Am I the only one who hates online?

[Ridley30]

Sorry for the quick rant, but I hate online gaming. No, let me change that: I don't hate online gaming, I hate the fact that most reviewers on sites take AWAY points because a game doesn't have online capabilities. Take, for instance, Black. It's a single-person game only. So what? That's why I bought it. Same with Half-Life 2 on Xbox. I guess my question is why is that a negative? Battlefield doens't get ripped a new one for no single player modes. I just despise magazines (Arrggh! Game Informer!) that drop a score because there is no multiplayer or online. They did that specificially on HL-2. Am I alone on this?

[JWKobayashi]

While I enjoy online gaming, I don't think that it's a requirement for games.

However, if there is multiplayer that could have obviously benefited from being online, I'd like them to point that out.

I don't think it should affect the score at all, but it's nice to read about that aspect in the review.

[THATinkjar]

I, too, wish there wasn't such emphasis placed on multiplayer, especially when it comes to reviewing a game. It makes developers feel as if they have to tack on a cheap multiplayer component.

Which is ultimately taking time away from their main focus, the single player portion of the game. Which could then suffer a little, and not be as good as it could have been.

Some games just don't need multiplayer.

[c0ldb33r]

I rarely like online gaming. I hate online FPSs. I don't care for MMORPGs, although I do have a couple Guild Wars characters.

Right now the only games I play online are Mariokart DS and Tetris DS. I don't mind Mariokart online, but it's not as fun as having 4 people in your living room. One time in university, we borrowed a school projector, hooked it up to a gamecube in a small classroom, had 4 wavebirds and played some GIANT mariokart multiplayer. There were like 8 of us. now THAT was fun. Wifi just can't compete with real people.

Tetris DS is pretty fun, but it'd still be fantastic without wifi mode.

[OldSchoolGamer]

I will be very pissed if online becomes the requirement for games. First let me state "I get it" when it comes to online.
However I truly enjoy / prefer offline mode much more. I just like a story in a game to unfold at my own pace and am impressed by good story telling and the unexpected, I am not impressed by online unexpected events that have to do with fellow players just acting stupid or being jerks in general not to mention cheaters, lag etc. So to be clear, I certainly don't "Hate" online (I consider that a strong word) and I certainly am not adverse to partaking in online modes and activity but I truly would hate it if the single player concept were to become the secondary focus or eliminated all together!

[nik]

Offline play is great... but online adds a huge replay value, I hate it when games end and I can't do anything with them afterwards, especially ones with great stories.

[pacmanhat]

I'm not crazy about online gaming either. It usually isn't the games themselves as much as it is the players. There are just so many assholes that play games online...it has soured the experience significantly. When it's with folks I know well, usually it's tolarable, though. What really bothers me lately is the large amount of 360 games that seem to require that you play online in order to get a decent gamerscore. But I'm sure I'm in the minority on that.

[Tan]

It usually isn't the games themselves as much as it is the players. There are just so many assholes that play games online...it has soured the experience significantly

i agree, if i get into a multi game it's with friends on teamspeak against whoever drops in, or we raid a server, with a clan it's even better because it's a scheduled match with something on the line, so less chance of dicks who cheat, suicide etc. dropping into a server by yourself typing text and lone-wolfing it gets old fast.

[Wrestlemaniac]

I just don't care for online gaming at all, and will never play that way, i don't see any reason to do so....

what's so fun about playing with other people you don't even know ? to me, that's about as much fun as playing against the computer.

Playing against/with friends could be fun, however, i think it's pathetic that some people seem to be glued behind they're computer lately, i had 2 very good friends, we met every week, most times wednesday after school and then again saturday, from the snes era all the way 'till the ps2,then, the online thing started to get bigger and bigger and now, i rarely ever see them anymore.

granted,we just drifted away from each other due to other things as well ( they still study, while i am working for 2 years now,and i spend more time/money on wrestling these days then on games etc....) , but that shouldn't be a reason to not see each other anymore right ?

friend nr 1 is addicted to final fantasy, he plays it all the time online, and friend nr 2 is a FPS fanatic.

so ok, i just don't like either genre, i like almost every genre except those 2....the funny thing is that i talk to them on msn all the time and the subject of gaming comes up a lot, and yet they admit that they also miss those good old days of being togheter and having fun with simple games such as bomberman,mario kart, even just playing mario world and such games, each of us a level taking turns, or beat em ups etc.....yet whenever i suggest we should have a "reunion" kinda thing, with those old school games we could play again and new ones i just know we would have a blast with, they say " yeah really, we should" , but i've been suggesting that for like 3 years now and they just can't get theyre asses from behind those pc screens.....

in fact one of them came over recently to do a intervieuw about pro-wrestling and how i got into it and what's so fun about it ,it was for something in his school, he's going into the media/writing world later, so after we finished his work, we played some games, just simple games, some mario kart DD, worms blast, metal slug on his ps2 etc...time just flew by and we had a blast, it was like we were kids again for that 1 evening.....infact i was pretty convinced he "opened up" his eyes again and saw how much fun it was/is to just be togheter and play simple games, instead of the online crap he's playing, and that he'd drop by again more frequently, yet here we are, he's glued behind his pc again.

My point is, online gaming killed the good old tradition of being togheter and playing games, it made the gaming world anti-social in my opinion, and theres much to many focus on it.

sad,but it will only get worse i'm afraid.

[n8littlefield]

I actually never liked online gaming because my only exposure to them were things like Unreal Tourney and other more competitive games.

However, I do love a round of online Monopoly or iSketch, and recently found that Tetris DS online is right up my alley. I think it's all about the community, and I think I just prefer the friendlier games.

Afterall, if you were playing someone in real life, and they acted as ridiculously as the XboxLive kiddies do, you'd never allow them in your house again !

[norkusa]

Offline play is great... but online adds a huge replay value, I hate it when games end and I can't do anything with them afterwards, especially ones with great stories.

Well said, nik. I would have traded my copy of Halo 2 in *MONTHS* ago if it didn't have online multiplayer. Some games simply need it or else they get stale quickly. Like FPS and sports titles.

Having online multiplayer on fighters is essential too. Playing Street Fighter Anniversary Collection on PS2 was a complete bore until the Xbox version came out with Live play.

[Iron Draggon]

Online is fine if it makes sense for the game, but otherwise there's no point in having it just for the sake of having it.

It makes ALOT of sense for racing games, and it makes quite a bit of sense for FPS's and RPG's and other types of combat oriented games, but there really isn't any reason to have it in any other type of game. Multiplayer is enough.

But what I really hate is games that are online only. I'd really like to play City of Heroes and City of Villains, but not when I'm forced to buy a subscription just to play it at all.

If they want to deduct points for stuff like that, they should deduct points when there's no single player element at all, and the only way to play is to pay to play online.

[mr_nihilism]

Online is the future in that it's where the money will be. Publishers know this and it's the magazine's job to hype it and practically force feed it down your throat.

[c0ldb33r]

I just remembered one online-only game I used to LOVE!

It was callled Subspace. It was like asteroids but with 3d looking ships and you attacked other ships in bases, got flags, etc... It was a blast!

I think it's now called Continuum and is free.

[sabre2922]

It usually isn't the games themselves as much as it is the players. There are just so many assholes that play games online...it has soured the experience significantly

i agree, if i get into a multi game it's with friends on teamspeak against whoever drops in, or we raid a server, with a clan it's even better because it's a scheduled match with something on the line, so less chance of dicks who cheat, suicide etc. dropping into a server by yourself typing text and lone-wolfing it gets old fast.

Agreed

I couldnt care less about online gaming to be completely honest and yes I "get it" but I have tried it both with a new PC -now a year old - and on PS2 with many different types of games from FPS to RTS games and I was NOT impressed with what online gaming had to offer I even tried Evercrack for a few months and all I can say is

Give me a great single player experience (MGS,Silent Hill,RE4.Elderscroll,ICO -i could go on-) game or a kick as 2 player fighter (Tekken 5,Capcom vs. SNK2) anyday before some overblown overhyped shallow halfbaked clan overun FPS/MMORPG.

Sure "online is the future" and all that but once the great single player games are gone I will leave gaming forever but I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

I will go online with the Revo once I get one but that will only be for the Virtual Machine/console content.

[Rockman Neo]

Xbox Live is overrated. Why would I want to pay a monthly fee for that crap? I want to play games, not listen to a bunch of autistic 8-year-olds with too much money and time on their hands screaming at their parents. I can take a 2-hour drive to New Jersey for that.

As c0ldbeer mentioned, nothing can beat a Friday night with three of your friends, playing Mario Kart while sipping Dr. Pepper from collosal martini glasses (yes, I have huge martini glasses. They're bigger than my freaking Xbox!).

[stressboy]

I have a real love/hate relationship with online gaming, in that sometimes I love it, and sometimes I despise it. I also think most games do not need a multiplayer option to be fun, but some games could possibly benefit from it. I also like MMO's and they take up too much of my game time.

Since about July of 2003, there has only been about 2 or 3 months where I was not subscribed to a MMORPG. Everquest, Anarchy Online, WoW, and now CoH/CoV. In each of those games, I played solo classes and would go off and do my own thing most of the time, and then group when needed. All too often I find that when I do interact with other players, the experience would leave me wanting to tear out my eyelids with a paper clip. All too often it seems the worst parts of someones personality comes out when they are safely behind a computer screen. Another thing about playing solo classes is it does not make me rely on other people in order to play. While others would sit and wait for a group for a few hours, I would go off and hunt on my own. One of the reasons I left EQ was because the solo opportunities at the higher levels was dropping, and I was getting sick of spending a few hours looking for a group, getting a group, and then watching it disband 5 minutes later because someone had to go, or because some dumbshit went off to kill something we could not handle. WoW was great because while I solo'd most of the time, I was in a guild with good people who were nice to talk to while I was off killing demons.

As much fun as I often find a good MMO, it can never replace a good single player game for me. I know people who will not buy a game unless it has a multiplayer option, and that is fine for them, but not every game has to have a multiplayer option. I have seen people slam Shadow of the Colossus for not have multiplayer options. That is just ridiculous. I could also not see games like Ico, KOTOR, Jak and Daxter, Metroid Prime, or Digital Devil Saga being fun online. It would take away from both the story and the gameplay, plus it would make you have to rely on others to play the game, assuming they didn't leave the single player intact.

One game that could possibly benefit from some multiplayer is Oblivion. Not as an MMO, but if you could grab a few friends and wander the countryside killing things, yeah, that would be fun.

This post was a total mess, but fuck it. I didn't get much sleep last night

[slip81]

Wifi just can't compete with real people.

Isn't Wi-Fi real people? But I know what you mean, nothing beats 4 people huddled around a tv blasting each other to bits in GoldenEye.

I also don't like how a lot of reviews take away points for not having an online component. I enjoy playing online, but if the game is solid enough without online deathmatch or whatever, then so be it.

[unwinddesign]

I think the main problem with online functionality is that it's straight up broken in a lot of games. Halo 2, it's brilliant. However, it was undone by a legion of people who were hell bent on fucking it over. I being one of them at one point in time.

On the other hand, you have stuff like G.R.A.W. It randomly drops me from matches, it's a pain in the ass to find a match, the interface is cumbersome, and it's just not very well implemented at all. It's fun when it works, but it won't work half the time. :\

My favorite games to play online are on the PC. Age of Empires III/Mythology -- two hours matches are the stuff that classics are made out of. Nothing else comes close.

[Gamereviewgod]

Xbox Live is overrated. Why would I want to pay a monthly fee for that crap?

If you want to, go ahead. You'll pay about 60% less when you pay for a year, and this is the exact kind of comment you'll get when you have someone who hasn't used it.

It's not meant to replace play with friends, but it's not always easy to organize them all at once either. You have 24 hour a day access to real people.

not listen to a bunch of autistic 8-year-olds with too much money and time on their hands screaming at their parents.

Then play against your friends list, or the DP nights.