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Much like the computers on which they are written, video games are binary. There is an inherent duality within gaming that transcends genre and title, that lies at the core of game design, programming, and play. It is this: games can be either single player or multiplayer. In a single-player game, it’s you against the machine, the bits on screen, the computer’s AI. Within a multiplayer world, you join up with other players to forge onwards or pit yourself against them and battle to the death. Like most gamers, I play both. But not equally. For the longest time, I was mostly a single-player gamer. I loved delving into games on my own, surrounded only by stories. Nowadays, I almost exclusively play multiplayer games, interacting with different players from match to match, instance to instance, world to world. Considering how much my preferences have changed, I’ve been wondering what I value in both types of gaming, and why I’m favoring one over the other.
Warning: shit tons of text ahead.
In a single player game, you are the hero. Nope, that’s not just the game telling you that: it’s just you. The conceit of many game narratives, multiplayer or single player, is that the player is a great hero, destined to be a savior and/or destroyer. Take the Diablo series, a primarily multiplayer game (at least in its current iteration). You are a hero of humanity, sent out to bring justice to the unholy minions of the Seven Hells. Your ability to annihilate the demonic hordes is unmatched… except by all of the other heroes. In that world, you’re really a dime a dozen. Hell, if you can’t dedicate all day to playing, someone else is probably way stronger than you. You never really feel like the grand adventurer the NPCs are fawning over. You’re just not that special. Contrast that with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the latest and greatest of Bethesda’s RPGs. In Skyrim, you are the Dragonborn. YOU. There are no other flame-breathing, dragon-killing warriors wandering the mountains between Whiterun and Windhelm. Whatever gods, dragons, or men assault the world, you know that only you can stop them. That makes playing a single player game inspiring. You know that you alone are the hammer of justice, the master of magic, or the soldier who can end the war. No one can eclipse your glory, no one else can do what you can. The player feels strong and important in single-player games because only you can be the ace assassin, the wrathful god, or motherfucking Batman.
Single-player games are also the best way for games to tell a story. Because there’s only one person playing through the game, a story can be told in full, without distractions. The best way to describe how well single-player games do this is by comparing them to something extremely multiplayer. Like a single-player RPG versus an MMORPG. Traditionally, an RPG is a way for a player to experience a story by portraying a character. In Skyrim, you create your Dovah’kiin and imbue him/her with as much backstory, character, and ambition as you want. The world is your playground, and you define your avatar within it. Moreover, your choices have a tangible and lasting effect on the world. An MMO, on the other-hand, is a realm beset by other adventurers, all of whom make choices within the game. But it would be impossible for game’s logic to track and understand millions of players’ unique, world-altering decisions. Thus, to allow all players to enjoy the story, there are repeatable instances of “story” elements, small pieces of narrative that happen over and over, in which you can participate many times. Kinda the opposite of an actual story. Single-player games also allow players to become characters created by the makers of the game, like Link, Joanna Dark, or Nathan Drake. Giving the player “parts” in this way has created some of the finest games in existence. This is because you aren’t just filling out a character with your own interests (like in Skyrim). Instead, you’re playing your way through a script. A script which you can’t read ahead in, making you actor and audience at the same time. As you might imagine, this doesn’t work out if a million people have copies of the same script.
Immersive settings are also a hallmark of single-player games. As games are more realistic, getting truly lost within a game world is now possible. Game settings are now fleshed out in ways that would have been impossible to comprehend when Pong was in development. The sweeping beauty of the detailed environments absorb you, making it seem like you live and breathe within the digital world. Would you like to know one of the best ways be jolted out of immersion? When ‘poopfeast420′ walks into your field of view and starts dancing or spamming your chat. Adding additional players to a game is a surefire way to be reminded that HEY, YOU’RE IN THE REAL WORLD WITH REAL STUPIDS. It’s nearly impossible to convince players in a multiplayer world to constantly remain in character, to be part of the game world. With a single-player game, you don’t have to worry about that. The world can be as real as you want it to feel. And these days, that can be pretty fucking real.
Damn. Writing all that down makes it sound awesome. So why would I almost completely abandon that awesomeness for multiplayer games? The answer is simple: people. The very element that detracts from all of the aforementioned qualities of games is the same one that makes the other side of the gaming coin so irresistible.
I’m addicted to the competition found in multiplayer games. During the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college, my friends and I would all go over to one kid’s house and play Halo 3 for hours at a time. And whether we were playing against each other or other people online, whether we were winning or losing, it was a blast. As the years marched on, my desire to find more competition over the internet grew. This led me to start playing Starcraft 2 and League of Legends, where the game’s focal point is battling against online opponents. But to many, competition like this isn’t always fun. I’ve learned, as they have, that losing can be frustrating and playing against rude internet assholes is worse. People get stressed by their online ratings, and sometimes that vexation causes people to quit playing the game entirely. But no matter how obnoxious online gaming can be, it’s still the most interesting and challenging competitive experience in gaming. Everyone plays differently, so every single game is unique. All players react differently to victory and defeat. This constant novelty makes multiplayer games profoundly compelling, since you’re going to play a different game no matter how many times you login. A good game between civil players is always incredibly fun. And, of course, multiplayer competition brought eSports to the world, for which I am eternally grateful.
As much as the competition attracts me, I’m equally drawn to cooperation in multiplayer gaming. Now, I know anyone with any internet experience is going to take this with a grain of salt; internet people, and gamers in particular, are not known for being helpful, fun-loving angels. Most gaming cooperation occurs because it benefits the player helping just as much as the player who needs help. That being said, it’s always fantastic when a player does something helpful and decent instead of being a douchebag. A few weeks ago, I was playing Guild Wars 2 and I couldn’t find the last vista in a certain area. I asked where it was in map chat and a Level 80 player came over and led me to the (nearly impossible to find) spot. He gained nothing from it (having already found the vista himself). It was just a kind gesture. Which is an oasis in online gaming. I was so pleased. Guild Wars 2 is a great example of design promoting cooperation, as joining up on objectives and quests is highly encouraged. People just tend to come over and help you with a quest, which just incredible to me. Another example of cooperation is in League of Legends: there’s nothing like having a team that is agreeable and fun-seeking instead of being pushy, irritable, and elitist. When people who are just an avatar on a screen remind me of the virtues of humanity, it’s extraordinarily special. You just can’t find that when playing alone.
But the best part of multiplayer gaming is the community of players, both in and out of the game. When I was in high school, I played FFXI and was part of a linkshell (guild, clan, w/e your nomenclature) called SeeDElite. It was the de facto reason I played the game as long as I did. Since I couldn’t devote my life the the MMO (as it demanded for true progress), the real appeal was logging in and listening to the members of my linkshell chat about… well, whatever really. It made me feel a part of something bigger. Something that reached through tunnels of technology to places all over the globe. When the linkshell disbanded, everyone gathered in Sarutabaruta one last time and reminisced about the being part of the amazing assortment of adventurers. It was nearly tear jerking. Ever since I’ve looked for communities like that in video games. They haven’t disappointed. There’s the incredible eSports community, as represented by sites like TeamLiquid and SoloMid, the members of which keep me constantly entertained and informed, both in forums and at live gaming events. There are the attendees of gaming and comic conventions, who are creative, clever, and devoted to the art/media form of video games. There are the game developers that I’ve met and with whom I’ve collaborated, who love the medium so much that they want to contribute their own ideas to it. And there are my own friends, with whom I log long hours playing Torchlight 2 or discussing Borderlands 2 at work. Every faction is dear to me in some way or another, members of the phenomenal federation of gamers.
It’s for the people behind the screens that I’ve flipped from the single-player bit to the multiplayer one. As much as I love the stories that games tell, I love the stories their players tell even more.
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