[Looking Glass]

Geezer you bring up another great point, one that I was even going to make a separate topic for, that of peoples opinions regarding Single Player gaming vs Multiplayer gaming.

I waited for quite a while until I eventually gave in, to buying World of Warcraft. At first I did not want it, as having to buy a game, and then pay "rent", was not something you would normally do for a game you have just bought, but the 5 million subscribers couldn't be wrong could they? So I finally gave in and purchased it.

It was my first MMORPG and ironically it's also going to be my last. My time with WOW didn't last more than 1 week. I didn't get it then, and I still don't get it now... how can people get addicted to a game that treats you like an errand boy? Kill 5 wolves, skins 10 boars ... etc.

I got so bored just running from one area to another to do an errand that I do not see the appeal of the game. Perhaps its the social aspect, but the fact that you spend more time running around than doing anything else is just insane.

It's funny really, I actually needed to waste money and purchase WOW in order for me to be a "better gamer," with regards to me not falling so easily for hype now days and to make more worthwhile purchases. I know I will never fall for a game that has me paying a monthly fee to play it again, if all games finally do move in that direction, at least I'll still have hundreds of oldies to catch up on.

I hardly buy new games anymore, once in a while, something will come along especially, from old favorite developers or a sequel thats taken years to be released, and i'll pick that up, but mostly I just wait for the game to reach budget prices and I can end up picking up 4-5 games for the price of one new one. Not that there are many newer games that will remind me of why I fell in love with gaming to begin with.

Perhaps developers need to start focusing on stories and characters again.

Anyway back to the topic of this post, the single player aspect vs the multiplayer aspect.

Almost all of my fond memories of games actually come from single player games. As you said Geezer, it's the world the game creates for you, a world where you can experience it as you want, when you want and especially how you want. If you want to fumble along the way, or take it slow its up to you. It's your own little part of the day where you can escape life's stresses.

I was actually wondering if the way I feel about a lot of modern games could be also due to the fact that I have spent a lot of time playing multiplayer games these past few years. I will still play the odd single player game, but mostly just quick breaks of multiplayer gaming.

I think that actually might be one problem, because multiplayer games don't change its the same thing over and over and you eventually do get bored with it, but somehow as I mentioned in my earlier post I still play Counter Strike more than any other game. I personally think its the "competition" aspect that has me hooked. It's fun to beat other guys, actually think that they admire you, but you eventually realize that the competition aspect, for me anyway, is what takes away from those magical moments of games.

You can really have that "escape", when you have kids swearing on the one side, others insulting you for you lack of skill, or even calling you a cheat.

I actually think I need to quit playing any multiplayer games, perhaps I'll find a little bit of magic of old. No feelings of needing to compete, no need to defend yourself as a newbie or a skilled veteran, and finally doing what you should be doing when playing games, enjoying yourself and the story or characters the game presents you with.

I know it will be pretty hard for me, it's far easier to load up a multiplayer FPS and play 30 minutes, than it is to load up a game where story and character are important, not that many of those games are out there nowdays, but they are out there, they just require more investigation to find, although it most likely not the mainstream developers who are creating those games. Time does play more of a factor these days as well, and I actually find it hard to just get the energy to load up a great single player RPG, and play through it, when I know it's going to take me months to finish as well.

But ultimately I know the only truly memorable experiences from gaming come from single player games.

What are you opinions with regards to multiplayer and single player gaming, especially relating to how modern games seem to be moving to the multiplayer area now? Everyone and their dogs are now making MMO's not to mention, episodic type of gaming.

Any of you guys just single player gamers?

I actually started that way and was only a single player gamer, and fell the way of multiplayer back when UT first came out, as well as with games like the Diablo 2 and the original CS and strangely gaming has never really been the same after marathon online sessions with those games. Maybe I just got burned out and still continue to burn myself out by playing one of them, although with a new look and all.

Krustacean regarding games just looking more realistic everyday, I agree it gets to a point where you start noticing things that you really shouldn't, the games don't stay games they become more of a simulation even if you are shooting monsters and such. It's a double-edged sword in my opinion, the better the games look and the more physics they add, the more you notice how unrealistic the game actually is.