So, I think I'm kind of done with multiplayer shooters.

Hey guys.  I'm going to ramble for a few sentences to make sure I'm not alone with this weird, newfangled perspective of mine.  
 
Modern Warfare 2 first ignited this fire (or stamped it out, to keep the metaphor intact). I was playing a bunch of it, probably an hour or so a day, and the game's little problems started grating me a bit. You know, the usual culprits--things like hitboxes and killcam discrepancies and One Man Army-exploits. Like any passionate relationship, soon those little things, things that I'd tried for so long to ignore, began to deteriorate the experience I was having with the game until it was little more than a continual frustration. She didn't care how my day was or whether I'd eaten at work. She only wanted my money and my sex. And even then! Oh, the complaints! 
 
I figured I'd pack my bags, then. Pack my bags and move on to a new lover. They're easy to come by anyhow.  
 
I snagged a copy of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. After about twenty hours clocked of in-game time, I'd already hit that same point of frustration. Different things creeped under my skin this time, though. My teammates online would rather sit back and snipe than protect or attack any objective spot. And on the rare occasion my team was aggressive, our ranks were cut through like we'd wanted to show the world what it was like to cut through enemies made from butter. I quickly grew tired of the hard swings from pummeling a team to getting pummeled. One to the other, back and forth. Matches were never competitive.  
 
Again, I drifted away from this mistress, longing for a true love. In my early high school days, I had a crush on the preppy girl everyone loved: Halo 2. I'd had a brief encounter with the younger sister, Halo Reach, a while back. It'd been heated for a bit, but we'd both known it was nothing serious. Not built to last. But I came back, crawling, crying, begging.  
 
Reach took me in, but it was only a momentary comfort. As now, in even shorter time than had been needed with the past two succubi of the night, I'd grown irritated and spiteful of my experience with Reach. Of the three, it was my favorite, but even that attachment wasn't good enough to keep us together.  
 
--- 
 
Long, unfortunately embellished story short, I don't think there's a multiplayer shooter out there with my name on it. I mean, Modern Warfare 2, Battlefield, and Reach are three reasonably different multiplayer ventures. They've all got their respective angle, you know? But playing them for any amount anymore is just frustrating. The problem is that a lot of my good friends, to whom I don't live particularly close any longer, use these games as veritable water coolers. These are the games they play to be social. But it's like chilling at a brewery where the beer really sucks! All the time! All the beer! 
 
Am I crazy, or am I, like, crazy?

But it's like chilling at a brewery where the beer really sucks! All the time! All the beer!     

Nah, you're not crazy. I played a lot of multiplayer some years ago but I've lost interest in it entirely. The reasons to play have simply vanished because I don't care about bragging rights, have way more games than I did back then, and don't find the competitive multiplayer experience deep or engaging. A cooperative runthrough of a game with a suitable campaign is the one exception to that rule.

I know what you mean, yet I haven't exactly felt your same frustration because I've never even been able to get so deeply involved in a shooter. I'm more for single-player campaigns because... well, many of the things you said - and simply because I don't really feel like hanging out amongst a bunch of people who spend their entire lives in one virtual game.
 
My brother is that way - like you described - one of those people who plays the game to be "social". He plays all the time (probably more hours a day than most people work). How he gets his money, I do not know. I'm glad if it makes him happy, but sometimes I question where it is a legitimate happiness, or more of a class-based authority kick he gets out of feeling superior to others. Judging from the fact that most his online friends are half his age, I think it leans toward the latter. I don't know - if he or you really enjoy it, all the power to you. I just think at the end of the day I'd like to feel like I did more. Even if that "more" is just playing the same amount of time in 20 different titles - I've never really been able to understand how people can transform their social nature into something that happens in a relatively non-social medium.
 
Maybe I'm just too jaded or antisocial to see the thrill in it, but one thing I know for certain is that whole deal of living in a single game is not for me. I prefer to spread my gaming time out amongst all the great games that come out, and not solely the latest big shooter(s).

You're not crazy for not liking a multiplayer component of a game. It's MULTIPLAYER. 
 
Though Black Ops was actually a surprisingly different experience from those mentioned. That said, different isn't your problem, it's niggling balance issues. 
Maybe go play TF2 on PC? That's supposed to be ultra-balanced now with all the patching Valve does, right?

Playing online shooters with random people should never be more than an occasional fling. Get some real friends to join you and you'll be laughing.

I couldnt agree more Sir Ragnarok. I played loads of CoD back in the good old CoD 2 + 3 days. But ever since its been downhill for me. Getting annoyed with bugs, cheats and an army of preteens with a fouler mouth than my grand old man. Which by the way, is saying a lot. 
 
I have turned my attention to single player experiences and when i finally play some MP, its Fifa (im european) on the couch against a real life buddy next to me. Which is more fun than i ever had playing in clans and such. 

I'm personally getting sick of every shooter playing it safe with the modern warefare formula. Don't get me wrong, that's a great game but in order to progress the industry we need more innovation desperately.

I know how you feel, I've tried a variety of multiplayer shooters and I haven't been able to get into any of them since Unreal Tournament 2003. I miss Instagib mode.
 
<3 UT2003 <3
 
@Lassegp said:

" I have turned my attention to single player experiences and when i finally play some MP, its Fifa (im european) on the couch against a real life buddy next to me. Which is more fun than i ever had playing in clans and such.  "

" I couldnt agree more Sir Ragnarok. I played loads of CoD back in the good old CoD 2 + 3 days. But ever since its been downhill for me. Getting annoyed with bugs, cheats and an army of preteens with a fouler mouth than my grand old man. Which by the way, is saying a lot.  I have turned my attention to single player experiences and when i finally play some MP, its Fifa (im european) on the couch against a real life buddy next to me. Which is more fun than i ever had playing in clans and such.  "

I became sick with this kind of games after about two years of excessively playing Counter-Strike (beta 1 to 6.5). When the COD4 MP Beta was released, I had some fun with it but I ended up playing only the SP of the full game. To me, these games feel like a huge waste my time now, doing the same stuff over and over. Instead I use my gaming time to experience the many great SP games out there (complemented by the occasional cooperative experience). Also: couch coop/splitscreen mp >>> online gaming.

" Also: couch coop/splitscreen mp >>> online gaming. "

I'm in the same position here. In fact, I've sort of been feeling that way ever since MW2. I'm hoping for BF3 to renew my interest.

" I'm personally getting sick of every shooter playing it safe with the modern warefare formula. Don't get me wrong, that's a great game but in order to progress the industry we need more innovation desperately. "

I only play online shooters with friends, it's no fun otherwise. However I am finding myself playing a shit tonne of FIFA online and that has proved to be pretty entertaining.

I agree, but I guess for different reasons.
 
Have you played Counter Strike?

Someone needs to mix it up 

im still playing battlefield bad company/vietnam expansion and i enjoy it thoroughly but thats because i solely play online with a buddy of mine so even if the team isnt working together i know i always have his skills to rely on for support. 
I got sick of Call of Duty some time between world at war and modern warfare 2 which cumulated in me skipping black ops entirely, its not so much the game but the community, there are some nice people playing but there are entirely to many whiners, douche bags and poor sportsmen playing that it detracts from the overall experience. Currently im playing Crysis 2 and I'm likely to try the multiplayer out.

I had the same problem as you, just decided to play singleplayer games on the hardest diffidulties. I find it much more rewarding.

I'm totally with you. This is why I prefer single player or co-op multi-player.
 
It's also why I've come to interpret the Game Experience May Change During Online Play warning as "Game Might Suck Online".

" @CptBedlam said:

" Also: couch coop/splitscreen mp >>> online gaming. "

This is the truth that makes me hate the current development environment. I know only one other person who has a PS3, and he's in the room next to mine, so I really have no one to play with in online multiplayer games--even co-op ones--unless my roommates are down for some blops. My friends and I haven't been able to sit down and run through a story mode together since Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and that game is like 4 years old by now, and we've played it waaaay too many times.  The other good old days I remember were back when you could play through the campaign in co-op, like with Star Wars: Battlefront, or when the entire game featured drop-in/drop-out co-op, like Champions of Norrath. "

I'm done too.  

I know how you feel.  I'm definitely burnt out from all the FPS that come out now.  For me HALO 2 was the tip of the iceberg.  After that FPS became too generic and too many "perks" were added in.  The last FPS that I played daily and enjoyed was CoD4.  Unfortunately video games as a whole are suffering due to the popularity of FPS games.

I never really cared about multiplayer other than online co-op in games. But Bad Company 2 really has its grip on me still. Probably played close to 80 hours online so far, and im still enjoying it. But i totally agree on what you say. I fucking hate people dicking around not doing what they are supposed to do. turning each mach into a gian Death Match disregarding objectives.
 
And im still amazed some people cant spot a tank even if it ran them over, morons.

COD 4 was the last great MP game for me. I played all that followed but they fell flat. I still play Black Ops, and still generally have fun. I just cant understand how people who have prestiged and in their combat record have played the game for 15 days and still so F*****G terrible at this game. Its the same as all other COD games! Definite lack of skill with most people in B.O for some reason. Sick and tired of going on a team, getting a fair 20 - 2 k/d ratio and still getting completely raped by the other team just because most people on the team are pulling 3 kills 19 deaths shit.
Gave up on BF:BC 1 & 2 for same reason that cant play team game with random XBL users as all they do is snipe from a hill and watch the objective be destroyed. Recently gave Crysis 2 MP a shot. Absolute shit. 
Hoping Brink fills the gap.

FPS multiplayer is full of little kids who think playing rap music over their mic while cussing others out is kewl. Be glad you're no longer part if it.

I dislike playing most competitive multiplayer games. However, I'm always down for some co-op.

I've started playing jrpgs again since I'm so burned out on shooters. Never thought I'd enjoy them again but I am.

I'm in the same boat for the most part.  The combination of shooters getting fairly stale and people who play all day being much better at them than me has turned me off on them.  Note I'm not counting TF2, which is not a shooter and instead an advanced class-based hat simulation.  I go back to that pretty often. 
 
The best multiplayer experience I've had this year has been Assassin's Creed by far.  New innovative concept, requires a lot of strategy, and uses some pretty awesome gameplay as a base.  Though last I tried to play that I had a lot of trouble finding a game sadly. 

I totally agree, I'm really starting to get burned out on multiplayer shooters as well.  It's to the point where I almost feel bad for buying CoD black ops... I played through the single player and that was pretty good, but I never made it past level 30 in the multiplayer before completely stopping.  So basically that game lasted me all of 3 weeks.  Don't even ask me why I bought the map pack a few weeks ago, cause I have no clue how I got sucked into that...  To be fair I'll still fire up a dead ops arcade or one of the other zombies maps when one of my friends come over, but beyond that I never touch that game anymore. 
 
Instead of wasting my time dealing with the retard screamer children characteristic of the current FPSs, I've been digging through the back catalog with gamefly and playing a lot of the single player games I missed over the past few years.  I've definitely found some gems in there like Alpha Protocol (yah that's right, I said it...), Dante's Inferno, and Splinter Cell Conviction.  Whenever I want to actually play a multiplayer shooter, TF2 is my go to game lately.  Ya know, a game that actually requires teamwork and shuns away small obnoxious children?? Otherwise, I'm content right now with sticking with single player games.

Yeah, fps games stopped being fun for me a while ago, particularly the multiplayer.

It was funny listening to Jeff talk about all these "modern shooter" games populating the market, and then went on to say that Battlefield 3 was doing "interesting things". By that, does he mean "play more and look more like Call of Duty, but with some buildings that can be knocked down. Also tanks"... because that's kind of the same thing as all these other games. Do I unlock weapons as I level up too?

" You're not crazy for not liking a multiplayer component of a game. It's MULTIPLAYER.  Though Black Ops was actually a surprisingly different experience from those mentioned. That said, different isn't your problem, it's niggling balance issues. Maybe go play TF2 on PC? That's supposed to be ultra-balanced now with all the patching Valve does, right? "

yep, multiplayer games just have a bunch of bugs now in days. it's pretty crazy that developers make crappy games. modern warfare 2 was kind of issues that never got fixed. black ops is kind of the same and stuff.

Only MP FPS I can stand is TF2. 
 
And by stand, I mean I played 28 hours and might play more... eventually at some point in the future... maybe.

For me, the thing with multiplayer shooters is that I can never let them become my main game. If I do that, I burn myself out pretty quickly. Instead, I try to always keep 1 multiplayer shooter around to play once a week or so when I don't want to play a normal game. Keeps the game exciting and stops me from feeling burnt out. I still love playing BC2 solely because I think the most "days" I've played it in a row is like a week since release. 

" yep, multiplayer games just have a bunch of bugs now in days. it's pretty crazy that developers make crappy games. modern warfare 2 was kind of issues that never got fixed. black ops is kind of the same and stuff. "