Single Player Gamers - Why do you dislike multiplayer?

[Men_in_Boxes]

I don't know how future MP gonna fix this.

I know.

 

[KvallyX]

I used to be a multiplayer only gamer. Then I got older. Now I am 99% a single player only gamer.

 

[RE4-City]

I can't justify paying online anymore with the limited free time I have. I mostly like single player games but there have been some multiplayer games I have loved over the years. Super Smash Bros. Melee (I probably would suck at it now.), Metroid Prime Hunters was so good before it became Metroid Prime Hackers online. Resistance 2, Killzone 2. All really fun. I actually enjoyed my time with Call of Duty Black Ops 2 online on Wii U in 2014 but It's pretty rare for an online multiplayer game to really hook me. That being said I have had a lot of fun with foamstars this year.

Its now free to play on PlayStation and why haven't you goons not played it. Square Enix is giving PlayStation real exclusives and you guys ignore them? Time to exit the goon cave and play a real game like Foamstars yo! It's really rad!

 

[Systemshock2023]

I play games for escapism. Multiplayer gaming is repetitive and you can see the run of the mill game design dedicated to farm money from you as soon as you are in the lobby with people running and jumping around. You will always have the quest giver, the one that transmita weapons, the one that sells gear and so on and so forth...

Id rather have a BBQ or drinks with my friends instead of gaming. I also don't have time to organize with a team. Multiplayer gaming feels like a job.

 

[BroodCorp]

Skill has been steadily phased out of most multiplayer games.

Either that or the skill ceiling is so high you can’t hope to ever come close if you’re just some guy playing on his down time (me).

 

[Swolf712]

For me, I play games to kind of retreat from the world and get lost in a new one. I play to get away from other people and my social anxiety. Helps me recharge, so to speak. Plus most of my friends and I don't have schedules that align much, sadly, and I'm a bit too anxious to squad up with complete strangers. Add to that the lack of a proper story most of the time, the fact that my house is a bit too hectic to be on the mic, and various other factors, and... well, yeah. MP isn't for me, overall.

 

[Kokoloko]

For me, I play games to kind of retreat from the world and get lost in a new one. I play to get away from other people and my social anxiety. Helps me recharge, so to speak. Plus most of my friends and I don't have schedules that align much, sadly, and I'm a bit too anxious to squad up with complete strangers. Add to that the lack of a proper story most of the time, the fact that my house is a bit too hectic to be on the mic, and various other factors, and... well, yeah. MP isn't for me, overall.

For sure MP games are way more draining, especially on rough days. And I need to charge my brain batteries. Sometimes I dont feel it but Id still feel way more drained afterwards

 

[DarkLordOtaku]

I used to be a multiplayer only gamer. Then I got older. Now I am 99% a single player only gamer.

I saw this graphic a while ago, and while some were quick to panic that the "younger generation" preferred MP games, my interpretation of this graph was a positive correlation with age and preference for SP games. In other words, I think it to be generally true that as gamers age, they will naturally gravitate towards more single player experiences.

Obviously, this is not to suggest that older gamers who enjoy multi-player experiences don't exist.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

I saw this graphic a while ago, and while some were quick to panic that the "younger generation" preferred MP games, my interpretation of this graph was a positive correlation with age and preference for SP games. In other words, I think it to be generally true that as gamers age, they will naturally gravitate towards more single player experiences.

Likely a fallacy because what the kids were playing 10, 20, and 30 years ago were largely single player games. What the kids are playing today, are multiplayer games.

I think you're going to see the wave extend to the right over the next 20 years. It might lose a little size, as all waves do, but multiplayer will continue to grow with youth and the multiplayer waves will slowly grow over the years. Multiplayer is most likely growing in all age groups to diminishing degree.

 

[Vertigo]

Multiplayer games tend to offer more depth and complex gameplay systems to master as well. Or they reinforce mastery of gameplay which is itself an engagement hook. We are competitive creatures and engaging in such is hugely appealing.

Single player games also do this and offer challenge but there’s less reasons to do so. These games are also few and far between. I clearly love souls games etc.

I’d also argue that single player games became too narrative driven over the years so the skill based arcade experiences are mostly online games of some kind.

 

[DarkLordOtaku]

Likely a fallacy because what the kids were playing 10, 20, and 30 years ago were largely single player games. What the kids are playing today, are multiplayer games.

I think you're going to see the wave extend to the right over the next 20 years. It might lose a little size, as all waves do, but multiplayer will continue to grow with youth and the multiplayer waves will slowly grow over the years. Multiplayer is most likely growing in all age groups to diminishing degree.

I'm not saying you're wrong, since obviously neither or us can predict the future.

That said, I think the externalities associated with aging makes single player games increasingly more attractive. When you're younger, you have synchronized schedules with your friends (school), which makes it easier to coordinate MP sessions, you also have more time to practice for competitive multiplayer.

As you get older, your friends get married and have kids, and everyone's differing work schedules make it harder to coordinate time to play. At an individual level, a person also has less time to practice competitive multi-player, and their reaction times start to dip with age. In this regard, I could see how a single player game which lets you easily control when you play, might be a more attractive option.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

I'm not saying you're wrong, since obviously neither or us can predict the future.

That said, I think the externalities associated with aging makes single player games increasingly more attractive. When you're younger, you have synchronized schedules with your friends (school), which makes it easier to coordinate MP sessions, you also have more time to practice for competitive multiplayer.

As you get older, your friends get married and have kids, and everyone's differing work schedules make it harder to coordinate time to play. At an individual level, a person also has less time to practice competitive multi-player, and their reaction times start to dip with age. In this regard, I could see how a single player game which lets you easily control when you play, might be a more attractive option.

I don't think your hypothesis here is crazy. I think there's likely a degree of truth to it.

However, conditioning is also real. Gamers who grew up in the 70's, 80's, and 90's all played single player games during their formative years which means they likely formed an attachment to that as they grew older. As gamers in their 50's and 60's age out of videogames, the gamers who grew up playing multiplayer games will likely have a stronger attachment to those types of games as it's what they played during their formative years. That's why I think the preference for multiplayer will likely rise in all age groups for the forseeable future.

You also have to consider how bad multiplayer games have historically been at being social experiences. The industry is improving on that specific aspect drastically. Mario Kart, Goldeneye, CoD, Halo etc...were all terrible social games. Game developers will continue improving on making games better facilitators of social experiences which will appeal to a wider and wider gaming demographic.

And again, we're the most social animal in earths history. Hard to compete with that when you're not leveraging what's in our DNA.