Greetings, bombers and bombettes! It's the beginning of 2012, and as you know, long 2011 deliberations were all the rage last week. I gave more thought in my list this year than some of my earlier years (mostly because I wasn't very active back then), and it really gave me a lot to think about on how my tastes in games have changed. In the early years of owning my Xbox 360, I've played a lot of competitive multiplayer, but now I've lost interest in that kind of experience. People often like to compare video game experiences to books, movies and music, which is an apt comparison for the most part, but other times I feel that video games can be more akin to board games and sports. Certain games are social experiences, and if you don't have a group of friends to play with, you're missing an important part of what the developers had in mind. It ruins the point of reviews if not everyone is going to have access to a wide group of friends to play with.

I first bought my 360 in the summer of 2007. My first game was Dead Rising, which was frustrating when civilians were dying on you. I was playing the game on a small, standard definition TV, and continued to play these games in this format until sometime in 2010...yeah. Anyway, Halo 3 came out that year, and was one of the first multiplayer games I found myself playing with friends from high school. I recall having Jeff on my friend's list at one point, but when I joined his lobby he booted me...

The various custom options kept me interested for some time, and to date, Bungie.net says that I've played 461 matches. Now, 2007 had a number of big games: Super Mario Galaxy, Bioshock, Halo 3, The Orange Box, and, of course, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I played Modern Warfare frequently, and pretty much every time I logged on, there was someone on my friend's list playing the game. I probably wouldn't have played it as much as I did otherwise, since these were people I had known for many years. They were also better at the game than I was, so I would go to them for advice on what weapons and perks to use, and which strategy to implement on what map. According to the game, I've accumulated a play time of 6 days, 12 hours, and 47 minutes. Granted, sometimes if a friend was over my house it would be him playing the game instead, but it is still a lot of hours.

Eventually, my time spent in competitive multiplayer was reduced, and certain people I used to play with weren't logging on as much. Some sold off their systems and games, saying that they just “grew out of it”. Others spent more time at work and started a serious relationship, so I haven't seen them around, online or in person. This didn't happen overnight, and to put it in perspective, I've taken note of the hours I've spent in other Call of Duty games. In World at War, I've spent 1 day, 6 hours, and 15 minutes. A huge drop from Modern Warfare. I'm not certain if it records time spent on Nazi Zombies, or just the traditional matchmaking, because they are on separate menus. On Modern Warfare 2, I spent 3 days, 0 hours, and 45 minutes. The increase in this case can be explained Modern Warfare 2 being more anticipated, as well as having more friends interested in the title. But in Black Ops, there was another fall, accumulating just 1 day, 3 hours, and 5 minutes. This was true with Halo Reach as well – Bungie.net states that I've only played 41 matches.

Where does this leave me now? I didn't even bother purchasing Modern Warfare 3. It may be because I just lost interest in the Call of Duty formula, but even if you look past that, and the financial trouble I was going through at the time, I just wasn't playing these games as much as I used to. There are other games that cater more towards cooperation, such as Left4Dead, but I would still find myself in the same situation of not having many friends who are interested in playing those games.

This leads me to my next point – most people who play these games suck. I don't mean that they're bad at video games. They're very good at them, actually, but you know where I'm going with this Getting cursed out by loud children and arrogant tools from various parts of the world isn't my idea of an enjoyable evening. As much as the mainstream media likes to bash violent video games for corrupting our youth, I'd be a lot more concerned as a parent in thinking about the kinds of idiots he or she might encounter over Xbox Live. Of course, this is something that you'll encounter everywhere on the internet, but video games are supposed to fun! My go to example of how bad Xbox Live can get is this audio clip from the CAGcast:

It's funny, but in the end how much enjoyment you get out of a multiplayer game is proportional to whether or not you're playing it with people you enjoy spending time with. Not everyone is going to have that group of friends to play through a campaign, though. It reduces the overall enjoyment if you can't take advantage of the game's strengths. Brad Shoemaker chose Gears of War 3 as his sixth Top 10 Game of 2011 and supported it by saying the following:

“The Horde mode alone is worth the price of admission. You haven't lived until you've squared off alone against a Brumak with all your spectating teammates cheering you on.”

He's describing a great moment, but one that isn't as easy to recreate as something experienced over single player. It's not the equivalent of that tearful moment at the end of Toy Story 3, but more like someone getting a the final touchdown and narrowly winning the football game. I've never cared about sports either, which could also have altered that competitive inclination I once had. Still, now that my old social network has been reduced, that moment Brad described is meaningless to me.