Co-op is boring (blah semi rant)

[MammothBlade]

It's true. I can't stand co-operative multiplayer, most of the time. It seems to be all about collective back-patting. It makes me cringe.

Perhaps I've just gotten sick that 99.9% of my friends refuse to play anything competitive. Whatever it is, I especially dislike games that are all about making the players feel awesome. I feel it's hollow, and I don't gain any gratification from it whatsoever. So whenever people ask me to play L4D2 , or Saints' Row, or even, christ, Borderlands 2 - a game I used to be really hyped about - I just go "mehhhhh". But what gets me even worse is when people moan about a game being "unfair". In co-op.

I get it, maybe they're depressed, maybe they have a low frustration tolerance. But I hate it when someone invites me to play a game they're really super duper hyped about, and they get turned off the moment it goes against them.
On the other end, you have people super into "teamwork", who get pissed off when people don't do things their way, by their strategy. Where's the fun in taking orders from some arrogant twat on the other end of a microphone? That also puts me off in a big way. Why go through all that trouble with other players when you can just fight them instead?

DAE feel the same way?

/slightlybitter

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

My co-op experience is mostly limited to friends and family, all this negativity you speak of sounds alien to me. To me teamwork is fun because having a second person join me on a fictional quest doubles the interactivity and enhances the immersion.

What little competitive multiplayer I've experienced is limited to brief sparring matches and such, which I usually turn to when I'm bored and have no better option. Some people are nice, some aren't. I don't really care. My only qualm is the issue of communication. I'm reduced to basic in-game gestures and shout-outs that really wear on me after a while.

 

[TehCookie]

My co-op experience is mostly limited to friends and family, all this negativity you speak of sounds alien to me. To me teamwork is fun because having a second person join me on a fictional quest doubles the interactivity and enhances the immersion.

What little competitive multiplayer I've experienced is limited to brief sparring matches and such, which I usually turn to when I'm bored and have no better option. Some people are nice, some aren't. I don't really care. My only qualm is the issue of communication. I'm reduced to basic in-game gestures and shout-outs that really wear on me after a while.

Same here, and couch co-op is even nicer because you can sabotage your friend. If I was losing I'd release my minions (aka my pet rats) who would pester you and try to get you to put the controller down and play with them. My zen concentration makes me immune and I win while my friends are distracted >

OT: Do your friends get along with your playstyle? There are some friends I can only play certain genres with because of that. If you're not having fun you always have the option not to play. If I ask a friend to play and he's bitter the entire time and treating it like a chore I'd get frustrated too.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I used to think that competitive multiplayer was the shit when I was in high school, then I kind of just grew out of it. In college I was in a couple of clans for different multiplayer games (CoD and Halo on Xbox 360 and Left 4 Dead on PC), and that just really burned me out of competitive multiplayer and soured me to it. These days pretty much the only multiplayer games I play are coop (other than the occasional match of TF2) and I only do so with friends I actually know in real life. I think that if I didn't have any irl friends to play coop games with I'd probably have pretty much the same impression that the OP does, but coop with my friends is tons of fun.

 

[skywolfblue]

It's true. I can't stand co-operative multiplayer, most of the time. It seems to be all about collective back-patting. It makes me cringe.

Perhaps I've just gotten sick that 99.9% of my friends refuse to play anything competitive. Whatever it is, I especially dislike games that are all about making the players feel awesome. I feel it's hollow, and I don't gain any gratification from it whatsoever. So whenever people ask me to play L4D2 , or Saints' Row, or even, christ, Borderlands 2 - a game I used to be really hyped about - I just go "mehhhhh". But what gets me even worse is when people moan about a game being "unfair". In co-op.

I get it, maybe they're depressed, maybe they have a low frustration tolerance. But I hate it when someone invites me to play a game they're really super duper hyped about, and they get turned off the moment it goes against them.
On the other end, you have people super into "teamwork", who get pissed off when people don't do things their way, by their strategy. Where's the fun in taking orders from some arrogant twat on the other end of a microphone? That also puts me off in a big way. Why go through all that trouble with other players when you can just fight them instead?

DAE feel the same way?

/slightlybitter

It kinda sounds like your friends have the wrong attitude towards co-op. It's suppose to be a fun experience where your failures are the hilarious highlights of the evening, not a super-serious "Teamwork guyz!".

I like Co-Op because I kinda find the opposite. I'm stressed when I feel I have to perform and be better then my opponents, I feel I can relax and enjoy myself because I don't feel slighted by losing to the AI.

 

[default]

Some of the most fun I've had gaming has come from brutally difficult co-op survival type games.

Killing Floor has given me a lot of good memories. Me and four buddies all yelling and laughing on teamspeak, gunning down waves and waves of zombies, delegating corners for each other to watch, sharing out cash for each others gear, slowly being picked off one by one and forming up a group to relocate if we're getting over-run, then holing up in a corner and loading our assault rifles for the last stand is nothing to be sniffed at. The main thing is that I'm having FUN, something I don't get much of these days.

I love co-op, it's just gotta be with the right people.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Sound like your friends just want to win without effort and that you do not like playing nice with people, I propose you not play with them then.

When I do co-op I do it for the team work and to shoot some shit with people, immersion is right out the window when people from the real world join but you get to play with mates so it's a different kind of fun, if you are willing to have it anyway.

 

[Beautiful End]

I dont know. As someone who would love to have a co-op partner, I would disagree. In my case, I used to play co-op with friends and family when I was a kid. I loved competing or helping each other in a friendly manner but now that I'm older and my family doesn't play anymore and my friends dislike videogames, I miss just having someone in the same room to talk to about the game we're playing or just having some company. There's only so much you can do when you play with strangers online.

 

[MammothBlade]

OT: Do your friends get along with your playstyle? There are some friends I can only play certain genres with because of that. If you're not having fun you always have the option not to play. If I ask a friend to play and he's bitter the entire time and treating it like a chore I'd get frustrated too.

Most of them don't. I play games less and less with them, because I either get bored because I feel it's dull and repetitive, or they ragequit because they died, completely fairly. They blame the game, rather than admit defeat.

It kinda sounds like your friends have the wrong attitude towards co-op. It's suppose to be a fun experience where your failures are the hilarious highlights of the evening, not a super-serious "Teamwork guyz!".

I like Co-Op because I kinda find the opposite. I'm stressed when I feel I have to perform and be better then my opponents, I feel I can relax and enjoy myself because I don't feel slighted by losing to the AI.

I feel more stress with performing for a team, I guess. I feel I have to support the team's efforts, and make an equal contribution. I feel like it's a competition to help the team the most, but my playstyle is anything but. Playing on others' initiative feels like dredgery. I can deal with it in team deathmatch, though. Working with people to defeat other people directly, that's what I love about World of Tanks. It's so direct, and personal.

See, my friends complain when I'm doing better than them. For example, I can't play Civilization with them, because they get angry when I'm first to build a wonder, let alone AI. Whenever rivalries develop and they're behind in score and wonders, they quit. I don't mind playing on the same team in civ, but we get overpowered, quick. And that ruins it for me on normal difficulties.

 

[Barbas]

Co-op can add a lot to a game, but only if you have reliable friends you can play it with. Multiplayer games are only as good as their community.

 

[zegram33]

im not sure I get your problem with borderlands 2, i've never felt it to be particularly gratifying or anything like that.
and...saint row games are mainly about being awesome. it sounds to me like its more that you don't like more lighthearted games, as opposed to not liking co-op.

 

[AnthrSolidSnake]

This is why I usually limit playing co op games with my brother. I mean, seriously, he's my brother, he's only 4 years younger than me, we like all the same games, and he's pretty skilled. There's really no better co op partner in the world.

Plus, he's the only other person in the world who actually takes games seriously. I mean, sure, I like playing games with my friends, but 9 times out of 10, they just want to screw around, which is fine every once and awhile, but I just want a coherent experience sometimes, you know? Couldn't we save screwing around for Garry's Mod or something? Or Saints Row?

Anyway, if it wasn't for the fact that I always had a reliable co op partner nearby, I wouldn't even bother with games like DayZ or Nether, or really anything online of that nature. Sometimes I play alone, but it's nice to know there's someone to watch your back in such settings that you can actually trust NOT to shoot you. Some of my friends...eh...last time I played Nether (I don't know if any of you own this game. It's Early Access. Common knowledge says probably not since most people I know haven't even heard of it) with a friend, he purposely ran out in the middle of the street, attracting no less than 12 Nether to swarm on him, kill him, and then proceed to attack me nearby. He thought it was hilarious. I was pretty angry since I have a lot of nice equipment.

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

It sounds like your the kind of person who loves fighter games trying to play with the person who just had a great time building a golden penis in Minecraft Creative mode.

Now, I LOVE co-op, to the max. It's amazing fun, seriously, any day I would pick co-op over multiplayer and even singleplayer. If every single one of my games was co-op, I would approve. With the exception of games that really WOULDN'T work, like say co-op point 'n' click. I also love playing D&D with my mates, so that's probably another reason. The thing is, you need to choose your friends carefully. One of my friends loves story and all that, so if I were to play a story heavy lovely amazingly beautiful game with him, we would have the best damn time.

Another one is a very skilled gamer, is the funniest guy around and can narrate a game like no-one else, so if I ever want to clock a game with him and have a laugh, he's the mate to call. Three more of my mates all love playing team games, so they party LoL with me, and they (plus my skilled mate) all joined me in beating Neverwinter, the MMO. We had a fucking whale of a time going through that, as the party dynamics in that were actually really good.

Hell, my ex and I played some Warlight with a ton of my friends, and that was the best fun in the damned world. Even my dad plays games, though he plays them like a goddamn veteran. "Hey dad, you up for some Survival?" "Call of Duty? ***** please, I remember when Hitler was 2D and you praised a game for having colour! Lemme show you how it's done!"

However, my half-semi-kinda-little sister loves playing Minecraft, but prefers to not have to deal with the mobs. So we make a great team while she does all the crafting and building, I fight off the horrible things that leap over our walls. (And sometimes let them in just to hear a scream a few seconds later. Teehee.) My cousin is amazing at shooters but also loves realistic games, so if I ever want to fire up a shooter or play some ArmA, he's the port to call.

If you haven't gotten my point already, it's that some people are the right people to play co-op with. I wouldn't grab my cousin to play through Beyond: Two Souls with me (sorry, first semi-co-op game I thought of that was entirely story) same as I wouldn't grab my little sister to play Rust. Though that would be pretty funny. "Jess, here, it's like super minecraft!" Then hear the screams as the bandits closed in. Bwahahahah. Ahem. Anyway. So, you need the right people. You need someone who'll take it seriously, or won't, who is skilled, or doesn't need to be and who likes the game. If you try to force your friends into playing No More Room In Hell when they'd rather play L4D2, you're gonna end up looking like a controlling dick and no-one is gonna have fun.

Remember, at the end of the day - if you haven't coiled up in laughter, screamed in rage and shouted in glory at least 10 times every room/scene, you ain't doing it right!

 

[Joccaren]

I'm the opposite. Can't stand competitive multiplayer.
Its boring. I can do the same thing vs AI, and be more in control of how much fun I'm having thanks to difficulty settings. If I get godlike at a game and find that even the hardest AI is piss easy, I'll go multiplayer, but otherwise I don't see any point. If I want to get my ass kicked, there's a difficulty setting for that. If I want to kick ass, there's a difficulty setting for that. Why do I need someone yelling insults about my mum at me whilst I'm shooting them to enjoy the game?

Co-op though is always fun. Get my friend who's thoughts are perfectly in sync with mine, and do some crazy antics. Fly a helicopter, crashing it into the ground and using it as a trampoline thanks to the physics engine, making him, the gunner, shit his pants whilst dodging missiles and shit. Come up with an elaborate plan to kill the batman. And execute it. Try to break a game. Go on the hardest ass rape setting and form intricate strategies with each other to get through it, and take turns in who's we follow.

If you have a good partner, co-op is amazing. Sadly my friend is mostly into competitive games, which I don't terribly mind when its co-op, but I'd prefer non-competitive if possible.

Online co-op? I mute chat the second I get into any game. I don't care for other people in the world. When playing games, I've come to the safe assumption that unless I've met and befriended them IRL or on forums before playing the game, they're assholes. Its pretty accurate so far. There's the occasional nice guy, but I dislike the responsibility of having to look after them when I have no clue who they are, and when I have to be on good behaviour in case they're not a fan of my antics. With friends though, its all good.

 

[viranimus]

Ill go.

I have no interest at all in online co-op. Sure when it was still sort of new, It was interesting for the novelty. However From what I have seen through the years it basically boils down to content that the developers make that is usually artificially difficult (IE: like dying from Catch mobs in L4D like Jockeys, Smokers and Witches) Or there is no added difficulty and thus really no actual need for help.

I cannot get interested in it because more often than not it ends up just dragging ass and wasting for no good reason. Ill not be the one to railroad and try to control group actions, but at the same time It kills any enjoyment I can have having to endlessly wait on others.

Even reminds me of back in the Old MMO days of EQ. Cannot count how many times something would go wrong resulting in party wipe, and instead of participating in the common Waiting for Res, I would have already respawned, worked my way back to the dungeon, drug my own corpse to entry and ready to begin dragging other corpses while the rest of the group is still sitting at their bind spots trying to negotiate resurrection or corpse retrieval.

Even in a game like Dark/Demon' souls I play them offline. There is really no compelling reason to even want help. It kind of defeats the purpose of the game to begin with.

Competitive at least is a logical desire. Co-Op really seems pointless because even at best, you are just delegating gameplay that really does not "need" to be delegated.

 

[MammothBlade]

It sounds like your the kind of person who loves fighter games trying to play with the person who just had a great time building a golden penis in Minecraft Creative mode.

I actually love minecraft and other sandboxes. But as to whether I enjoy them in multiplayer, I'm not sure.

To be fair, I used to love tactical squad shooters such as Conflict: Desert Storm and Ghost Recon, because you actually relied on each other to co-ordinate splitscreen, face to face. You could play an entire campaign in a day, and it'd be something of an accomplishment.

Ill go.

I have no interest at all in online co-op. Sure when it was still sort of new, It was interesting for the novelty. However From what I have seen through the years it basically boils down to content that the developers make that is usually artificially difficult (IE: like dying from Catch mobs in L4D like Jockeys, Smokers and Witches) Or there is no added difficulty and thus really no actual need for help.

I cannot get interested in it because more often than not it ends up just dragging ass and wasting for no good reason. Ill not be the one to railroad and try to control group actions, but at the same time It kills any enjoyment I can have having to endlessly wait on others.

Even reminds me of back in the Old MMO days of EQ. Cannot count how many times something would go wrong resulting in party wipe, and instead of participating in the common Waiting for Res, I would have already respawned, worked my way back to the dungeon, drug my own corpse to entry and ready to begin dragging other corpses while the rest of the group is still sitting at their bind spots trying to negotiate resurrection or corpse retrieval.

Even in a game like Dark/Demon' souls I play them offline. There is really no compelling reason to even want help. It kind of defeats the purpose of the game to begin with.

Competitive at least is a logical desire. Co-Op really seems pointless because even at best, you are just delegating gameplay that really does not "need" to be delegated.

These are some other things I have against co-op. Also, I have to admit, I tend to lag a bit, because I like to do my own thing and explore. I don't enjoy railroading, at all. But then other people get impatient and rush ahead.

 

[Something Amyss]

Saints Row 2 with friends was incredible. All the various ways we came up with to blow things up....

 

[Anthony Wells]

Well I respect your opinion and understand it, I have to disagree, I met one of my best friends on a co-op game online (me3's multiplayer mode to be exact). And I feel working together with someone to complete a goal is far more satisfying then doing it myself. And as for competitive Multiplayer... dear god I hate it now a days... I used to love it, but a combination of my decidedly crappy laptop, lack of balance between skill difficulties (for the most part), and the fact that In competitive I'm completely at the mercy of weather my team and the enemy is good or not, if the enemy team is good and mine isn't, there is not a whole lot I can do to stave off the curbstomp that will inevitably follow and is decidedly unfun to play. It is also unfun for me to be on the side doing the curbstomp. I feel like I'm potentially ruining other peoples fun, and that makes me feel terrible. But in a co-op game, I'm contributing to a team, weather my team is good or not, does not detract from the fact we are all contributing, and generally I am good enough to hold the team on my shoulders if they can't hold themselves up (Me3 and dragons crown exclusive statement there), but when you get in that group with everyone working together in perfect synergy, covering each other and destroyign all who oppose, it is an awesomely amazing feeling to be part of something like that.

 

[nogitsune]

I pretty much dislike multiplayer period. I'm not a big fan of co-op but I hate competitive. Co-op's good with decent friends but most people try to make it into a competition and that defeats the purpose, but with good friends it can be fun. Competitive is just no fun for me at all, with strangers there is little to none sportsmanship and with friends there tends to be a gap in skill where one of us is not going to be having any fun. I just think single player is much better, no having to deal with the human element wrecking things.