Poll: Does online multiplayer make a game less appealing to you?

[Drummodino]

Online multiplayer used to be my thing a few years ago. When AC Brotherhood came out I was thrilled it would have multiplayer.

These days though... eh. I don't play multiplayer anymore except with friends. Tastes change I guess. The last competitive multiplayer game I played was Dota 2 and I just couldn't stand the community anymore. Nowadays I've really been getting into singleplayer games (and I've discovered a passion for JRPGs so I've got plenty of games to play).

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

ME3's ending was more the creative director and head writer's fault than the dev team's. The multiplayer was and is fun, a different take on the "horde mode" mixed with RPG elements which I found refreshing. Some games have tacked on mp, but ME3 wasn't one of them. And as always, you don't have to play that piece of the game.
I know this opinion isn't popular, but I felt that the first Medal of Honor reboot has a decent MP but the campaign is nothing to write home about. DICE does have a way with making good MP which is why I have hope for the new Star Wars: Battlefront they're developing.
So, no it doesn't affect my view of the game at all without first playing said game. Each game must be taken in its own element, and judged on its merits and/or flaws, not its advertised features.

 

[The_Echo]

I don't generally play multiplayer at all, so the inclusion or lack of multiplayer options doesn't matter to me whatsoever.

The deadline was rushed, if they took the time they spent on that to give a satisfactory ending...

I don't really want to open this whole can o' worms, but... if the writers hadn't been happy with that ending, that wouldn't have been the ending.

I mean I get that basically everyone hated it. But obviously BioWare thought it was alright.

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

I clicked "YES" in the poll, but with a big ol throbbing asterisk.

*Except for HALO

I don't seek out the muliplayer games. I'll take them for a spin now and then. Multiplayer is fine, whatever. But when a new Halo rolls around, I get pretty into it. I have enjoyed that one since it's birth. I love the setting, the world, and the fiction surrounding it.

 

[Tanakh]

No option of "No online multiplayer usually makes a game way less appealing for me"?

Anyway, your question is very biased and the Escapist community is also in this regard, not sure any decent data can be gathered here.

 

[EbonBehelit]

I'm probably the opposite: unless it's tacked on and terrible - like Metroid Prime 2's deathmatch - multiplayer (especially co-op) is a deal-MAKER for me.

 

[Double A]

I've noticed that it actually does, if it's actually touted as a feature instead of just there. I usually just assign MP a stigma, not entirely sure why. It's not logical, but gut reactions seldom are.

 

[Nickolai77]

Depends what i'm buying the game for. I buy games like Battlefield more or less exclusively for multiplayer, but for single player games i'm pretty indifferent if they have multiplayer or not. The Last of Us is a pretty good exhample of a game i buy from for the single player experience, and whilst i hear the multiplayer is good i've never bothered to try it.

 

[Patathatapon]

90% of multiplayer I hate. I like TF2, and I like left 4 dead, but keep in mind, those are exclusively multiplayer. No single player (Well, bots, but still). I'm the kind of person who bought COD games for story. I liked MW, so I bought MW2. Still haven't bothered with MW3, nor will I for any other COD game. I prefer my games to be separated into the two, not have both.

 

[mokes310]

Yes, if it's not a multiplayer game. The example of ME3 is perfect. There was zero need to make that multiplayer, yet, the multiplayer totally took away from the game.

On the flip side, if it's a multiplayer focused game like CoD or something, then no, it doesn't.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Yes.

If a game has multiplayer, I am less interested in it. If a game is multiplayer focused, I will not buy it.

Edit: both of those should have been "online multiplayer"
I have no problem with local multiplayer, and wish more current games had the feature.

 

[Yopaz]

Once again I made the poll become a tie.

No, I do not lose the appeal for a game because it has multiplayer. I will lose my appeal if it is greatly focused on multiplayer when I want to play the singleplayer.

Take Super Smash Bros. I want to play the singleplayer just enough to unlock the characters and complete the different challenges for all characters and learn a few techniques with all of them. My main interest is the multiplayer.

Now for the upcoming Batman game I am not interested in multiplayer at all. It was always about the singleplayer and I liked that. However the multiplayer might be fun so I will test it out at some point.

However if I think that too much effort has been put into the multiplayer vs the singleplayer then I might just stop wanting it.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Yes. I hate online multiplayer. I'm not interested in playing with douchebags half way across the world. If my single player experience is sacrificed for a mode that allows me to play with douchebags half way across the world then I'm not interested.

 

[Compatriot Block]

Frankly, some of my thoughts on this matter are probably inflammatory. I'll just leave it at, "No, I do not think a game having multiplayer makes it less appealing at all."

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Yes, but not so much less appealing so much as I become somewhat cautious as someone who plays almost completely solo and split-screen co-op.
To me, that's an amount of work that could have and/or should have gone into the single-player experience. Most of the time I'm still satisfied with the end product but for some reason I still get a little bummed out any time I hear "multiplayer".

 

[RevRaptor]

I voted yes but it really depends on the game. Some games work really well with multiplayer but when its shoehorned into a game for little reason then it really bugs me.

Personally I think Resident Evil really suffered for having multi player shoved into it. RE4 was brilliant but 5 and 6 not so much and almost all of the problems with those games would not exist it they had just left it as a single player experience.

 

[GonzoGamer]

If it's Just online, then yea a little bit. I like online with some games but I feel that they're giving up on local multiplayer for those of us who still get together and play games.

 

[Blow_Pop]

As a person who doesn't enjoy multiplayer, yes it does. It especially does when half my achievements/trophies have to be earned through multiplayer. Some of the games I play, I can barely play on single player. Multiplayer I wouldn't be able to at all *coughcoughbioshockcoughcough*

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

It makes me leery, sure. I'm not a person who enjoys multiplayer typically - although some team based multiplayer vs. AI is tolerable and occasionally even enjoyable to me, I completely detest multiplayer that has the option of players talking (for obvious reasons) and I'm ambivalent trending towards dislike of multiplayer that pits player against player even silently.

There are shining exceptions. Journey is the only one that springs to mind. Of course that is the point of the whole thing and there are no annoying voices of screeching profanity to avoid, so that's a big help.

Overall though I do not engage the multiplayer. I do not desire games that are single player to offer a multiplayer mode. I particularly dislike multiplayer that impacts or is made a component of the single player. And yes, this extends to Mass Effect 3's multiplayer - which, while I did not hate it with the intensity of the burning of a thousand suns, I do find extremely tiresome and aggravating in the sense that, even on my millionth play through I will have to participate in if I want all my work in the single player amassing resources to be fully counted. I usually have my fiancé do my readiness before the "point of no return" at the end. It was a little bit cool the first time, mildly engaging the second time, but by the third time I ardently wished I could just "lock in" my readiness already and be bloody done with it. The novelty has long since worn off.

I certainly didn't bother with multiplayer in The Last of Us - hell, I didn't even know it was there until I saw a discussion about it on these boards.

Call of Duty I enjoyed the "on the couch" multiplayer, with my fiancé, because it was nice to play together. Local multiplayer is something I look for in games (Lego games, the older CoD games, various dungeon crawlers, etc.) but Online multiplayer... no. I don't think I need to even bring up CoD multiplayer online's total lack of appeal for me, considering my previous comments on the hatred of voices screaming profanity constantly.

I even turn off the online in Borderlands 2 because I hate it SO much. I hate even MORE what using it did to my fiancé's play style, even when he's just playing with me. I flat out refused to play it with him after he spent time with the online population, because he kept treating me like I wasn't even there and just running around starting and doing quests without the usual fun conversation and inclusive working together we enjoyed before, when it was just us playing together pre-online people experience.

I wouldn't say - though - that it turns me off of a game to know it has multiplayer added on. I mean, a lot of games do and some of them are decent or even good and I don't want to miss out on them out of prejudice against one particular element. I do wish it wasn't so damned popular and commonplace now though. I wish it would find its niche and stay there instead of being something tacked on to absolutely everything these days. Very much so.