Party chat ruins single player games?

[Sean Hollyman]

Somebody I know just said that if you are talking in party chat, it ruins the single player. He said it 'isn't exactly solo if you've got people to talk to.'

I don't... what? Do you agree or is that a load of bollocks?

 

[tippy2k2]

I agree.

I don't like being in party chat with a single player game. Then either one of two things happen:

A. I'm completely quiet the entire time because I'm playing my game, rendering my presence in the chat useless

B. I'm talking to people and I'm not concentrating on what's going on in my game, which makes me want to leave the party chat so that I can play the game I'm actually playing

Some people can multi-task that way just fine; I can't.

 

[Barbas]

His statement is valid, but the idea that it ruins the experience is a bit much. How does it work - is it like a microphone thing, or just a chat box? If it's the latter, surely it can be hidden or disabled in some way.

EDIT: I'd probably not use it - I'd end up getting distracted too easily.

 

[MysticSlayer]

I guess your friend hasn't been gaming for too long. Getting together with friends to play singleplayer games used to be rather common. Even after we started getting more multiplayer games like Mario Kart, it wasn't uncommon for friends to swap controllers with singleplayer games, which certainly goes beyond simply talking with them. Party chat just offers a way to always talk with your friends rather than having to get together at someone's house like we used to.

So, in your short, your friend is very, very wrong.

Edit: With that said, there's nothing wrong if he doesn't prefer it because he doesn't want someone interrupting an important story segment, but saying "it isn't exclusively solo" is just not a very good point.

 

[DementedSheep]

Well if you are playing single player games for time to yourself I would see why you wouldn't want it and if its a very atmospheric game or one you need to concentrate for talking would ruin it. Talking while playing a games doesn't somehow make it not singles-player though, you're just multitasking.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

Yeah I find it ruins singleplayer games because I can't focus on the story and talk at the same time. End up missing a lot of exposition.

 

[RJ 17]

I agree, but not for the rather strange reason of "if you're chatting it's not solo".

I say it ruins single player because it's really hard to focus on the story/dialogue (which is kinda the entire point of playing singleplayer in most cases) if you've got one or more people talking in your ear.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I didn't know such a thing could happen...and on consoles I don't think it's possible...maybe on the new consoles...I can't play games and talk on the phone and that's about as close as I can get to party chatting though honestly I have a lot of problems talking over phones, mics, etc...

 

[josemlopes]

If anyone else is in the room watching you play the game, it ruins it too?

It doesnt make much sense unless its something like a horror game where you really need to be in tune with the game for it to work properly, in other games unless the player has an incredibly small attention span I think he will be fine talking to someone else (although if its a big party with a lot of loud mouthed people it may end up distracting).

 

[teqrevisited]

Depends on the game. I'd rather be alone to play Deus Ex or Fallout/TES but I think I'd go insane if I farmed on something like Disgaea with no interaction or secondary entertainment. Subsequent playthroughs are different too.

 

[Headsprouter]

When playing a single-player game that's story-heavy for the first time, I can't talk on Skype while doing so, because I'm not fond of ignoring or skipping a game's story, even if it's bad. You also miss out on music. White noise sucks.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

I agree.

I like to fully immerse myself into a single player game, and that's rather hard to do while joking around with friends.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

while I tend to not notice background details or really think deeply if I'm chatting with friends (via steam or whatever at the moment) I definitely play single player games all the time while doing as such, and still end up getting the jist of the story and whatnot. It's not too difficult of a multitask, unless I don't have subtitles turned on (I turn subtitles on for damn near everything, idk why, but I highly prefer it no matter what.) then it can get muddled from too many voices trying to talk into my ears.

 

[Robert Marrs]

Agree for most games. If I am really trying to get into a story or listen to what is happening in a game I can't be talking to other people at the same time.

 

[lacktheknack]

So everyone's discussing whether or not party chat ruins single-player, and I'm just sitting here thinking "People party-chat... while playing... games...? What is this?"

Of course, my party-chats tend to be rife with assorted Youtube videos, so maybe that's why I've never considered playing and talking at the same time.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

If I'm trying trying to get into the feel of the game and it's story then I'll leave the party or Skype instantly. I'd say yeah, it does kinda ruin it for me in those types of games. But if it's like Skyrim, or something I've played multiple times, or just something with low story content, then yeah it's fine.

If anyone else is in the room watching you play the game, it ruins it too?

They aren't in the room though. They're in your ear yapping away, or they have the TV and other background noises coming through their mic, while you're trying to concentrate on the story or grasping the feel of the game.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Yeah completely agree from my view anyway.
Having a buddy there to talk to makes a tether to reality that one can't ignore, thus you don't suspend disbelief and instead of immersing yourself in the world you remain an outside observer, you also tend to skip or talk over story parts because sitting there quietly just isn't a very social interaction.

Perhaps there are people with a stronger imagination that work it all into the same setting, but I have yet to meet someone that actually does this. Usually we just resort to justifications for our action even if it is making the experience worse.

 

[JET1971]

Depends.(not the adult diapers)

1. Do you want alone time to immerse yourself in the game and get away from everything/everyone then yes it does ruin the game.

2. Do you want to be able to talk to someone else who is playing the same game and they also want to talk so you two can share what's going on then it does not ruin the game and can enhance it with sandbox games in many ways.

 

[infohippie]

I fully agree, one thing that always annoys me is when I launch a game through Steam, and one of my friend notices and takes that as a sign to start a chat session. He knows I'm there since he just got the notification I started a game, so I can't ignore the chat request. Its irritating; I'm playing a game because I want to play a game. If I wanted to talk I wouldn't have started a game!

 

[Ranorak]

Depending on the game, really.

Heavy story based games (with voice acting), horror games or attention heavy games such as Starcraft 2, I prefer to keep my attention on those games and not have a chat session in between. Voice or text.

However, games such as Sims, 4X games, or otherwise more slow-passed games I can have a chat session and often do.