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Are other gamers losing their love of multi-player games as they age?

recma12

Member
Then again, I've been playing games since around 1980 and am probably just burnt out from gaming, especially online gaming with sports and Call of Duty which I played a lot years back.

Same here. Started gaming in the early 90s and on during the PS2 & 360 eras, I was all about sports and CoD.
On 360 pretty much all I played was FIFA online and CoD TDM.

I guess 4 factors have pushed me towards SP.

A) GIT GUD factor
I just don't have enough time anymore to really master a demanding MP game anymore, like I did back in the days.
Going .500 in TDM for hours on end isn't fun for me.
To have fun=success in a MP title, I need to put in work. Like, learn all the map layouts in CoD or get familiar with all the teams in FIFA and build up that muscle memory.

B) Stress factor
On top of the lack of time, when I pick up the controller I'm way more tired after a long work day (+ doing chores around the house + spending time with my wife/kid) than I was as a 25yr old dipshit single.
I just want to kick back, relax and play some SP game, atm that's Final Fantasy 7 Remake, tonight, You know something I can just pick up or drop at any minute, where I get to decide how challenging it will be.

C) Time factor
With FF7R, I boot up my console and start playing. When you only get 2 hours and change to play games on a given day, that's huge.
Tinkering with loadouts, setting up formations, matchmaking, downtime between maps/matches, constant patches, crappy people online etc.......
There's a ton of downtime baked into every MP title that eats away at my precious gaming time.

D) Friend factor
25 yr old dipshit me had a bunch of friends on XBL and we would chat during downtimes and keep each other engaged.
Now all my friends are in the same boat as me: Kid, house, no time etc.
Therefore it's really rare (almost impossible) that we can all jump into CoD at the same time and play together for a couple of hours.

Sucks but you gotta adapt. JRPGs are my jam now ("anime as fuck" games I wouldn't even have tried 5 years ago, if someone gifted them to me).
 

THEAP99

Banned
For me, absolutely. When I first got into gaming, all I would play would be multiplayer games with occasionally splurging money on a new single-player I could never finish. I played nothing but multiplayer games for like 4 years straight and now I've been over it for about a two year or longer. This generation multiplayer games have become so bland and so blatant for money-grabbing in my opinion and I am not interested anymore.

Not to mention skill-based matchmaking and stuff along with the streamer culture..I miss the days where I could hop on black ops 2 and relax and have a good time with friends pub-stomping. But now it's like I always have to try my heart out no matter what and everything just seems so artificial i am not interested anymore. it isn't fun. multiplayer games used to be replayable based off of good gameplay itself. But nowadays they have to do weekly updates and games as service stuff to keep you playing which just furthermore supports my point that they want more money and have to resort to dirty practices because the game itself doesn't have that fun-factor.

Overall, nowadays I occasionally play cod with friends or tlou factions, sometimes even GT Sport online but i can't do it for long sessions.
I need a reason to play games and an entertaining story is what I want in games these days and that's what I've realized with me growing in age.
I need substance to keep my attention. A grind doing weekly missions sweating my arse off in pubs just for some stupid skins only available in a battle pass just isn't doing it for me.
 
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cireza

Member
Always found online multi player games to be a pointless waste of time. Especially when you have so many great single player games waiting to be discovered.

Also, multiplayer in the same room on the same screen is infinitely better than multiplayer online.
 

PJM

Neo Member
I pretty much only play singleplayer. Never really got into multiplayer and don’t think I’ll start now.
 

Hardvlade

Member
In my 30's and I absolutely enjoy playing some PVP. I'm good in some games, excellent at others.

Halo: MCC, Halo 5, Destiny 2, Overwatch, COD I can do very well. Specially in H5, D2 and OW. I'll continue to do so until I start losing my edge
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Same here. Started gaming in the early 90s and on during the PS2 & 360 eras, I was all about sports and CoD.
On 360 pretty much all I played was FIFA online and CoD TDM.

I guess 4 factors have pushed me towards SP.

A) GIT GUD factor
I just don't have enough time anymore to really master a demanding MP game anymore, like I did back in the days.
Going .500 in TDM for hours on end isn't fun for me.
To have fun=success in a MP title, I need to put in work. Like, learn all the map layouts in CoD or get familiar with all the teams in FIFA and build up that muscle memory.

B) Stress factor
On top of the lack of time, when I pick up the controller I'm way more tired after a long work day (+ doing chores around the house + spending time with my wife/kid) than I was as a 25yr old dipshit single.
I just want to kick back, relax and play some SP game, atm that's Final Fantasy 7 Remake, tonight, You know something I can just pick up or drop at any minute, where I get to decide how challenging it will be.

C) Time factor
With FF7R, I boot up my console and start playing. When you only get 2 hours and change to play games on a given day, that's huge.
Tinkering with loadouts, setting up formations, matchmaking, downtime between maps/matches, constant patches, crappy people online etc.......
There's a ton of downtime baked into every MP title that eats away at my precious gaming time.

D) Friend factor
25 yr old dipshit me had a bunch of friends on XBL and we would chat during downtimes and keep each other engaged.
Now all my friends are in the same boat as me: Kid, house, no time etc.
Therefore it's really rare (almost impossible) that we can all jump into CoD at the same time and play together for a couple of hours.

Sucks but you gotta adapt. JRPGs are my jam now ("anime as fuck" games I wouldn't even have tried 5 years ago, if someone gifted them to me).
Nicely said.

I feel the same about being competitive. I want to play if I can do well and not lose and doing well basically means getting these games at launch and making sure to learn the maps and level up with everyone else by playing a lot and unlocking gear.

have fun trying get good stats if you jump in in Jan or Feb and starting from scratch.

I’d play more MP if every game had unranked modes with every piece of gear unlocked so I can just goof around.
 
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They just dont really make MP games I like anymore.

Tarkov is the closest ive come to getting serious about MP again, but Ive had my fill of the alpha/beta (whatever it is) and just waiting on full release. Also banking on Ready or Not and Ground Branch. Gave up on the janky ass mess that is Arma.

Pure arena shooters are dead and Im still miffed that I never got to play Spies Vs Mercs (SC Chaos Theory) even offline as my friends hated SC. Naturally, those friends now think Conviction and Blacklist a the best SC games.

Holding out for Halo 3 MP.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I pretty much only play singleplayer. Never really got into multiplayer and don’t think I’ll start now.
If you eventually do MP, you got two routes.

1. Casual play with friends or randoms and not care about how well you do.

2. You play to win. Which means whichever games you choose you got to sink in lots of time to get good at it, level up, learn the tricks, and ensuring you get the game on day one or early on so you don’t get left behind
 
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Nowadays gaming falls into three categories for me: a chance to relax/unwind, a chance to challenge myself, or a chance to have fun with others. A handful of games fall into two or all three categories.

Local multiplayer is fine. Online multiplayer isn't really my thing anymore, not because it isn't fun but because local multiplayer hits all the same notes without any of the hassle. Online multiplayer only provides relative challenge. Single-player games provide absolute challenge. Fewer variables. Getting a 50:1 k/d ratio in a shooter could be due to joining a room full of casuals. Full-chaining the second stage of a shmup or passing Genichiro without dying once cannot be faked. You either have the skills to pull it off or you don't.
 
I prefer single, but will play multiplayer with friends if all of us oldies (over 40) can ever get online at once. If we find one we like, we might play it off and on for a few months.

I don’t team up with randoms much anymore.
 

Psykodad

Banned
Didn't lose my love for multiplayer, but there's no game that has me hooked.

The last game I was playing hardcore, was Paragon. But Epic shut it down and it left a void for me personally.
There's FF XIV, buy that's PvE (there's PvP, but meh).

The best experiences have been PvE, so hopefully we'll get a great and proper PvP MP game next-gen (TLOU MP or KZ maybe).
 

recma12

Member
Nicely said.

I feel the same about being competitive. I want to play if I can do well and not lose and doing well basically means getting these games at launch and making sure to learn the maps and level up with everyone else by playing a lot and unlocking gear.

have fun trying get good stats if you jump in in Jan or Feb and starting from scratch.

I’d play more MP if every game had unranked modes with every piece of gear unlocked so I can just goof around.

Yup.
If you want to have a shot at a positive K/D ratio, playing for an hour every now and then just doesn't cut it.
MP games these days are "live services" aimed at players who are there from day one, log on on a daily basis and stick with it for a couple of months.
You know people who keep track of new maps, events, Double XP stuff, special weapons or skins, new modes..... etc.

I have bought both CoD WWII and CoD MW to see if I could rekindle my love for MP shooters. And for the first week or so, when everybody was learning the game, I did pretty OK (slightly below .500; which is actually pretty decent in modern CoDs).
After 2 weeks it felt like everybody pulled away from me and left me in the dust lol Ended up selling both WII and MW within a month.

This isn't even a knock on CoD or MP games in general. They are awesome games, just not for me anymore.
 
Same for me like most in here. Im turnimg 33 this year.

However for me its a mix of different things.

1.) I dislike competetive shooters. They just bore me and I simply have no desire to hone my reflexes and such shit.

2.) I dislike games that give you unfair advantages when you have better hardware. Try competing with a 21" Screen against someone with a 42" widescreen. For example.

3.) I dislike games that have grapical options that can be turned of or configured to potatoe style just to have more responsiveness, vision, less vegetation and so on.

4.) I dislike rushing trough games, which makes it really hard playing multiplayer in any game.

5.) I dislike micropayments, season passen and so one as some in here already pointed out.

6.) I dislike playing by guides and meta.

Overall multiplayer is mostly a pain in the ass for me. I can't play anything with my friends because they all tend to rush, don't read any lore, don't farm or craft, I can't tedt things and such they only want to rush and kill without any reason. So I always feel under pressure and at haste. I don't like that at all. Especially if we then fail at something because those morons were rushing to much and not paying attention and therefore underestimating a situation or simply not looking out for each other.
 

Andahe

Neo Member
I grew apart from multiplayer games a few years ago. Most people I played with were quite toxic both in-game and outside.

When I grew apart from my old friends, I naturally grew apart from the multiplayer community for the games I had played with them.

I took a break from games for a while and when I came back I started focusing on single player games, they grew on me. As I slowly regained my passion for games, I became more focused on story/characters of games.

The last multiplayer game I spent a lot of time on was *Apex Legends* where I met a few nice guys to play with. However, as time went on, we stopped playing it and I went back to single player games.
 

INC

Member
Yes, more cheaters, more lag compensation for out of region players, the overall experience is getting worse and worse, even tho connections are meant to be getting better

Remember bf1 actually changing the netcode so people with poor internet would have a poor experience (which they should, hy should people with a low png and stable connection be punished), and guess what, the poor connection players on 4g McDonalds
Connections or wifi from the neighbor's, moaned so much because they didn't have the lag advantage, dice changed it back. It was at that point mp died for me. And I realised that the only way to get a fair experience against these shit connections players was to either play out of region myself or use a vpn to fuck my ping, how does that make any sense? To have a great stable connection with no jitter or bloat, and have a shit online experience since some dudes from ksa can have a shit connection and 1 bang u constantly, so you have to break and fuck your good connection to have a fair experience


That's he reality of online gaming, everyone no matter how potato your connection has to have a fair experience, sorry but no, got a shit connection you should have a shit experience, not my fault u have a potato, I pay a premium for a good connection and get punished for that
 
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recma12

Member
Yes, more cheaters, more lag compensation for out of region players, the overall experience is getting worse and worse, even tho connections are meant to be getting better

Remember bf1 actually changing the netcode so people with poor internet would have a poor experience (which they should, hy should people with a low png and stable connection be punished), and guess what, the poor connection players on 4g McDonalds
Connections or wifi from the neighbor's, moaned so much because they didn't have the lag advantage, dice changed it back. It was at that point mp died for me. And I realised that the only way to get a fair experience against these shit connections players was to either play out of region myself or use a vpn to fuck my ping, how does that make any sense? To have a great stable connection with no jitter or bloat, and have a shit online experience since some dudes from ksa can have a shit connection and 1 bang u constantly, so you have to break and fuck your good connection to have a fair experience


That's he reality of online gaming, everyone no matter how potato your connection has to have a fair experience, sorry but no, got a shit connection you should have a shit experience, not my fault u have a potato, I pay a premium for a good connection and get punished for that

That's actually another gripe for me.
The devs and publishers really do a shit job at improving MP gaming for the end user DESPITE bringing in boatloads of cash every year.

They will gladly take the money from a guy with terrible internet even if it makes the game bad for everybody else.
They will give cheaters, cheesers and annoying players multiple chances before they ban.
They will avoid using dedicated servers and if they do, they use the bare minimum.

It's crazy that shit an Iphone 5 user complained about, is fixed in Iphone 11s.
But the shit a FIFA13 player complained about, is the same stuff that annoys FIFA20 online players.
 

TacosNSalsa

Member
Gears 1 and COD 4 were the only competitive MP games I've played seriously outside of Fighting games. Anything co-op though will catch my eye. I have 4 close friends that I play with constantly which is great because we know each other very well
 
I personally would say yes I do find them less appealing as I get older. But that's mostly due to the fact that I feel I've seen it all before kind of thing and don't have the time to grind in these games to unlock all the cool shit etc. That's a big draw of these games not just the gameplay and that doesn't really interest me anymore.

With a singleplayer game you know there's a beginning and end, a point where the journey stops and even if you don't do everything you don't really feel like you've missed out on anything or wasted your time. With certain multiplayer games in the past I'd put hundreds of hours into them, just to combat boredom in the pursuit of rankings and shit like that and after all the time spent I realised how little I actually had to show for that time, how empty and frankly not all that fun that time was.

But at the same time I do think there's a lot of multiplayer games out there if you do want to sink time in to these games, a lot of big hitters from this generation that you haven't mentioned.
 

Tarin02543

Member
Played alot of Quake multiplayer in the backend of the nineties and now I'm playing it again (the original Quake through the ezquake client).

Used to be a massive fan of BF1942 but that franchise is now dead.

As a 37 year old man I find it hard to become invested in today's multiplayer things like fortnite or call of duty.
 

CrysisFreak

Banned
I just want to as much fun as in Battlefield 1 in the next Battlefield. BFV was so drab compared to the visceral BF1 imho.
Would have much more fun in Smash Online if they balanced it correctly. Fuck Samus, fuck Pika and fuck G&W.
And I hope that the eventual TDU3 will have online like FH4 in free roam with other players.
 

geordiemp

Member
Nah, I am an old git, my son is 17, and I still play COD, BO4 my KD solo in TDM is near 3 lol.

I play with everyone muted solo, but I do get quite a few messages of hate from kids who like to call my mum names. My mum passed away a while ago.

Multiplayer has always been toxic,a dn I have been playing games since the Zx81 if you young oneseven know what that is.

Age has little to do with controller skill and indeed tactics, most players are dumb as hell, and winning fights is about engagement distance and timing the encounter to be in your favour.

Also years of playing multiplayer helps, and I find that 10 minute games of TDM in COD fits my schedule nicely and its more difficult for me to give a whole evening or weekend day to a grind, so I no longer play games like Destiny.

Plus I like seeing the kids rage.
 
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Paasei

Member
In general my interest in MP games hasn't really existed all that much.

I play a lot of CoD4 promod still because I can say that I am really good at it together with my team.

I tried a lot of R6 Siege, but there are so many operators now with real gamechanging abilities, that I lost my interest. The first ones were basic with just the right amount of variety and no over the top abilities.

I play Wow Classic too and with some of those guildies a simple party game called Town of Salem.
 
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It sounds more depressive than I thought, I'm just being honest with myself and it worked for me very well, I play solely for fun , it doesn't matter to me the way , the type or the genre of the game that I want to play , if the fun factor is missing I just stop playing , I don't pay attention to what keven playing or the number of achievements that he unlocked ,all that doesn't matter to me if I don't do it for fun.
 
Opposite for me.

I find it easier to play COD for 30 minute bursts than to find 2-3 hours at a time to invest in a story driven single player game.
Multiplayer games this generation require huge time investment. I would agree with your statement 10 years ago.
 

Ceallach

Smells like fresh rosebuds
I rarely get into multiplayer, and the multi games I have put time into, like Gundam BO2, I do less to get good but more to try and collect random shit.
 

darkinstinct

...lacks reading comprehension.
Fuck multiplayer. I played my share of them when I was young twenty years ago, then with age reflexes became weaker and weaker. Nowadays I only play singleplayer and coop.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
Same here. Started gaming in the early 90s and on during the PS2 & 360 eras, I was all about sports and CoD.
On 360 pretty much all I played was FIFA online and CoD TDM.

I guess 4 factors have pushed me towards SP.

A) GIT GUD factor
I just don't have enough time anymore to really master a demanding MP game anymore, like I did back in the days.
Going .500 in TDM for hours on end isn't fun for me.
To have fun=success in a MP title, I need to put in work. Like, learn all the map layouts in CoD or get familiar with all the teams in FIFA and build up that muscle memory.

B) Stress factor
On top of the lack of time, when I pick up the controller I'm way more tired after a long work day (+ doing chores around the house + spending time with my wife/kid) than I was as a 25yr old dipshit single.
I just want to kick back, relax and play some SP game, atm that's Final Fantasy 7 Remake, tonight, You know something I can just pick up or drop at any minute, where I get to decide how challenging it will be.

C) Time factor
With FF7R, I boot up my console and start playing. When you only get 2 hours and change to play games on a given day, that's huge.
Tinkering with loadouts, setting up formations, matchmaking, downtime between maps/matches, constant patches, crappy people online etc.......
There's a ton of downtime baked into every MP title that eats away at my precious gaming time.

D) Friend factor
25 yr old dipshit me had a bunch of friends on XBL and we would chat during downtimes and keep each other engaged.
Now all my friends are in the same boat as me: Kid, house, no time etc.
Therefore it's really rare (almost impossible) that we can all jump into CoD at the same time and play together for a couple of hours.

Sucks but you gotta adapt. JRPGs are my jam now ("anime as fuck" games I wouldn't even have tried 5 years ago, if someone gifted them to me).
As a 25 yo dipshit single, all those things are also true for me, excluding the part of being married and having kids.
Basically i find MP to be a complete waste of time for the reasons you said, as well as a pointlessly stressful activity when you're supposed to be relaxing and having fun. Thankfully i can still play with friends, although on very limited occasions, and we play mainly coop games rather than competitive (Divinity: Original sin 2 for the last year or so)
 

Grinchy

Banned
I definitely have. What I used to love about it was that exhilarating feeling of trying to survive impossible situations. I had a competitiveness in me that brought it out. I just don't have that anymore.

When you don't care about winning or surviving in an online game anymore, it just feels pointless to play. That's not to say I don't play any multiplayer anymore, though. I played a ton of Blackout when it came out. I played a ton of Destiny 1, Killzone, ect. But a multiplayer game has to be doing something different for me to care anymore.
 
I used to play MP all the time as a teenager on the Xbox 360. Playing COD4, MW2 and RDR was all I would ever play online. But by the time the next generation of consoles arrived, I had lost all interest in continuing playing online with other players. I had a "been there, done that" kinda feeling about MP.

When I look MP games today, it's still just more of the same thing I experienced 10 years ago, but on a larger scale and with added microtransactions.
 

recma12

Member
As a 25 yo dipshit single, all those things are also true for me, excluding the part of being married and having kids.
Basically i find MP to be a complete waste of time for the reasons you said, as well as a pointlessly stressful activity when you're supposed to be relaxing and having fun. Thankfully i can still play with friends, although on very limited occasions, and we play mainly coop games rather than competitive (Divinity: Original sin 2 for the last year or so)

Sorry, didn't mean that "dipshit" thing in a bad way.
Seems like you are more mature at age 25 than I was, if you already reached that stage.

I used to play MP all the time as a teenager on the Xbox 360. Playing COD4, MW2 and RDR was all I would ever play online. But by the time the next generation of consoles arrived, I had lost all interest in continuing playing online with other players. I had a "been there, done that" kinda feeling about MP.

When I look MP games today, it's still just more of the same thing I experienced 10 years ago, but on a larger scale and with added microtransactions.

Yeah this, too.
When I got my 360 and XBL sub. It was such a new, cool thing to sit on your couch and play with people all over the planet. On a console.
Seems like most people used headphones, had their mic open and (for the most part) engaged with other players in good faith.
Kinda like "Hey buddy, we are in this new world together, let's have some fun!"
There also weren't too many big, popular MP games. All the console people I knew played CoD, Gears or FIFA.
DLC was simple deal, 4 new maps for 15€.

Nowadays, everybody is in private chat. There 4 big MP games in the free2play BR genre alone plus hundreds of other options (Destiny, Division, Siege, CoD, BF, Overwatch, the new Riot game etc.). What are the odds to meet someone IRL that plays the same game as you?
Chatting online has become "old". Too many bad actors in online communities. etc.
DLC, MTX or Seasonpasses are complicated as hell.

I'll always will have good memories of the 360 era, especially the COD4, WaW, MW2, BLOPS1 period.
But after that.... yeah I feel you.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
Sorry, didn't mean that "dipshit" thing in a bad way.
Seems like you are more mature at age 25 than I was, if you already reached that stage.
Oh, sorry, i wasn't criticizing you, it was more of a self-deprecating humor i wanted to add to the comment.
I meant it to be a "yup, thats right, tottally agree" type of reply.
 
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Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
I am certainly not a fan of the typical MP games, but still find it enjoyable with the right game.
 

dilbag

Member
My biggest problem is the lack of time.... I just cant keep up. Gears 5 MP is a ton of fun but its such a grind just to unlock characters. Plus I still enjoy playing a variety of games so its hard to play a ton of hours of MP in games just to unlock stuff or stay competitive. Its funny as it is in a way I feel like I am having to pick between enjoying my single player games or putting 100s of hours into an MP game just to keep up.

I am getting to the point where I will end up just playing single player games or couch co op games just to get off the tread mill that online gaming has become.
 

Keihart

Member
Opposite for me.

I find it easier to play COD for 30 minute bursts than to find 2-3 hours at a time to invest in a story driven single player game.
I'm on the same boat, the older i get, the easier it seems to just play a little mp games on the side instead of investing on sp games.
I still play singleplayer games, but it feels harder to find the time even when there is time.
 

ultrazilla

Gold Member
I'm 48. I'll admit I've slowed down on multiplayer games. I used to play Destiny/Destiny 2, Battlefield and Call of Duty franchises heavily
years ago but now I barely play an hour or more "online" a week.

My reflexes have slowed down and honestly I can't stand the toxic online global/team chat so I often mute that. In my younger days,
trash talking was honorable IMO. Hell, we'd even compliment each other for getting a good sniper shot/kill on each other. Now?
Death threats, Swatting, toxic/racist/sexual comments just ruin it. So I think my age and "maturing" as a gamer have kept me away
from online gaming.

I have 2 teenage sons(16 and 19) who I've "passed the torch" to in regards to online gaming. The 16 year old is ranked super high globally
in Counter Strike(I'm talking really high) and my 19 year old son is ranked super high as well for Destiny 2. A lot of popular Destiny/Destiny 2
streamers know of him as well, his name is "Kaijuseijin" and know he'll give them a problem, especially in Trials. :messenger_tears_of_joy:

So I'd like to think I've passed along some good gaming DNA to them. I've taught them about proper etiquette when chatting/gaming online.
To always keep it respectful and non toxic. They both do a great job of that so I'm proud of them.

Me? Just like the OP, I mainly stick to single player games now. The Witcher 3, God of War, Spider-Man, Ori, Super Mario, etc; basically anything with single player
campaigns.


My sons and I do get to play couch co-op from time to time which is fun as well but they generally do their "own things" gaming wise.

I've been gaming since the Pong/Atari 2600 days. I'll be a gamer until the day I use my very last "respawn".

Anyways, stay safe everyone and happy gaming. :messenger_sunglasses:
 

Aion002

Member
For me is the opposite.

When I was younger I ignored MP games and focused only on SP, today I still enjoy SP, but most of time I am playing MP games, it's a way to connect with old friends.

I have two best friends from high school, one lives in another country and the other lives in another state and we basically play almost every day together, even if for only a couple of minutes, it's a way to stay together.

So... I end up playing a lot more of Smite, Monster Hunter World and Apex these days than Death Stranding or DMCV for example (I bought both games a few months ago and still didn't finished them).

Also, I play MP games in a casual manner.... I don't care if I win or lose, I just enjoy playing.... that's probably why I can play MP games without worries.

Still, I love SP games, but if the game has a multiplayer option, I might end up playing it a lot more than a SP only game....
 
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xiseerht

Member
I am 40 now and I know my eyes and reflexes are not as good as they use to be. But I still love playing MP games , but I tend to enjoy smaller indie games way more now then the past. I am playing more retro games as well . I feel I am a smarter online player now in MP games . I know I am not as fast as younger players . So to make up for that , I just play smarter and try to guess where I think players will be at . ( If that makes sense)
 
An argument in favor of getting back into competitive MP games as you age is that you should be* investing your time into fewer games overall, revisiting classics, and getting better at them. I am better at gaming now than I ever was (except for maybe MP fps) because I'm playing fewer games and fewer genres overall. I'm also playing fewer low-skill, low-reflex games like RPGs and sims.

Time becomes more precious as you age so games no longer express their value simply by providing hours of filler content. Instead, I want a game to offer a high skill ceiling that rewards my hours invested with more than just cutscenes and level-ups and gear.

*subjective, of course, but as I've aged I find the yearly grind of keeping up with as many new releases as I can exhausting. I'd rather cozy into a game and experience the satisfaction of my skills increasing in objective, measurable ways. This is an aspect of gaming's entertainment value that is often neglected by no-skill journos
 
I’m 30 and enjoying the heck out of Modern Warfare for the last 5 months. Last CoD game I bought was 10 years ago. True, it’s hard to go head on against twitchy, bunny hopping/sliding sweaters so I have my own play style someone would call campy but who cares. I would say I’m strategic -I know when to rush and I know when to back down. It’s working good for me and it’s enjoyable.

Thing is, great MP games you can play for months consecutively for a price of 60$. It’s biggest bang for your buck you can get. Of course, there’s a small thing of PS plus but hey. I think many people these days commit to this one huge GaaS MP game and stick with it, be it Destiny, Division, Overwatch, LoL, CoD and they play them for months and years.

Because, SP games comparatively you finish very quick and then you’re done but MP games never end. Unless you’re something like Witcher 3 or RDR 2 that can consume you whole but that’s rare.

There are many MP games you can play as an older gamer, that don’t require fast reflexes. Rocket League or FF XIV, for example.
 

Gamernyc78

Banned
Nahhhh I've always, loved a good Uncharted mp and tlou mp really had me stuck into it as it was so good and fresh. Now BR has come along and nitro boosted my love for mp games. I don't go a day without playing at least two hours of warzone 😊
 

cormack12

Gold Member
I really love co-op. Loved the Horde mode in GoW, I even like the Division 2 for what it brings. I can pick up an FPS and go 1:1 with little effort even only playing them the odd hour or so. To get up to 1.5 then I have to play regularly. I'm probably a solid 1.8-2.0 player if I legitimately go all out and play it religiously. That's my ceiling though.

I dont have that time any more. When I was a PC player or kid I had fewer games. It was CS1.6 -> CS:S or WoW basically, I knew those maps like the back of my hand etc. Nowadays i have so much other stuff to play I can't commit to one game any more really. So therefore it's pointless to play because I don't have fun being the punchbag - I'm just not one of those people who can have fun despite being shite at the game. Plus it's getting harder to get into that bracket, there are better players coming through, I'm getting older - it takes me more to approach their level or at least be competitive. I don't have the time to cheese the sub meta either and chase the curve.

All the grinding, XP, cash and progress unlocks turn me right off. I don't want to feel like I'm being pitted against someone who has 200+ hours in the game as well as superior weapons etc. Additionally cross play turns me right off
 

SpartanN92

Banned
I agree. This gen hasn’t been great for multiplayer. I’m a huge Halo fan and Halo MCC was a disaster for years, and I hated Halo 5. CoD also has gone horribly downhill (MW2019 is the best CoD since Black Ops 1).

Ive gotten older, I’m a stones throw from being 30, I have a hectic job, I’m in Grad School, a wife, a 7 month old baby, 5 cats, a mortgage etc...my time to play multiplayer is pretty minimal nowadays, none of my friends schedules line up with mine and when I do play I get frustrated that I’m not as good as I used to be due to lack of practice and degrading reflexes (I never thought that would happen to me 😂)
 
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