Poll

What is the best?

Singleplayer
Multiplayer Co-op
Multiplayer Versus
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Author Topic: Play With People?  (Read 6889 times)

« on: December 14, 2008, 02:48:49 AM »
Playing with other people is very different than playing by yourself. And teaming up with people is very different than fighting them. Great fun can be had with all of these, but which do you like best?

I like Multiplayer Versus. No gaming highs have ever matched victory over wailing warm-blooded humans. No AI can match the tactics, learning, and craziness of Homo sapiens.

Chess, FPS, RTS, it doesn't matter. Winning is the best thing in life.

BP

  • Beside Pacific
« Reply #1 on: December 14, 2008, 03:17:48 AM »
It's hard to say for sure. I grew up as player 1 with no players 2, 3 or 4. As a result, most of my games are single player. Almost all of my multiplayer time is Brawling. Maybe when I have a 360 my sister will play with me...she likes zombies...
All your dreeeeeeams begiiin to shatterrrrrr~
It's YOUR problem!

WarpRattler

  • Paid by the word
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2008, 03:28:56 AM »
I much prefer multiplayer to single-player in most cases. However, I enjoy the feeling of working together with others toward a common goal just as much as working alone toward victory, so I can't decide between those two poll choices.

The Chef

  • Super
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2008, 08:21:44 AM »
Same goes for me as Bird Person; my favorite type of challenge in video games is Player vs. Level Design. If I had to pick one type of mutliplayer though, Co-op is my preference. Kirby Super Star and like-minded games will do that to ya.

« Reply #4 on: December 14, 2008, 09:43:47 AM »
Double Dragon method.  Co-op until after you beat the final boss, and then fight each other over Marian.

Luigison

  • Old Person™
« Reply #5 on: December 14, 2008, 10:48:27 AM »
Singleplayer > Multiplayer Co-op > Multiplayer Versus

Singleplayer
I play more single player games than any other type.  The Super Mario series of games being the biggest draw of my time followed by the Zelda series. 

Two-player
Two-player would also fit in there somewhere, but that's more of an alternating single player like SMB.  In the NES days my brothers and I would play man or level in SMB.  In the SNES days my father and I would play RPGs like the Final Fantasy series in a sort of two-player way in which he'd do most of the player control and I'd tell him what to do or try next.  This was a very good bonding experience that we'd started way back in our Atari 5200 days.  I know these type of games are traditionally considered single player, but we both "played" so I'm including it here.

Multiplayer Co-op
I love multiplayer co-op, but don't get to play those type of games nearly enough now that I'm away from my brothers and out of college.  Moving to a different state every few years doesn't help.  Of course I could play some games online, but that doesn't have the same appeal as playing beside someone.  Some of my favorites in this category are The Legend of Zelda:  Four Swords Adventure and Alien Hominid PDA Games. 

Multiplayer Versus
I don't play very many versus video games.  A notable exception is Mario Kart.   I don't enjoy most fighting or shooting games.  On the other hand, I play a lot of multiplayer versus card, domino, and board games.  We play a lot of Five Crowns and domino games when I go home to visit. 
“Evolution has shaped us with perceptions that allow us to survive. But part of that involves hiding from us the stuff we don’t need to know."

Kojinka

  • Bruised
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2008, 01:34:50 PM »
I hardly ever have anyone to play with, and most of my games are single player.  Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Soul Calibur II, MP4, Mario Strikers Charged, and Wii Sports are the games I have that are more fun with multiplayer versus.  I don't really care very much for Multiplayer co-op, except for Smash Bros, and even then, I prefer multiplayer vs.
Regards, Uncle Dolan

« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2008, 01:51:54 PM »
Double Dragon method.  Co-op until after you beat the final boss, and then fight each other over Marian.
I think this is why I like Castle Crashers so much.

I loooove me some co-op multiplayer. Whether it's a side-scrolling hack-and-slash (Castle Crashers), a rhythm game for four (Guitar Hero, Rock Band), a shooter (Gears of War), or a game like Baldur's Gate, I can't get enough multi-person campaign games.

However, co-op multiplayer is really only good if you have a good partner that you like. I'll rarely, if ever, choose co-op campaign search for Gears of War or Halo 3 online, because I'll get hooked up with some random stranger who will probably end up dropping out anyway. I never play co-op with people in the RL because pretty much no one I know is as heavily a gamer as me (and if they are, chances are I don't like them. For different reasons). So I almost never get an opportunity to play a good co-op game with some good people.

Having said all that, I think I prefer multiplayer versus the most. I agree with LD when he says nothing beats the satisfaction of obliterating another human. Prime example: super smash bros. I remember back in the day on the N64, I'd play that game against anyone willing to challenge. Sadly, I have no one IRL to play Brawl with regularly. I'm the best gamer out of all the gamers I know :(

Although I definitely play single-player games the most, by far. Which should be pretty obvious because I keep saying I often don't have anyone to play multi with.

Reading

  • is FUNdamental
« Reply #8 on: December 14, 2008, 04:26:07 PM »
Single player is my favorite, followed by multiplayer co-op and finally versus. I always like playing a game by myself; it's a great experience with no one else around to distract me from the one thing that is the game. I do, though, like multiplayer co-op - the classic Sonic games and Mario & Luigi SS (on the Game Boy Player) are always fun for me to play with my brother. Versus is OK, like in Brawl, but it doesn't appeal to me as much as the former two. Most notably because it's hard to integrate an actual plot into a 2-player versus mode.
We went to see them for the first time in 5 years because they were going away for 3 years.

TEM

  • THE SOVIET'S MOST DANGEROUS PUZZLE.
« Reply #9 on: December 14, 2008, 06:49:46 PM »
My greatest video game funage was spawned from co-op multiplayer. Also team-based versus multiplayer (kind of in between co-op and pure versus). Examples: Halo 3, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, Mario Kart: Double Dash. I've had great fun playing purely single player games as well. Multiplayer, both co-op and versus, only wins by a hair in my book.
0000

Chupperson Weird

  • Not interested.
« Reply #10 on: December 14, 2008, 10:19:33 PM »
Single player wins, because the games I consider most awesome are single-player, but I also enjoy a good co-op a la Kirby Super Star. Versus is okay occasionally but I have no one really good to play against at most games.
That was a joke.

Sqrt2

  • 1.41421356
« Reply #11 on: December 15, 2008, 03:32:57 AM »
Multiplayer Versus...until my younger brother beats the crap out of me, then it's single player for me.

I never like playing Co-op much (mainly because the other player gets in my way most of the time.
AA fanboy and proud!

ShadowBrain

  • Ridiculously relevant
« Reply #12 on: December 15, 2008, 08:31:42 AM »
I've got to agree with Luigison. MMOs, online shooters, and such lean primarily on the strength of their multiplayer modes, and games are shifting towards multiplayer as a whole as the "everybody" audience companies now target feels better about an image of togetherness than one of aloneness, but when I spend $50 on something... well, forgive me if I just want to have it all to myself (the main game, at least). Co-op's fun because it has less of a chance of fostering brief, unwarrented animosity between me and my friends and/or brother, but either way I'm relying on somebody else and don't really get that feeling of individuality and immersion I like in my games. Not to get too dramatically psychological, but privacy and solitude are increasingly rare commodities in our world and I think, on a subconcious level, I'd like to milk 'em for all they're worth.
"Mario is your oyster." ~The Chef

Turtlekid1

  • Tortuga
« Reply #13 on: December 15, 2008, 05:31:22 PM »
I generally like Multiplayer co-op, with the exception of SSB (Melee and Brawl).  But there aren't enough games that offer that option.
"It'll say life is sacred and so is death
but death is life and so we move on"

Koopaslaya

  • Kansas
« Reply #14 on: December 15, 2008, 05:50:18 PM »
... but privacy and solitude are increasingly rare commodities in our world and I think, on a subconcious level, I'd like to milk 'em for all they're worth.

Are you really alone when you're staring at a screen? I would contend that this is not true "aloneness." While you are alone, you're not actively contemplating the world as one would in a nature walk, in reading, or in private periods of reflective silence. I fear that the aloneness that you describe, that is, sitting in front of a screen by one's self, is far too common in our world today.

I'm sure that I will be assaulted for this comment with comments like: "OMG, but ur a gamer, how can you say this?" To that, I answer, that in moderation video games are a great source of fum and relaxation, but they are not the cure-all in a world that is becoming ignorant to self-understanding. I simply am arguing that they are not quite a valid way to "be alone."
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