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Modern Multiplayer Games
14 years ago
This is what I want: An easily accessible multiplayer game which can be fun for both casual players and hardcore players (or at least have a community that isn't overbearing to one side or the other). A game that doesn't leech your time just to progress. A game that has social aspects. I want to have fun with the friends I care about and not have to deal with ones I don't.
I've been a moderate gamer for years and years (much like many of you, I am sure), stuck between the casual players of today (those crazy people who play farmville and other facebook games) and those hardcore gamers who spend countless hours on CS:S or WoW.
Problem is, I guess I don't know where I fit in the gaming community anymore.
Here's my story:
I think the most fun I ever had was with consoles down in the basements of my friends in highschool playing Perfect Dark and Super smash bros. We tacked countless hours on those games, knew all the maps by heart, and stayed up late into the night on the weekends playing the same game over and over.
Today, in comparison, I find a game loses its luster after one or two playthroughs. Even just looking at those coop games like L4D, Borderlands, and Dead Island (which I think I've already started to lose interest in after only finishing chapter 2). Even with friends, it's like you're just running through the motions. Spinning your wheels. Maybe I was just easier to please as a kid?
I'll admit, I've played a lot of TF2. It doesn't need new maps or content to be entertaining. It caters to casual and pro players because of its comical style and the fact that it doesn't really take itself seriously most of the time. You can have fun even if you're losing (if you're not necessarily trying to win.)
Maybe THAT is what is missing. Games emphasize WINNING over FUN. Everything has to be either serious - no bugs, no issues, no goofs, no gimmicks, nothing that can ruin your chance of winning... or it removes the winning aspect altogether and just gives you goal after goal to achieve on an endless path to oblivion. God forbid someone joins a battlefield game to fuck around in a helicopter and try to land on people's heads before getting blown to bits. Or play starcraft just to see how fast they can build a base full of sentry turrets and how long it takes the enemy to crunch through them all. Maybe those trolls you find in game servers are actually trying to have fun in a game that otherwise is just a mindless competition.
I guess I'm just a little frustrated lately. I see these new games coming up, read about them, get into the hype.. and then fall flat on my face after dolling out 50 bucks. The community of gamers is ruining it the games for me. Problem is, you can't play social games without a community - else the game doesnt have a multiplayer.. and unless you want to try to find a small group of people who ALWAYS like to play the same games together as they come out, you're going to have to play with people who are going to call you out for trying to enjoy yourself.
Such is the life of modern multiplayer games, I suppose.
PS: Please don't use this as an opportunity to suggest games to me. I'm just venting.
I've been a moderate gamer for years and years (much like many of you, I am sure), stuck between the casual players of today (those crazy people who play farmville and other facebook games) and those hardcore gamers who spend countless hours on CS:S or WoW.
Problem is, I guess I don't know where I fit in the gaming community anymore.
Here's my story:
I think the most fun I ever had was with consoles down in the basements of my friends in highschool playing Perfect Dark and Super smash bros. We tacked countless hours on those games, knew all the maps by heart, and stayed up late into the night on the weekends playing the same game over and over.
Today, in comparison, I find a game loses its luster after one or two playthroughs. Even just looking at those coop games like L4D, Borderlands, and Dead Island (which I think I've already started to lose interest in after only finishing chapter 2). Even with friends, it's like you're just running through the motions. Spinning your wheels. Maybe I was just easier to please as a kid?
I'll admit, I've played a lot of TF2. It doesn't need new maps or content to be entertaining. It caters to casual and pro players because of its comical style and the fact that it doesn't really take itself seriously most of the time. You can have fun even if you're losing (if you're not necessarily trying to win.)
Maybe THAT is what is missing. Games emphasize WINNING over FUN. Everything has to be either serious - no bugs, no issues, no goofs, no gimmicks, nothing that can ruin your chance of winning... or it removes the winning aspect altogether and just gives you goal after goal to achieve on an endless path to oblivion. God forbid someone joins a battlefield game to fuck around in a helicopter and try to land on people's heads before getting blown to bits. Or play starcraft just to see how fast they can build a base full of sentry turrets and how long it takes the enemy to crunch through them all. Maybe those trolls you find in game servers are actually trying to have fun in a game that otherwise is just a mindless competition.
I guess I'm just a little frustrated lately. I see these new games coming up, read about them, get into the hype.. and then fall flat on my face after dolling out 50 bucks. The community of gamers is ruining it the games for me. Problem is, you can't play social games without a community - else the game doesnt have a multiplayer.. and unless you want to try to find a small group of people who ALWAYS like to play the same games together as they come out, you're going to have to play with people who are going to call you out for trying to enjoy yourself.
Such is the life of modern multiplayer games, I suppose.
PS: Please don't use this as an opportunity to suggest games to me. I'm just venting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O2l.....eature=related
One point you made which is very true, though, is that you most likely -were- far more easy to please as a child. I think that's pretty much the one reason people have so much fond nostalgia with Nintendo/Sega, until they actually go back and play the games.
rofl just tossing that out there...
Yes, a virtual reality WOW projected into our reality, that's just what we all need.
oh noes!!
You're right, though.
Friends is really what makes a ya or na these days, without ya mates games are simply just meh.
Speaking of which, EOD Bot races anyone? :v
Those were fun times. Sad not many still play it.
I think what's changed is the gaming community, honestly. Most people just suck to play with.
HOWEVER I remember the good ol starcraft days. Me and my friend had two comps set up in two different rooms. We communicated with the intercom and joined these ridiculu 7v1comp matches. We would remain allied. However the game would continue if you didn't click a ally victory option. Oh the mind games we would play. Some game matches would last for hours as we accused all the other players eventually taking out the remaining three or four depending on their forces. So much rage over a stupid thing to do in order to boost up your V L status.
I'd play with you at TF2 anytime. I might call you a newb 1 time or 2, but I'm sure I'll have some fun. ^'===='^;;
Yes, I like winning. But over the last few years, I've learn the hard way that we can't always win, and team, full of newbs or not, is your team anyway and you have to support it... even if you wish to be on the other team. :E
Oh, and I'm searching for someone to buy the Portal 2 - Two Pack with. Portal 2 is 50% off today and tomorrow. It's even cheaper if you buy the Two Pack. Yes, I'm cheap like that. XD;
Can't wait until SSB4 comes out, hopefully next year.
If this game had a better online mode I would play online every day.
I was so happy when they made it available via Live Arcade.
Thanks for reminding me of that game, I'm going to have to dig out the N64.
Then I kill enough people to rack up two emergency air drops (which are four care packages each) and throw them at once, combined with all my care packages and sentry gun drops.
The kicker?
I throw them at the enemy team and try to kill people with the care package drops.
Chaos ensues.
Just examples that I've noticed over and over again: When you die, you sit out for the rest of the round. I don't mind if I'm sitting out for ~15 seconds, but sitting out for 3 minutes? If I wanted to watch other people play the game, I'd watch a stream on justin.tv! The mechanic of dying shouldn't be so penalizing, especially in games where you can die in the blink of an eye.
You defeat a boss, you find a random legendary shiny sword! Awesome! You try and equip it. Nope! You don't have enough common sense to pick up that sword. Really? Even if using the sword is impractical for your class, why should you not be able to use it? It's just so unintuitive.
I could go on and on, but yes, I agree that the industry needs some changes and I really hope that I game like Guild Wars 2 will do that.
Try something else if u are too bored. Select a game, a character from it and make fanart :) I actually think that's a way to retrieve a gaming spark ^^ worked for me!
Left 4 dead and, left 4 dead 2.
Both are multi player or single player co-op with levels to suit casual gaming Chuck Norris style, though to hardcore getting your guts ripped out. its certainly fun if youre chatting to your team mates via voice chat as the game always brings up hilarious situations and achievements that are...well achievable. levels are well thought out and have massive replay ability with DLC always coming out.
I play it via Steam and im always up for a bit of zombie slaughtering. Steam name is Wyvern sieyes.
and im really missing out, ive never been to a proper LAN party.
I know exactly how you feel though. I used to play WoW and it was fun when everyone was exploring and trying to figure out how to play. But once people starting falling into the formula, and raids and dungeons became SRS BUSINESS(the game design really gives you no other choice) I quickly found myself becoming an outcast. I wanted to have fun and hack at some baddies, not dedicate myself to some sort of intense sport. Jumping into dungeon finder should be cool, but people are all GOGOGOGO, and everything is a grind. It really is about how many tokens or how many achievements on can stack up in a night, and not as much about fun anymore. Completing your tier set or dungeon achievement category becomes a replacement for setting your real life goals and that's just sad. I haven't played much outside of MMOs but I get the feeling its that way in many other games, too.
Besides... that asshole camping/ganking you is infuriating over the shroud of the internet, but it becomes hilarious and you stop taking it so seriously when you can jump him and give him a noogie cuz he's on your couch. xD Because its just a game and in the end, those achievement points mean nothing. It just time to have fun! THat's the feeling modern ganes are neglecting.
And grammar. I REALLY miss grammar, it's lacking in multiplayer communities.
If I ever release a game with multiplayer, you get damage for every grammar or spelling error you type in the in-game chat, and you die whenever you say something asinine :P
fun you say? |:3c
And yeah, I so dislike this behaviour of you joining a game and get yelled at and right away like "report you", because you just started to play and you don't know that stone's name on the edge of this map by its name and you don't follow the static path and execution on this map. I do understand people want to win, that's fine, but stop hating on everybody who is new to the game, seriously. It's such an awful behaviour, that turns off any new player. Act like this with the real trolls.
But hey, it's a general de-(e)volution of the game industry. Most games are not good anymore, it really is more uncommon to rare to find a true good game anymore. I'm glad they still exist and I'm glad indie games still thrive and flourish. But I'll find myself often to play retro games again, because they were simply superior to most games on the market today.
With that in mind, I find these days I get a lot more pleasure out of indy games than I do full priced ones. It's mostly because they go try a few new things or they go back to old roots. They also design for fun "usually" rather than for the most pixels or polygons? I dunno, I honestly enjoy it a lot.
Games specifically you might like? Multiplayer? Meh, right now I know me and the folks at my office are digging around for this and we can't honestly find it right now, at least not on the PC. Console wise, you might want to try Crimson Alliance for the Xbox, or Renegade Ops? I personally suggest finding a friend to invite over and play all the way through "Lara Croft, Guardian of Light." I thought it would be lame, but holy cow is it a lot of fun and engaging. My brother and I had a real blast with it.
Another fun and more of a thinker's game is Frozen Synapse. It's not very action packed though.
Hrm =/ other than that, I'm kinda dry at the moment. My time finds itself more into arts and crafts when I get home from the job.
and city of heroes since i'm tired of most MMO's, it lets me play with anyone of any level and I always like making characters and stuff.
They make a lot more money than gamers and dress real hip, and drive cars gamers WISH they could drive. That's it.
Steam sort of shakes it up giving some independents a market, and I think in their little way, they are successful. It's better than not having Steam, I think. I'm not fully convinced at my own words here, but I think they're an idea that if better run, better implemented, more true to its potential, could be … fantastic?
It's really about the content and delivery with them. They're kinda sputtering and choking just like steamPUNK there.
I'm not going to speak too ill of one gaming corporation however - Nintendo. Some decades back, they just made Hanafuda cards (sp). Now look at their empire. It's hard to run through a shopping mall without seeing some kid with a Mario or Pokémon aftermarket something with them - article of clothing or accessory. Same with Hello Kitty and other Japanese imported fads, yes - but still, Nintendo I'd say is a corporation that would not be here if they kept making duds and not producing things that a reasonable fraction of their customers liked. So, maybe this fraction are their Japanese market and doesn't translate to other countries always. Still, they are right up there in gaming with Microsoft and Xbox imo, software and hardware… Where are Microsoft's handhelds and all the software for them? All the millions sold? Windows on cell phones maybe?
Nintendo might see that the Wii needs to do true 3D and hook up to 3D televisions, therefore go to true HD resolution, and there we'll have something a lot more awesome and immersive. It's possible. Time will tell, since technology tends to develop faster and make the same computing power cheaper as we move along… Something 4x as powerful as a Wii can be 2x cheaper today probably… maybe already was a year or two ago!
I just hate how becoming main stream has ruined games both regarding the players in these games and the construct of the games themselves.