Will multiplayer gaming ever be scary/atmospheric?

[pure.Wasted]

Alright, I hear what a lot of you are saying: it can't work, because, as OP said, it would be a lot of talking and fucking around, and as others have said, most of the online community would spend time trying to ruin an otherwise atmospheric experience because... well, they do that. Indeed, I don't think it's possible -YET- to do this in a cooperative game.

However.

Consider this: a small group of players, ideally two or three, four tops, in the roles of armed human characters, are put up against a larger group (say between eight and twenty) of players in the role of the monsters (something weak but stealthy) in a dark, sinister environment. There's no atmosphere for the antagonist players, but the protagonists get an amazing gaming experience: a dark, spooky, lonely fight for survival with a few friends against a large number of enemies who, and this is the best part, are guided by real human intelligence. What could be more chilling than that?

Well... thoughts?

First, you haven't said anything about the level of communication allowed between the human characters, and that's been everyone's main concern here.

Second, it sounds a little bit predictable, which turns a scary scenario into an action scenario. Unless the developers give the monster players a lot of room for creativity, we're startling the humans at best.

I'm not saying it's impossible by any means, but there need to be more features in there designed for the explicit purpose of making the experience scary.

 

[bigfatcarp93]

Alright, I hear what a lot of you are saying: it can't work, because, as OP said, it would be a lot of talking and fucking around, and as others have said, most of the online community would spend time trying to ruin an otherwise atmospheric experience because... well, they do that. Indeed, I don't think it's possible -YET- to do this in a cooperative game.

However.

Consider this: a small group of players, ideally two or three, four tops, in the roles of armed human characters, are put up against a larger group (say between eight and twenty) of players in the role of the monsters (something weak but stealthy) in a dark, sinister environment. There's no atmosphere for the antagonist players, but the protagonists get an amazing gaming experience: a dark, spooky, lonely fight for survival with a few friends against a large number of enemies who, and this is the best part, are guided by real human intelligence. What could be more chilling than that?

Well... thoughts?

First, you haven't said anything about the level of communication allowed between the human characters, and that's been everyone's main concern here.

Second, it sounds a little bit predictable, which turns a scary scenario into an action scenario. Unless the developers give the monster players a lot of room for creativity, we're startling the humans at best.

I'm not saying it's impossible by any means, but there need to be more features in there designed for the explicit purpose of making the experience scary.

Huh, I hadn't thought about the communication thing much, but i think that a small number of players means that you could easily use standard voicechat without any problems. As for the antagonists, I didn't say there wouldn't be room for creativity, I was just being unspecific, and honestly, that idea makes me excited. I know that any competent developer would go out of their way to make the gameplay for the antagonists fun and exciting, I just don't know how.

 

[bigfatcarp93]

Another idea is this: what about having communication literally proximity based, and have the environment be one that forces (or, rather, encourages) players to split up on a regular basis?If you're separated from your team, you are literally separated from your team, i.e. you can't communicate with them. Players would occasionally have to take alternate routes, possibly of their own accord because it would be in some way advantageous, and without the ability to speak to their comrades, there would be anxiety and fear on their own, and relief when they rejoined their teammates, creating an altogether memorable experience.

 

[pure.Wasted]

Alright, I hear what a lot of you are saying: it can't work, because, as OP said, it would be a lot of talking and fucking around, and as others have said, most of the online community would spend time trying to ruin an otherwise atmospheric experience because... well, they do that. Indeed, I don't think it's possible -YET- to do this in a cooperative game.

However.

Consider this: a small group of players, ideally two or three, four tops, in the roles of armed human characters, are put up against a larger group (say between eight and twenty) of players in the role of the monsters (something weak but stealthy) in a dark, sinister environment. There's no atmosphere for the antagonist players, but the protagonists get an amazing gaming experience: a dark, spooky, lonely fight for survival with a few friends against a large number of enemies who, and this is the best part, are guided by real human intelligence. What could be more chilling than that?

Well... thoughts?

First, you haven't said anything about the level of communication allowed between the human characters, and that's been everyone's main concern here.

Second, it sounds a little bit predictable, which turns a scary scenario into an action scenario. Unless the developers give the monster players a lot of room for creativity, we're startling the humans at best.

I'm not saying it's impossible by any means, but there need to be more features in there designed for the explicit purpose of making the experience scary.

Huh, I hadn't thought about the communication thing much, but i think that a small number of players means that you could easily use standard voicechat without any problems. As for the antagonists, I didn't say there wouldn't be room for creativity, I was just being unspecific, and honestly, that idea makes me excited. I know that any competent developer would go out of their way to make the gameplay for the antagonists fun and exciting, I just don't know how.

Okay, that's fine. Sorry if I seemed to be putting you on the spot or anything.

But voicechat communication is very problematic, as others have pointed out. The minute the guy on the other end says "sorry guys we have to restart, my router is lagging all to hell" or starts shouting to his girlfriend or anything else like that, it sort of breaks the illusion.

It's like watching a scary movie alone vs. watching it with three people in the living room. When someone bursts out laughing, even if it's nervous laughter, it's hard to keep taking the movie seriously.

 

[bigfatcarp93]

Alright, I hear what a lot of you are saying: it can't work, because, as OP said, it would be a lot of talking and fucking around, and as others have said, most of the online community would spend time trying to ruin an otherwise atmospheric experience because... well, they do that. Indeed, I don't think it's possible -YET- to do this in a cooperative game.

However.

Consider this: a small group of players, ideally two or three, four tops, in the roles of armed human characters, are put up against a larger group (say between eight and twenty) of players in the role of the monsters (something weak but stealthy) in a dark, sinister environment. There's no atmosphere for the antagonist players, but the protagonists get an amazing gaming experience: a dark, spooky, lonely fight for survival with a few friends against a large number of enemies who, and this is the best part, are guided by real human intelligence. What could be more chilling than that?

Well... thoughts?

First, you haven't said anything about the level of communication allowed between the human characters, and that's been everyone's main concern here.

Second, it sounds a little bit predictable, which turns a scary scenario into an action scenario. Unless the developers give the monster players a lot of room for creativity, we're startling the humans at best.

I'm not saying it's impossible by any means, but there need to be more features in there designed for the explicit purpose of making the experience scary.

Huh, I hadn't thought about the communication thing much, but i think that a small number of players means that you could easily use standard voicechat without any problems. As for the antagonists, I didn't say there wouldn't be room for creativity, I was just being unspecific, and honestly, that idea makes me excited. I know that any competent developer would go out of their way to make the gameplay for the antagonists fun and exciting, I just don't know how.

Okay, that's fine. Sorry if I seemed to be putting you on the spot or anything.

But voicechat communication is very problematic, as others have pointed out. The minute the guy on the other end says "sorry guys we have to restart, my router is lagging all to hell" or starts shouting to his girlfriend or anything else like that, it sort of breaks the illusion.

It's like watching a scary movie alone vs. watching it with three people in the living room. When someone bursts out laughing, even if it's nervous laughter, it's hard to keep taking the movie seriously.

I honestly don't have an answer. You're right about that, VC raises no theoretical issues, but too many practical and potential ones. Someone earlier posed the idea of NO communication... not sure how I feel about that.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Minecraft can actually be pretty scary if you're just with one friend.

Doesn't matter how many people are with you, if a creeper drops down on your group from some high up place you didn't notice in a deep dark cave, you are all going to scream in terror.

 

[TephlonPrice]

Alright, I hear what a lot of you are saying: it can't work, because, as OP said, it would be a lot of talking and fucking around, and as others have said, most of the online community would spend time trying to ruin an otherwise atmospheric experience because... well, they do that. Indeed, I don't think it's possible -YET- to do this in a cooperative game.

However.

Consider this: a small group of players, ideally two or three, four tops, in the roles of armed human characters, are put up against a larger group (say between eight and twenty) of players in the role of the monsters (something weak but stealthy) in a dark, sinister environment. There's no atmosphere for the antagonist players, but the protagonists get an amazing gaming experience: a dark, spooky, lonely fight for survival with a few friends against a large number of enemies who, and this is the best part, are guided by real human intelligence. What could be more chilling than that?

Well... thoughts?

Great idea, but a few things:

-In order for this to work, wouldn't it be best to have a good bit of time before you ever encounter another armed human character? It works at least for a good beginning, and random separation moments can do wonders for keeping the fear and reminding that character you've depended on can go KIA in a second.

-For everyone, spawns should be randomized, so if you die, you may spawn in a location you never explored before, but one where monsters lurk to kill you at every corner... and the monsters can do the Amnesia teleporting outta nowhere thing. This way no one knows where anyone else is and it can add to the tension and fear to be expected; this also eliminates the predictable spawn point issues. This spawn rule applies BOTH ways however.

-The levels should have a goal in mind for the humans, like escaping, finding the Golden Cock-and-Balls, or something of that nature so there's a reason to do something other than camp and hide with weapons. The monsters, of course, exist solely to kill, but still, they should have a purpose at least, like finding a way to stay alive before they decay.

-Create SCARY monsters. I mean Kaernk scary. Because innovate scary monsters with human control are truly scary. This can create interesting gameplay scenarios each time. Ranging from weak, stealth assassins to invisible, limited-attack capability monsters to hulking behemoths with instant kill capability but slow moment or something to switch things up and really keep the tension.

-Limited communication. Communication needs to be kept Journey style: simple flashlight/lamp/fear noise in order to keep the tension. Monsters communicate through grunts, noises and other things.

 

[Torrasque]

I think the biggest problem to your idea, is the simple fact that as soon as someone opens their mouth, the atmosphere is ruined no matter what. It doesn't matter if that person has the voice of an 8 year old girl who need helium to survive or a 50 year old chain smoker that sings bass in his friend's quartet during his spare time. The atmosphere is going to be ruined in some way.

I can think of two ways to fix this:

1. Limit vocal communication: force players to only use limited vocal communication so the atmosphere of the game takes over. This could be achieved by introducing a radio mechanic; each player gets a radio with a set amount of battery life each level/stage, and to communicate with other players, you use up that battery life. The only way you can keep talking with other players, is to recharge those batteries or find new ones. Another way vocal communication could be limited is if vocal communication translated into actual game sound, thereby attracting enemies to your team; the more you talk, the more likely you are to attract enemies, and the stronger those enemies will be.

2. Regulate vocal communication: before playing, players could enter a specific game mode that has strongly regulated vocal communication rules. In this game lobby, all players agree to not troll, keep the atmosphere going, and enjoy the game together. It would basically be like joining any RP thread. After each game (or maybe during?), players would give feedback about the players that they are playing with and say whether they are adhering to the code of conduct, or are playing Never Gonna Give You Up over their mic. Players would be inclined to not troll with this feedback, because they would just be hurting their own gaming experience. Feedback would also be cross-referenced against the feedback of other players to see if a single down vote against a hundred up votes, is trolling or not. Yes, this would be hard to regulate and would take a while to kick in, but after a while, you'd have a group of players that are confident they have a community to play with that respects the atmosphere.

If you got one of these to work, the atmosphere's scariness falls to the devs to create, and/or the people in group 2 could actually contribute to the scariness.

Captcha: silence is golden
That is frighteningly relevant...

 

[bigfatcarp93]

Alright, I hear what a lot of you are saying: it can't work, because, as OP said, it would be a lot of talking and fucking around, and as others have said, most of the online community would spend time trying to ruin an otherwise atmospheric experience because... well, they do that. Indeed, I don't think it's possible -YET- to do this in a cooperative game.

However.

Consider this: a small group of players, ideally two or three, four tops, in the roles of armed human characters, are put up against a larger group (say between eight and twenty) of players in the role of the monsters (something weak but stealthy) in a dark, sinister environment. There's no atmosphere for the antagonist players, but the protagonists get an amazing gaming experience: a dark, spooky, lonely fight for survival with a few friends against a large number of enemies who, and this is the best part, are guided by real human intelligence. What could be more chilling than that?

Well... thoughts?

Great idea, but a few things:

-In order for this to work, wouldn't it be best to have a good bit of time before you ever encounter another armed human character? It works at least for a good beginning, and random separation moments can do wonders for keeping the fear and reminding that character you've depended on can go KIA in a second.

-For everyone, spawns should be randomized, so if you die, you may spawn in a location you never explored before, but one where monsters lurk to kill you at every corner... and the monsters can do the Amnesia teleporting outta nowhere thing. This way no one knows where anyone else is and it can add to the tension and fear to be expected; this also eliminates the predictable spawn point issues. This spawn rule applies BOTH ways however.

-The levels should have a goal in mind for the humans, like escaping, finding the Golden Cock-and-Balls, or something of that nature so there's a reason to do something other than camp and hide with weapons. The monsters, of course, exist solely to kill, but still, they should have a purpose at least, like finding a way to stay alive before they decay.

-Create SCARY monsters. I mean Kaernk scary. Because innovate scary monsters with human control are truly scary. This can create interesting gameplay scenarios each time. Ranging from weak, stealth assassins to invisible, limited-attack capability monsters to hulking behemoths with instant kill capability but slow moment or something to switch things up and really keep the tension.

-Limited communication. Communication needs to be kept Journey style: simple flashlight/lamp/fear noise in order to keep the tension. Monsters communicate through grunts, noises and other things.

All true, and I totally just figured it out, this is fuckin' brilliant:

Some poster pointed out to me that playing as the antagonists wouldn't be fun, because you wouldn't have anything interesting to do, you'd just be trying to surprise the player. But I just figured out the solution:

A single antagonist, who I call "the Imp", who has the simple task of killed the protagonists and/or preventing them from reaching their goal. But here's the kicker: he can't kill them directly. He can't just drop down and cut a protagonist's head off, but he can use all kinds of trickery: locking doors, turning invisible, setting traps and obstacles. This way, it's mroe interesting then my first idea, which was, let's face it, playing as Pyro in TF2 (i.e. Having no ranged attack while your enemy does, so you just try to jump them). The Imp sneaks around, stalking and hunting the protagonists and creating obstacles and traps while they try to reach an escape route. He can set deathtraps, turn briefly invisible, and create diversions to distract them from their ultimate goal. But if they spot him? BOOM.

Thoughts? And let's try to avoid Game of Thrones jokes.

 

[Something Amyss]

As long as there are other players in multiplayer, I can't see MP being scary.

 

[Nouw]

Aliens:Colonial Marines multiplayer could definitely be scary. It's the aliens experience with smarter aliens.

 

[spartandude]

it can have that feeling but its difficult, usually it depends on the other players
for example there have been some scary Infection games ive played on halo, and some times i could play the same with other people and its funny rather than scary
same with L4D

 

[salinv]

As so many others have said: it could probably be done in a small co-op setting. Single player horror games work (specifically survival horror) because the player is invested in the atmosphere. Not only does a multiplayer horror game have to create this atmosphere, but each of the players have to be invested in the atmosphere as well. It could be possible, but only among friends I believe that are willing to go balls out on the experience.

Another idea is this: what about having communication literally proximity based, and have the environment be one that forces (or, rather, encourages) players to split up on a regular basis?If you're separated from your team, you are literally separated from your team, i.e. you can't communicate with them. Players would occasionally have to take alternate routes, possibly of their own accord because it would be in some way advantageous, and without the ability to speak to their comrades, there would be anxiety and fear on their own, and relief when they rejoined their teammates, creating an altogether memorable experience.

An maybe in extension of the proximity based communication, make the communication make the game more difficult. Make all communication that is done by the players act like they are actually talking in the world, i.e. sound disperses and can draw attention. For example, a zombie game: the two or three players stay together for safety, but can only rarely talk to each other (and then only in whispers) because if they are too loud, they will get the zombies' attention (and all things go nuts from there). This eliminates excess, unneeded communication, and can actually cause tension through the team-based aspect.

And how about if they separate and catch back up with each other, but say they can't get closer than 20 yards to each other. Then they have to speak up to talk to each other. Let's just say that shit happens at that point.

I guess I mean that a multiplayer horror game could work, but only if the players are willing to fully participate in the experience, and it would probably only work well if the game built off of the multiplayer aspect, and not in the typical FPS fashion.

 

[ablac]

Co-op can be scary sure. Sorry to drag this tired example up but amnesia, or a game which has a similar sense of tension, would make great co-op. Imagine it, you cant see your friend as he is somewhere else, he says he cant see any monsters so that makes it more likely its near you. He yells in fear then dies, the game mutes him leaving you alone knowing your the only one left and that it is coming. That would be one way, for competetive then having players sneak up on others could have tension but probably not true fear. It could be done but a truly scary game is difficult enough and it would take true skill to make a scary multi-player game.

 

[Joccaren]

Well, that really depends on who's playing the game.
If it is a couple of guys lounging about on a couch in the middle of the day cracking jokes and trying to be happy - I doubt its going to happen.
If you both immerse yourself in the game, and don't try to make everything funny or happy, it might work.
Both the atmosphere has to be good, and the players have to want to feel the atmosphere, for it to work. Otherwise its like playing Amnesia in broad daylight whilst watching [good] Comedy TV. Sure, some things in the game might shock you, but you're not that focused on the game's atmosphere, and are too busy laughing at whatever the TV is showing you.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

I believe there was a mod for Counter Strike, Source, that was called "The Invisible" or something.

One character is invisible and has an insta-knife, the only way you can find him is if he walks on water around you, or makes a noise. He's also slower than you. It was pretty tense when I played it

Edit: It's called The Hidden

 

[mjcabooseblu]

Ask, and ye shall receive. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKOiKO6AnAY] I think that this one's unique in that, no matter how much you all dick around, Leatherhoff will never stop making you shit your pants.