Has multiplayer lost its point?

[WakeTheDead1]

does anyone else remember when multiplayer meant sitting with 4 mates in the same room on golden gun mode on Goldeneye 64 having a right laugh with each other...?
so i was online today and some snotty little american 12 year old was on his headset saying all manner of insults and things to other players and i just though this isnt even fun, has multiplayer stopped being about having fun with other humans and just become about leveling up?

thoughts please

 

[WrongSprite]

Different kind of multiplayer. If I want fun with humans, I'll play splitscreen.

 

[Lacsapix]

Yes, leveling up and xp are all that matters now. But splitscreen gaming is still so much fun if you have friends.
The "xp" can turn humans in xp-drunk beasts, they do everything to get there hands on xp even if it means cracking the game.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

I kinda gave up Split-Screening with anyone, but my brother. Me and my friends can play on Live now so there isn't much point to have them drive all the way over here just to play a game.

 

[Estocavio]

Multiplayer is one of two things: Interaction or deniability.
If you know what i mean by deniability, you deserve cookies galore

 

[Woodsey]

The problem with multiplayer is that every game apparently has to have it, or else 75% of gamers will say a game's only worth a rent.

Then when you get to the (inevitably shit) multiplayer portion, there aren't enough players around because they're all spread across all the other games with (inevitably shit) multiplayer portions.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Nah, multiplayer is still about the fun and experience with friends. Firstly, a few of my mates still hold Halo 3 splitscreen sessions round at theirs every so often and we all pile round for a laugh. Secondly, it sounds like you're just random game joining, because when I go online to play multiplayer (either MW2 or L4D2) I always try to meet up with some of my friends online because you still get the fun and banter that way. A mate of mine and [user]themrwinkleman[/user] moved down south a while ago and we still keep up in online game lobbies, catching up on news, having a laugh and blasting bad guys. Plus we get introduced (online) to the friends he's made down there, so it's all good.

Try forming a party with online friends before entering the lobbies and you'll find it's a totally different experience, mainly because you and your mates are all grouped onto one team and all the hooting, howling Barbary apes making up the rest of the lobby are on the other team.

 

[Je Suis Ubermonkey]

I wasn't aware that TF2 had levels to go up in, or snotty little 12 year-olds.

My point: You just have to find the right game.

However, the distinct lack of good split-screen options in recent games is annoying. I haven't seen any four player co-op for a while.

 

[Dexiro]

It hasn't lost it's point, it just emphasises the wrong point.

Multiplayer has always had a small dose of competitiveness but at least it was fun. These days it's just about kids getting boners over headshots and squeaking swear words down the mic, the balance of fun/competition has taken a turn for the worst.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

If I'm the only chap on a team of randomer, online seems to lose its entertainment value. Howevr, online multiplayer on a team of four friends... makes for some very fun times. It's easy to have fun and kick ass when you're with friends. Hell, it's easy to have fun and get your ASS KICKED when you're with friends.

 

[thahat]

does anyone else remember when multiplayer meant sitting with 4 mates in the same room on golden gun mode on Goldeneye 64 having a right laugh with each other...?
so i was online today and some snotty little american 12 year old was on his headset saying all manner of insults and things to other players and i just though this isnt even fun, has multiplayer stopped being about having fun with other humans and just become about leveling up?

thoughts please

i know where your coming from, i used to play gears of war 1 co-op split-screen-online against other players with a friend of mine, yet they removed it in gears 2. ( unless you have 2 gold accounts, (HA, like thats going to happen M$, i dont own one, fools! )
made the game lots less fun. you couldent have a lough, save each others ass, shout heeeeeelp and run around in circels ingame while your buddy tried to shotgun an idiot with a chainsaw away from your ass etc.

multiplayer is always more fun wehn you can actualy be near the person doing the playing with you.

 

[bog7metal]

i feel that the future of online fps multiplayer will become more social than the simple mw2 lobby(that everyone rage quits anyway)
to achive this there shoud be penalties for inapropiate behavior like swearing, quiting just because you are losing , or if the game permites betraying your teammates.
halo has such a sistem in which if you quit ot betray your total "xp" will be lowered and you may even get banned.
what you were talking about is the total shit chaos black hole of the multiverse that is random online matchmaking, that its concept is not bad, a simple sistem that analyses who wants to play what, but the shit noob-monkeys that are humans ruin it with their antisocial, retarded, and imature behavior.
in other words if you want to have a 100% fun gaming experience just play with friends.... or play portal(again)

 

[MiracleOfSound]

quiting just because you are losing ,

Quitting because your losing I can forgive, as sometimes in certain games the manner people use to beat you can be very douchey.

 

[wooty]

I'm starting to head down this path of not playing multiplayer, at least away from the PC.

I think it was Halo 3 and Gears that started my growing phobia of online games, theres only so much abuse, homophobia, xenophobia, whining and racism a person can take in one day.

 

[Omikron009]

My friend and I are currently taking turns playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 online, and I can tell you that it's very much about having fun with other people. Having a good game with a good team is fantastic.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

That wasn't the point, that was just the means to the goal, the goal being fun. XP is now the means to the goal, many people have fun unlocking things with said XP.

There are plenty of non XP focused games out there, by the way. So don't get all "Woe is everything" on us.

 

[kidwithxboxlive]

multiplayer WAS about fun and just having a laugh and buring some unvalueable time, but now loads of kids AND adults, (the kids seeming to be about 8 and the adults acting that age) Sure ill admit it ill tart arguments but i don't start them for the sake of it. XP has turned multiplayer into a hell, people ignore the actual game and boost just to "get up a rank and prestige" just like the 10th prestige lobbys which are just utterly pointless. What is the actual point of being the highest rank possible? It wont get you a job, firends or anything... if anything itll lose friends. But that is my oinion, anyone else agree?

 

[Xyliss]

I play splitscreen with my friends and we have fun and have a laugh. When I play online with people I don't know then I'm not playing for the same reasons. So yea, online multiplayer has changed, and it is more about levelling up than the fun. But so long as you don't have your mic on, you can still have fun playing the game on your own and ignoring the other players

 

[bog7metal]

true, quitting is more of a sensitive subject and i do understand your point
but quitting and letting your team one member short(especially in games like halo 3 where after the game start no one can join)is a douche move to

 

[Rednog]

I think the general dicking around that you could do with friends in multiplayer is a dying animal, but that is good and bad. More people want to play competitive multiplayer and that can extend the games multiplayer for hours on end, whereas you dicking around with you friends could last a weekend or two, hell maybe three. But eventually (or in my experience) want to move onto something else and the game gets shelved.
For example I bought 50 Cent Blood in the Sand, and in my opinion it is one of the most hilarious split screen games you can play with another person. Just over the top silliness and you get your money's worth from the game. But after a second play through my friend and I were pretty much done with the game and we moved onto something else. But something like MW2 I think I've logged around 100 hours and I've derived another kind of fun from playing it competitively and if it wasn't for the removal of being able to choose random gametypes each match I would've logged 100 more hours.

It really wasn't a change over night, its just a change of the times. A lot of people played games doing split screen because there was no online multiplayer or not everyone could afford a console/game at home. Hell I remember the obscene hours I spent at LAN centers playing counter strike with like 30 other guys from highschool every other day. And we just dicked around the whole time. But with the availability of home computer and high speed internet those days are gone. And makes me comes to a realization a lot of the fun of playing is that you're playing with people that you know and even if you're losing you can laugh it off with the person that you know who is beating you. But with online multiplayer being pretty anonymous and your odds of meeting those players again it becomes a real hard loss to take and you really can't laugh it off. So it might be that multiplayer really hasn't lost its point at all, but the circumstances around the game have changed how players respond to it.