keep a game current for longer. If people are still playing Diablo 2 online together, then there is reason to keep selling Diablo 2 in stores and for a higher price than the bargain bin. And I use Diablo 2, because the Targets in our area still sell it on store shelves (physical boxed copy in the brick and mortar store, NOT online).

While multiplayer makes sense in Diablo it doesn't make sense to me in every single FPS under the sun. If I want to play an online FPS, I'm going to play UT (a game made from the ground up for online multiplayer gaming). Not NOLF2 (great game, embarrassing and tacked on multiplayer).

My guess is if people are playing past the main storyline and servers are running to support the game, then money is coming from somewhere to justify the dev costs. Personally, I am having a hard time seeing how MOST of the FPS games out in the past 10 years were able to justify the online components :/

In a way the online multiplayer feature can make playing a bit easier as you don't have to lug your PC around with you every time you want to play. (That gianormous tower I had was pretty cool untill I started going to LAN parties) But nothing beats being right there next to the people you are playing with. I knew two guys who would position their monitors so that they could see each others view and used this to work together, sort of a scout/sniper relationship. You don't get that in an MMO.

Whenever I've try multiplayer with friends in the same room (usually meaning some console game in the living room), I get bored. Usually because one of us usually knows the game much better and could win it with both hands tied to the back, e.g. if playing head-to-head some beat'em up, racing game or a sports game.

Or if we are talking about simple party games which are extremely easy to learn, say XBox Kinect bowling game... then the problem is that it is so extremely simplistic that at least I get overly bored. About as interesting as if we were competing who throws the most coins inside a glass in the middle of the room. Wheeeee! For some reason, my gf found it exciting though, go figure (the XBox bowling game, not sure about coin tossing).

Sorry, I'd rather just drink booze and talk shit with my friends instead, than trying to beat them in a stupid video game.

(Come to think of it, when we played e.g. poker (Texas Hold'em) with friends, I found it also just mildly interesting. Even the fact that I became second as a total newbie didn't make it that exhilarating to me. Maybe I'm just born that way.)


As for online multiplayer games... I'm not that big into them either, but Quake TeamFortress and TeamFortress Classic did eat quite a big part of my total lifetime. Maybe I liked them because they were team games, not deathmatch where you try to beat all others. I never found the FPS online deatmatch games interesting, but TF very much so.

TF was like playing football (soccer) with friends in two teams; deathmatch on the other hand was like if we were playing football so that everyone plays against everyone, ie. a total mess. Or maybe it is great, never tried to play football like that.

That said, I am 99% a single-player guy. I don't care if the game has multiplayer component as well, as long as it doesn't deduct from the single-player part. I'm still on the fence whether that is the case with e.g. Starcraft 2. It does seem to be more about competitive multiplayer than its predecessor.

I can understand why companies want to publish MMOs though, at least if they are able to embed monthly fees or microtransactions into it. It is the suits who want gamers to constantly pay for their gaming.