Social gaming vs. Individual gaming

[kendrick]

I start this topic here because I trust everyone who posts in Lawrence's world. Also because I don't trust anybody on Usenet to tackle the subject with any kind of thoughtful consideration. And so I segue into a dumb joke... Do you like playing with others, or do you prefer to play with yourself?

I've been trying to put my finger on the reasons for my growing and persistent disinterest in newer games in general, and PC games in particular. In spite of improvements in graphics and input interfaces, to me games aren't any more fun than they were twenty years ago. But they're not less fun either, so that's not the cause. As an adult with a decent income I'm surrounded by all the current gaming media and hardware, and I've been perfectly happy to go retro and pick up games and systems I missed the first time around due to poverty or to preference. But the amount of gaming available to me doesn't appear to impact my interest either, positively or negatively.

Without spending another paragraph talking about everything that's wrong with the game industry, I figured out that the style of gaming has steadily been changing. The methods and models have not changed much; we're still saving the princess, or reaching the top platform, or eating all the dots in one way or another. But now the focus is on multiplayer, more often than not online. This is driven as much by culture as it is by profit, as people are naturally social and willing to make monthly payments or micropayments for the privilege of saving the princess together.

I am pretty thoroughly repelled by online gaming, for reasons I'm not altogether proud of. Games that focus on competitive gameplay tend to irritate me the most. We work together to save the princess, but only one of us can have her. There's only room at the top of the platform for one guy, and all of a sudden it becomes less about eating all the dots and more about who ate the most. For the sake of not rehashing a psychology textbook in this space, I'll say only this: Competition doesn't make sense to me when all the gains can be equally shared. It bugs me to witness gamers who think that they only have fun if another is having less fun. We're wired for resource competition, but the abstract concept of gaming fun should be fully renewable and not limited in any way.

Enjoyment of online gaming eludes me. With the notable exception of Phantasy Star Online, I've found most networked games opaque and unwelcoming. Is there something in there that I'm missing out on, or am I just misguidedly out of step with the rest of the gaming world?

I'm tired of writing, and if you made it this far you're probably tired of reading. Knowing what the masses think, I'm eager to see what this group thinks.

-KKC

[Endymion]

You must be missing something, because you're a little late with your observations. The trends towards multiplayer started a good ten years ago + and inertia carried the consoles along to this. Now after some years of it being the norm, the push has gone the other way, which is where it's still going now: the title must have a strong single player game or it will fail. This trend was made most visible with Halo, everything else (successful or not) has come along with it for the ride.

The hardcore usually look at the MP first and demand more of it. But the consumer pie-chart as a whole cares about the single player game. It's what brings them there. The MP only makes them stick around so long as the single player game is compelling enough to attract them in the beginning.

[kendrick]

You're probably right about that. I think that the skew in my observations is probably related to my gaming genre preferences. I love RPG titles and generally can't stand first-person shooters. I dig complex geometry puzzles and word games, and I eschew game tasks that involve time limits or coordinated button presses. Curiously, I happen to like dance games, but DDR and PIU fall outside of every other gaming category for reasons best left alone.

But in general, the game types I like have not been well adapted to the multiplayer format.Does this mean that multiplayer interfaces aren't compatible with certain genres of gaming?

Am I hardcore? That sounds like a complicated big of introspection, all kidding aside. I'm hardcore about very specific things. I guess the so-called 'hardcore' group is big enough that it is itself widely fragmented. If these group divisions mirror those of the mainstream market, then there's really not a good reason to separate the hardcore from the casual gamer anymore.

-KKC, who notes that adult novelty stores in town have all lowered their prices. Woo!

[Lawrence]

As a kid, we were forced out of our coccoons all the time.  Family gatherings, school, holidays, chores, scouts, whatever.  We ran to our rooms to play games as an escape, a chance to be ourselves, by ourselves, with our toys.  As often as not we'd have friends over, and we'd play games all day, all night, and all of the next day, until responsibility tore us away again.  This is how I was, at least.  I had a computer, I ran a BBS, and this was all very clearly my time, when I was finally free from social obligations.

As an adult I found myself hiding out more and more, simply because I could.  I had money, lots of it at times, and nothing stopped me from buying all the games I wanted to play, staying home all weekend and playing them.  But I moved around, I got married, I stopped having friends over most of the time; filthy buggers clogging up my controls and getting melted cheese in the carpet - bah!

So online and multiplayer games were a boon, a way to play with friends without leaving my comfort zone.  And, to be sure, multiplayer games were always my favourite.  Bomberman, of course, but also co-op games, racing games, puzzle games (Puyo, Puzzle Bobble).  Single player games need to be so much better now, to capture my interest, 'cause no matter how fun it is I'm essentially wasting time alone, and I'd rather be with people.  

Online gaming allows me to satisfy two urges: to be social, to play games.  That said there's a definite paucity of genuine co-op 2P games.  Some of the best gaming memories I have were of playing capture the flag online with a group of friends against a group of opponents.  Quake nights, LAN parties - social gaming.  

It's the way of the future!

PS: More co-op.