Edit: Note that this initial post comes from my personal bias as someone who seeks to be involved with, and build, online community for gamer, and gets sick of the whole Facebook approach of people not really knowing anyone but acting as voyeurs and exhibitionists.  People show no ability to post context in regards to what they share with others from an interest standpoint.  Also, I have little room in my life for just doing online.  I am dire need of finding work and improving my personal network.  And I am frustrated at what I see is not caring.  Heck, I am annoyed I can't even get a retro gaming forum here, and if you see me repeatedly requesting myself get banned, it comes out of all that.  Anyhow, with this bias in mind, and my interest in having real community, read the post below.  This is an edit add to my initial post for clarity.

Sorry, I am not sold on online multiplayer as a big deal.

I wil add here, if you have friends remotely, it is nice to be able to play with them.  But beyond this, I don't get it.

Online multiplayer is made out to be some sort of critical feature.  But try firing up some sort of minor title or older title and watch there be little people to play online with.  If it is a big title, you get a bunch.  Otherwise, you could likely not run into anyone.

Then, you do find someone.  If you aren't running into immature jerks who throw insults around, you get experience like I did with the original Borderlands.  I found a rare person online to play, and did a game.  I was then facing abusive language because he didn't like me.  Then, he gives me a hacked shield that made me indestructable pretty much, ruining Borderlands for me.

So, pardon me here.  I just don't get the big deal with online multiplayer at all.  What is the appeal of finding people I don't know online and playing them, and hoping the experience is decent.  Apparently Microsoft, and Sony, now feels that I would need to pay for all this.  And with Microsoft, I have the distinct feeling that I am to drag my friends into their world, as they do squat to really enable people to meet others through their service.  Seriously here, why am I going to bother dragging anyone into their world?  Sorry, not in the mood.  I would rather play face to face with people and have some sort of social connecting, not this faux Facebook style nonsense of lack of human interaction.  Like, I do boardgames with people at social get togethers, and that is rewarding, FAR more than what the online pay to play world does.

Hey, maybe I am missing something awesome here.  If so, feel free to post a counterpoint below.

Depends on the game. In some games like RPG's it's better to make it singleplayer only. Gives the dev more time to concentrate on the game itself. but a FPS nowadays has to have MP to be considered interesting. And racing and fighting games also.

It adds added value to a game, which helps when games have a short single player.

What games offer decent experience that matters?  I can go off consoles and look to the likes of brettspielwelt.de.  On that site, I get games I am interested in, but then run into strangers who end up being pushy and demanding moves in a hurry.  Get treated like an impersonal AI for their amusement.

Ok, I will say this here.  If anyone is into boardgame stuff, and wants to do something decent online, on the likes of brettspielwelt.de, I am up for it.  But, as of now, I find trying to organize such style play to end up fairly futile.  But again, I could be wrong.

Why does anything matter? In this case, it can be quite "fun" for some gamers while not so much for others.

Also i don't get the point of being sold on something. If i don't get the appeal of something that requires significant time and monetary investment from me. That i consider that a good thing.

Sorry if useless post.

I know the business reasons.  I am just questioning the enjoyment value of it overall, and how it gets spun. Idea is you find people online to play, because your local connections may be weak, and get a better experience.  But, I can't say I run into anything decent, for the most part, thus my post.

Friends of mine I know personally live 15-30 minutes away, we have different work schedules, etc. When we're home we might want to play a game together but not want to waste the time and money driving to each others home.

There are also games that I like to play that I my friends might not like. There's no other way to get a good multiplayer experience without my online friends in those occasions.

The fun in completly destroying some unkown 14 year old kid till he cries for his mother and logs out is unbelievable.. doesn't matter which game..

It doesn't. It's just another fad in an industry full of fads. I doubt it will ever catch on in a major way.

I used to be against online multiplayer until I played Halo 3. I've played that game online for almost 5 years. It definitely does add value to the game. Sucks how Nintendo isn't adding online for Super Mario 3D World. I understand it can be weird playing with random people who are either too good or suck bad at the game and it can ruin the multiplayer experience, but if it were limited to Miiverse invite/Friends only, that would've been an awesome way to play with different people with different play styles, casual or hardcore. Sucks that my cousins live far away since I'm in college and they are geting the game. I would've liked to play 3D World online with them with voice chat, but I guess Nintendo is still having trouble getting with the times. :-/