Co-op is boring (blah semi rant)

[New Troll]

I am not a competitive person so co-op would be more for me to begin with. I am not a social person so playing single-player or with close friends and family suites my style. So when I play multi-player, most the time it will be co-op with someone I know.

These days, some of the most fun I have while gaming is playing co-op with my oldest son. Not only do I feel like I'm teaching him something (no matter if it's useful or not) but it's a good bonding experience between the two of us. My fiance is also a big gamer so playing co-op with her is often quality time we can share. So to me, co-op is the best.

 

[neoontime]

I feel I may be generally on the opposite side of what you're talking about since I really suck at a competitive level. My friends usually hate when I rather play easy or normal but otherwise I die way too much. Either way I try not to complain anyways and we always have very much fun so it's not much of bother. Well I only play with friends so I don't know if I really bothered anyone like people have you but we have fun so that's the point right?

Yeah, I try to stay away from games like LFD for that reason.

 

[MordreadRN]

I really love Mass Effect 3 multiplayer - It's up to 4 player co-op. There are 4 different difficulty ratings and a lot of different classes and weapons to pick (Most need to be unlocked by playing and some are super rare / hard to get). I still play it from time to time after almost 2 years.

 

[Branindain]

I don't think you dislike co-op as much as you think you do, you just have no-one compatible with whom to play. Your post comes off something like this:

I really hate soccer. Why does anyone like soccer? It sucks because you do your best to outscore the opposition, but one of your teammates is always running off with the ball, one of them likes to punch the ref and your goalie insists on standing on the left wing all the time. Clearly tennis is a better sport.

Co-op is great if and only if you are co-oping with the right person. Like almost any other 2-4 player activity.

 

[Auron225]

It depends highly on who you play with. Online you're at each others mercy and odds are low you'll happen across strangers who are fun to play with, but it does happen sometimes. I once won a Superhuman difficulty match in Resistance 2 online with only 2 other guys I'd never met and none of us had mics to even speak but we worked together with near flawless teamwork and kicked ass. It was awesome

I prefer playing local co-op though. Among my friends I've realised who is fun to play with and who isn't; I've experienced friends complaining that the non-sentient technology is out to get them because reasons, and who'll rage quit over stupid shit. I've also had a blast with those who'll laugh at it when it's funny but don't constantly take the piss and will try to do well too. Just play only with those who are fun to and find an excuse to not play with those who'll be pissy about it.

 

[josemlopes]

I hate co-op most of the time.
I like randomised online multiplayer. But co-op goes bad most of the time.
Co-op is a quick way to get arguments. NEVER PLAY IT WITH SOMEONE YOU LIVE WITH OR ARE RELATED TO OR WILL SEE OR SPEAK TO REGULARLY!
It's a quick way to destroy relationships.

Co-op is ok to good when it's online and randomised. Or it is a complete and utter disaster. But organised co-op is nothing but asking for trouble most of the time.

Making a game co-op based is the stupidest thing anyone could do.

I have been playing with the same guy online for about 7 years now, most of the time co-op games, 2 hours a day every day and it still goes great. Its all about finding someone that matches well with your playstyle.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Perhaps I've just gotten sick that 99.9% of my friends refuse to play anything competitive.

Not to inflate your ego too much, but it's very possible your skill level is so much higher than theirs, there is no point in playing competitively with you.

I personally had this happen. I never play against my friends anymore because there's just no point and they don't find it fun to be mashed into the ground.

Whatever it is, I especially dislike games that are all about making the players feel awesome. I feel it's hollow, and I don't gain any gratification from it whatsoever.

This really seems to be the core of the problem and to be honest, it sounds like it's just who you are.

I for one, love the POWER OF FRIENDSHIP back patting and working together and triumphing over the AI. You feel differently. It isn't something either one of us can choose be or not be.

 

[Mudnutz]

It depends on the co-op. In vs multiplier, i'm ok with it. When it comes to games like borderlands or saints row, i cant stand co-op. I like going at my own pace in big open world games. When I play them with friends, they just run around and rush though things ignoring the story.

 

[BarkBarker]

It's SUPPOSED to be a collective effort, but most games make you two independent people 100% of the time, I liked co-op in say dynasty warriors 3 where if two players are close and activate their special attack within a certain time after the other guy, you get a epic spin camera in a freeze frame, then you get LIGHTNING element and the game lags because there is too much amazing, it's so satisfying. There is also the fact that the game plays systematically the further you press on, taking out spawn gates, taking out the one general fucking my guys up, then we pincer the final dude together, it's quite fun, streets of rage also comes to mind as well with the unique mechanics you can use in 2 player, that kind of thing is enjoyable.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Multiplayer bores me to tears, co op is fun mostly because you know the people you are playing with and always trying to one up them somehow.

 

[Belaam]

Co-op Saints Row 2 was about as fun a time as I've had. A friend and I made characters that looked just like us (a couple of overweight, middle aged teachers) and laughed our asses through every cutscenes. I would absolutely agree that most games aren't scaled for being challenging with co-op (though I do like many of the GTA Online missions), but the point for me is just the fun.

 

[FPLOON]

Uh... Yes and No?

I never liked online co-op, even during that brief time playing MW2 multiplayer and GOW multiplayer... However, playing local co-op with my mother is always a fun time regardless...

I think the main problem when it comes to co-op in general is one side knowing more about the situation than everyone else... and if they don't allow their "teammate"/co-op partner a chance to do something that, on the flip side, would not give you any problems or put your numbers(?) higher than they are now, then the overall fun is not as great as it should be...

I remember allowing my mother to go ahead of me in Rayman Origins, collecting the lums in front of us while break any of the cages we found in any of the levels, mainly because she was still new to the overall controls of the game... Now, in Rayman Legends, we're now fully competing to see who can get the most lums while simultaneously helping each other out so that no one gets fully left behind...

So overall, I rather play local co-p instead of anything online co-op... and it usually must be with someone who I'm familiar with personally... It's not like co-op's all boring... It can just sometimes lead to either very impatience players and/or a lack of a proper co-op campaign...

 

[thiosk]

It's true. I can't stand co-operative multiplayer, most of the time. It seems to be all about collective back-patting. It makes me cringe.

Perhaps I've just gotten sick that 99.9% of my friends refuse to play anything competitive.

You have entirely different tastes from me.
And thats ok.

Play something else. (i herd lol is poplar wif de kyds deez dayz.)

 

[thisbymaster]

Maybe because they want to work with you instead of working against you? Also I bet those people don't play the games you want to play as much and don't have the experience or time to sink into the game. So you can just own them over and over again without them being able to counter in anyway. I am sure you love to able to crush them time and time again, then you claim it is their fault for putting in 200 hours into a game they don't own. Your an ass, plan and simple thus no one wants to play against you.

 

[Frankster]

I can't play Civilization with them, because they get angry when I'm first to build a wonder, let alone AI. Whenever rivalries develop and they're behind in score and wonders, they quit. I don't mind playing on the same team in civ, but we get overpowered, quick. And that ruins it for me on normal difficulties.

I love coop and play with friends any chance I get, heck coop is a big motivation behind my purchases and support of obscure games others would snub their noses at.

Yet I'd hate to play with your friends if that is how they are, heck if they pulled that on me, I'd let it slip the 1st time but after the 2nd I'd not want to play coop with them ever again on that particular game.
Seems like a bunch of sore losers that need to have the game always going their way... And that's just not acceptable unless you're playing a particular kinda game that just rewards you constantly (I can see why you hate playing bl2 with them now), if you want to play a flawless game then play it in your own time and in singleplayer, but accept that when playing with friends you're there to share your triumphs and laugh at your disasters.

Also the whole "being shouted by someone who thinks he is in charge" and raged at that we ain't following his Patton like masterplan would annoy me really fast, this is the kinda thing I'd expect to find in a normal competitive pub match, not a chilled fun session with buddies.

 

[MammothBlade]

I personally had this happen. I never play against my friends anymore because there's just no point and they don't find it fun to be mashed into the ground.

It's not even that. I swear my friends can play on an equal footing, if only they try.

You have entirely different tastes from me.
And thats ok.

Play something else. (i herd lol is poplar wif de kyds deez dayz.)

Played both LoL and DOTA2. They can be fun, but I prefer strategy usually.

Also the whole "being shouted by someone who thinks he is in charge" and raged at that we ain't following his Patton like masterplan would annoy me really fast, this is the kinda thing I'd expect to find in a normal competitive pub match, not a chilled fun session with buddies.

At least I can put them on mute.

 

[Ieyke]

It's true. I can't stand co-operative multiplayer, most of the time. It seems to be all about collective back-patting. It makes me cringe.

Perhaps I've just gotten sick that 99.9% of my friends refuse to play anything competitive. Whatever it is, I especially dislike games that are all about making the players feel awesome. I feel it's hollow, and I don't gain any gratification from it whatsoever. So whenever people ask me to play L4D2 , or Saints' Row, or even, christ, Borderlands 2 - a game I used to be really hyped about - I just go "mehhhhh". But what gets me even worse is when people moan about a game being "unfair". In co-op.

I get it, maybe they're depressed, maybe they have a low frustration tolerance. But I hate it when someone invites me to play a game they're really super duper hyped about, and they get turned off the moment it goes against them.
On the other end, you have people super into "teamwork", who get pissed off when people don't do things their way, by their strategy. Where's the fun in taking orders from some arrogant twat on the other end of a microphone? That also puts me off in a big way. Why go through all that trouble with other players when you can just fight them instead?

DAE feel the same way?

/slightlybitter

Learn to co-op.

That's all there really is to this.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

It's true. I can't stand co-operative multiplayer, most of the time. It seems to be all about collective back-patting. It makes me cringe.

Perhaps I've just gotten sick that 99.9% of my friends refuse to play anything competitive.

You have entirely different tastes from me.
And thats ok.

Play something else. (i herd lol is poplar wif de kyds deez dayz.)

yup this.

I love basically everything you hate, and I tend to hate competitively being put against other people (unless they are huge douchebags, then I don't mind smashing them into the ground.) while loving co op bro back patting stuff.

nothing wrong with that, different tastes, but I just don't think your personality is exactly built for co-op OP

 

[Jaximus Decimus]

All of the funnest gaming moments that I can recall happened playing co-op, either online or splitscreen. I've probably played more than 100 hours of Halo 1 co-op. I know I've got close to 300 hours of co-op in Apache Air Assault.

That's not to say that I don't play adversarial multiplayer. I've played a lot of that, but I only play to win. I get no joy out of it. I'm not happy when my team is on a 20 win streak, but you better believe I get pissed the first game we lose.

The point is, co-op is the only multiplayer mode that I actually enjoy. For me it's the best thing about gaming.

The OP kind of reminds me of this saying that goes something like; If the first person you run into in the morning is a jerk, then he's an asshole. If everyone you run into all day long is a jerk, then you're the asshole.

 

[EyeReaper]

Wait... Co-op is about teamwork? All of my friends and I play it munchkin style. You're supposed to look like you're all together on a team while secretly sabotaging your friends.
The only time I haven't enjoyed a co-op experience is my only run of Torchlight 2. I had never played the game before, everybody else had, and yet, they would constantly be getting angry because I didn't know what to do when everybody else had played the levels three times over. Then again, these are the guys who said I must be retarded because I had Trine 2 on the WiiU instead of pc, so after a while I just didn't care