I used to like multiplayer back when there was a larger community element. Now no one uses their mic and the lobby changes every match so I’m basically just playing against bots anyway.
Reject modernity, embrace tradition - we’ll still be there for you in the arena and boomer shooter crowd, and of course, various Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2 lobbies.
Come prepared.
Back when servers were hosted and you had a little community of maybe 200 people who would cycle in and out.
A few friends and I are planning a 90s lan. Simple rules like no games published after 2001-08-23, no internet, only self-hosted servers, and all shit talking must be out loud. Also shit talking must be kid safe since we’re all old and have kids old enough to be competent but young enough we don’t want to teach them the true art of shit talking.
My kids are teenagers now. Teaching them the true art of shit-talking has been a pleasure.
My youngest kicking my ass at every fucking game we play has not been.
This is their personal preference and has nothing to do with their generation
As an “elder Millennial,” who do you think drove traffic on WoW, Half Life, Halo, COD, etc?
Sports are an example of where I need multiplayer. The only way they can make Madden against the computer hard is by making opponents just arbitrarily blow through tackles, making (bad) opposing QBs have magic awareness of the field and silly accuracy, etc.
Playing other humans online allows a level playing field (well, if I didn’t use the Patriots this year) and makes the chess match of play calling actually meaningful. I can disguise my looks and mix up play calls and have it actually cause confusion, instead of having the computer complete unaware of context.
Also humans are much more interesting due to the variability of styles. Like bots tend to become predictable, as would be the case if you played the same humans every time…but having different humans makes the competition much more entertaining.
I’d love to get my variety from a franchise mode. Unfortunately, while the actual football sim is clearly and consistently progressing, all their game mode investment is into Ultimate Team trash.
But there’s just no middle ground on difficulty. All Pro is a cakewalk and All Madden has to cheat hard. Until they manage to get the AI to an advanced enough level, people are the only way I can play.
Most other stuff the AI works better. Stuff like Sniper Elite (on a completely unrelated note, the way they use the PS5 triggers is insanely satisfying), you can make extremely interesting with simpler, rule based decision trees because of the freedom you have to set up maps and encounters to use them effectively. Sports are just so constrained and high precision that “accurate” AI would involve 22 players on the field considering the play call, the history of play calls, the game situation, the traits (or at least archetypes) of every other player on the field, etc. It’s a lot more challenging than most people recognize.
I just don’t like hyper competitive games. I don’t have time to get frustrated.
I like single player games where I have the option to change things I don’t like via mods or console commands.
Like competitive games, but I don’t like overly competitive people. At the end of the day, win or lose, it’s still a video game and it should be fun. Competitive games with friends who understand that and don’t get tilted can be great fun, even when you’re on a losing streak.
I don’t mind competitive games, just not the crazy competitive ones. TF2 is a great example - fun, casual, PvP. Tarkov is probably my least favorite - hyper competitive, huge losses if you die, big incentive to cheat.
It’s a shame that Tarkov is what it is, because I love shooters and it’s probably the best of them, mechanics wise.
Just dropping in, in case you haven’t heard about it: Single player Tarkov exists, and is very fun! It obviously won’t have the same reactions and interactions as humans, but they’re emulated pretty damn well with some additional mods.
There is PVE Tarkov now. You have the option to play with other people in your team. But only if you want to. Don’t know what they ask for it atm.
Like competitive games, but I don’t like overly competitive people.
I wish competitive games did a better job not only matching people of similar skill, but similar personalities. I know it’s just a bunch of pixels and numbers in a screen, why do you keep pairing me with these chuds that have no emotional maturity?
Some games have an option to search for a like-minded party type and it really should be a standard option.
The best games of Counter-Strike (the old one, before CSGO) I ever played were with friends in pub matches. Competitive is fun, but 32 player poolday? That’s the best experience you can have.
Now I’m all about co-op games or single player. I’ve been top scorer in FPS’, I know it’s a thrill, but it’s not as fun as losing with your friends.
Started out on my Dad’s Atari 2600, and other than PvE WoW and a couple odd games, I never bothered with multiplayer as most apparently know it. The few times I set my flag to PvP in WoW taught me all I needed to know about it.
I was the opposite. I started playing wow not realizing there were different servers and just joined the one my buddy was on…when I got to the pvp point I realized that I couldn’t attack the horde players and was like “wtf is this shit?” And rerolled onto a pvp server. Lol
