Recently I read an article asking ?Are single-player only games on the verge of becoming extinct?? This?question struck a chord with me, for all the wrong reasons-as?right now I am currently engaged in some?awesome single-player games.?The writer touched on the subject of developers seemingly ?tacking? on multiplayer elements to previously single-player only games. Using BioShock 2 and Mass Effect 3 for reference, he went on to state that the multiplayer content just didn?t feel as natural as it should do. A statement of which I wholeheartedly agree with.
However, he argued that most of his friends were not willing to part with their hard earned cash for a game that didn?t contain multiplayer, thus adding longevity to a title.
I wouldn?t consider myself a veteran in the online gaming world?by any stretch of the imagination, but not being able to jump straight into a multiplayer game of CoD, or send out a challenge to someone on Streetfighter IV, is something?that?until now, I thought?I could not?live without.
In the past I would anxiously anticipate the expiration of my Xbox Live Gold, and in turn, would always be at the ready with my pre-paid subscription card. Recently however-after enjoying over three years of online gaming, I felt little urge to upgrade back to Gold.
For me, the decision not to sign up again for Gold was in no way a bad reflection upon Microsoft, far from it. In fact, over the last twelve months I?ve been offered some excellent deals such as three months Live for the price one. Added to that, the amount of extras you can access from the dashboard by simply having a Gold account, goes on to strengthen the fact that us Xbox gamers are getting a fair bang for our buck.
However, for quite sometime now, I have found myself becoming less interested by, and less motivated?to play multiplayer online games.?More noticeable is that this?trend?appears to be?echoed by the majority of?my online?friends.
So I found myself looking back at my own online adventures, and wondered if there really is a decline in online gaming at the moment?
The first online game?that?captivated me?was?Left 4 Dead.?This game holds?lots of fond memories for me, and?I was lucky enough to gain a couple of friends from the experience.
The difference between playing co-op as opposed to playing ?against? someone is immense. Armed with my trusty assault riffle, pipe bombs, my wing man from Liverpool and my female friend from Chicago, we?d?battle night?after night?trying to?survive the frantic zombie apocalypse. Laying down covering fire for each other,?sharing medi-kits, employing the best tactics to bring down the special infected. We had a real camaraderie type thing going on.?(You guys know who you are).
After time though, we eventually went through the motions of playing less and less due to real life commitments, repetitiveness or just simply moving onto the next AAA title.
By now though, my appetite for online gaming was in full bloom.
Fifa worked it?s online magic upon me and I?began a private league?with friends. When we all managed to get together we had a blast. It was hilarious listening in on the final minutes of a friends game, as the other friend scored a last gasp winner.
Again, as quickly as we all jumped on the band wagon, the wheels were already starting to fall off. I guess it?s hard?for game developers?to capture and hold the attention of a wide audience. Although in saying that, Fifa is one of the very few games that has?maintained a mass online following for some years.
I dabbled with the WWE Smackdown V Raw games and even some Top Spin 3, to help break things up a bit. Another good friend of mine occasionally joined me for a virtual wrestle, or we?d play out our regular?tennis fixture of?Federer Vs Nadal.
One memory that stands out in particular was playing in a ladder match with said friend.?I was totally losing. For about nine minutes I was constantly bashing all the buttons on my controller just to scrape my saggy, sweaty, spandex ass, up off the matt. In?a swift change of luck I connected with a big elbow, dropped my opponent, scrambled up the ladder and snatched the belt. Oh how I cried with laughter, my friend just cried with rage. (You know who?you are).
Along the way I?ve enjoyed co-op Resident Evil 5, until my friends Xbox died and he converted to Playstation. (He was weird like that).?Carved my online skills to near perfection with Vega on Streetfighter IV. Belted around paradise in Burn Out and tore up the streets of San Francisco in Driver. Marvelled at the ingenious online element of Dark Souls, although often cursed as I met my untimely demise at the hands of a blasted invader. Got all excited about forming a posse with my friends on Red Dead Redemption, but because the wild west was not a modern day war, my friends quickly lost interest. One mate couldn?t even grasp the concept of whistling for his donkey, but knew how to snipe like a demon on CoD. (You know who you are).
More recently I?played through Dead Island. The strange thing is, I mainly disregarding the?multiplayer. Initially starting out playing with a buddy, it soon became impossible for us to keep at the same experience level, mainly due to the fact that our time schedules clashed for when we could actually play together.
I?genuinely enjoyed going through Dead Island alone, as it kind of created an atmosphere of isolation and dread. Looking back though, I think it was a missed opportunity on my part, for not fully embracing the co-op aspect of the game.
In the past I?ve been guilty of firing up?my Xbox with the best intentions of playing a single player game, only to be distracted by a group of friends, battling it out on the latest Call of Duty.
A temptation of which, until recently, I was too weak to refuse.
The lure of playing Team Deathmatch, or Free For All (as we started out with, back in the day) was too hard to resist. My friends and I rapidly built up an uncontrollable passion for Modern Warfare 2.
Evening after evening we would regularly hook up online to shoot, laugh, abuse and (usually) lose, until the early hours of the following morning.
We verged on the boarder of obsession, became the worst clan in the history of CoD, competitively?compared?our stats, always ever-ready when purchasing the latest DLC. We were simply?the (KANTS)??A clan like no other.
Our obsession became an addiction, my brothers and I continued our love affair with the CoD franchise for another?two years solid. Then,?as if from out of nowhere,?members from our beloved clan slowly started to recede, like the slow peeling of an irritating scabbed wound.
Upon investigation, the resounding reasons appeared to be that the multiplayer aspect of the game had indeed been?done to death, and ultimately become stale. Even though, in it?s latest incarnation; Modern Warfare 3, Infinity Ward?must be commended for?adding new game modes.?Although now, it no longer seems to have that hypnotic lure that it once possessed.
At one time?we could easily fill two separate sides?for a Team Deathmatch game,?but just lately?it?s rare?to see?one friend online playing CoD, let alone two.
Words to similar effect have been used by our very own Jamie Howard, who spoke about a noticeable decline from the days?when a large?number of his friends would regularly meet online to play Halo.
Because of this ?apparent? decline in online gaming, doubled with the fact that I no longer held a Gold account, I felt free at last to enjoy some good, old fashioned, single-player gaming. I?ve recently?had fun?with titles as diverse as Eternal Sonata, Catherine and Dragon Age.?Titles that?probably wouldn?t have made much of an impact on my gaming radar, had my Call of Duty infatuation been at it?s peak. I?ve become absolutely engrossed in Assassins Creed II, took yet another trip back to Silent Hill,?doubled as?an undercover cop and triad king in Sleeping Dogs and last but not least, been emotionally moved by the excellent Walking Dead series.
For my part, I truly believe that there has been some form of decline in online gaming. Because of this, I?ve recently gone back to a time when all?we had were single-player games, or at most, split screen for multi player shenanigans-and found that I totally loved it. Never again will I dismiss a well told, story driven game that has captured my eye, just because Joe Bloggs has signed in to play the latest online shooter. My absence from the online scene has made me take a step back, and realise that I need to appreciate a more varied selection of games in the future, and not just follow what the online masses are playing.
Having said that, I initially started out trying to express to the reader why I was a little underwhelmed with the state of online gaming at the moment, and to also investigate the possibility of a decline in online gaming.?The strange thing is, over the course of taking you on?my personal journey,?I?ve?started to realise?
I?m ready?(if only to dip a?toe in, for now) to venture once more,?into the world of social?gaming.
In no way am I trying to play advocate by telling anybody what?games they should be playing. At the end of the day, at it?s heart, I believe videogames should purely be played for fun.
If however, you feel that you?ve become stricken with routine and constantly find yourself playing the same online game over and over, why not take a break and try something different? There is an exceptional back catalogue of assorted, single-player games out there to suit everyone?s taste. Why not drop us some comments below regarding what single-player games have blown you guys away? Like wise, give us the heads up as to what multi player games we need to try before we die.
And finally? I?sincerely hope to catch?up with all my online friends, old and new, in the near future.
Regards, skidznall.
Source: http://allthingsxbox.net/2012/09/skidznall-on-online-gaming/
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