On Multiplayer

[DObs]

MW2 multiplayer is really just one long grind, the inclusion of levels, exp and unlocks means even if you lose your still gaining something which keeps ppl coming back again and again much like a small child following a trail of cookies. Its a lot more like an MMO experience than a true multiplayer player one (by that i mean where there needs to be some sort of teamplay a la L4D or borderlands) just a bunch of ppl in one arena scrambling over each other to get the next ding. Its strangly compelling but ultimately useless. Im sure it would be a lot more fun if you actually had a team made up entirely of your friends and you had some sort of group strat but in %99.99 of MW2 matches this isnt the case.

IMO theres needs to be a clear definition. To me a multiplayer game requires team work and coordination, MW2 doesnt require this. Its more a Group game, a bunch of ppl that just happen to be in the same place all trying to achieve different objectives irrelavant of the other ppl around them.

p.s i always wondered if one of the reasons IW ditched the dedicated servers on PC is to stop ppl creating crazy levels. In the original MW i often came across a 32vs32 map which was a simple square and everyone spawned in the corners, it was complete chaos but you could easily get 50+ kills in the minute or so the level lasted and quickly power through a few levels and achievements/accolades im sure the time spent maxing a char is relative to the time spent before ppl stop playing.

 

[Akai Shizuku]

I don't remember the last time I read an article that mirrored how I feel so well.

 

[ucciolord1]

This is so great...

 

[Avatar Roku]

snip

Huh. I thought that was perhaps the weakest of the five points he provided. I've met seriously decent people online. Yahtzee's cynicism seems to extend far beyond my own. I can't really say I'm surprised though.

And was it just me or was the article conspicuously lacking in any discussion of non-online multiplayer?

Lucky you. I haven't met a decent/nice person online. Just people yelling [add any "insult"]

If you game on a 360, feel free to look me up (or, since I'll be watching Code Geass for the next week, some of my friends, like Black Lincon or NoMoreSanity). Gaming online is a lot more fun with friends.

 

[sgtshock]

The first two points are perfectly valid, and there's some truth to the other ones (people can most definitely be shit), but pretending that multiplayer is an inconsequential addition to games because there is no new content seems arrogant to me. That's like saying you're bored of baseball/football/cricket/etc. because it's always played on the same old field. There doesn't have to be new content to have new experiences. And if you need to feel like you need to achieve some trivial award in order for a game to be worthwhile, then in my opinion, you're gaming for the wrong reasons.

And your 4th point confused me. You're trying to say it's wrong to focus on multiplayer because it can be unreliable? To go back with the sports analogy, that's like saying a baseball bat is a bad investment because you never know when you'll be able to play with someone. Yeah, there are times when finding a game is difficult, but that doesn't mean games shouldn't be allowed to have multiplayer as a main selling point. (And besides, can't single player games be unreliable too? STALKER didn't need to be connected to a server to be buggy as hell.)

I understand that finding servers can be difficult in Australia, but that shouldn't stop you. And I know that people are bastards on the internet, but remember that almost all games today have a mute button for a reason.

 

[Srkkl]

This is my thoughts exactly on multi-player, however I do have fun online on Modern Warfare 2 I understand that I have to play for myself, or spec ops with my bro(he's in college so it's still internet). I was personally dissapointed in games like Halo3 that might as well scrapped the single player all together. And I always hate multi-players that don't have bots, I miss Timesplitters: Future Perfect.

 

[zenoaugustus]

I thought I liked playing online against other people as I like testing myself, at the same time, it loses its fun after countless times of replay. And nearly all of Yahtzee's points were true. I wouldn't say that people are shit or fuckwads. I'm sure that was just for a laugh or two, but people who play online can tend to be cowardly. When you are losing you can swear and act tough and quit the game because you are so cool. But are you really cool if you do that? To me it shows that you are afraid to lose or to see your stats fall. And I will admit, I have ragequitted. But I try not to. I try to calm myself and rise to the challenge.

Anyways, good article Yahtzee. I agree with most of it.

 

[SomeUnregPunk]

3. Because there's nothing more to see.

I stoically disagree. Any campaign has a finite experience. Multiplayer has an infinite one. Nothing ever happens the same way twice. WoW shouldn't be used in this argument since other people aren't necessarily essential to the experience. Yahtzee got to level 58 by killing bots, not people.

I have to disagree with you on that point. while playing MW1 on the xbox I have gotten kill streaks just by sitting in one place and killing the same bunch of idiots that ran around the same corner. I finally got killed when one of them realized that if they run around the other way they could get me easily.

I have been easily able to kill people with grenades because they always react the same way and follow the near same route as before. I usually feel like I'm playing really bad AI in multi-player games. On the tanker map, I had a shotgun and I just waited in one spot. One guy would run past me, then the others would follow and then I'd kill them all from behind. I did it twice in that game before the match ended.

There is a finite experience to be found in multiplayer games. If there was an infinite one, then we wouldn't have griefers.

 

[Tharticus]

Good article. Anything that involves online play always involve online players who are assholes.

If all games focus as a multiplayer, then video games aren't a social thing after all. However, if developers are saying multiplayer is a excuse for a single player game that can be completed within 6 hours, there's something wrong there.

And by fun, everyone has one from stomping goombas to FPS by shooting people's crotches for the lulz... Oh wait, that's why everyone shouts obsceneries when some plays multiplayers.

 

[sunpop]

I saw this article coming and it had to be said. This is why I hate halo because bungee not only stopped making games like ONI but also focused on multiplayer.

I did however find a solution to at least one online fuckward and that is my brother. He doesn't know it but I have this magical ability to connect to my router from my computer and can easily disconnect him whenever I please. So once I get sick of his yelling in the other room I simply boot his ass from the internet.

 

[tehbeard]

I have to agree with the aussie on points 4 and 5.

point 5 especially. It is annoying as hell to have to smack a 200 button combo to mute every squeeky voiced 10 yr old in the lobby.

But the reward of multiplayer is there if you can find normals out there (they do exist). think 12 player throwing knife fights on MW2 or H3 rocket race.

edit:

I did however find a solution to at least one online fuckward and that is my brother. He doesn't know it but I have this magical ability to connect to my router from my computer and can easily disconnect him whenever I please. So once I get sick of his yelling in the other room I simply boot his ass from the internet.

Thank god i'm not the only one doing this.

 

[Silk_Sk]

3. Because there's nothing more to see.

I stoically disagree. Any campaign has a finite experience. Multiplayer has an infinite one. Nothing ever happens the same way twice. WoW shouldn't be used in this argument since other people aren't necessarily essential to the experience. Yahtzee got to level 58 by killing bots, not people.

I have to disagree with you on that point. while playing MW1 on the xbox I have gotten kill streaks just by sitting in one place and killing the same bunch of idiots that ran around the same corner. I finally got killed when one of them realized that if they run around the other way they could get me easily.

I have been easily able to kill people with grenades because they always react the same way and follow the near same route as before. I usually feel like I'm playing really bad AI in multi-player games. On the tanker map, I had a shotgun and I just waited in one spot. One guy would run past me, then the others would follow and then I'd kill them all from behind. I did it twice in that game before the match ended.

There is a finite experience to be found in multiplayer games. If there was an infinite one, then we wouldn't have griefers.

But they weren't AI. That's the point. They were thinking humans acting stupidly and you took advantage. That kind of gameplay would be slow and unstimulating if they really were bad AI. But those are humans who are having human reactions to getting punk'd over and over. Sure they're being idiots but who doesn't enjoy picking on idiots?

Now, would those strategies have worked on AI? Probably not, because there would be no reason to use them. If it were in the campaign, that would happen every single time you played the missing without variation. Humans may be predictable but they do learn.

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

Good points. Especially that last one, very Machiavellian. Wait a minute, did I just congratulate you for indirectly calling me a fuckwad?

Anyways, while I agree with most of what you said, I have to say that I find fault in your main theme. If I am correct, this article is supposed to be a defense of why you don't review multiplayer components in Zero Punctuation. While stating things like bad server connection are perfectly acceptable reasons, personal distaste for online multiplayer does not excuse you from reviewing it. Why? Because, as you said, you are a professional games critic. It is your job to give a game the most thorough inspection you can, and then deliver your verdict. Don't just say that you don't play online multiplayer because you don't like it- play it, give an objective analysis, and then tell us that you don't like it (or maybe, surprise, surprise, that you do like it!). After all, you played Halo 3 knowing full well that you wouldn't like it.

 

[Dhatz]

my reasons why not to multiplay: you always know what you are at when it's offline and you can get to know the characters, while online that would be very if the other wasn't your cousin.

 

[Karloff]

Re: point 1.

When I was into TF2, I was living in Bermuda. The net was excellent but of course there were no local servers. Thanks to some ungodly time zone quirk, I ended up playing against Australians more often than not. God alone knows why; they must have been about to go to bed just as I was getting up in the morning. It was always a lot more fun to play against them. The American server population was a pain in the ass to deal with and the UK were a bit too random, but the Aussies were good gamers and generally seemed to have a better ratio of normal human beings to assholes.

Pity there aren't more people like that.

 

[The Noble Shade]

Why Yahtzee, you ordinary person, this is why you hate multiplayer, beause you can't come to terms to face yourself?

I kid. I fully agree with you. I actually enjoy multiplayer in games, but I always enjoy the campaign more. That's why I never bought Halo.

 

[Alux]

The only real comment I can make is one that was mentioned only briefly before, that Team Fortress 2 is still kickass, despite it being online only.

It seems only logical, really; most games suck and most people suck, therefore most online games where you are forced to interact with people must suck.

 

[GeneralGrant]

It depends. There are many games I buy purely for the single player-such as the Total War series and most RPGs. Then there are games I bought for multiplayer-Warcraft 3, Call of Duty, Starcraft, and, obviously, any MMO. Personally I find online multiplayer to be a great boon in most regards-it greatly increases the life of many games if done well. I logged in probably two thousand hours of Warcraft 3 online, if not more. That's a lot of value for the price I paid. In comparison, I played Mass Effect twice and it gave me maybe 50-60 hours.

As for arguing that multiplayer is pointless because you're just doing the same thing a lot, I can't disagree more. The entire point of playing against people is that people are unpredictable and, in most cases, far more capable than any AI bot that isn't cheating. In all those hours of Warcraft 3, there were no games that played out the same way.

 

[camazotz]

Oh this post was pure gold! I am 100% in agreement with you, Yahtzee. Hell, I recently was given a copy of Section 8, which I immediately turned in and exchanged for Far Cry 2 and Prototype, much better deals.

I played COD 4 for the single player, and I'll play MW2 for the single player. I have a mximum quotient of fuckwaddery in my diet, and that is usually exceeded about 5 hours in to my work day; I don't need more of it at home!

 

[Flamezdudes]

TOTALLY Agree with you Yahtzee. Most of the gamers in my school only play games if it has multiplayer and hardly care for the Single player, it's just stupid in my opinion. Plus, they're all FPS fanboys.