Do You Believe That Games Lose Their Appeal Over Time?

[The 1 2 P]

I'm sorry, but I have to agree with J_Factor here. It seems that games designed specifically for multiplayer gameplay, whether it be on PC or console, simply lose their appeal over time. If they didn't, the fanbase wouldn't die out over time and people wouldn't stop playing them, and sequels wouldn't have to be made.

The problem is that regardless of how many mods people make for the games, or how many fan improvements there are, it all boils down to how long it takes to be playing the same gametypes before the game gets boring. I used to be a big fan of Star Wars Jedi Knight III: Jedi Academy, used to stay up on school nights from 12 to about 2-3 AM playing, and whatever I would play in the daytime. Then one day I just stopped playing it and just didn't go back, the game just lost it's appeal. A new coat of paint is needed every so often so they don't get stale. The problem is, they make each game so similar to the last one in series like this BECAUSE of the online multiplayer to keep the fanbase, that they become stale even if sequels are made. Just look at Call of Duty. That series hasn't been good since the first one came out IMO. There's nothing particularly unique about any of the sequels, nor is there anything particularly fun.

Online multiplayer does nothing for games except give a different kind of social experience with video games. Sure it's nice to be able to play games with your friends without leaving the house, but it only serves to make video games uncreative, boring, and bland. A new sequel simply becomes a means to get the consumer for another $50 for minimal changes. There's no creativity anymore, no reason to make a sequel to a video game that goes in a different direction.

Online multiplayer in video games has and will continue to age horribly. And it still doesn't have shit on the experience of a few friends together in a house playing multiple games. More social, more fun, more exciting. I'll play Blades of Steel 2-player any day over most of the nonsense on XBL or PSN.

Theres nothing wrong with you agreeing with J_Factor but for me multiplayer games get played much more then single player games. Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic was an amazing game that I enjoyed all 42 hours that it took me to play thru it. But once I was finished, despite my fond memories of it I never picked it up again. On the flip side, I bought Halo 2 at the midnight launch back in 2004. And I played it up until the day they ended the original Xbox's online servers last year in 2010. Thats 6 straight years of playing the same game due to online multiplayer. Had it only been single player I probably wouldn't have played it since 2005.

Of course different games are made with different experiences in mind. And while I was specifically talking about online multiplayer from this and last gen, theres still some old school games I can pick up and go back to(like Nes Tetris). But today, because I have over 600 games I'm much more likely to play something with online multiplayer(where human players behave differently then simple AI ones) over an extended period of time then I am to play a single player game after I initially beat it. It doesn't mean I'll never go back to any single player games but they lose their appeal to me not very long after I beat them.