Poll: Does a game NEED online to be recieved well?

[Hazy]

So heres a question I've been wanting to get off my chest for a while now. Does a game really need online to be a success? But more importantly, does it need online to be accepted by the Consumer? Games like Halo and Call of Duty 4 both offer a fun single player experience, with amazing online. While games like BioShock and the Fallout series both offer Amazing single player experiences, and BioShock even won game of the year without an online feature, and Fallout is still as amazing as it was back in the day. I want an answer straight from the people's mouths, pure and unbiased answers. Do you think online is necessary to a game's success, or not?
(I personally believe that if a game has a good story, atmosphere, and pacing, it can dominate the market without a tacked-on online feature)

 

[Cheesus333]

Fallout 3? It won awards, you know.

 

[Hazy]

Fallout 3? It won awards, you know.

I'm well aware of that, and It rightfully deserves so.

 

[Hippobatman]

No, it's not needed. As you said, Bioshock and Fallout 3 are great games without multiplayer, so I guess you kinda answered your own question.

Of course, a well designed multiplayer feature would certainly enhance the gaming experience. However, I think multiplayer only should be done if you can make it work well, and not just rush the design and slap a "multiplayer feature" sticker on the box.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

There is no answer on the poll that meets my opinion. For SOME games (most FPS), the online component is a key portion of the experience and will probably represent most of the time I spend with the game. With other games like RPG's and RTS games, the online portion may not be necessary at all so long as there is a solid and varied single player experience being offered.

 

[Azazcyh]

I don't care for online if your playing with friends it's ok but playing random people online feels like playing the computer to me.

 

[Fenring]

No. I Gamed for years before I got an internet connection that was able to let me use any game on the web. And you know what? Most of the games I played were great, dare I say spectacular, I list few examples:

Dead Rising: no online, great game, 85 on Metacritic.
The TES games as a series: sure they had DLC and mods, but I played them on a Xbox and later a 360, great games.
Dead Space too, no online, great game, one of my favorite of '08. Sur eit has DLC, but you won't get the best suit in the game if you download it (at least that's what I heard).

Some games are built for online (Counter Strike, Shadowrun, Halo 3), I still enjoy these, but I don't think any game is made worse thanks to online, only better. Sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot.

 

[new_age_reject]

It's not needed.
In fact game developers put too much into the online experience and sometimes neglect the single player/single machine co-op.

 

[Nexus424]

No if games needed online content to be good. Single Player RPG's would have fallen out of style long ago.

They make great games excellent and good games great but they are more an extra push than a necessity.

 

[Hazy]

No, it's not needed. As you said, Bioshock and Fallout 3 are great games without multiplayer, so I guess you kinda answered your own question.

Of course, a well designed multiplayer feature would certainly enhance the gaming experience. However, I think multiplayer only should be done if you can make it work well, and not just rush the design and slap a "multiplayer feature" sticker on the box.

In a way, yes. But many see multiplayer as just an inhancement, and not essential to a game. Thats what I was trying to sort out. If that makes any sense at all (I am very tired at the moment) but some critics are biased (I'm not saying ALL, but alot are{Many of them not mainstream, but indie}) and they make the public think that without multiplayer and online, that a game just isn't worth playing

 

[NeedAUserName]

With this generation, and it easy online access, most good games include some form of multiplayer, the only exception (I can think of right now) is Assassins Creed.

 

[PureChaos]

no game NEEDS to be playable online. if it does go online, like say SSBB does, then great, but if SSBB didn't go online, it wouldn't change my opinion of it at all.

 

[Vincent V]

I like Online, but some of my favourite games don't even have leaderboards. It enhances the experience but it isn't necessary.

 

[RebelRising]

Baldr's Gate, Mass Effect, Jade Empire, Oblivion, endless platformers (Mario and Sonic) and Doom are just a few of the many very successful single-player games. Games like the Total War Series, Age of Empires and Diablo-esque games don't rely on multiplayer to be critical hits and deep experiences.

 

[Hazy]

Baldr's Gate, Mass Effect, Jade Empire, Oblivion, endless platformers (Mario and Sonic) and Doom are just a few of the many very successful single-player games. Games like the Total War Series, Age of Empires and Diablo-esque games don't rely on multiplayer to be critical hits and deep experiences.

Well said, kudos.

 

[sms_117b]

Not needed at all, I prefer single player games

 

[JMeganSnow]

In the majority of games that I play (RPGs), online is annoying and even aggressively senseless because it's hard to play a game with multiple "saviors of the world" or "chosen ones" and still have it make any kind of sense whatsoever. In addition, I don't like to play games with people I don't know and I don't want to waste a bunch of time meeting new people in order to play a game. So I prefer games where the "online" portion is LAN play. Those can be fun, although I tend to lose patience with people who spend 30 minutes standing around organizing their gear.

 

[Signa]

To me, multiplayer is just a crutch for a bad single player experience. This obviously isn't always true, but the only games I really ever want to play mulitplayer are either co-op games like Diablo 2, or games where the computer AI is lacking, and the challenge of a human player makes the game even better. Smash Brothers, Advanced Wars, and Supreme Commander are all great examples of great games that are made better with humans. Really though, the online capabilities of SSBB pissed me off. Sure, I was playing online, but it felt like I was just playing another bot. There was no feel to the human element. So pointless.

 

[Ginge]

Definately not needed, but when it's done well online can give you hours of gameplay and is typically a FPS's best friend, whilst games that offer a full, immersive storyline and a good long run through don't need online at all, i.e. The Last Remnant, Fallout 3 and Oblivion.

Really online playability comes down to genre, FPS's such as COD, GoW and Halo thrive on online multiplayer, whilst racing games offer alot of fun online, but RPG's such as Fallout 3 and Oblivion are such in-depth games that you can get just as much playability out of it offline as you can with many other games online.