On Multiplayer

[Sethzard]

I play competitive multiplayer, but mostly with my friends, or left for dead, but even then that is partially co-operative. It can be fun on occasion, but playing the same maps over and over in quite a short period of time gets boring quickly so I take a break for a while.

 

[Banter]

Same stance as you, I just don't bother with competitive multiplayer. I don't need to prove anything to anyone in the virtual space.

It's the opposite. People who play competitive multiplayer are the real saddos, wasting >200 hours on the same repetitive gameplay.

Since they don't share the same opinions on fun this defines them as saddos/having no-life/rejects of some kind..?
Everyone has different views on what they want to do for fun, that's why there are so many different ways to entertain oneself; different tastes are everywhere.

If there is a winner and a loser in this, I'd say the winner is the person doing what they want to do for fun, the loser is the one who gets caught up about how they don't agree with someone else on what is fun.

 

[Wolfram23]

"Half competitive" I like that. I kind of feel the same way. I played a decent amount of MW2 online and while I occasionally was first, I only really felt bad if I was last (or just getting killed a LOT). Basically if I had at least an positive KDR (even by just 1) I was fairly satisfied... I also used to play WoW. There were times when I would go on PVP streaks. Mostly tho it was just to get a really good piece of blue gear or two then move on to lvl 10 more times and do it again (ie: lvl 19, 29, 39 etc).

I was never really into Arenas. I did a few random matches with a variety of people but rarely anyone good so it was mostly just to get a few points and go home lol. I mostly liked the smaller group PVE stuff. Too bad it got so boring.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

I think it was a random NPC from No One Lives Forever

+1 Coolness points for that quote.

I think I can tolerate most people - working in retail does that to you - but someone screaming "IS THIS ON? CAN YOU GUYS HEAR ME?" or mouthbreathers or "YOU **** **** **** **** ***** *** *** **** ***"....

Nah, that's when I go singleplayer.

I was just thinking about No One Lives Forever yesterday - some of the conversations NPCs have in that game were so funny that it hurt (annnnd now I want to go play it again, blast it all).

As for why I generally don't play any form of competitive multiplayer (with certain limited exceptions like the occasional round of PvP in Guild Wars), I don't think it's that I don't enjoy competition so much as that's simply not the reason I play games. Speaking from experience, winning a hard fought match in Heroes' Ascent is bloody exhilarating, but also exhausting and often frustrating... and after a while the novelty wears off and the nagging little notion that I'm not actually "accomplishing anything" (even if I am technically making some bar somewhere get larger) kicks in. There's just rarely any sort of narrative urgency to competitive multiplayer - most varieties are virtually narrative-free diversions (as attempts to provide competitive multiplayer experiences with a plot are usually laughably bad simply because that almost never makes any damn sense once you examine what the players are actually doing in game).

Without that narrative urgency, the sense of accomplishment I might derive from completing some comparatively far less "exciting" activity on the single-player side of things is absent, and the time spent in multiplayer matches feels like time I've spent just messing around - everything is transitory and ephemeral, victory leads only to a furtherance of eternal conflict. In a nutshell, the issue I have with competitive multiplayer is that it ultimately doesn't have any point beyond "winning", and while I like to win I am not compelled to do so.

 

[domicius]

I feel the same way about competitive multiplayer. Good post.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

I agree completely. I cannot stand competitive games. Hell, any situation where people are sizing each other up at all times just drains my enjoyment out of anything. This is why I could never even consider getting Starcraft 2. Well, I suppose the main reason for that was due to my preference for less hectic and fast-paced RTS, but couple that with the fact that a good chunk of my friends own the game. Just owning Starcraft 2 to enjoy the main campaign wouldn't be enough since I just know I would get so many people telling me to get on battle.net.

 

[knight56]

I as an Illinoisan take offense to this article.

 

[vxicepickxv]

I'm not really big on competitive multiplayer myself. I used to play Dark Age of Camelot. One of the methods of progression was called Realm Rank. The only way to get realm points to advance your realm rank was PvP. I don't do so hot against other people. I played a healer to avoid having to kill other players. It's just not something I do.

Now that they've changed the game as much as they have, I can't find the information I want, if I decide to go back to it. They dropped all kinds of servers, so I can't get the info I need. I still have my account, but it's not active anymore.

I wonder if anybody knows when they combined Mordred and Gaheris, did they just drop all the PvP from Gaheris, or is it now a PvP server?

 

[ReverendJ]

Never got into MMORPGs, but I am newly addicted (the last two years or so) to multiplayer FPSs, which is damn near only competitive. Being a loser in real life helps take some of the sting off of getting whupped on constantly, but the wonderful thing about, say, TF2 is that EVERYONE'S constantly dying. As long as you take someone with ya, it's a-ok. That said, I'm not going to blame anyone if that's not their bag, I just wish Yahtzee would occasionally say something about multiplayer that isn't "GAMES MUST STAND ON SINGLE PLAYER ALONE RAAAAAAHRRR." Not that I'm going to complain about this fellow who does such fine work, and entertains me weekly for free.

Oh, and I *HATE* global-only leaderboards too. BC2 won't even rank me, cuz I'm a noob and thousands of people have been playing for so long there's no room for me.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I figured as much.
I'm the same; not too fussed about winning and losing bugs me.

 

[Jumwa]

Well said on competitive multiplayer. Expresses my own feelings very well.

When it comes down to it, I'd rather win with my friends than win against them (or anyone for that matter). Top it off with the fact that losing at anything is just frustrating and interrupts my feeling of progression and enjoyment, and competitive multiplayer isn't for me.

 

[vxicepickxv]

Competitive multiplayer is fine if you are all atleast slightly equal. Then it comes down to skill and tactics. One reason i hated and left WOW was high level assholes that would goad you into attacking them. Or just kiss your ass and wait for you to come back to your corpse. Had this happen so many times i quit the game. Competition is good, but bullying someone that can not hope to beat you is pathetic and ruins the fun of the game.

That's how it works on the old Dark Age server I was on. Except they just played a numbers game. When you're side is outnumbered then you need more skill. The lowest ratio I ever saw was 2.1 to 1. The third team was generally 2.8 to 1. Basically we were outnumbered almost 5 to 1. It does not make for a good experience when you need more skill because you've got lower numbers.

 

[lozfoe444]

I only really enjoy competative multiplayer if the person I'm facing is at an equal skill level.
If he's too good, then I lose, which I don't enjoy.
If he's not good, then there's no fun in beating him. And I actually kind of feel bad for him.

 

[Fightgarr]

Thanks for this, Yahtzee. I feel fairly similar in most cases. When I'm competing against my friends on the same couch as me and I can say some exaggerated statement about how awesome I am, or something regarding "my dick" and "their mum", then I can garner some enjoyment for a couple of hours. On the other hand, getting my ass handed to me by people I don't who, who will unironically use the same aforementioned statements, it's simply like playing a less fun, ridiculing version of the game, for me. Single player and well-implemented co-op are certainly the way to go, for me. Now excuse me, I have to go beat Castle Crashers (again... for like the 12th time) with my roommate.

 

[Unia]

You are not alone in this, Mr. Croshaw. Competition brings out the worst in people, both online and offline. I never got the common compulsion to talk trash, regardless of whether you're winning or losing. If somebody gets overly abusive with me, they'll have one less person to play with. What does that accomplish?

Strangely, the most fun I've had in an mmorpg was getting wiped with a party of people that didn't really give a damn.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

For the time being i've decided to stick to single player games like New Vegas because playing online in games like COD tend to make me feel uneasy knowing that every player i come across will do anything in their willpower to win wether its actually playing to their skill or cheating/glitching.

 

[TPiddy]

Amen..... amen to that! I have been known to take in some competitive multi-player every so often, but I absolutely love co-op multi-player. Firefight, horde, left 4 dead, all of that kind of stuff has been fantastic. I only wish I could find an experience like it in the RPG realm.

Two Worlds II has 8 player online co-op, and quite frankly, I think that's enough. I hate MMO's because too many people make you feel totally insignificant. A team with a max of 8 or so makes it so that you still get the multi-player aspect, but you're more of a team with specialized roles. Like Team Fortress, but with dragons.

 

[A Curious Fellow]

Well, that finally explains it.
Thanks, Yahtz. Hopefully the fanboys will leave you alone now.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA yeah right.

Still though, this is very introspective and enlightening. Thanks Mr. Croshaw.

 

[SilverUchiha]

I would just like to point out that I did mention the idea Yahtzee might not like competitive multiplayer but he does seem to like L4D and a few other mentionable titles in some obscure thread a while back when the topic came up.

OT: I'm in complete agreement with this one. I've played competitive multiplayer and co-op and I vastly prefer playing co-op while competitive gets really boring really fast.

 

[Loonerinoes]

That "half-competitive" streak...yep...I think I've got that too oftentimes. Just enough to make you care about losing, but not enough for you to really love winning - it can really be ugly and once identified the best thing to do is to not indulge in it at all.

And personal bests should indeed *always* be tracked. Nice article.