What is the big deal with Online play?

[BenKenobi88]

I have a friend who only plays online shooters, online RTSs, online whatever. He played through Zelda, he liked it because it was Zelda, but otherwise, I can't get him to play single player games. He says there's no skill required, and it's boring.

I told him to play Half Life 2. He's played CS, HL2 DM, DoD, many online shooters, but he won't play the #1 best PC FPS game...because it's single player and boring.

I say, single player games are tailored just for you. The AI guy with the gun or the big scary monster is right around a corner that the game developers KNOW you're going to walk past, thus scaring the shit outta you. The game is much more cinematic, it has an actual story...it's just a superb gaming experience. Multiplayer is generally just added for fun.

One multiplayer game I'm looking forward to that does more than usual is Left 4 Dead. That game uses an AI Director to spawn zombies in strategic, yet "cinematic" spots. It knows when to send a crapload of zombies at you, and then it knows to cool down for a minute so you can catch your breath, only to be swamped by a gigantic Tank when you least expected it. This is a 4 player survival game that I cannot wait for.