Playing video-games alone
Tuesday, May 11, 2010When I was younger I always wanted to play video-games alone, not because I was ashamed to show my burning passion in front of others but more like I thought that they actually interfered with my gaming. But now it might be different… is true gaming bliss only achieved together with friends? Aren’t all kinds of entertainment more enjoyable together with friends? I believe it depends on the game.
Playing video-game with IRL friends
Even though I still play a lot of video-games alone, I spend quite some time arranging LAN-parties with my friends where we bring our current gen consoles and pack together in a small room. We are a tight bunch playing video-games together over a few couple of days. However even though playing with friends is fun, it never is the same tranquil experience as when you play alone. Can you be truly immersed when you have friends that might dictate the pace of the game? Maybe your friends are in the room and even that might cause a disturbance to your immersion. I often think about how great Fallout 3 or The Elder Scrolls : Oblivion would be if there actually existed a co-operative mode, but then again when you have a friend that keeps accidentally sabotaging your soon-to-be stealth kills or keeps rushing the enemy it might not be as fun anymore.
Every gamer plays a game at their own pace, I myself like to take it slow and think things through before rushing into battle others I know like to fight every battle like a brute, taking on loads of enemies with strength alone and without super-clever tactics and preparation.
What is it that makes great single-player games great? and will they really work when a multiplayer/coop-mode is introduced? I have yet to experience a really brilliant co-op experience that excels in every aspect. Most of the time the story ain’t that good, your friend might screw up etc. The most fun I’ve had playing multiplayer and coop games are games with no great super complex story. They are games such as CoD, Earth Defence Force 2017, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Serious Sam, Little Big Planet, Left 4 Dead. All of them lacking in the story-department.
Maybe it’s not a good idea to try to transfer the thing that makes a singleplayer game great, to a multiplayer experience? Maybe we all should accept that multiplayer games will never be as immersive or great as some single-player experiences, and the thing that makes single-player great can’t be transferred into multiplayer. Generally speaking I really like having LAN-parties with my friends, experiencing games together can truly be awesome, but sometimes…the experience of being alone with the big screen in a dark room, a bunch of snacks and a great singleplayer game can be truly blissful.
You can always dream though, about the day you actually get to play a game with a co-operative mode just as dramatic, powerful, immersive and awesome as the best single-player experience you can imagine.
You should play more with me and the gang from Loading.se on Xbox Live!
Yeah I really should!
I’ve always been a more of a single-player gamer even though I do enjoy LAN-parties. But when I’m at a LAN-party, I usually play alone.
Great text, feels like some of the stuff I’ve been thinking about in the past.
I still enjoy playing alone more, depending on the game. Like 3D Dot Game Heroes for a more recent one, I feel it best enjoyed alone. Same with Uncharted 2.
But then again playing Uncharted 2 in multiplayer with a couple of friends has probably been one of the most enjoyable things I’ve done.
I’d like to see more games, that would have multiplayer still let me and my friends take part in a story.
Yeah I would want to see more games letting more people participate in the same story, however most of them so far i pretty weak on the story side, like Borderlands.
@ CHRISTOFFER RADSBY
Yeah, they usually are. But it would be nice with a multiplayer game with a story of a single player game.
Sooner or later someones bound to succeed.