Whats wrong with multiplayer?

So I've been off and on the Giant Bomb forums for a good year or so and I've been noticing a recurring sentiment within some of the forumgoers of this site lately. That sentiment would be that "multiplayer is bad!" or "multiplayer shoehorned in" etc etc. There is an air of smugness and superiority when one chimes in on a discussion about a game designed around multiplayer saying well "I have no interest playing a game with little to no single player content/ I only play single player games and I will be playing (insert single player game soon to be released)". Good for you duder!!!! Do you realize how pretentious you sound?? End rant So, whats wrong with multiplayer being in games?

Edit: Holy shit I did not realize how many threads there are pertaining to this topic.

Making a thread like this with no obvious immediate provocation and no concrete examples is the internet equivalent of angrily yelling at invisible pixies in public places.

I personally have never been interested in Multiplayer unless it is a LAN situation. I enjoy the single player experience more than anything multiplayer has ever offered me.

I play for the story, for making a difference in the virtual world, for accomplishing things and finishing them, and for 100% interesting action. Competitive MP is the opposite of that normally. No story at all, no change in the world/story/character, never finished with endless matches, and lots of downtime and travel. That said, I played 120hours of TF2 with my nephews and it was fun. I normally never play a single MP minute in games like Uncharted that I bought to play SP.

Defending multiplayer-only games, I'm sure NOBODY bought Battlefield 3/4 with the intention of playing a life-changing campaign, those games might as well not even have a single-player game, but I'm sure people would still find ways to bitch about paying $60 for a online-only battlefield game. As for Titanfall, I'm not really dissapointed there isn't a single player mode, but honestly it would probably be the same old cliche call of duty campaign, but with mechs. Point is $60 multiplayer-only games can be justified, as long as the install base is large enough for at least a few years, and of course it continually supported. Let's be for real, most FPS games don't have very captivating storys.

I love multiplayer.

'eff it. I think Halo 4 multiplayer is the best since Halo 2.

It's just a very different experience and not one tailored to most people who visit a site like this.

i love multiplayer because its something you can do as a social activity with your friends, whether online or off.. split screen can be great in some games (halo 3 got this right, many dont), and i think immersing into virtual worlds with your friends can teach you a lot about life and the world , without having to go through physical misery/suffering like in the animal kingdom.. we have the ability to sort through our mess up here, in the mental realms. thats what multiplayer gaming is about to me. coming together and learning how to act! (<3)

games i recommend for these kind of learning experiences:

dark souls
journey
braid
flower

minecraft

Yeah, what's up with that!?

@witzig: You do know that for years until Ryan's death there was a mutli-hour multiplayer only show every Thursday on this site. So that's clearly not the opinion of a majority of users here.

This, as so many other things do, boils down to, "Don't pay attention to people saying stupid shit online." If they whine about MP only games, let them be unhappy, and have fun playing what you like.

Kids

For people who jump from game to game frequently like game reviewers you can never really get good enough at a multiplayer game to feel satisfied with your performance. It is not very fun to go 3/10 KDR in every match even if kills don't matter in that mode. You want to feel like you are doing good. The enemies in single player games generally don't get better over time so you can come back to Halo 4 a year late and handle the AI just fine, but every who is still playing is probably way better than you now.

This is further caused by the clunky bandaids game developers make with controller aiming that all feel slightly different so aiming in one game can be hard if you are not used to it. I did terrible at MW3 on the 360 because of the goofy snap to target when you zoom in mechanic. Its not really aiming so you have to get used to how it works and feels rather than being good at fps games in general and since everybody likes to hurr durr with a pair of springy mushrooms in video games now it can push people away from having fun in a competitive setting without even knowing why they don't like it.

You can slog through a single player game and eventually beat the bad guy since single player games don't keep score of how many times you died traditionally.

They suck at it?

@joshwent: I do remember and miss TNT alot.

Multiplayer is fine, tacked on multiplayer isn't.

Yeah, I'd need some examples too. I don't think these forums lean heavily either way.

Nothing? Generalizations like these seem kinda pointless. It would be more effective to argue specific things you find issue with. Also some people only like single-player games, there is nothing pretentious just to say so, don't project emotions/intent on a wide spectrum of people, especially with a communication method that doesn't convey them well. (again unless you want to take someone specific to task, go ahead and do so there). Shoehorned multiplier is another thing entirely and there is an equivalent tacked on single player on the other side of the coin, people take issue with both.

There's nothing wrong with multiplayer. I just don't have a ton of friends who play video games on a regular basis anymore.

I'd guess a lot of people have antisocial tendencies when it comes to video games. I know I do, but for the record I'm very much pro-multiplayer. I also don't think that something so generalizing like this could be applied to the whole Gb community, so I'm not entirely sure where you're coming from on this.

A lot of games do have a tacked on MP-mode, and I'd rather see that time and effort be put into the campaign. MP in general is just fine, but I personally don't play it all that often, mostly because I don't have friends who are as interested in games as I am. Being a sucker for achievements / trophies doesn't help either.

easy, compare Tomb Raider multiplayer with Uncharted 2 and 3's multiplayer.

There has to be a HOOK, Something to keep you coming back, like Mass Effect 3's multiplayer is better then the single player because there's no horrible slow walking in ash forest for a boy. No your a Salarian and a Turian C-Sect officers who don't fallow the rules and get the job done!

Nothing...........yip.