I believe that multiplayer gameplay, whether online or not, has a couple of important points where they differ from singleplayer experiences.

Singleplayer experiences are usually designed around making you feel like a hero, an extreme puzzle solver or whatever. They are supposed to drag you away from the dreary grayness of reality and into a world of wonders that is completely centered around you.

Multiplayer experiences are usually designed around beating your opponent. They are usually about competition, and being better than the people you are playing against. Unless you are actually better than the ones you are playing against, it's not going to be at all the same kind of experience.

I have never really been a fan of competition. I always feel sorry for the ones who loses when I win, and I feel bad about losing when I lose. So it's sort of a lose-lose situation for me. Meaning that multiplayer experiences have always failed to capture me. However, I have always loved to get sucked into a story and feeling like the center of the world, so singleplayer has a huge appeal for me.

So when I talk about games, both about specific games and generally, I almost always talk about singleplayer experiences. Any reviews, impressions or just idle chitchat about games that comes from me will completely disregard any multiplayer aspects (unless stated otherwise).

I think is a nice added value but nothing else. I can live if a game I like doesn't have online. I have like 6 online games but I only play one that way (Mario Kart wii). The others I only use the local MP or SP.

I am 99% a single player kind of guy. I like a good story and an adventure. And I like to play on my own terms. I don't feel like having to deal with other people.

That said I have enjoyed competitive games too. I loved Quake 3 and Resistance 2.

The thing is, does anyone have the time to seriously play the online features of all the games they have. For example, if I already wasn't into Resistance 2, I would have played Killzone's multiplayer, but I just couldn't dedicate myself to both.

But I think I am also a dying breed. Games like COD4 with their uber short SP campaigns must mean that MP is what people really want. That game got awesome reviews even with a short campaign.

I tend to mostly play single player games, and games that have local multiplayer. Online usually isn't a big consideration for me, and if it's left out it's not a big deal to me.

Single Player is more important than online in any game beside shooters.

I very rarely care about online. I don't bash games for not having it, SP or local MP is the game for me.

I consider online play a nice 'plus' if a game dosent have it, no biggy, but if it does well thats fine, but im usually a single player or offlne mulitplayer kind of guy

I don't care about online. Yes, for some games it is great but I would much rather see a more fleshed out story than an online component.

I like online multiplayer in FPS/TPS games. Competitive multiplayer is a lot of fun. Though with the steep learning curve that online shooters have, I can see why many people avoid it altogether.

For most other games, single player only is fine. Some games just don't work well online. However, a game like Demon's Souls definitely bridges the gap between single player and online, and the implementation in that game is simply brilliant. One thing is for sure though, the distinction currently made between single player and online gaming will continue to blur with more passive type online games.

I'm really not partial either way. It's up to the developer to figure out what's the most fun. Hacked together single or multi player elements are disappointing when they could of focused on what made the game good.

It is not only the steep learning curve but the over abundance of 12 year olds. Local multiplayer or online play with people you know is great.