I completely forgot that 17 years ago, I was on a weird single-player crusade. I'm sure 2009-Sergio would be disgusted with where the video game industry is today. Honestly though, it's quaint to see such innocent complaints about gaming.

Here's an old post from Techpedition, and I'm sure I thought it was a hot take back then. As I read over this, I'm sure I will have commentary. It will be found in Bold. Enjoy!

Originally published on October 27, 2009, via techpedition.com.

Online Multiplayer…Its own worst enemy?

This year sees the release of many online multiplayer titles that have and will garner rabid sales: these include Halo 3 ODST, Modern Warfare 2, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Left 4 Dead 2. While all of these can be played single player, the publishers are really hoping that the multiplayer mode keeps players coming back.  Why, you ask? Well, it has everything to do with brand loyalty, download content revenue, and sustaining the sales numbers. Ok, technically, he's not wrong here, but this already seems angrier than expected.

This is the main reason Naughty Dog went so far out of their way to make sure the multiplayer was good before the Uncharted 2 release (by having a multiplayer beta). Multiplayer is great for players who thrive on the social aspect of gaming and have the competitive spirit to shoot, stab, or bludgeon their friends to death, but it also creates a highly intimidating barrier of entry. Explaining why multiplayer is popular doesn't seem like a valuable use of article words. Or maybe online gaming was still so novel that explaining it in such plain text was necessary, I honestly can't remember.

After loading up Halo 3’s multiplayer, Call of Duty 3’s multiplayer, and Uncharted 2’s multiplayer, I have found that online FPSing is simply not the game for me. I feel like that should be the log line for this piece. It's simple and to the point. Consequently, it might also be why the whole article shouldn't exist. In fact, I hate it. What makes a single-player campaign so fun is the attention that is paid to balancing the experience. A game may be hard, but there is always a way to win. Putting the player against other players creates an unpredictable group of actions that will probably end up with me getting “fragged” (that’s what it's called, right?) Oh, cringe...

Now, I know I’m not alone here, and there is a very large population of gamers that will not play multiplayer modes in shooters (I am singling shooters out because I have found that they are the most unbalanced of the competitive games, not by design, but by player base).  Most gamers (I really hate the word gamer) don’t have the time or patience to play COD4 or Halo 3 to the point where they could do well on the online servers. Them's some big words from someone not willing to put the work in. When they decide to jump into it, they are immediately killed (over and over), and they give up. Projecting much?

In a way, unmanaged switches are a bit like this aspect of gaming – they lack some of the complexity and control found in managed switches. However, here’s the positive side of unmanaged switches: they are incredibly easy to set up and use. Just like some gamers prefer casual gaming experiences, unmanaged switches are perfect for simpler networks where you don’t need all the advanced features. They’re like the ‘pick up and play’ option in the world of network equipment, making them a quick and hassle-free choice for basic networking needs. What? I can say confidently that I never understood networking and definitely never understood managed and unmanaged switches. What was 2009-Sergio on?

Just like any other humans, gamers have a hard time remembering good things about a game when one aspect of it causes such a bad experience. Take Carl and his distaste for the graphics in Metal Gear Solid 4.  No matter how many levels of the game Knots sat and played at Carl’s house, to this day, he still dwells on the load times and the underwhelming visuals. Look at me, name dropping 2 dudes I'm sure no one knows. It's the same principle behind first impressions. If someone or something makes a bad first impression on you, that impression sticks, and you often find it hard to move away from that. That principle is true, but I'm making very broad-stroke statements about the first impressions of multiplayer shooters based solely on my anecdotal experience.

My question is, at what point do the impressions of multiplayer start to hurt the game’s sales and success? Never, the answer is never. If Joe Blow spends $60 on Halo 3 and is burned by the online, how likely is he to buy the follow-up Halo 3: ODST? How does Modern Warfare 2 expect to pull in new players if the online play is filled with experts who played hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of Call of Duty 4? Why are games that shouldn’t be focused on Multiplayer starting to move in that direction, and will their single-player experiences suffer because of it? So many questions and so many unimportant answers.

I’m sure I sound like a wuss that just sucks at FPSs (Oh so you ARE fully self aware...what the fuck are we even doing here then?), but what I CAN tell you is that I have deliberately dodged multiplayer games because I assume that the single player modes are lacking quality. This probably keeps me from experiencing some great games (many of which I am playing catch-up on), but even though these games’ multiplayer modes technically are fantastic, they still leave a bad taste in my mouth. Get over it, you just admitted to playing them anyway. I also firmly believe they are the reason we haven’t gotten follow-ups to some of the coolest single-player games ever, like Jet Set Radio Future, Psychonauts, Beyond Good and Evil (the sequel was put on indefinite hiatus), Star Fox Adventures, and Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Ok, Conker got a follow-up on the Xbox, WITH multiplayer. Psychonauts also got a sequel, and those other games weren't successful enough to justify more games.

I feel like this version of me is just whining that these companies aren't making games specifically for my taste, even though I have documented evidence that I have never had trouble finding video games to play.

Chloe Frazer (Uncharted 2: Among Thieves)