On Multiplayer

[Tharticus]

Good article. Anything that involves online play always involve online players who are assholes.

If all games focus as a multiplayer, then video games aren't a social thing after all. However, if developers are saying multiplayer is a excuse for a single player game that can be completed within 6 hours, there's something wrong there.

And by fun, everyone has one from stomping goombas to FPS by shooting people's crotches for the lulz... Oh wait, that's why everyone shouts obsceneries when some plays multiplayers.

 

[sunpop]

I saw this article coming and it had to be said. This is why I hate halo because bungee not only stopped making games like ONI but also focused on multiplayer.

I did however find a solution to at least one online fuckward and that is my brother. He doesn't know it but I have this magical ability to connect to my router from my computer and can easily disconnect him whenever I please. So once I get sick of his yelling in the other room I simply boot his ass from the internet.

 

[tehbeard]

I have to agree with the aussie on points 4 and 5.

point 5 especially. It is annoying as hell to have to smack a 200 button combo to mute every squeeky voiced 10 yr old in the lobby.

But the reward of multiplayer is there if you can find normals out there (they do exist). think 12 player throwing knife fights on MW2 or H3 rocket race.

edit:

I did however find a solution to at least one online fuckward and that is my brother. He doesn't know it but I have this magical ability to connect to my router from my computer and can easily disconnect him whenever I please. So once I get sick of his yelling in the other room I simply boot his ass from the internet.

Thank god i'm not the only one doing this.

 

[Silk_Sk]

3. Because there's nothing more to see.

I stoically disagree. Any campaign has a finite experience. Multiplayer has an infinite one. Nothing ever happens the same way twice. WoW shouldn't be used in this argument since other people aren't necessarily essential to the experience. Yahtzee got to level 58 by killing bots, not people.

I have to disagree with you on that point. while playing MW1 on the xbox I have gotten kill streaks just by sitting in one place and killing the same bunch of idiots that ran around the same corner. I finally got killed when one of them realized that if they run around the other way they could get me easily.

I have been easily able to kill people with grenades because they always react the same way and follow the near same route as before. I usually feel like I'm playing really bad AI in multi-player games. On the tanker map, I had a shotgun and I just waited in one spot. One guy would run past me, then the others would follow and then I'd kill them all from behind. I did it twice in that game before the match ended.

There is a finite experience to be found in multiplayer games. If there was an infinite one, then we wouldn't have griefers.

But they weren't AI. That's the point. They were thinking humans acting stupidly and you took advantage. That kind of gameplay would be slow and unstimulating if they really were bad AI. But those are humans who are having human reactions to getting punk'd over and over. Sure they're being idiots but who doesn't enjoy picking on idiots?

Now, would those strategies have worked on AI? Probably not, because there would be no reason to use them. If it were in the campaign, that would happen every single time you played the missing without variation. Humans may be predictable but they do learn.

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

Good points. Especially that last one, very Machiavellian. Wait a minute, did I just congratulate you for indirectly calling me a fuckwad?

Anyways, while I agree with most of what you said, I have to say that I find fault in your main theme. If I am correct, this article is supposed to be a defense of why you don't review multiplayer components in Zero Punctuation. While stating things like bad server connection are perfectly acceptable reasons, personal distaste for online multiplayer does not excuse you from reviewing it. Why? Because, as you said, you are a professional games critic. It is your job to give a game the most thorough inspection you can, and then deliver your verdict. Don't just say that you don't play online multiplayer because you don't like it- play it, give an objective analysis, and then tell us that you don't like it (or maybe, surprise, surprise, that you do like it!). After all, you played Halo 3 knowing full well that you wouldn't like it.

 

[Dhatz]

my reasons why not to multiplay: you always know what you are at when it's offline and you can get to know the characters, while online that would be very if the other wasn't your cousin.

 

[Karloff]

Re: point 1.

When I was into TF2, I was living in Bermuda. The net was excellent but of course there were no local servers. Thanks to some ungodly time zone quirk, I ended up playing against Australians more often than not. God alone knows why; they must have been about to go to bed just as I was getting up in the morning. It was always a lot more fun to play against them. The American server population was a pain in the ass to deal with and the UK were a bit too random, but the Aussies were good gamers and generally seemed to have a better ratio of normal human beings to assholes.

Pity there aren't more people like that.

 

[The Noble Shade]

Why Yahtzee, you ordinary person, this is why you hate multiplayer, beause you can't come to terms to face yourself?

I kid. I fully agree with you. I actually enjoy multiplayer in games, but I always enjoy the campaign more. That's why I never bought Halo.

 

[Alux]

The only real comment I can make is one that was mentioned only briefly before, that Team Fortress 2 is still kickass, despite it being online only.

It seems only logical, really; most games suck and most people suck, therefore most online games where you are forced to interact with people must suck.

 

[GeneralGrant]

It depends. There are many games I buy purely for the single player-such as the Total War series and most RPGs. Then there are games I bought for multiplayer-Warcraft 3, Call of Duty, Starcraft, and, obviously, any MMO. Personally I find online multiplayer to be a great boon in most regards-it greatly increases the life of many games if done well. I logged in probably two thousand hours of Warcraft 3 online, if not more. That's a lot of value for the price I paid. In comparison, I played Mass Effect twice and it gave me maybe 50-60 hours.

As for arguing that multiplayer is pointless because you're just doing the same thing a lot, I can't disagree more. The entire point of playing against people is that people are unpredictable and, in most cases, far more capable than any AI bot that isn't cheating. In all those hours of Warcraft 3, there were no games that played out the same way.

 

[camazotz]

Oh this post was pure gold! I am 100% in agreement with you, Yahtzee. Hell, I recently was given a copy of Section 8, which I immediately turned in and exchanged for Far Cry 2 and Prototype, much better deals.

I played COD 4 for the single player, and I'll play MW2 for the single player. I have a mximum quotient of fuckwaddery in my diet, and that is usually exceeded about 5 hours in to my work day; I don't need more of it at home!

 

[Flamezdudes]

TOTALLY Agree with you Yahtzee. Most of the gamers in my school only play games if it has multiplayer and hardly care for the Single player, it's just stupid in my opinion. Plus, they're all FPS fanboys.

 

[littlerudi08107]

Before anyone bothers, yeah, I'm aware he won't read or care, but these are online forums. It's all ultimately a waste of time anyways.

Article

Let me open by saying you're wrong.

OH SHI-... "My opinion can't be wrong!". Yes it can. If it's your opinion water in it's liquid natural state is dry, then you're wrong.

You're not ENTIRELY wrong however, mostly just the 4th point... Ok, mostly half of the 4th point.

The point you're wrong in is that EVERY game MUST necessarily have a single player or whatnot. You're wrong, as evidenced (for instances) by a game you claimed to be quite the good experience, Left4Dead. Saying every game MUST necessarily have a single player mode that MUST stand by itself is like saying every movie needs to end with the good guy smiling happily into the sunset. Different games are marketed towards different gamers.

This is equally the part where you're only half-wrong. Games that are marketed on their single player experience NEED a single player campaign that can stand by itself, and it's ultimately the reason games like Halo, Gears of War or CoD shouldn't get the "free ride" they expect.

As for online games ultimately being circumstantial or accomplishing nothing... Like any other game? Even by completing a beautifully tailored story mode what do you accomplish?

Yes, online games rely on more variables than single player games, but they're a different bread entirely. For instances every time you play the game, with a different set of people, the game itself changes. Behaviors change, skill levels change, things change, for you to adapt. Online gaming is not perfect by any means, not necessarily better or worse than single player gaming, it's different. Different people look for different things in different games.

As for your last point, I entirely agree, generally speaking people are absolute idiots. I wonder how most of them manage to do basic functions and breath at the same time. Which raises the question: Why do you care what they think? You often put a lot of emphasis in not being mocked, which quite honestly leads me to think the whole thing just scares you. Guessing you were bullied a lot when you were younger or something. This is a personal recommendation more than anything, but, it doesn't really matter what other people think.

And yes, I would say this to your face.

Left 4 dead did have a single player mode with AI bots you idiot. And it was a lot better than playing online with other people.

 

[JokerCrowe]

reason nr.4 is why i'm not that excited about Bioshock 2. The first Bioshock didn't have multiplayer and it was excellent! The reason I'm not going out of my mind with excitement, is that Í'm worried that Take 2 might have tried to add multiplayer to make up for lack in singleplayer. I'm hoping not, and that Bioshock 2 is even better than the first one. but somehow, unfortunately, I doubt it. (I'll still buy it though when it comes out...)

 

[SantoUno]

Pretty good article Yahtzee, your first 3 points are well understood. The fourth is what you have seemed to establish long ago, and I agree. As for your fifth point, I agree and disgree on different points. I agree that MOST players online are absolutely douchebags (I play XBL so you get the idea) but then again you still get a good time playing with people online, and even if you don't play with a group of friends most of the time your team may be decent enough to work with, at least that was the case in Halo 3, in CoD4 no one wanted to talk to each other.

 

[The Maddest March Hare]

Finally someone with the same general, jaded view of the multiplayer world who actual has enough influence over gamers to get this topic out there. I know a lot of people who agree to this, but a little rant by some nameless guy on a forum in the wasteland of the net does nothing but draw a few small time trolls and flamers. -.-'

And since developers actually know Yahtzee now, who knows, maybe the 2010 gen games will be better for this. If so, you'd have my eternal gratitude, crazy Aussie ranter.

 

[Caliostro]

Left 4 dead did have a single player mode with AI bots you idiot. And it was a lot better than playing online with other people.

Sigh... Why do I bother.

Yes, it has an offline mode with bots. And the bots are stupid as hell. Playing Expert with bots (specially on the second iteration) is about as fun and functional as stabbing yourself in the kidneys with a spoon. The game is clearly meant to be played online with the offline mode being more of a "ok, if you're a socially inept bag of suck or just wanna dick around with sv_cheats, play this". Valve have mentioned that before.

You can play most online games (say, counter strike) and modes offline and with bots alone, thus rendering your entire point null.

 

[Hyper-space]

that British variation of yo mama (your mum) is, i believe, a one-trick pony.

otherwise nice article, not a complete riot, but nonetheless a good read.

 

[gamegod25]

...which is why Yahtzee never calls people fuckwads in person XD

 

[Chazfreakish]

snip

Huh. I thought that was perhaps the weakest of the five points he provided. I've met seriously decent people online. Yahtzee's cynicism seems to extend far beyond my own. I can't really say I'm surprised though.

And was it just me or was the article conspicuously lacking in any discussion of non-online multiplayer?

He talked about the split screen multiplayer in the episode of ZP - watch it.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/1118-Call-of-Duty-Modern-Warfare-2