I like the appeals of both. I used to play online multiplayer games almost exclusively a couple years ago. Then I remembered I also liked single player games, but multiplayer games were addicting and taking away my time. So now I try to stay away from the online multiplayer games, because it's just doing the same thing over and over again basically. In a game like Battlefield you can kinda have a sense of progress, even though you aren't really getting any closer to "beating" the game.
I love playing the multiplayer games, and I hate that I love it, because although it's super fun I always have the feeling that I'm not really accomplishing anything; I'm getting no closer to finishing Battlefield 3 every time I play. Like, it's a waste of time when I could instead by playing a great single player game and come closer to finishing it so that I can move on to the next game in my backlog. I also tend not to re-play story campaigns and the like, probably because I want to instead work on my backlog.

Single player. I like to have a game that I can play by myself without having to worry about finding someone to play it with. Sometimes I want to put more time into a game than friends or they put more time than I do. It's not fun for the player who has to carry the other player and it's not fun for the player who feels they're useless because they're too underpowered. Because of that I find it's best to find a good single player game than a multiplayer focused game.

Single player; gaming for me is largely a matter of unwinding and enjoying some time to myself.

multiplayer, i personally like competition

tbh i find single player to be dull

I play them both equally. Although I tend to prefer multiplayer games more, nothing beats a good game of Mario Party with 3 of your friends, or Smash with rotations.

It's just more fun imo.

A cleverly done multiplayer has the potential to be better and more dynamic than a single player game. That said, single player campaigns are reliably better because they are simpler to put together.

I typically buy games with solid single player campaigns and ignore any multiplayer. Unique multiplayer experiences will attract my interest, especially ones like Dark Souls and Mirror's Edge which aren't run of the mill online multiplayer deathmatch lobbies, but I seldom actually play multiplayer.

Single-player, hands down.  I like narrative, characters, solo play, etc.  And, in fact, it's lucky for me that I do, because my internet sucks - I couldn't play most multiplayer if I wanted to. :-/

Perhaps it's just me, but I hear this all the time and I've never understood it.  The notion that you play single-player games once and then never touch them again is a completely foreign concept to me.  Am I the only person who replays single-player games time after time?

I just recently started replaying the original Knights of the Old Republic... again.  More like re-re-re-re-replaying.  Over the years, I've probably put that game away and then gone back to it a dozen times.  And when I get back into it, I don't just beat it once; I generally play it through multiple times.  I wouldn't dare try to guess how many times I've completed it in total.

I've done the same with tons of games.  A little while back, I got back into the original Splinter Cell... as well as Chaos Theory and Double Agent.  Again, I've played each of these to completion more times than I could guess.  I also play lots of old favourites from the original Playstation, N64, Mega Drive... all single-player... some of them decades old.  I still like to play them.

Maybe it's because of the era I grew up in - I don't know - but if a game is good I just don't understand how people get tired of it so quickly.  I've played some multiplayer (to the extent that my connection will let me) and, if anything, I find that it gets old very quickly.  I mean, I'm not trying to rag on multiplayer, honestly, but it's the same thing over and over again.  At least when I replay single-player games I'm repeating several hours of gameplay, not the same five minutes.

Honestly, the attempt to push multiplayer into everything is part of the reason I've been losing interest in gaming in recent years.  I know there are still good single-player experiences out there but it seems like the industry's heart just isn't in it any more.  Instead, they want everything to be a "social" experience.  Blech!  I might enjoy going to the cinema with friends occasionally, but most of the time, I just want to watch a movie at home on my own.  "Oh, but the cinema is wonderful... it's so much fun... blah blah blah..."  Great, but I don't want to watch every goddamn movie that way!

Sigh!

Sorry... that almost turned into a rant.  I do that sometimes.

It probably sounds like I hate multiplayer, but that's not it.  I just don't want single-player to become extinct.  I don't hate the cinema either, but I'd be angry if the movie industry started making movies "cinema-only" experiences, and then started feeding us this condescending "Everything is more fun with friends" crap.  Believe me, the last thing I want to do is take away anyone's multiplayer; it just seems like there are those who don't feel the same way about single-player.

And here's the thing.  Despite my lack of interest, until recently, it hasn't been a problem because single and multiplayer have been, for the most part, two separate spheres.  If you weren't interested in one or the other, you could simply ignore it.  But now, we have this wonderful "blending" of modes.  Yay.  Look, if it's a choice, I don't care - and, for the record, I don't begrudge anybody who enjoys these types of game - but what about those of us who don't want online modes or social features in our single-player experience?  It's because of this very thing that I honestly have no interest in Destiny or any number of upcoming games that are supposedly going to do the same.

Actually, IMHO, a good example of how to do this right is Watch Dogs.  Now, for the record, I haven't played it; this is based on what I've read about it.  Having said that, my understanding is that it does the whole "blended" single-player and online thing, but it's optional.  So, if you're like me and have no interest in the online stuff, and probably couldn't play it if you wanted to, you can simply play the offline campaign.  Perfect!  Yeah, Uplay still sucks, but this aspect they got right.  This way, everybody wins.  This way, we get a game that both the online and the offline players can enjoy.  What frustrates me is when a game integrates single-player with online gameplay or features that can't be opted out of.

I'm actually slightly surprised by how many people here apparently also prefer single-player.  If you go certain places online, or listen to industry PR, it can be easy to get the impression that multiplayer is all that anyone cares about any more.  But having said that, I was looking at polls on this very subject some time back, and by far the largest one I came across pretty much reflected this thread.

There are plenty of single-player vs multiplayer polls out there but most I found were lucky if they had a couple of hundred participants.  What got my attention about this particular one was the sheer number of people who voted on it.  Many thousands, as I recall.

Woohoo!  I found it!  And it was even bigger than I thought.  "Total votes: 38,853."  Bear in mind, of course, that this is just an internet poll, so there's no way of knowing how representative it is.  Still, it's interesting to see how the numbers break down.  For what it's worth, you can find it here...

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/5280-do-you-play-more-single-player-or-multiplayer-games

Thank God I'm not the only one who's had this thought!  Just recently, I used that exact word when explaining my lack of interest to a friend of mine (who is primarily a multiplayer fan).  I said, "Gaming isn't a sport to me."  I have nothing against competitive multiplayer, but that's not why I play games.  I've always preferred an interactive narrative.  I love being at the center of a good single-player story.  It's the closest I'll ever get to being the star of a movie.

A rich single player experience can never be replaced.