Poll: Is online gaming going to hurt gaming in the long run?

[Luca-Pellegrinelli]

Please allow me to explain, it seems to me that with the recent rise in popularity of online multi-player gaming it seems to me that both gamers and developers are neglecting single player game play. If this trend continues will it mean a reduction in genuinley innovative, original games in favour of yet more online gun wanks? I realize I may be paranoid/overreacting, perhaps both but I cant shake the feeling that this current focus toward online gaming is only hurting gaming overall.

What do you guys think, am I right? wrong? mentally ill?

 

[Distorted Stu]

It will call come back to a steady single/multi player experience. Right now they are just exploring the online options since its a huge boom right now.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

No this won't happen we just need another Half Life like thing to happen as this happened before Half Life came out games started to be just about multiplayer thats right I'm looking at you Quake3 but then Half Life came out and reminded peopel that games need a good single player to be complete.

 

[BillyShakes]

I am so confused...

Where in God's name is the poll?

 

[Space Spoons]

That seems to be the way the FPS genre is going, but since it seems to be the only one that's scaling back single-player in favor of multiplayer, I wouldn't say it's a trend that's hurting gaming as a whole. It's hurting the FPS genre, undoubtedly, but not the entire industry.

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[DeadlyYellow]

It's probably just a trend spawned from current technological capabilities. Older consoles only had local 2-player, thus limiting us to our friends and siblings. The internet connectivity and advancement in the area have made it possible to experience a wider audience of people and thus the games entirely devoted to that spectrum of gaming. Granted, the majority of online gamers are not worth suffering through, but it's the idea behind it.

I imagine it will fizzle back down and offer the traditional experience. If it doesn't then I'm really going to need to find a new hobby. Only in a select few cases do I really bother with multiplayer, and that only extends to free services.

 

[Pyode]

What about Assassins Creed 2 and Dragon Age that just came out a few months ago. What about Mass Effect 2 coming out this month. Final Fantasy XIII will also be single player as well as DeadSpace 2. There are still a lot of very strong single player games out there.

Not to mention the fact that just because a game has multyplayer, doesn't mean the single player will be neglected. I have very high hopes for the campaigns of Bioshock 2 and Aliens vs. Predator.

This is a classic case of seeing the hits and not the misses. You (as well as many other people) have psyched yourself in to believing all this crap about multiplayer games that you "forget" about all the single player games that are coming out.

 

[wooty]

Its advances some but hinders others.
Such as im slightly confused as to the new MP in Bioshock 2, are we now going to see an emergence of Bioshock "elitists"? Damn it, why?

 

[gimmly22]

I do not believe that online gaming is hurting gaming as a whole.

It will call come back to a steady single/multi player experience. Right now they are just exploring the online options since its a huge boom right now.

Where MMOs and multiplayer games lack is uniformity in the end-user's system and with host system or server. Hence, some online games require pre-registration of large battles (EVE online is an example). Hybrid games (single player with multiplayer availability) offer the gamer the single person game with competent AI, but the multiplayer aspect can further enhance the game's appeal with a more dynamic field of play with other players. As quoted above, Stu is correct in stating that developers are exploring the online possibilities.

 

[Capachinola]

Yep. Every game designers going to spend time with they're "online" aspect, because its popular, and waste time on single player quality. I dont want to play online, because most gamers are complete jerks, so it already is hurting the industry for me.