Why Online Is Not THE Multiplayer Experience
One of the problems I keep hearing from all the game journalists is that local multiplayer is on its way out.
Yet, they all enjoy Rock Band. Not online, but locally, with their friends.
I discovered the joy of local multiplayer, with friends or any other gamers sitting next to you, while playing Magic: The Gathering Online.
It was during the original beta, and everything was basically free. Magic, socially speaking, is an ideal game for online. It's turn-based, so you can type all you want without interrupting anything. But there is a something about the online environment that hinders things; that you can't actually see the person in front of you. It might be that you'll only play that person for one match; and never see them again. It might be the lack of emotion in text, or that you have a greater chance of finding a, as Penny Arcade terms it, a fuckwad.
Don't get me wrong, online is great. The sense that you can log in to a multiplayer game anytime. And there is a great social environment in some places, like my guild in World of Warcraft, AIE.
But when you get people physically together, there's almost always a friendly environment. In co-op experiences, you get a greater sense of people working together towards a goal. Competitive, people are in friendly competition (and have non-insulting forms of trash talk).
Maybe that's why the Wii works so well; that you actually hear other people's laughter as you play.
Yet, they all enjoy Rock Band. Not online, but locally, with their friends.
I discovered the joy of local multiplayer, with friends or any other gamers sitting next to you, while playing Magic: The Gathering Online.
It was during the original beta, and everything was basically free. Magic, socially speaking, is an ideal game for online. It's turn-based, so you can type all you want without interrupting anything. But there is a something about the online environment that hinders things; that you can't actually see the person in front of you. It might be that you'll only play that person for one match; and never see them again. It might be the lack of emotion in text, or that you have a greater chance of finding a, as Penny Arcade terms it, a fuckwad.
Don't get me wrong, online is great. The sense that you can log in to a multiplayer game anytime. And there is a great social environment in some places, like my guild in World of Warcraft, AIE.
But when you get people physically together, there's almost always a friendly environment. In co-op experiences, you get a greater sense of people working together towards a goal. Competitive, people are in friendly competition (and have non-insulting forms of trash talk).
Maybe that's why the Wii works so well; that you actually hear other people's laughter as you play.
posted by SeanM at 11:39 AM
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