‘Tis The Season For Online Gaming…Or Is It?

Has online gaming changed in a year?

by dkpatriarch

© 2008 David Hilton

Exactly a year ago I wrote about the problems with online gaming over Xbox Live and I want to revisit that topic to ask if anything has changed in that time.  With suggestions that Microsoft is set to try and end a lot of the abuse on Live, probably this coming year, it is a good time to ask the online gamers out there what they think.

We have a poll for you to voice your opinion after my article’s ‘reprise’, and feel free to comment in the comment box.  Is Live any better than it was a year ago with regards to abuse?  Have you learned to avoid the abuse over Live, for example by playing only with those on your friends-list?  Is Live fine the way it is and those who don’t like it are too thin-skinned? Do you think real-time censoring software applied to Live will help?  Is there somewhere else that Live needs to improve?

What about the Playstation 3′s online gaming?  Those of you who play a lot there, do you suffer the same abuse, and what methods have you come up with to deal with it?

So before you vote or comment, have a read of what I wrote last year.  See if my concerns still apply, if they aren’t such a concern anymore, or if you disagree that Live users should be concerned in the first place.

And for those Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii players among you who are here (thanks for visiting) who have played online, let us know if the arguments in the article also ring true to you in the comments section (without flaming please).

One Year Ago….

So it’s the Christmas season; that time of year visiting family and friends get together and sit around the game console and play some multiplayer marathons together, all in good cheer. Oh no wait; that was the past. Not so much now, since game developers in their wisdom (with the rare exception of those that made COD 4, Halo 3, Perfect Dark 0, and GRAW), think that multiplayer should only be played and enjoyed on Xbox Live.

I make no bones about it; I’m not an Xbox Live convert. I did have it for a year, and I did have some great times with some games like Carcassonne and NHL. Gears of War and the ‘team gameplay’ commando co-operation ethic drove me (and my team-mates) mad; and I was sick of all the swearing, drunk slurred singing, and, yes, dying that happened when I played other shooters like COD 2. I didn’t want to listen to that, or let my kids play PD0 or Halo and listen to it, but when I turned off my mic, I got negative feedback and messages for not ‘co-ordinating’ with the team! Fun became serious and it all turned me right off.

Back to the opening description. Several years ago this was my house and my Christmas season. All my brothers-in-law and nephews, some of whom did not own a console, would all have a go at taking turns playing split-screen N64 or Xbox and it was as fun watching each other as it was to play. We kept tallies and made joke accusations of “double jointed thumb advantage” etc. It was great because we played together and not with strangers we could care less about. We knew each other and how good or bad we were did not matter. It was merry, it was a great Christmas.

So that’s dead and buried because of the ‘future of gaming’: online. Developers seem to think so; even the recently released Orange Box by Valve with the perfect for family and friends multi game with the cartoon look, Team Fortress, is only at best system link, with no split screen. But does it have to be that way? Is there really no demand for split-screen?

According to the NPD group in its most recent report entitled ‘Expanding the Games Market’ it concludes that despite playing more single-player or online games, hardcore gamers are just as likely as casual ones to enjoy local multiplayer games.

It reports: “”While heavier gamers are much more inclined than lighter gaming groups to prefer playing games alone, both groups are equally inclined to enjoy playing games as a family, group or as a party activity.” The survey was taken online by more than 5,000 respondents and the results say 63 percent of the U.S. population plays video games, with the 18-34 male demographic predictably being the most avid players.

What is perhaps most surprising though, and what developers should take note of, is that the findings show that all gamers, casual and hardcore, “value gaming as a way to bring their families closer together… and as a way to alleviate stress and to help them unwind”. So no, it’s not just ‘good to play together’ online, but also with people who you already have established relationships with. Even those I personally know who play Live, generally play with established friends and not with strangers.

Then there is the online Live problem of finding a multiplayer game to play if the gaming public has moved on to newer more exciting options. You might love Prey’s multiplayer, for example, but if nobody is playing it anymore it is as good as a waste of the developer’s time and resources. They would have been better off spending those resources on the single player mode. And you, who may still enjoy the multi, cannot play it anymore because there is no local split-screen.

While more games cater to system-link than they do to split-screen, this limits those that do not own several consoles or do not have several consoles in the greater friendship or family circle to only a handful of games that they can play together sitting in one room.

This is where the Wii is making in-roads; it caters to casual gamers who like to play together with its simple accessibility, short mini-games, and local multiplayer games. That is a shame because the 360 has great games that have great multiplayer, but if these games were also split-screen, maybe even with bots (remember them?), some of these households would be warming up the 360 instead of dusting off the rarely used Wii.

So, has online gaming changed at all from a year ago?

© 2008 David Hilton

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Filed under: Console gaming, Editorial, GOTHY Awards, Parental Gaming, Polls, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 News, Xbox Community Network, XboxLive Marketplace Tagged: | christmas games, good christmas games, XBLA, xbox live, XboxLive