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Why do you play single player games?
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I think it's nice to have a story, a controlled setting, a known set of rules and just have fun by yourself, just you and the puzzles the developers set forward. I find that to be the enticement of single player games.
I don't have to suspend my disbelief when playing with human opponents. They are people, they act like humans will act when they're doing what they do. I can't get over the fact that beating an AI opponent means absolutely nothing at all, because I've simply defeated a pattern. There's no reward to the gameplay, and I only seem to be able to witness art and can't absorb it. I think that's why the majority of singleplayer games just do nothing... I only ever see it for the gameplay mechanics. I shoot things and move on and it doesn't evolve much beyond that.
Again, occasionally that gets transcended like in SoTC, where I was actually dismayed by Agro's fall and felt a sense of bitter-sweet finale that I didn't want to go away as the credits rolled, but I think SoTC is the only time in my life I've ever experienced the emotional side of art.
In the case of MMOs, there is at least a social aspect that can keep me tied to the game. In session-based multiplayer games, unless I'm playing with a friend, I really don't give a shit. I will also, without exception, choose single-console multiplayer over online.
For me, single player games are an experience; I will get to see/do something interesting/fun, and witness the (hopefully) quality game design. Since multiplayer games are, by their nature, always going to rely on people other than myself, I often find the results unpredictable, arduous and too erratic to be compelling in the same way as a single player game. Again, MMOs are the exception, but I tend to play them as single/two player games anyway - if I can't solo, I won't bother.
It'd have to take something really special for a multiplayer game to be more appealing to me than its single player equivalent. Maybe when someone really refines online storytelling (SW: KotOR?)
The problem is that it's inconvenient. Is for me. I have a busy, busy life and my free time varies an enormous deal.
But anyway, why is it hard to see how being immersed or experiencing a story from within it or overcoming challenges or solving puzzles and such, why is it hard to see how fun this can be?
It's just different, rewarding experiences... Sometimes for story. Sometimes for overcoming challenges. Sometimes for putting your reflex/timing/coordination on overdrive. Sometimes for laying back and relaxing. And indeed, sometimes for playing against human opponents. But human opponents only work for select types of gameplay.. can't work for everyhting./
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Why doesn't anyone RP a well adjusted, humorous hero these days? I'd play a lot more WoW if I could find a party of RPers who played like Zaphod Beeblebrox or Indiana Jones. But no. Every time it's always like someone's dragging me into their Twilight fan-fiction filtered through this MMO.
Fuck you very much, Vargothia, Queen of Vampire-Elf Pain. I'm going to go play Morrowind as a wise-cracking treasure hunter who got along with his parents and has reasonable relationships with adult women.
STALKER makes me feel so isolated. I need a podcast or vent or something to listen to. But I can't listen to a podcast and play something like STALKER because I'd be missing out on so much of the game.
Single player games can be competitive. Remember high scores? Or timed runs? I guess the competitiveness isn't immediate in this sense but it's there.
It's not why the immersion is fun that I don't understand - it's the immersion itself. I understand why people would find it fun if they could get into the world, but I've never been able to wrap my head around how you do it in the first place. I even see people get into the worlds and stories of 4x's, which generally have nothing outside of a very loose lore. People seem to be able to get so into that they can fill in the blanks and feel fulfilled by it. That's a very interesting ability that I've never been able to do myself, and it fascinates me. It also confuses me.
I agree with everything in your post except for the busy stuff (since I don't have a busy life), but I certainly understand it. :o
I also like to play SP games and do things or figure out how to get achievements, then tell my XBL friends how to reproduce what I did. It's fun, and sometimes I will get paid back in the same way. A friend may notice I don't have achievement that I could easily get if I just "got" the game.
I enjoy both SP and MP, but probably play much more SP because if I mess up SP, I can cuss and throw my controller and take a break or try again, unlike MP where I may have to wait, or feel like a dooche after losing my cool in front of my team.
Also I grew up with 56k speeds or less, so MP was never really an option for me up until recently.
That's another thread right there, if we want to measure the weight of achievements and talk about how shitty some of them are in concept.
It's all about dat gamerscore son.
I noticed that you mentioned you have similar problems with movies and books, while thats the thing that draws me in most when it comes to these types of media. Like Slash said above, both SP and MP games are great in different ways. More than likely, SP just doesn't work for you. I'm not sure it's a matter of you missing something, just that it isn't what you're interested in.
If beating an AI opponent means absolutely nothing at all, then beating an I opponent means just as much. You beat the human because you accurately predicted his behaviour. It's just a more complex enemy, but the same achievement.
You seem to be equating the value of the experience with real-time competition. You love competition, that's what makes you feel like you've accomplished something. Your goals have already precluded non-competitive experiences.
You will like soccer more than you will like hitting a ball tethered to a paddle. Case closed!
So is winning or losing a big deal to you? That's one thing I've never cared about, especially if I'm simply playing for myself. That was another magical part of SoTC - it wasn't based on winning or losing. You could get stuck, die, or progress but it wasn't like that was the only reason the game existed - the game existed because it exists. It is what it is, and what it is never would have worked in anything else. There's an incredible feeling of life in it - it just is. It makes no attempt to explain or justify itself.
Winning or losing doesn't matter for me. I just like facing off against another person - it's the same reason I practice judo, I think. Win or lose it doesn't matter - it all leads to the same path of knowledge.
It is after the initial period of learning the game. Unless its one of those really, really rare games that are just inherently fun, win or lose. I can think of a few like that,but nothing recent. Fallout Tactics, Carmageddon 2, stuff like that.
How did you play games before the 360? I'm curious as to whether or not it has something to do with growing older and changing habits, or if you genuinely aren't as interested in games as you used to be.
Then a switch got turned back in my brain and I went back to single player console games. Why? I guess I realised I needed a controlled gaming experience that is always there for me whenever I have time to play. No worrying about lag, balance patches, whether the right people are online, the repetitive nature of raiding (and of multiplayer as a whole really), getting pissed off at other people making mistakes etc.
I got a PS3 and Xbox 360 with (among other games) Uncharted and Halo 3 and had a grand old time, immersed in my own little world with no intrusions, speakers blaring, guns blazing being the hero who saves the day and enjoying the stories. I was back on board the single player train.
Yeah I don't know where I'm going with this
Yeah... I'm chalking it up to me being hard to entertain, but it's frustrating me because gaming is the only thing that can take a large portion of my not-judo time and there's only one good multiplayer game on the market right now. Two if you count UT3, I guess. It seems I just don't have a single-player personality.
Just do what you like, I reckon. If you like TF2, then play TF2 if that's all you can find that is enjoyable. =]
I like to diversify though!!
BC:Rearmed...wow that was a fun SP game to master.
No I don't remember, never went to arcades but that just seems like another form of multi-player of faux multi-player. The latter is sometimes present in single-player games where you compete against yourself, like racing games where you compete against your shadow.
For me personally, I don't think I played nearly as many games to completion before the 360 came out. Now for some reason I look at games like movies to be digested in like 2-3 sittings. I never play a game on any difficulty over "Normal" or "Default" and I often times will knock it down to Easy just to get through the story and send it on back to GameFly.
I play pretty much everything but I'm not a collector like some people are. The achievement points add a stupid incentive to keep playing through even a lackluster game sometimes.
People like different things. I don't like watching sport, and I don't like most desserts. I doubt that there's any answer to why I don't like those things that will suddenly allow me to appreciate them, or will give me a more satisfying understanding of myself as a person. All I need to know is what I like, and then I can act on that.
I guess in the same vein, I like playing multiplayer shooters because when I do something spectacular (every few years) there are people around to lord it over.
Unless you're playing a GTA game.
You didn't even have to go to an arcade to experience it. There were scores on NES games and such. I mean yeah the batteries wouldn't save the scores but there were cameras.
Single player games are reliable. You don't have to worry about lag or people losing the connection. You don't have to worry that everyone's skill level is close enough to make things interesting.
It's nice not to have to rely on other people. I mean, I enjoy RE5 co-op a lot, but I can't play it whenever I feel like unless I want to play with strangers since sometimes, none of my friends are online or want to play it. Similarly, I like free-for-all Civilization Revolution, but occasionally, you log in and you have to wait half an hour or longer to start a game because nobody is starting games at that time. Similarly, older multiplayer games eventually lose their fanbase with the result that pick up and play multiplayer games are no more and you have to actually plan games. And sometimes, you need to pause which can be difficult or impossible in multiplayer games.
I'm competitive. I like being able to compete against other people on highscore tables knowing that everyone is on a level playing field. Multiplayer leaderboards just don't have the same appeal for me since who is to say that the highest scores weren't achieved due to luck (getting matched up with easy opponents often).
Multiplayer games often lack the feeling of progress that singleplayer games have. Like with Left 4 Dead, I enjoyed the game, but at the end of each gameplay session, I was pretty much at the same place I was when I started. Compare that to a singleplayer game, where at the end of a session, you're at a later level, have some new high scores, or unlocked some new features.
Certain genres just don't translate well to multiplayer.
Single player games can elicit a much wider variety of emotions than multiplayer games. Horror, for example, is really hard to do in a multiplayer game.
I like fiction. Some single player games have good stories.
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This is exactly why I love playing multiplayer games, especially those in person like fighting games. Those are the types of things I appreciate, whereas I don't really care too much if someone has Achievement X which must have been really hard or something, but I wasn't there so I can't really care about it that much.
I would also say that I play multiplayer games to have fun
:I
With that said, EverQuest was one of the most immersive games I've played, ever. Of course, that was before I picked up on raiding and such. But being new to the game, meeting other new players, oh man the adventures were indeed epic for a good while.
I think that was the exception to the rule, though.
Left 4 Dead was also very immersive for me at first, before I played VS mode. It felt like real survival and teamwork. It was awesome. Now it's all about high scores and stuff, oh well, still fun.
Now for single player games...
Deus Ex and Morrowind are probably on the top of my list for immerrsion. Holy shit did I get into those games!
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Is it not enough that video games have been designed by an unpredictable human mind? Even the first time playing Mario, when you see that guy zipping back and forth across the top of the screen dropping eggs, that's new, isn't it? You couldn't have predicted that guy was there. You are opposing the intelligent mind of the game designer as he throws up walls and roadblocks in your way.
And why are human opponents the only thing that matters? Aren't the maps boring for being predictable? The guns and their spawn points?
What was fun about Shadow of the Colossus? The colossi behaved the same way each time you fought them. You'd stab them a while and they'd throw you off and you'd stab them again. Boring, right?
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For one thing, I love a good story that unfolds at the proper pace. Planescape:Torment is my favourite game and that could not be replicated in a multiplayer context. There is no pressure and you can explore a game and its mechanics at your own pace. You can be put into incredibly contrived circumstances and win, which is great fun too (despite knowning that a human opponent would have had the intelligence to beat you, you are still pushed to the limit).
On the other hand, playing online activates my competition reflex, which ultimately makes a game extremely unfun to me - I am compelled to be awesome, which at the start is great because I am learning how to do that, but ultimately the game becomes more like work because you have to end up practising all the time to keep up the skills. Dawn of War was like this - I started off having fun, then got increasingly fed up with all the research, practise and discussion I would have to have just to be confident I was keeping my skillset up to date...
I only play multiplayer games with close buddies or people from PA. Buddies really because I wanna chat to them while we hang out in a game, and the guys on PA (L4D and used to play TF2) because there is always a fun, competent group of talkative people. I play multiplaer mostly to be social. I tend to avoid playing random public games in most games because it's usually a case of having to 'catch up' and learn what everyone else has learned so far in the game to have a chance. Frankly I don't really care that much about winning a multiplayer game, I just enjoy using them as chatrooms mostly. If I am serious about wanting to beat a game, I'll play a singleplayer game since I have 100% control over the input of the game. For instance, 90% of the time I prefer to have 3 bots following me on L4D since i know what thay are going to do.
I enjoy the story aspect a lot. I get the sense, by the fact that you are similarly bored by books and movies, that you're not a big story guy. So, you probably don't care about having a consistent narrative, well told over a series of time. I'd imagine you prefer sports to lots of other things as well. You just prefer straight up competition.
I enjoy the puzzle aspect a lot. I like figuring things out, solving riddles and puzzles, etc. I love adventure games for this reason, as well as the story part. There's not really a lot of this in multiplayer games (tale in the desert? uru?)
I like turn based/slow paced games a lot, which don't work as well in multiplayer. I like sim/tycoon type games, which don't really work in multiplayer. I like being able to think things through, and build up things. I like creating. Maybe in the lego mmo?
Basically there's a lot of things you can do in single player which we haven't figured out how to do well, if at all, in multiplay.
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