Online multiplayer is ruining our enjoyment of video games.

Of course, everyone will immediately think ''WTF is wrong with you A-hole!'', but lets take a look at this assertion. I will use the ever-controversial Halo asthe example.The first Halo was one of the best multiplayer experiences I ever had. Almost everytime I got the chance,I would get together with other friends and we would have a great time while playing 2v2 CTF on Blood Gulch, or slayer on Hang 'em High. Then, after a couple years of much fun, Halo 2 came out. The advent of online multiplayer took away all incentives to get together with friends to play. We all sat at home on our lazy asses and played by ourselves. Sure, we played with each other, but talking through a mic is very different from chatting with someone right next to you. The ''fun'' of the game had been lost.Another example could be DoTA. I was first introduced to this game by several friends, and we all met up at an internet cafe where we would just play this game over and over again. It, like Halo, would become one of the defining moments of my gaming career as we slowly moved out of the internet cafe and started hosting our own LANs. Eventually, my friends got bored with it and moved on to better things but I stuck back and played (usually by myslef) on Bnet. Needless to say, much of the fun had been drained away.The point is, that playing multiplayer matches with your friends present in the same room provides for a much better gaming experience than any online game. Unfortunately, humans are intuitively lazy and would much rather just stay at home to play online. Multiplayer over the internet should be removed from games to ensure a more enjoyable experience for all.Of course, there are many people who love to be competitive and ''own'' their fellow gamers. I am sure that this demographic would be quite dissappointed if online gaming was taken away from them. However, the removal of online gaming would simply spur many more real-life tournaments, where players can socially interact with others, have a good time doing so, take out the comptetition, and, possibly winning some sweet prizes. The amount of tournaments held around the globe would surely increase.It is obvious that many gamers are seen as nerds or geeks in today's society. Ignorant fools simply think we are losers whostay at home all day and live a virtual life instead of a real one. If gamers started having more and more LANs and left their own house to play with friends, people will slowly start to see that gaming is, in actuality, a social experience and we could get rid of that despicable label forever.Finally, there is another important factor to consider in online gaming: griefers. They think its their job to make our lives as miserable as possible. This results in a frustrating experience which we are all familiar with. Playing multiplayer with no A-holes, no teamkillers, no spammers, and no cheaters is fascinating.Online multiplayer is ruining our enjoyment of video games.
That's actually the one advantage that Nintendo's method of online play offers. Friend codes, while often inconvenient due cut down on the a-hole factor you run across in other online games. Then again when you have friends like mine you're pretty much screwed no matter what.Online multiplayer is ruining our enjoyment of video games.
[QUOTE=''Robio_basic'']That's actually the one advantage that Nintendo's method of online play offers. Friend codes, while often inconvenient due cut down on the a-hole factor you run across in other online games. Then again when you have friends like mine you're pretty much screwed no matter what.[/QUOTE]I'd say the friend-code system has the disadvantages of both online and offline multiplayer--you have to coordinate with people to meet up online, but you're not even live in the same room. Does the Wii even have voice chat?

The key is to play with people you know and not take it too seriously.
I wouldn't go so far as to say it is ruining gameplay. Of course you have A-holes anywhere, but taht is inherent in any form of socializing.
That's your opinion. I personally love online gaming. I don't care if people think gamers are losers. I won't stop playing it just to show them wrong. Online also doesn't prevent you from playing with friends, that's a choice. How can you blame you being lazy and not getting together to play on the devs offering online play? So you think it's their fault for giving us a choice? They should've forced us to play together, right? The devs gave us another choice, it's your decision to play on the internet or play with friends. If you choose the former and ruin your game experience, well that's b/c of your decision, not the devs fault.I honestly don't see anything in your post except the last one that makes online bad. It seems like you're just someone who's too lazy with friends that are too lazy to get together and that's why you lost alot of fun. But instead of blaming yourself for it, you're blaming it on the online mode.
Online gaming can make developers lazy as Halo 2 proves. You have a decent multiplayer system, but the isngleplayer quality is chucked up.I do agree it's better to play with friends, however... If you are just too good at a game none of your friends have played, playing it becomes rather boring. Online allows you to meet gamers that give you challenge or are at your level.If you really want social interaction in gaming, go play a board game or card game. Most of them are easy to play, so that each person has a fair shot at winning.As for games being nerdy or geeky... Those terms are pointless. They simply mean someone who is interested in something. Maybe your friend is a cargeek, maybe your other friend is a foodgeek. It becomes redundant, because most everything has something they are into. So then you wouldn't use that term anyway.Virtual worlds? Unless you live in some farm, you will have access to the PC. It's not the minority anymore. The internet is taking over everyone. So really, call me a nerd for using the computer? Then you might as well call America nerdy.As for people who do things like D%26D or whatever. Good for them. They have vivid imaginations. If you need some graphic to help you see a monster, then that just means you aren't creative.
I think online multiplayer is great and have alot of fun with it myself. I don't really care about running into jerks online since I don't take them seriously so I still enjoy playing the game anyway. It's not the game's fault if people get too lazy and stop playing multiplayer offline. I'm glad the option is there to do both.
[QUOTE=''trifecta_basic'']The key is to play with people you know and not take it too seriously.[/QUOTE] Exactly.
I'm from the old school. I hate multiplayer online. I'd much rather play with a friend in the same room and experience the same joys of winning and sorrows of defeat as he (I'd say she, but no girl I know personally plays games) does. Some of the best times I've had playing video games revolves around playing Contra or Life Force with my cousin or River City Ransom with my best friend growing up. But then again, I guess with online multiplayer you can meet friends you have never met in real life and play new games... although I'd recommend only playing with friends you know, as a lot of people out there are jerks and/or too serious and don't play for fun.
Dude you are completely right about not chillin with friends but you can still chill and play online
[QUOTE=''manningbowl135''] That's your opinion. I personally love online gaming. I don't care if people think gamers are losers. I won't stop playing it just to show them wrong. Online also doesn't prevent you from playing with friends, that's a choice. How can you blame you being lazy and not getting together to play on the devs offering online play? So you think it's their fault for giving us a choice? They should've forced us to play together, right? The devs gave us another choice, it's your decision to play on the internet or play with friends. If you choose the former and ruin your game experience, well that's b/c of your decision, not the devs fault.I honestly don't see anything in your post except the last one that makes online bad. It seems like you're just someone who's too lazy with friends that are too lazy to get together and that's why you lost alot of fun. But instead of blaming yourself for it, you're blaming it on the online mode.[/QUOTE] I am not just talking about myself here, I am talking about the entire community of gamers. The removal of online games, as I mentioned, would spawn alot more large-scale LANs all over the place, where dozens of fellow gamers could get together and socialize in real life. We all love online gaming of course, but who wouldn't rather be LANning with a bunch of people who understood you? I realize that it doesn't prevent you from playing with friends, but it takes away an incentive. Imagine, if you will, a world in which you could drive five minutes to go to a huge LAN with a bunch of gamers who knew as much as you did about games. You could have fun playing games while debating controversial industry related topics with your mouth and speech instead of your writing. This fictional world can not be made possible with online multiplayer, because no one is willing to go through this much trouble when they could be sitting on their counch playing with people they have never met and will never meet again.
[QUOTE=''Revelade''] Online gaming can make developers lazy as Halo 2 proves. You have a decent multiplayer system, but the isngleplayer quality is chucked up.I do agree it's better to play with friends, however... If you are just too good at a game none of your friends have played, playing it becomes rather boring. Online allows you to meet gamers that give you challenge or are at your level.If you really want social interaction in gaming, go play a board game or card game. Most of them are easy to play, so that each person has a fair shot at winning.As for games being nerdy or geeky... Those terms are pointless. They simply mean someone who is interested in something. Maybe your friend is a cargeek, maybe your other friend is a foodgeek. It becomes redundant, because most everything has something they are into. So then you wouldn't use that term anyway.Virtual worlds? Unless you live in some farm, you will have access to the PC. It's not the minority anymore. The internet is taking over everyone. So really, call me a nerd for using the computer? Then you might as well call America nerdy.As for people who do things like D%26D or whatever. Good for them. They have vivid imaginations. If you need some graphic to help you see a monster, then that just means you aren't creative.[/QUOTE] Unfortunately, card games and board games do not provide nearly the amount of immersion that a video game does. This begs the question, why do we play games? A common answer would be to escape reality (kind of like LSD) and enter a world of your own fancy. Face the facts: reality sucks, its just a grind of the same things over and over again and sometimes we need an escape. Board and card games do not provide us with this escape; I played MTG as a child, and it was not nearly as fun/immersive as a video game. Please do not use card/board games as an excuse to not improve our beloved concept of ''gaming''.You do, however, bring up a good point regarding the challenge level, but it really isn't too difficult to make fair teams with a group of four. That is not something you need to worry about though, because the extinction of online gaming would once again give players the incentive to host massive LANs, where team balance wouldn't be a problem.Finally, you assert that I am not creative because I don't play D%26D? There is no need to respond to that logical fallacy (strawman argument, aka Ad Hominem).
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Online is the place where you realize the size of the world and realize that there will always be someone better than you (as well as worse). The competitiveness of online play is a major factor that keeps people playing. There is no better way to get better at a game than online play, where the tricks and strategies are nearly unlimited with the millions of gamers out there.Of course, there is no greater gaming joy in the world than to play with friends side by side, laughing and fighting together(or against) in realtime. That's a huge limitation to online play that is virtually impossible to solve.So either challenge the world to brush up your skills and be recognized worldwide, or challenge your friends to have an experience that online play can never match.
Not taking griefers seriously is great advice, but they are hard to ignore when, in many circumstances, they have the ability to completely drain the fun out of a match.
Without Online, I would have never purchased my 360
[QUOTE=''Link1x3''] Online is the place where you realize the size of the world and realize that there will always be someone better than you (as well as worse). The competitiveness of online play is a major factor that keeps people playing. There is no better way to get better at a game than online play, where the tricks and strategies are nearly unlimited with the millions of gamers out there.Of course, there is no greater gaming joy in the world than to play with friends side by side, laughing and fighting together(or against) in realtime. That's a huge limitation to online play that is virtually impossible to solve.So either challenge the world to brush up your skills and be recognized worldwide, or challenge your friends to have an experience that online play can never match.[/QUOTE] The lesson that ''there is always someone better than us'' was ingrained into our heads in elementary school, we do not need games to teach us this valuable lesson.You go on to talk about pro gaming, and a large demographic of the gaming community try to be ''the best player ever'' in specific games. They will get that chance, by going to small, local tournaments, and eventually moving themselves up until the hopefuls may one day reach some major gaming event such as WCG. Of course, their skill level wouldn't be as high in this situation, but their opponents are in the same boat. Let me give you an example: the skill range ofWCG combatantswho play online all day and practice might range from 90-100. On the other hand, without online games, their skill range might be from 50-60. In real life, this difference would go unnoticed and someone passionate about a game could be ''best in the world'' with a skill level of 60 because everyone else is around 50 or something.
[QUOTE=''HuntersPrey'']Without Online, I would have never purchased my 360[/QUOTE] What I am trying to debate about here transcends the fanboyism of ''system wars''. Here, it does not matter what system you own or love.
All i said was, without online i would never have bought a 360. rearanged, it can also say 'Without Online, I would have never bought my system'. I didnt say Xbox Live was better or anything. I just proposed that the only reason I bought 'my system', otherwise known as an Xbox 360, was because of online multiplayer. Its something I love and I dont think it degrades any part of the game.