A couple of years ago I read a story that was lined on Slashdot about the impact of online modes on videogames ...

Games with online modes tended to sell better than those that didn't have online modes, but when adjusted for game quality (through review scores) games with online modes sold worst. The percentage of gamers who actually tried the online modes in games was (something like) 20%.

From personal experience I don't think that online gameplay is important to most gamers, but the gamers who are interested in online gameplay are REALLY interested in online gameplay.

I paid $50 for XBL, and I seldom go online. I used to go online all of the time, get drunk, and play Uno. It was so cool! I met guys and girls from all over the world. Now, I rarely play any game online. That's just me, though.

IMO, if you are making a "main series" game, single player should be the first priority for the programmers.

CoD4 and Halo 3 are excellent games, but the single player campaigns are far too short. In fact, any full priced and hyped game should have at least 20 hours of gameplay. Otherwise, it's unfair for those people who don't play online often.

i'm pretty meh about online components.

1. i have zero desire to make fake friends to play online and if i'm playing with real life friends i'd rather play them with local multiplayer even if it means a smaller screen.

2. i can see some benefit for some games (like fighting games) where the human AI is more intelligent than computer AI but more often than not i find that the other player is either too good or uses annoyance tactics and it's no longer fun anyways.

there is a market for online games and i don't begrudge people for playing them but i tend to avoid games that focus on the online components.

it comes and goes for me--sometime i feel like being online, but since most of the people on line you run into are asshats it gets old quick

^well it's true that many humans use annoyance tactics but the fun part is when u do them back!

To the masses? Yep.


To me? Nah. I'd rather see em spend more time developing a quality single player campaign.

I guess that's why I like MGS, JRPG's, and Nintendo games. Not too big about "online multiplayer." It's just the same thing with a different game playing in the background, imho.

I think the industry wants you to think that online gaming is the future, and that everyone loves it, but there is a vast number of gamers out there that would just rather steer clear of that sort of stuff.

I personally got my fill after Halo 2 and 3 years of World of Warcraft.

A lot of people just like to use online as a way to flame Nintendo and to a lesser extent Sony.

I see what you're saying with online friends and wanting to play with real friends.  But what if you go to college or get a job in another city and the only way you can really play with your friends is online.  Thats what its like for me, I go to school in a different city then alot of my friends and the only way I can play with them is online.  Sure I have friends that I can play with at my college but I can play online with them, at my apartment :).  Plus my brother/roomate is studying abroad in Denmark and one of the only ways I can connect with him is through playing team fortress 2 which we do all the time.

That might be just me but I prefer games with online capabilities, there has only been a few games, a handful of games over the past two generations that I actually play that aren't online capable 

Also, you've got it mixed up.

The hardcore gamer that's been playing since atari, invariably values a single player campaign overall.

The guys who started gaming when they got their Xboxes for christmas when they were 13, and like to call themselves "hardcore" and play XBL from their mothers basements, are the real casuals, and yes, they love their online modes.

Just send Yhatzee an Email over at Zero Punctuation and he'll tell you where you can stick your online mode, lol. 

^lolol
I enjoy the single player but I value online more imo