Single Player Gamers - Why do you dislike multiplayer?

What reason(s) do you dislike multiplayer games? (Choose up to 3 of your biggest issues)

  • No pause button. Life in my house is hectic.

    Votes: 4 16.7%
  • Too hectic. I prefer playing at my own pace.

    Votes: 6 25.0%
  • I hate having to play in a team setting. (I'm a lone wolf)

    Votes: 7 29.2%
  • My internet is unreliable. I'm afraid of losing connection mid match.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Toxicity. Hearing people say awful things gives me anxiety/discomfort.

    Votes: 5 20.8%
  • No story. I really come to games to watch cutscenes/dialogue/narrative.

    Votes: 13 54.2%
  • I'm not competitive in nature. Competition stresses me out.

    Votes: 5 20.8%
  • Too repetitive. I like longer gameplay loops.

    Votes: 13 54.2%
  • Other... (Please explain below)

    Votes: 5 20.8%

  • Total voters
    24

Kokoloko

Veteran
Icon Extra
21 Jun 2022
5,998
4,715
No. Single player games are my main thing but Im enjoying MP games more and more, PVE and PVP.

Grew up playing streets of rage, street fighter 2, altered beast and all sorts. So have always played MP games, but since PS3 been predering SP games. Now play both again.

But I still cant put into enough time into something like WOW, FF14 etc
 

Evilnemesis8

Veteran
19 Dec 2023
1,475
1,262
It's so strange to hear how common this complain is. As a Fortnite player, I've not once engaged with, or thought about, any of the games weekly/dailys in 5 or so years.

There's a reason there's a quadrillion monetization schemes by publishers to prey on people's FOMO.
People are just wired that way.
 
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Men_in_Boxes

Men_in_Boxes

Veteran
18 Aug 2024
741
456
There's a reason there's a quadrillion monetization schemes by publishers to prey on people's FOMO.
People are just wired that way.
Billboards are expensive too. Still weird to say you're not driving down the highway because they bother you too much.
 

rofif

...owns a 3080...why?
24 Jun 2022
2,074
2,595
I like atmosphere and solitarily.
I love good story and to immerse myself.
I get stressed in competitive environment and around other people. I might be an introvert.
very occasionally I've played some battlefield 5 (maybe 40 hours total) and it was fun but that one was very repetitive.

I do like local couch coop with best friend though. It's great.
 

Zzero

Major Tom
9 Jan 2023
4,005
2,332
Honestly the choices listed really seem to say that the OP doesn't get what single-player performers want.

Meaningful player impacts on the world/player impact on the story.
Unique gameplay mechanics that extend beyond "shooting", auto-attacks or setting up turrets.
Being free to be "unbalanced" and really tear shit up if you want.
Mods.
Genres that just don't work well in mp, turn-based RPGs, platformers, open-world exploration, God Games/4X.
Freedom to do what you want without railroading or negotiating with other team members.
Not having to sink hours grinding unlocks in order to get what you want.
No worrying about "dailies" or other treadmill content.
 
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Men_in_Boxes

Men_in_Boxes

Veteran
18 Aug 2024
741
456
Honestly the choices listed really seem to say that the OP doesn't get what single-player performers want.

Meaningful player impacts on the world/player impact on the story.
Unique gameplay mechanics that extend beyond "shooting", auto-attacks or setting up turrets.
Being free to be "unbalanced" and really tear shit up if you want.
Mods.
Genres that just don't work well in mp, turn-based RPGs, platformers, open-world exploration, God Games/4X.
Freedom to do what you want without railroading or negotiating with other team members.
Not having to sink hours grinding unlocks in order to get what you want.
No worrying about "dailies" or other treadmill content.
6 of the 7 reasons you listed have all been "solved" by multiplayer to varying degrees already. They will only improve as more and more studios make larger and larger worlds.
 

Zzero

Major Tom
9 Jan 2023
4,005
2,332
6 of the 7 reasons you listed have all been "solved" by multiplayer to varying degrees already. They will only improve as more and more studios make larger and larger worlds.
I'd love to know which ones those are. My assumption is everything but mods but if you think there's a multiplayer game that lets you go around killing everyone in a village and then just not save your game like Morrowind does (or, alternately, kill all the named NPCs and have them actually stay dead, like Morrowind does) then I have a bridge to sell you.
 
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Men_in_Boxes

Men_in_Boxes

Veteran
18 Aug 2024
741
456
I'd love to know which ones those are. My assumption is everything but mods but if you think there's a multiplayer game that lets you go around killing everyone in a village and then just not save your game like Morrowind does (or, alternately, kill all the named NPCs and have them actually stay dead, like Morrowind does) then I have a bridge to sell you.
Fascinating.

You say multiplayer doesn't do mods.

(They obviously do)

Then you list a very specific example in the largest example of moving goalposts I've ever seen.

Why do this when you don't have to?
 

Zzero

Major Tom
9 Jan 2023
4,005
2,332
Fascinating.

You say multiplayer doesn't do mods.

(They obviously do)

Then you list a very specific example in the largest example of moving goalposts I've ever seen.

Why do this when you don't have to?
You still haven't said which one multiplayer doesn't do. I guessed mods and then listed an example meaningful player impact on the world that MP games clearly can't do as an example of my first thing being impossible.
 
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Men_in_Boxes

Men_in_Boxes

Veteran
18 Aug 2024
741
456
I guessed mods and then listed an example meaningful player impact on the world that MP games clearly can't do as an example of my first thing being impossible.
Mods have been apart of multiplayer for many decades.

Player impact on the world? Come on now...Look at games like Rust, Valheim, Fortnite, Minecraft etc...

The only real difference between SP and MP is that in MP, your opponents act in their self interest wheras in SP they act as fodder.
 

Zzero

Major Tom
9 Jan 2023
4,005
2,332
Lol, the world in Fortnite resets every 15 minutes. You think the player has any impact in it?
 

Nym

Did you like my Glasses, Snake?
21 Jun 2022
1,436
1,211
lol player impact on world. Chess board resets too did players have no agency during their match? Who cares if you got a narrative to a point and saved your game, wow you had such a lasting impact on this digital realm. I wonder how that NPC will react! I played Tetris for 20 years and made no impact on "game worlds" but I can destroy anyone here at Tetris. The game impacted me not the other way around.
 

Vertigo

Did you show the Darkness what Light can do?
26 Jun 2022
5,535
5,004
Multiplayer games take up most of my time. Not because I necessarily prefer them. Okay… maybe I do because they tend to be true gameplay driven experiences vs narrative driven experiences that lack in everything that matters.

Perhaps because most single player games being made are by the numbers open world copy and paste slop.

Definitely less interested in most upcoming single player releases than I ever was. Also doesn’t help that’s some of Sony’s biggest games are braindead marvel trash. Easy to write that shit off altogether.

Little faith in western game devs. Looking forward to newcomers.

It says a lot when the only good or hype single player game coming out this year is Snake Eater…. I played that over a decade ago. Pathetic
 
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Thirty7ven

Well-known member
30 Dec 2023
394
790
I don’t play video games because they are my way to socialize or to compete with others. Just like books, tv series and movies.

I socialize in person by going out, spend time with friends, be it dinner and drinks, just drinks, a concert, a football match, board games, card games. If I can’t do that I will text, call, and what not.

There’s nothing wrong with playing multiplayer games but the way they have turned into the only way so many people socialize is a terrible symptom, and the fact that the vast majority of the people doing it are male is another symptom.

Spend hundreds or thousands of hours on the same trash game can’t be good for your brain either. Spending hundreds on V bucks when it’s all said and done is embarrassing.

People who spend all their gaming time on these games have a tendency of being uncultured. No wonder, these games are black holes sucking all your time.
 
20 Jun 2022
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1,472
38
Salalah, Oman
No story and no pause button. When you're married you really don't have the luxury of playing MP for endless hours. Also after spending more than 20 years of competitive gaming locally and on the internet, it became tasteless to me. I enjoy Helldivers and something as casual as Uncharted 4, or something epic like Battlefield 4 back at early PS4 launch.

Also I can't play MP for more than 2-3 hours straight, it's pretty exhausting vs singleplayer which even at the highest difficulty you tend to have low pace sections to relax.
 
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Men_in_Boxes

Men_in_Boxes

Veteran
18 Aug 2024
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No story and no pause button. When you're married you really don't have the luxury of playing MP for endless hours. Also after spending more than 20 years of competitive gaming locally and on the internet, it became tasteless to me. I enjoy Helldivers and something as casual as Uncharted 4, or something epic like Battlefield 4 back at early PS4 launch.

Also I can't play MP for more than 2-3 hours straight, it's pretty exhausting vs singleplayer which even at the highest difficulty you tend to have low pace sections to relax.
All of your complaints can and will be corrected via multiplayer game design in the future.
 
20 Jun 2022
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Salalah, Oman
All of your complaints can and will be corrected via multiplayer game design in the future.

I don't necessarily hate MP games, also I don't know how future MP gonna fix this. Maybe it sounded amazing inside your brain but this is incoherent, mate.

No Way What GIF by Jason Earls
 
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Vertigo

Did you show the Darkness what Light can do?
26 Jun 2022
5,535
5,004
I kinda disagree with online games requiring a massive time sink. That’s just not true for most and up to the player how much time invested and your goals.

I love online games but that doesn’t mean PvP or a pve game like Helldivers. I prefer those I can sink a huge chunk of time in by solo queue and treating it like a single player game. Destiny, Monster Hunter, The Crew Motorfest, and to an extent Street Fighter. Games like Helldivers or a BR don’t appeal to me. (I still love arena PvP)

Would love to see more narrative driven adventures but it’s really just Destiny that’s nailed that for me in a genre I enjoy or on any notable level. Most MMOs do this and even a Granblue Fantasy (which I did enjoy).
 
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