Few things first a "multiplayer" game in my eyes is any game that is made solely for multiplayer. WOW is an example, COD MW2 is an example the former has no single player and the second has a shitty single player tacked on to make it seem more worth the price. But all no these games are made for multiplayer. You ask anyone who buys COD and he never says "oh i bought it for the single player"
Secondly i do play a multiplayer game, Eve online.
Now to the matter at hand.
Multiplayer games are destroying the quality of games for a few keys reasons. I wont say there ruining the industry as im not savvy with the sales figures, although the better single player games do pale in sales when compared to average multiplayer games.
So why is the multiplayer making games worse?
Reason 1 - story or lack thereof - The key difference between a single player game and a multiplayer (specifically MMO) game is that one is story driven the other uses a story to creating a setting. Taking 2 examples Mass Effect 2 and WOW. Mass effect 2 is a game which follows a story where your actions effect the world and endings. The story is the game as much as the gameplay. WOW on the other hand has a story which set the scene for the WOW world within which a bunch of people go round doing the same quests which have no impact on the world or anyone but themselves. This is not so much a developer fault as it is a fault of the style of game. Developers like to brag about there new MMO is somehow different but it always ends up the same grind. When looking at games like COD there is a pathetic story to add padding to the game and make it seem better value but COD is all about the multiplayer, meaning that what story it does have is beyond garbage.
Reason 2 - Character development - MMO's have none simple as that. COD and other multiplayer based FPS or TPS have very little. Taking Mass Effect 2 into account compared to any other MMO or Multiplayer based FPS or TPS. No one can argue that Gears for example has more Character development than ME2. Gears in IMO is one of the better multiplayer based games when looking at story and character development but even this in both aspects falls short of dedicated story games like ME2. The Character development in ME2 is immense and one of the best things about the game.
Reason 3 - Ease of production - MMO games have a large game world, usually in substandard graphics and no, story, cut scenes, character development to speak of. COD has 10 small maps, good graphics, bad story, bad character development. ME2 has a large game world, immense character development, well thought out story and back story, good graphics. So we can see that to produce product like ME2 would require much more effort than COD or WOW.
Reason 4 - Profit - This is a tie in to reason 3, but if a game which is easier to make sells better due to multiplayer, it is going to have bigger profits. Then more companies jump on the band wagon and there is even less high quality games.
Reason 5 - Old IP converted to MMO - This reason was sparked by the latest Old Republic game which sadly but not surprisingly has been turned into an MMO. KOTOR was one of the best games ever made without a doubt and no one with any sanity can argue that a game such as COD is better. The new Old Republic MMO will suffer from the same problems as all MMO in which is has a story (in this case provided by 2 single player games) with a tiny bit of story to add context to the meaningless events and quests that all players will be doing in the "grind". Now i know for a fact that no matter how good this MMO is no matter how slick it is. it will NEVER NEVER NEVER be as good as KOTOR 3 would have been. It will have no story no characters, no meaning, in short it will be a MMORPG.
These are all the reasons i can think of for now i will add more if i think of them. Story, character development, are both dying in games, back in the day most games had some sort of story and character development i mean they had to without the net multiplayer was limited and most games sold on the single player alone apart from the obvious Tekkens and other fighting games. There are still some quality products being made like the ME series, dragon age Origins (lets not talk about the cash cow of DA2), the Witcher 2, Elder Scrolls 4 and Fallout 3/NV, Metro 2033. All these games took real thought to make, and they are not just a few maps with some idiots with guns running around teabagging each other. It seams to me that the only games left which have anything that a good game should, ie a nice rich story and characters backed up by good gameplay and graphics are the RPG's. Even FPS games back in the day had at least some attempt at a story, Killzone 1, and Warhammer 40k Firewarrior to name some.
IMO its a sad day when the best selling games are unimaginative, drab, storyless, characterless, map packs with 2 new guns (*cough* *cough* CALL OF DUTY MW/MW2/WAW/BO/MW3/ *cough* *cough*) or a game which is basically a grind doing quests which make no difference other than to get 2 gold and 100exp. Especially when the only reason companies make these games is because the idiot consumer buys them like hotcakes lest they have to actually think or pay attention while playing a game.
Hopefully this trend will end but if games like The Old Republic are commercial successes, then other single player game series could be converting to MMO format.
Secondly i do play a multiplayer game, Eve online.
Now to the matter at hand.
Multiplayer games are destroying the quality of games for a few keys reasons. I wont say there ruining the industry as im not savvy with the sales figures, although the better single player games do pale in sales when compared to average multiplayer games.
So why is the multiplayer making games worse?
Reason 1 - story or lack thereof - The key difference between a single player game and a multiplayer (specifically MMO) game is that one is story driven the other uses a story to creating a setting. Taking 2 examples Mass Effect 2 and WOW. Mass effect 2 is a game which follows a story where your actions effect the world and endings. The story is the game as much as the gameplay. WOW on the other hand has a story which set the scene for the WOW world within which a bunch of people go round doing the same quests which have no impact on the world or anyone but themselves. This is not so much a developer fault as it is a fault of the style of game. Developers like to brag about there new MMO is somehow different but it always ends up the same grind. When looking at games like COD there is a pathetic story to add padding to the game and make it seem better value but COD is all about the multiplayer, meaning that what story it does have is beyond garbage.
Reason 2 - Character development - MMO's have none simple as that. COD and other multiplayer based FPS or TPS have very little. Taking Mass Effect 2 into account compared to any other MMO or Multiplayer based FPS or TPS. No one can argue that Gears for example has more Character development than ME2. Gears in IMO is one of the better multiplayer based games when looking at story and character development but even this in both aspects falls short of dedicated story games like ME2. The Character development in ME2 is immense and one of the best things about the game.
Reason 3 - Ease of production - MMO games have a large game world, usually in substandard graphics and no, story, cut scenes, character development to speak of. COD has 10 small maps, good graphics, bad story, bad character development. ME2 has a large game world, immense character development, well thought out story and back story, good graphics. So we can see that to produce product like ME2 would require much more effort than COD or WOW.
Reason 4 - Profit - This is a tie in to reason 3, but if a game which is easier to make sells better due to multiplayer, it is going to have bigger profits. Then more companies jump on the band wagon and there is even less high quality games.
Reason 5 - Old IP converted to MMO - This reason was sparked by the latest Old Republic game which sadly but not surprisingly has been turned into an MMO. KOTOR was one of the best games ever made without a doubt and no one with any sanity can argue that a game such as COD is better. The new Old Republic MMO will suffer from the same problems as all MMO in which is has a story (in this case provided by 2 single player games) with a tiny bit of story to add context to the meaningless events and quests that all players will be doing in the "grind". Now i know for a fact that no matter how good this MMO is no matter how slick it is. it will NEVER NEVER NEVER be as good as KOTOR 3 would have been. It will have no story no characters, no meaning, in short it will be a MMORPG.
These are all the reasons i can think of for now i will add more if i think of them. Story, character development, are both dying in games, back in the day most games had some sort of story and character development i mean they had to without the net multiplayer was limited and most games sold on the single player alone apart from the obvious Tekkens and other fighting games. There are still some quality products being made like the ME series, dragon age Origins (lets not talk about the cash cow of DA2), the Witcher 2, Elder Scrolls 4 and Fallout 3/NV, Metro 2033. All these games took real thought to make, and they are not just a few maps with some idiots with guns running around teabagging each other. It seams to me that the only games left which have anything that a good game should, ie a nice rich story and characters backed up by good gameplay and graphics are the RPG's. Even FPS games back in the day had at least some attempt at a story, Killzone 1, and Warhammer 40k Firewarrior to name some.
IMO its a sad day when the best selling games are unimaginative, drab, storyless, characterless, map packs with 2 new guns (*cough* *cough* CALL OF DUTY MW/MW2/WAW/BO/MW3/ *cough* *cough*) or a game which is basically a grind doing quests which make no difference other than to get 2 gold and 100exp. Especially when the only reason companies make these games is because the idiot consumer buys them like hotcakes lest they have to actually think or pay attention while playing a game.
Hopefully this trend will end but if games like The Old Republic are commercial successes, then other single player game series could be converting to MMO format.
