Online Multiplayer

[wallE156]

I've only met two other people who agree with me on this subject, I'm curious to see what everyone on here thinks...

While I agree that online multiplayer has made a huge improvement on gaming, it's also dealt a large blow to gaming as well. It's really nice to get online and playing with your friends without having to leave you house (although I encourage you to leave your house to be with them every now and then lol) I feel like the competitive nature that's arisen along with online gaming has ruined/is ruining the overall experience. For me at least.

You see I'm one of those people who likes to play a game just to have fun and play it, every now and then I'll get together with a bunch of my friends and just take turns playing Street Fighter for hours, not even caring about winning or losing, just having fun. I honestly feel like a dying breed.

I feel like 90% of the people who play games online only care about winning, and they'll do whatever that have to do to get that win. You know what I mean...Modded controllers, hacks, quitting early or just underhanded tactics in general. It saddens me that even if they are drawing some sort of fun out of all this, they can only have that fun if they are winning. I'll give you a better example...when MK vs DC first came out there was a bug where if you hit someone with a ground punch move with Superman, you could just keep doing and there was no way your opponent could get out of it. This happened to me in the very first (and only) online match I played. I literally haven't touched the game since, and the bug I think has been fixed. I just can't see how that other person could draw some sense of enjoyment of that. Here's another example...in the newest MK. I was playing a game with some random, not even ranked I might add. I was playing as Sub-zero and he was Kitana. He was immediately spamming fan throws which kind of annoyed me but I got over it. We both won a round then he took the final round then proceeded to do his fatality. Then the rematch happened. He chose Kitana again but I switched to Scorpion, I proceeded to counter his fan throw spamming with teleport punches and scorpion's x ray move with the occasional combo when he got close. I won the match, and right as I was about to do a fatality...he quits to the dashboard...I sat for at least a minute staring at the screen just shaking my head. This hit me like a vision of how the rest of the online matches would be. I traded it in the next day.

It also saddens me that some people won't even consider buying a game unless it has some sort of multiplayer component, like they can't just sit down, relax and play a single player game anymore. For example people that have purchased Halo: Reach when it came out and still haven't played the campaign.

There's no question that gaming has evolved but if all this is where gaming is headed then I probably won't be doing it for much longer.

How do you all feel about this subject?

 

[Dark Drakan]

The problem isnt online multiplayer itself its the attitude of todays gamers and its mostly the younger aged gamers that resort to cheap tactics to win at all costs as they care more for ranks and achievements than having fun in games. Most of the glitches and exploits are patched or 'gimped' in online games to level the playing field for the most part but there is always a percentage of people who ruin games for some reason or another. Ive played online games for many years and yes some can be frustrating when people resort to these cheap ways of winning. But they are the same people who spam their way through the single player paying no attention to story just to get to the end and say they have 'completed' it or just to gain achievements.

Same way that i dont understand people who gain pleasure from team killing in online FPS games or doing everything they can to sabotage their own teams efforts. There are normally ways of punishing them in game but they do it anyway. To cut down on exploits and overpowered weapons/moves etc more games should have public Alpha and Beta tests to fix as many issues before the game releases as possible.

 

[Chaos Raiden]

Personally, I think that online multiplayer has both pros and cons, such as:

Pros


1. Can play with other people online, such as your friends or people from other sides of the world.
2. Gives new playing experience.
3. Extends replay value of the games.

Cons

1. Cheaters or backstabbers are always exist when playing online.
2. People can spam same technique over and over again, which kills your mood of playing the game, espcially in fighting games.
3. May overshadow the game's story enjoyment.

I don't think that online multiplayer is a necessary feature that makes a game great, but it is not necessarily bad either. So, it comes down to this. If you like to play online with other people, play online. If you don't like to play online due to cheaters, backstabbers, or other factors, don't play online.

 

[Meg]

I care more about the single player campaign than the multi-player any day. While sometimes I'm really in the mood for a game with good multiplayer, even then if it doesn't have a strong 1-player part I won't by it. I didn't buy Battlefield: bad Company 2 because I heard to many negative things about the single player, so I said forget it and bought something else.

While playing online I prefer to have fun over winning by cheap tricks. I don't see the fun in doing some of the stuff you were talking about, wallE. I mean, I LIKE winning. Its fun to do a good job and having your team come out on top, but its not everything. If I'm not winning I don't quit the game outright. (Unless I'm just not in the mood to play anymore regardless ^^')

Do you have a PS3 wallE? We should totally play together if you do.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

WallE, I actually totally agree with what you say. I never play multiplayer online for those reasons. Spammers, cheapers, and ragequitters abound it seems, when I'm just trying to play to have fun.

Off topic, I also feel like I'm of a dying breed, though it's got nothing to do with multiplayer.

 

[Vergil'sBitch]

I'm not an online Multi-Player, but from what I hear though it doesn't sound good. Who wants to go online to be called names by kids? (I know not all gamers are like that, but I've heard of some of the shenanigans that go on.)

On thing which does bug me with online play is that I will never be able to get all achievements for my games, which really does p*** me off.

 

[aka958]

Online gaming is harsh? People call names? Competetive nature?

DO NONE OF YOU WATCH SPORTS?! =O
Seriously, that's bloody. I mean, online gaming is nothing in comparison. People who are ready to beat up fans of the opposing team in a second, people hating on each other for it, people being so god damn f*cking competetive it isn't funny.

I like online gaming alot, I play it alot, and I can say it does to people just like any competetive play do: makes them competetive. This is a part of it all, many do that, many always do. It's not a blow to gaming since gaming is HUGE. There are single player games and multiplayer games. If you don't like multiplayer then you don't even like the multiplayer games to begin with so why whine?

All games that features singleplayer and multiplayer have BOTH. If you dislike the multiplayer part doesn't mean it's a blow to your precious game, it means there's something there for OTHERS in that game.

Can't handle ragequitters? Griefing? Spamming? Someone intentionally ruining the game once in a while?
Then you can't handle a competetive environment, that's just the way it is, sadly.

____

Seriously, multiplayer games are optional. If you do not wish to take part of it that's the option. If you hate the competetive crowd you can give yourself a shot to report those who acts without sportsmanship.
But woooow, coming to believe that everyone would get on terms perfectly in online playing is... no. All the different cultures and behaviours makes it difficulty to communicate properly and it becomes like a flame war all over.

Not everyone gets on term with others. If you want a good multiplayer experience then how about playing locally or only with people you know?
If you don't know any, what would you expect playing alone with strangers?

___

Chaos Raiden talked about spamming moves, I have to fully disagree with that. Only fools spam, since it's easily countered. Their spamming tactics will be the end of them as people learn how to beat them regurarly. If it's not beatable, then you got an unbalanced game and the multiplayer is not to get the blame for that.

 

[Vergil'sBitch]

Sports and gaming are very different.
At least you can punch people in the face in person at a sports match , but yet again, gaming is online and you can hide behind an avatar.

 

[aka958]

Sports and gaming are very different.
At least you can punch people in the face in person at a sports match , but yet again, gaming is online and you can hide behind an avatar.

Exactly.

Both get the advantage of hiding in games.
Punching someone is worse than just spitting random insultive words.
Those who can handle the sports crowd can handle online gaming.

 

[Vergil'sBitch]

I'll give it a go one day then

 

[Ebony]

I've never wanted to play online. I Did for a little bit years ago on a game on my PC and I just got really ****ed off with everyone on it very quickly. I can't handle people being in it to win it, I'm definately a team player, who might be a bit crap but I just want to have fun! I'm definately a one man/player person. Do my own thing......

*walks off into the shadows.....alone*

 

[Nessy]

I play games almost purely for the challenge, and have played many games very competitively online. Even the single player games that I play, I play to the best of my ability.

There are many arguments against (and many more for) online gaming. The biggest downside to it is that piracy of an online game is almost impossible these days (you can pirate any online games single player, but not the online part of it due to cd keys and patches etc). Because of this (and a few other reasons like popularity) there are so many many generic online games and so many fewer single player games these days. Why would a company invest in a game that people can just steal? Any...and I mean ANY single player game can be got for free within a day or so of it's release without even leaving your room.

About the thing about hacks etc...this may sound sad but if it were upto me then hacking would get you in more trouble than simply a ban from the game...if it were upto me I would have the IP listed and if possible a fine to that person. After all, I paid for this game, to play it against other players legitimately, and some asshole comes along and either blatently or slyly cheats making everything pretty much pointless...and making it so I have wasted my money.

It is also disgusting to see that some companies make money BECAUSE of these hackers. Counter-Strike is one of the most played games in history (both cs, and css) and has the most notorious and advanced hacking community in any game...ever. Valve waits sometimes over half a year to ban players accounts that they have caught, and all that the player has to do is pay £10 for the game again. They intentionally make the retarded near 100% client side netcode and easily moddable engine for the reason that they know that hackers are a big part of their income. There are upwards of 43 MILLION steam accounts now (over 3 times as many as wow) and the vast majority of those accounts have cs on them. Hell, even when I play high skill clan games every now and then I see a player join with an account that is only a few days old. Absolutely pathetic.

Also, there have been some cs players that have made an absolute ton of money from hacking, getting found out to be aimbotters at lan only after several world tournaments, and what happens to them? No fine...no nothing, just a ban from competitively playing again and they get to keep their $100000.

 

[Nessy]

There is a lot of stuff that I would of liked to have posted in this thread. About online gaming, single player gaming, competition, hacks, and the general direction of modern gaming. Nobody wants that though, so I decided to just rant about the above.

 

[Angelo Credo]

I firmly believe that multiplayer gaming in this age is important.
However, it should never be at the detriment to the game's single player campaign. A game absolutely must be able to stand up on its single player campaign alone otherwise it's merely not worth the £30-£40 price tag.

This is my issue with games like Call of Duty, Modern Warfare, the original one that is, had a genuinely good, enjoyable single player experience and a stellar multiplayer. That on its own made it worth the £40 price tag in my eyes, then games like Modern Warfare 2 came along, and after the realisation that Modern Warfare's multiplayer formula was so remarkably popular that most of CoD's audience played it endlessly, Activision realised it could get away with putting out a game with a 4 hour campaign so long as it had that multiplayer element.

These days, I'm not a huge fan of multiplayer, I've strongly sunk back into single player or co-op oriented games. I rarely play competitive online play any more, with the exception of League of Legends and that's the reason why my most anticipated games this year are things like Deus Ex and Space Marine.

Now you may argue that Space Marine has multiplayer, yes, this is true, but it won't be my focus. My focus will be the single player/co-op campaign, I'll be teaming up with my friends to play through the campaign experience and we're going to have a lot of fun with it.
It's instances like this where multiplayer aspects are great, I love co-op, I love playing games with my friends, I don't like competitive online though because it bores me to death.

 

[Dark Drakan]

Activision realised it could get away with putting out a game with a 4 hour campaign so long as it had that multiplayer element.

These days, I'm not a huge fan of multiplayer, I've strongly sunk back into single player or co-op oriented games. I rarely play competitive online play any more, with the exception of League of Legends and that's the reason why my most anticipated games this year are things like Deus Ex and Space Marine.

Yeah thats my biggest issue, most games compromise on one aspect and its normally a quickly thrown together single player mode that seemed like an afterthought. If a developer cant create a deep multiplayer experience as well as making a satisfying single player for those that dont care for multiplayer then they should take longer creating their games.

 

[lorddemolatron]

I backed into offline if it means using consoles for online play, after these horrendous PSN crash, I for once wanted silence and deleted my accounts. Only PC is used for online games, but mainly MMORPGs, and these are not famous WoW as I hate pay to play online games too.

 

[Dark Drakan]

lol wow i dug a little deep in the back of the closet to find this thread. ​

I do however agree 100% with above replies saying online a large percentage of multiplayer gamers are cheap & are in it to win. Example SoulCalibur4 online, i was playing against this guy 5rounds each match & he beat me 4times, NOW the 5th match i actually beat him 4 rounds straight & was going to win the last round, AND HE QUITS! ​

DeadSpace2 multiplayer, great example of spamming. ​

Fighting games, has anyone noticed which characters are picked the most? It's not favorites anymore, it's about which characters has the cheapest easiest attacks to do.​

The biggest thing i hate HATE about online multiplayer gamers are the leveling up. ​

leads to Higher levels forming teams & annihilating lower level beginners. No skill needed just a higher level.​

Some of these are the biggest gripes in multiplayer gaming. People rage quitting when losing should be gracious in defeat, in an online game no-one EVER wins all the time so long as your having fun thats all that should matter.

People spamming attacks for cheap wins ruin games too as they arent in it for the fun just the +1 to their win record.

People also power level and boost with friends to gain levels fast and unlock all the best equipment. Then it has nothing to do with skill just that you have more items to gain an advantage on your opponents.

 

[Dark Drakan]

This is something I so wish Naughty Dog (Uncharted2,3 & EA DeadSpace2 ) would see & EVERY developer that even thinks about adding leveling up system to any multiplayer games. ​

I SO AGREE WITH YOU Dark Drakan. ​

GearsOfWar doesn't have that leveling up system & it works. You go in depending on your skill & team. No level advantage no extra equipment, just bring your skill & hold your own. ​

Before leveling up system were added online multiplayer wasn't as bad. Cheating spamming unbalanced teams weren't as bad. ​

Now you get teams of level 30s & 60s verses a team of level 04 & 10s, where's the fun in slaughtering the weak. How skillful is that.​

And then total A-Holes have the gull to brag over a mic. Why would any newbies wanna ever play. ​

I think a better way of doing it would be to have level scaled games (which some games already do). I like the achievement of levelling up and it gives you something to work towards but can make things unbalanced as you say. However in some games it takes your level and automatically puts you in games with people around your level. Granted there is still some high level players appear in there but 1 or 2 are better than facing a whole team of them.

 

[Dark Drakan]

A lot more games are starting to use lobbies like the PC versions of games where you can edit yout preferences so maybe thats the next step in console online gaming.

 

[Dark Drakan]

What about the next Bayonetta or Batman Arkham title or SilentHill. I strongly believe not every game needs multiplayer & that time should be focused on the main game.

So long as the multiplayer doesnt take anything away from the single player I dont mind it.