I’ve always struggled with always online, multi-player console games. Don’t get me wrong, I loved me some World of Warcraft back in the day. But I was also one of the people who suffered from ‘alt-itus’ because I would constantly roll a new, secret character so I could go off and do stuff without people bothering me. Mostly.
On consoles, I’ve always resisted the multi-player game. Growing up, I played Atari, Nintendo, Sega and Playstation games – all of which never went online because there was no online yet. Multi-player at that point meant passing the controller from hand to hand to see which friend could get past the Big Boss or difficult freaking jump (I’m looking at you, Ninja Gaiden. Also at YOU, Castlevania).
There’s something jarring about playing a game and suddenly having someone message you to tell you you suck (Star Wars Battlefront II). Or being forced into a group to complete a section of the game previously unavailable to you (Gotham Knights).
I just want to play the game and relax. It’s difficult for me to do that when the game’s developer is forcing me to socialize. And yes, I realize how bad that sounds – but it’s still true for me.
I prefer solo games where I can immerse myself in the world, the characters, on my own.
Turns out, I’m not alone.
A survey by Midia Research has found that 53% of gamers prefer single-player games. And of that number, 55% are old. Like me.
Even when I played WoW religiously, I detested things like PvP. Mostly because other people were massively better at it than I was or am. Constantly being killed by people who spend the bulk of their time in the massive dungeons collecting better weapons and gear, it turns out, is not fun.
When I play a game – which, let’s be honest, isn’t very often anymore or for a very long time – the last thing I want is to be stressed out and annoyed by the game itself. I’d rather just zone out and not have to worry about whether I’m bringing the team down by not shooting the pew pew pew the right way. Which is why I gravitate to single-player games. A lot.
And probably always will.
