I’ll cut right to the chase: I really don’t care for multiplayer most of the time. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not as though I’ve sworn a vow against it or anything, I enjoy a good game of Team Fortress or Halo as much as the next person. But it’s just an aside, something that I do now and then for fun, just as every now and then I play some co-op with my good friend Barry Manilow (long story). But there’s a whole segment of gaming that seems to be almost exclusively or exclusively caught up in the multiplayer side of things. And I mean, I can grok that. Nothing better than a real human opponent (Not yet, anyway, and this doesn’t count in chess) for matching wits against – and yet I don’t care to. Which, if you’ll let me indulge my ego, isn’t to say I can’t. Back when I played Red Alert 2 I was horrendously good at it. It just doesn’t really appeal to me, and I’m not entirely sure why, but I have an inkling.
Here’s the thing: I like to play games my way. I like to derp around, to explore here and there, to try stupid things with weapons, to experiment with different strategies and whatnot. This is all well and good with friends, but in any game where other people are expecting me to do something productive, it just doesn’t seem to work out so well for me. I feel rather constrained by it all, and I don’t particularly like other people being dependent on me when I’m just wanting to mess around with some ridiculous glitch I’ve discovered or something. Interestingly I still like MMOs a great deal; I’ve played my share of WoW over the years, and a fair bit of EVE Online and City of Heroes too, as well as dabbling in quite a few besides. But I’m always solo in these things; I don’t want to have to worry about keeping others alive or what have you, because when I screw it up I feel really bad! Contrary to the title of this post, I don’t actually mind if others mess up unless it’s making the same mistakes repeatedly or something.
I was wondering how others feel about all this sort of thing. Do you prefer single player or multiplayer? Do you care at all? Do you worry about letting the side down to a point of excess?
Yup, I hear you. I have a hard time talking myself into 2v2 Starcraft matches (or any sort of similar “team” game like that) because I worry I’ll let the other person(s) down. I can do 1v1 okay, provided I don’t have to make a lot of conversation with the other person, and the really tight, close 1v1 matches always end up being so much more interesting and fun than anything the AI can provide, but somehow I… just play against the AI 95% of the time.
WoW PvP I don’t really care about, because you’ve got at the minimum nine other people with you and it usually ends up being a huge mess anyway. I could never do arena, though, at least not seriously. Similarly I’m okay with anything involving close friends, both online and off. But it’s just sort of that middle ground area, where it’s somewhat more “serious” and you’ve got people depending on you, where I start to feel a bit shaky and insecure. I probably really shouldn’t; I win more Starcraft matches than I don’t, but… that’s just how I am, I suppose!
Never play League of Legends. No, seriously. It’s a great game, an amazing game, nine kinds of excellent, and it would kill you.
I have only moderate problems with this (I still prefer playing vs. AI) and it makes me grit my teeth to play League of Legends in anything other than the finally-added Co-Op Vs. AI mode.
Same thoughts here. WoW of course, but that’s a form of multiplayer where you have choices as to how you participate. I’m mostly a solitary player there. On the whole I prefer to play the games I play with an open mind and explore the limits of what I can do with them. That usually precludes teamwork.
There’s just no fun in beating bots all the time, I need to know that I’m making some guys day hell by killing him 5 times in a row or what-have-you. Multiplayer is a way for me to satisfy my sadistic side and get more fun out of a game I had already beaten in singleplayer. There’s just so many options for multiplayer, it’s like an entire different game which takes minimal effort to create.
Take the concept of surfing in Counter Strike Source for example, hundreds of maps created by developers for the simple act of sliding down a ramp. Zombie maps, capture the flag, deathmatch and loads of other modes all from multiplayer. Ah i just love it really.
I live for co-op but there’s kind of a pretty obvious reason for it…
(possible TMI rant)
You see, my sister closest in age and I have shared a room since she was born. 17 years is a long time to be stuck with someone it turns out and somehow we’ve developed the same thinking patterns but different skills so we…well “complete each other” sounds a little creepy but when it comes to gaming it’s so true! xD We always know what the other is planning and how to sync up together, it’s quite nifty (like in Halo, I always drive and she’s in the turret, or I’ll take the tank and she gets the ghost, I get the needlers/snipers and she gets the plasma/assault rifles)!
We also play against each other all the time, in any game, just because it’s so interesting when we have different strategies but we know each others’ strategies just as well as our own. We each have our own specialty games where we know who’s going to win before we start of course; she wins Tetris Attack and Guitar Hero, I win racing games in general and……yeah that’s about it xD Everything else (fighting games, FPS, etc) depends on “good days” and “bad days” really…so yeah, lot’s of fun there! The weird thing is she’s more of a VS player and I’m more of a co-op player but we still just don’t work without the other xP
As for WoW, I’m her tree and she’s my moonkin! The only time we go on without each other is to do the auction house, rep/mat grinds, and prof leveling. On lowbies I do a lot more on my own because nobody expects anyone to heal when you’re in your 20s-30s so I feel kind of special giving it my all anyways and then don’t really need to worry about it if I’m slacking off :D I do love to do BGs with or without her, but we don’t like getting XP without the other so…I refuse to do big, high level dungeons without her though…they’re too scary O.o
And I don’t like doing multiplayer with people I don’t know….it’s too awkward :S Which is probably what you’re post was about xD So I apologize for gigantic, pointless comment >.<
I play WoW as a single player at least 90% of the time. I am ridiculously critical of myself and far too aware of mistakes I may to be able to enjoy anything more that the most laid back five-man imaginable. Generally this means 3 manning with my 2 closest WoW friends. Raiding is nearly impossible as after about 30 minutes I’m so tense I’m almost physically ill. It’s insane but knowing it’s insane doesn’t change it.
This does mean I find odd ways to enjoy my gaming. 3 manning things, for example. It’s fun to come up with new ways to challenge our little team. My current solo project has been completing the Classy achievements for our tiny guild by leveling to 85 and deleting. I’ve deleted 3 so far and the 4th is 82 and coming soon.
I’m a staunch soloist, even in MMOs. I’ll occasionally play with others in something like WoW, but that’s mostly just because that’s the best way to see dungeons. It’s usually at least a little bit fun, but I’m a DPS feral Druid there, so it’s not like I’m tanking or healing (though I’ve offtanked by shifting into Bear form when a tank dies or disconnects, and I can handle it well enough). There’s no way that I’d raid, though. It’s not worth the stress. Not only do I want to avoid messing up the group, but raiders are a breed apart, generally way more critical than I care for in cohorts.
I can defiantly see where you’re coming from; a game always feels more fulfilling when it’s YOU doing all the action, rather than having 4 or five other people running around with you. It really breaks immersion to have to worry about how everyone else is playing and what everyone else is doing. You can’t really be in your own little game world when you have a bunch of other people sharing the same world and acting in all kinds of crazy ways. It’s like reading a book, and listening to bunch of other people reading the same book and chatting about it as they read. It makes for interesting conversation, but it’s not really immersion.
The only genre where it DOESN’T break immersion is an FPS (it helps immersion to be in a squad)…and I’m pretty terrible at FPS.
That being said, I usually try and do at least one WoW random a day. Randoms don’t have the same immersion/lore factor as soloing, not by a long shot, but they are still fun in their own way. And as the healer I can help LFD pug groups stick together (not so much as the tank, but still).
Yes, I’m way too self-critical to be able to enjoy any but the most casual of groups.