On Multiplayer

[ewhac]

You don't care about winning/losing = you are playing a game and enjoy yourself either way.

Y'know, I'd really love to get to that point. I really would. But how is one supposed to feel after playing as best as you know how and still getting trounced? Over and over again? No matter how hard you try, no matter how much you practice, no matter how much you objectively improve, you still get st0mp3d?

Losing consistently is boring, [ ... ]

I'm glad you think it's boring. I find it depressing when I don't find it teeth-grindingly aggravating.

 

[TerranReaper]

I just have to state an observation.

You love winning and hate losing = poor sport
You don't care about winning but you hate losing = sore loser
You don't care about winning/losing = you are playing a game and enjoy yourself either way.

re I get bored as opposed to his avoid playing a game he sucks at/5 matches at most.

I enjoyed the article as maybe this will show some people that Yahtzee isn't the person to look towards for views on competitive multiplayer if you are not specifically a sore loser. I am sure all the poor sports as well as people that can just enjoy the game have already seen his view as jaded all along in these matters. But I am happy to see this article as perhaps this will show people that Yahtzee's view doesn't speak for all of the gaming community or set some ridiculous bar for the industries standards.

I wouldn't say liking to win and hating to lose makes your a poor sport, because I doubt anyone really enjoys losing as much as they like winning.

OT: I'm one of those people that play competitive multiplayer a lot. I play to win and I enjoy the challenges of competitive multiplayer. A common stereotype against competitive players is that they are all smug bastards who want nothing more than to beat someone is less skilled than they are, but that is a severe misconception, it's practically saying anyone that plays single-player is a "skilless noob" and "too shit to compete". I mean, there are people like that, but saying everyone is like that is just generalizing.

 

[capt.fodder]

"I play games to escape from the misery of daily life, not to feel all pressured from having to prove I'm better at some small meaningless task than some **** in Illinois."

- Matt Hasselbeck approves

 

[Wrath 228]

Generally I only like competitive MP when I can gather up a bunch of friends, but it also depends on the game. The only competitive MP I still consistently play is Battlefield, Red Faction Guerrilla and ArmA. Battlefield is my favorite of the three because it is a nice mix of tactical gameplay and pure action. I have a squad I form with three of my IRL friends, and we kick major ass everytime we play together.

Another reason I like battlefield is that your score isn't solely dependent on your kills. You can go an entire round simply healing/reviving or repairing, or marking targets and the like, and still rank high. Sure, it helps to be able to destroy the enemy, but that doesn't mean crap if your teammates don't back each other up. Games like Call of Duty and Halo never seem to foster teamwork, at least not often enough to warrant me wanting to play them for any length of time (although strangely I find myself still drawn to CoD 4, the high point of the series IMO).

On the other hand, however, I adore co-op gaming.

 

[Fuhjem]

So I guess I'm a **** now.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Yahtzee doesn't hate multiplayer, he just hates you.

If the Mirror Image spell were real, then we could all play multiplayer by ourselves. Oh for lack of real magic. I don't like playing with other people too.

 

[Togs]

Bravo Yahtzee I agree whole heartedly- loosing sucks and winning just makes people around you try harder to make you loose

 

[Jackel86]

You should give Killing Floor a try. It's good survival co-op fun, and it's pretty cheap on Steam.

And I completely agree. Competitive multiplayer is too stressful. The challenge to fun ratio is a little skewed for me. Co-op, on the other hand, is probably the most fun game experience to me (except when my teammates are pants-on-head retarded).

 

[General Vagueness]

"And this all paints a picture of one thing: that I don't hate multiplayer in itself, I just hate competitive multiplayer."

That makes sense, but it also makes it harder to understand why you didn't make any consideration of Firefight in Halo: Reach-- I won't argue any other points about the game, but I feel completely leaving a segment out like that runs counter to the trend of completeness that ZP has followed for every game except 2 or 3.
On a related note, for what it's worth, I like competitive multiplayer and I don't feel any real pressure to do well in it-- when I win, I smile, I say "good game", and I move on, and I don't usually get upset when I'm beaten, even by a whole lot, I just say "good game" and move on.

So I guess I'm a **** now.

now?

 

[Unesh52]

This guy's opinion on multiplayer was about the only thing I totally disagreed with him on. Now that he's clarified it, and even seemingly retracted it a bit, we're back on the same page.

I have the opposite of what he has though. I don't mind loosing, but winning makes me feel like a pro. That's why I loved introducing people to Guitar Hero back in High School. They got their panties wet over completing a song on medium, and then I'd come in and ace a solo on Expert, leaving a crowd of slackened jaws in my wake. It was very rewarding.

The only thing that pisses me off in multiplayer is not being able to play. That's why COD gets on my tits so much. It's not getting owned (though sometimes it is when some idiot picks up the bomb and just sits there camping), it's going 24 and 2 in Free for All and then getting disconnected from the server. Instant ragequit. Must be my router.

Incidentally, I much prefer co-op to competitive play if I'm with people I know. With strangers, I'd rather just murder you.

 

[garagnoir]

I understand how you feel. I on the other hand am a very competitive sort, but I come from the days where when you won you gave the other guy a pat on the back and said good job, not teabagged him and proclaimed his mother to be a worthless whore. There's a difference between being competitive and being a total douche bag is what I'm trying to say, and unfortunately it seems to be lost on todays 'youth'. I don't mind losing, especially if it's a hard fought contest, but these 'kids' make me want to reach through my monitor and choke them until their eyeballs pop out of their skull. But, I'm trying to start a revolution of good sportsmanship, and even when faced with Captain I R Doucheington of the USS Total Knob Gobbler I remain calm and polite and simply say "Good Job".

Join the Revolution!

 

[Flauros]

Of course, noones sadder the Sadpants Mcgee....

 

[sketchesofpayne]

Yes, there needs to be a bigger push in the industry for cooperative multiplayer content. I want to play games WITH my friends not AGAINST me friends.

 

[samaugsch]

Listen, not wanting to hang out on xbox live doesn't make you a saddo. Its a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Here is a cool story: I dont like multiplayer with people I dont know because the jerk to normal person ratio is way too high. I dont like playing competitive multiplayer against my friends because I want to stay friends. So that leaves me with coop multiplayer with friends. And I have had some of my best and most memorable gaming experiences playing coop with friends. I dont think this is actually that uncommon.

Cool story, bro. (see what I did there?)

 

[DaHero]

Yahtzee, I'm officially a fan of yours now. I'll be adding this article to my bookmarks so I can send it to all those people in my "friends" list when they ask me to join a CoD game.

I'm tired of competitive multiplayer too, but I'm also good at it. With almost every FPS game I've played I generally have a 2.0 K/D ratio so you think I would enjoy games like BlackOps, but I hate them...every time I die it feels like another failure and I finally got sick of it.

On a side note: Does anyone here want to play some PC co-op stuff? I have a ton of games (mostly RPGs but a few FPS games as well) and would love someone that can think about what they're doing when they play and don't cuss up a storm for no random reason.

I understand how you feel. I on the other hand am a very competitive sort, but I come from the days where when you won you gave the other guy a pat on the back and said good job, not teabagged him and proclaimed his mother to be a worthless whore. There's a difference between being competitive and being a total douche bag is what I'm trying to say, and unfortunately it seems to be lost on todays 'youth'. I don't mind losing, especially if it's a hard fought contest, but these 'kids' make me want to reach through my monitor and choke them until their eyeballs pop out of their skull. But, I'm trying to start a revolution of good sportsmanship, and even when faced with Captain I R Doucheington of the USS Total Knob Gobbler I remain calm and polite and simply say "Good Job".

Join the Revolution!

This too, just saying...

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I think this is the first thing that i have read/seen from you that i completely agree with. i do not despise multiplayer, hell i love it, but i despice that annoying overly competitive part of it, to the point that i wont buy entire games that are based off of it.

good article though overall.

 

[Jumplion]

I'm the same way, really. I don't mind playing Co-op in games, and in certain games I love it, but I tend to stop playing competitive multiplayer games after a few weeks. I just get burned out from it and stop playing, waiting for the next game to try multiplayer at.

 

[mikespoff]

Good article. And my position is similar - I really enjoy co-op multiplayer (in RTS or shooters, etc), but competitive multiplayer just doesn't hold much appeal.