Solo gaming

[omega 616]

I am a solo gamer, I have a handful of "friends" on psn but never played with any of them. I don't have a pool of friends with which to regularly game with, the people on my psn are part time players.

With games like gtao being all about crews, battlefield being all about squads and the next gen being so "connect with friends", "use the Share button", "twitch streaming", "get friends to play the game for you" etc are gamers like me being pushed out? Should I just ignore my deeply ingrained hermit/introverted nature and add randoms and talk to them?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Whatever rocks your boat, really. There's no wrong way or right way to approaching this.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

I agree that this is annoying when multiplayer is being pushed on you. However, I am able to enjoy both single and multiplayer. Until Dota2 came out me and my friends used to play TF2 almost every evening. Now, almost every evening we play Dota2 and we're having fun. But, when Persona 4:Golden came out I turned off Skype and Steam and just disappeared for a couple of days.

 

[Remaiki]

No. It's not like every single developer ever is going to force people to go multiplayer. Personally, I'm very skeptical of GTAO, but hey, I don't care about GTAV and don't get why it'd ever be considered game of the year, so eh.

 

[Evonisia]

While I agree that Solo players are getting shoved into this non-existent minority with all this social media nonsense, the PS4's share button, Xbox One's console-Skype and Dead Space 3's Co-Op's only missions, I think that you will be perfectly fine if you want to carry on playing as a Solo player. I mostly play Solo anyway and from what I can tell I'll be completely fine continuing as I am now when I move onto the Xbox One.

 

[omega 616]

It just leaves me feeling left out, with gtao there is the heist feature, which is really fun, but I can't solo a heist.

Payday was recently on ps+ but soloing that game is just impossible, the co-op ai are nothing but mobile turrets.

There is cod, with its hoard mode knock offs and co-op only missions, like mw2 had a "get 69 stars" trophy/achievement but 2 missions are co-op only.

With gaming being more and more accepted, it seems having gaming friends is a requirement.

 

[Uriain]

I 'solo game' most of the time myself. I find that I only interact with a few RL friends through online games because they live on the other side of the country. Otherwise, I will join a random squad, pick up a Pug Payday or solo my way through a CoD match.

 

[Hero of Lime]

There are enough great single player focused games coming out to not force people like you and me to go onto multiplayer all the time. Now, if there are games out there you absolutely love, yet force multiplayer on you, then you may just have to deal with it or drop the game.

Don't forget about all the great games from years past, I replay older games more than I play new ones. The past is where it's at in respect to not liking overbearing multiplayer!

 

[DanielBrown]

If you think that would be fun. I also got plenty of friends on PSN I've never talked to. Only used them in the beginning to compare scores so I could feel awesome about myself. Now it's just depressing since my score shows I got way too much spare time. Played Little Big Planet once with a few of them about... four years ago though.

Mjeh. Personally I haven't been into multiplayer at all since my Counter-Strike days eight+ years ago. Played lots of MMOs, but I mainly solo in those games.

 

[lunavixen]

I'm gonna go with 'no' on this one for both me answering your question and my suggestion to you. I'm a solo gamer and I like it that way, I do occasionally play games with my friends, though it's far less often now that the ME3 MP is largely ignored. SP isn't going to die just yet, there are still a lot of people who just want single player focused games.

 

[omega 616]

snip

I'm not saying solo gaming is even close to starting to die.

I'm just saying the emphasis in gaming has shifted to "play with others", whether that be competitive, co-op or just having people view your game play (making a couple of hundred million streamers and let's players over night, all with bad to mediocre content).

 

[Yoshi4102]

There are plenty of single player games out there. If you're looking for Modern FPS's then yeah, they're going to be mostly multiplayer. I know people will most likely not like my advice, but a Wii U or 3ds would probably be great for you, considering it doesn't have many games that MUST be played with multiplayer to get the full experience (and the ones that do are hermit friendly). Me personally, along with GTA:O (when it works), Battlefield, and L4D, I'm playing Spelunky, Super Meat Boy, and Dark Souls (also hermit friendly).

You just have to look for games that fit your play style and not rely on websites like IGN to tell you about the next biggest thing.

If you do want to play multiplayer games though, just talk to randoms online and you'll most likely find someone to play with. If they don't like you, or you don't like them, it's the internet and you'll never see them again. Delete them off the friend list. Don't worry about it, I was in the same boat as you for a long time until I met people I can actually play with!

 

[happyninja42]

I am a solo gamer, I have a handful of "friends" on psn but never played with any of them. I don't have a pool of friends with which to regularly game with, the people on my psn are part time players.

With games like gtao being all about crews, battlefield being all about squads and the next gen being so "connect with friends", "use the Share button", "twitch streaming", "get friends to play the game for you" etc are gamers like me being pushed out? Should I just ignore my deeply ingrained hermit/introverted nature and add randoms and talk to them?

No, I don't think you should randomly add people and talk to them. I'm fairly solo-esque in my playstyle, but I do play team based games. You should play how you like, but if you happen to play with certain people, and their playstyle works well for you, it might not hurt to do a friend request, with a comment like "hey, i had fun running with you in X game. thought you might like to play a match again some other time." it doesn't need to be anything more than that. Or, you don't even need to do that and just play with random match ups. Games like Left 4 Dead, and Payday are VERY team oriented, but I don't have "a crew" that I play with. I usually just join a random match and its perfectly fine.

Don't play with others because you feel you HAVE to play with others, because then it won't be FUN for you, which is the whole point. Do it because you WANT to, or don't do it at all. Online/Multiplayer games are TOTALLY playable as a solo player. They've usually got TONS of content that you can enjoy by yourself. So don't worry about it and play what you want.

 

[Artina89]

I personally prefer playing solo over multiplayer, unless it is local coop and I have a couple of friends over, and make a night of it. If you are unhappy and/or uncomfortable playing multiplayer then don't force yourself into it. At the end of the day, gaming is meant to be a fun activity, so do whatever you feel comfortable doing.

 

[loc978]

snip

I'm not saying solo gaming is even close to starting to die.

I'm just saying the emphasis in gaming has shifted to "play with others", whether that be competitive, co-op or just having people view your game play (making a couple of hundred million streamers and let's players over night, all with bad to mediocre content).

I'd say it's been a gradual shift that went from local multiplayer to online multiplayer... and now online multiplayer is encroaching on solo play's long-standing separation.

Personally, I do love multiplayer... with people who are in the same house as me. This focus on online multiplayer has been slowly alienating me from gaming for years now.

 

[Auron225]

You can do anything by yourself (some thing are just a little difficult/strange, like playing football) but I think it'll be a long time before "You play games BY YOURSELF??" is a thing.

 

[Zipa]

I don't play multiplayer much nowadays and I prefer it that way, gaming is my chill out time and I prefer to do it alone often with music on as well.

That said I am getting sick of seeing a share on facebook/twitter/ect ect on literally everything. I mean even Amazon has it now, why the hell do people feel the need to tell people they just bought some crap exactly?