Is multiplayer ruining the single player experience in gaming?
Is multiplayer ruining the single player experience in gaming?
14 Dec 2009
by
The Sea Trout
So while doing my usual rounds on the various gaming forums out there, I came across a post on the UK Playstation forums from one guy telling gamers to enjoy their gaming now, as gaming as we know it is coming to an end. Shocked was I to learn that he was talking about multiplayer modes in upcoming games.
He was in particular referring to Bioshock 2, Dead Space 2 and the Tomb Raider series. Now all these games have had very impressive single player experiences and all have came forward and said they are adding multiplayer modes to their next titles in their respective franchises.
Now the question here is, do games like these, with solid single player backgrounds really need multiplayer modes? The guy on the Playstation forums was of the firm opinion that they didn’t, according to him these games were now ruined, and basically gaming as a whole was going to be ruined as multiplayer was taking over, and surprisingly he had a lot of support for his opinion.
My personal opinion in this matter is no, games like Bioshock and Dead Space did not need a multiplayer mode added to them but to be honest what is the harm in it? As long as the single player experience isn’t affected or watered down in any way then what is the harm of having the multiplayer there? At the end of the day, if you don’t want the multiplayer, then you don’t have to play it. I mean I am not going to go home tonight, stick Uncharted 2 in the PS3 and try to play a single player game only for a message to pop up and say “Ha ha you cant play single player, you have to play multiplayer!” It just isn’t going to happen is it.
And then let’s look at the Uncharted series for a minute here. Uncharted Drakes Fortune had an absolutely fantastic singe player experience, and had no multiplayer, Uncharted 2 comes along and takes Uncharted 1’s single player, pumps it full of steroids and adrenaline and then sets it loose but wait, it also had a multiplayer mode. And the multiplayer mode wasn’t just thrown in as a second thought, it was well thought out and plays fantastically and Naughty Dog have really supported it since the game launched, point here being that not only does Uncharted 2 have an awesome single player, but a solid multiplayer as well and it all started from an original game that had no multiplayer.
So no, not all games need a multiplayer mode, but if developers want to add one and as long as it doesn’t affect the single player experience, bring it on is what I say.
