At the beginning of 2016 I included a question in the survey “Happy to be a Gamer” asking you if you tend to play alone or with other people. I was surprised by the answer my readers gave: 84% of the respondents played alone most of the time. Somehow I hadn’t expected that!
Connectivity is clearly something the gaming industry is putting a lot of effort in. There’s hardly a game nowadays that doesn’t have some form of interaction with other players. The 3DS makes it easy with Streetpass and online play, and mobile games played on your smartphone or tablet make it even more convenient. In mobile games the connection can be made through social media, through a game-specific service or the iOS GameCenter, so one thing is for sure: if you enjoy gaming with others, connecting couldn’t be easier.
Is it a sign of the times that this connectivity gets such strong emphasis these days? Is the connectivity achieved for no other purpose then the fact that it can be done, that the technology is there? I don’t think so, I think game developers know very well what connectivity can do for the success of their game.
The most powerful incentive to play a game is that your friends play the game too. It’s as simple as that. Remember the schoolyard, groups of kids huddled together playing Pokémon? Battling with each other, or trading Pokémon because of course, you’ve got to catch them all. Even if a child has the handheld device needed, it will still feel left out when it’s not playing the game the others are sharing.
Now it’s been a long time since I was in the schoolyard myself, but even I recognize this fact: the best ever Pokémon game for me was Platinum. Not necessarily because it’s the best of the entire series, but because the group of online friends I was in were all infected by the Pokévirus. Heck, we had files of who had which Pokémon and it’s evolutions. We even had lists of Pokéberries, and we did our best to make sure we could share everything. Ditto’s got good use back then. It felt good to complete your Pokédex!
Most major franchises have a strong base of fans who manage to infect their friends, family and even colleagues. That’s what makes the game such a success, the fun of having the same interest, of reaching out based on a common hobby and the fun of gaming together. We all have a mental picture of people sitting behind the computer with headphones on their head, losing themselves night after night in a virtual world in an MMO. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about everything gaming together entails: talking in forums, being a part of an online community, chatting in a Facebook group about your games, feeling a smile on your face when you meet people in Streetpass that you’ve met before. All of that.
So even if most of you voted that you play alone most of the time, could you imagine playing totally isolated all the time? For me, the answer is clear: why would I otherwise have taken up blogging about gaming in the first pace. But what about you?
It’s a really interesting topic, and a great question at the end! Just as our relationship with games changes and evolves over the years, so do our opportunities for communicating with others about games. When I was young, competitive games were a way of bonding with my family, especially my brother and my parents to a lesser extent. Later, when I moved away, games took a backseat in my life, but at the same time I could participate in gaming culture by reading forums and following the industry. Then when I met Maya, it was the first time I’d ever seriously discussed games with another person (before that none of my friends were that into games). And she’s the reason I started actually playing games again – because all of a sudden I knew someone who was interested in them too, and so all of a sudden gaming seemed much more appealing! Then when Maya suggested we start a blog, it just felt right.
To answer your question then… nope. I would still get some fun out of gaming on my own, but I would always prefer to do something social. Having other people around, or some kind of community, is really important.
Isn’t it great to have someone to talk gaming with close? Seems great to me. I do sometimes meet up with a friend I met through gaming, and we never stop chatting games. Like you, I would play alone too, but the social side is important to me.
When I grew up there wasn’t anything like video games of course, and aside of that, my family never was competitive, not even when we played monopoly.
Agreed, talking about games is half the fun! Why else blog about them? Board games are competitive, but with videogames, it’s like you say in the post, there all kinds of social interactions that games can foster, it’s not just about competition. I seem to remember Nintendo referring to Animal Crossing back in the day as a “communication game” (not sure if they still do, but it stood out to me at the time)!
I don’t know if they still do either, but it does makes sense. Visiting people in their towns, having people over in yours. We even had special themed parties in town, with members of our group setting s theme for visits, and us trying to dress up in the most fitting way.
Up until I played Destiny, I had never played online with people I didn’t know before. I had played a few games with my brother online, and many couch co-op games, but now I find that I play with others far more often than I ever thought I would. I never would have anticipated that.
And boy oh boy do I love StreetPassing people. It just makes me smile each time I see that green light on. 🙂
Same here, the green light used to be even more special before Nintendo let you haul in 6 Streetpasses at every wifi point, but still: nice to see who comes through those gates.
I only know of one “hotspot” near me (at Best Buy), but I LOVE when all those StreetPasses stack up. I think I get nine at a time there. It’s so much fun.
Over here, I get them every time I walk through the railway stations on my daily commute. So, nice!
Oh man! How fortunate! This weekend being a special StreetPass one, I see myself wandering around my local Best Buy for all those passes!
My gaming experience is Pogo.com, where you can partner, compete or go at it alone. However, embedded in the screen for each game, there is a chat area. I love this part of the game as the discussions can be between those who know each other or just a general chat. We also give a kudos to those who played a good game, etc. Interaction makes the games more enjoyable, IMO.
I agree, much more enjoyable. That’s what made me stick to the first animal crossing for the DS said for so long. There was a huge online community on the Internet and you could meet up with others in your little village in the DS. It spurred me on to keep playing and make my town as pretty as can be.
Yes, the little challenges are fun when you have fun and support. It makes for a good time.
While I prefer gaming alone in general (though I do enjoy the occasional marathon of fighting games with my older sister), I cannot see myself being isolated from the gaming community. I love keeping up with the news, sharing awareness of games, watch let’s plays on youtube, read people’s blogs, contribute what I know in forums to help with FAQs creation, etc. While I do truly think that the “you must always play with others or its not fun and you’re a friendless loser” mentality that western publishers have nowadays is poisonous to the industry and that most social features are either there just because or can be downright annoying to most consumers (aka most mobile games), I still love being a part of this community. I cannot go through my day without at least checking the news and have a few let’s plays in the background while I do other stuff.
Plus, I think true fans are always excited to talk about their passion whenever they can, and love to welcome others into it. And even if I choose not to game with people I don’t know because I get too self conscious that other people are judging my gaming skills, that doesn’t mean I’m not as passionate as the next person. I’ve been a passionate member of the sims 2 player base for 11 years, a game that stills has a lot of life thanks to the dedicated community it has, and it’s a totally single player experience that has 2 sequels by now. Making custom content, sharing challenges and accomplishments with each other, posting stories online about their sims, all that can make for a social experience as worthwhile as playing in an MMO.
Like you, I cannot imagine going through my days without staying up to date with the gaming news and chatting online with people.
I guess it has become a way of life!
What fun, Sims 2! That is a DS game, right, where you run a hotel? I seem to remember my daughter playing it, and even my husband having a go at it. I had no idea the fan community was so active!
No, that Sims 2 game is one of it’s many console ports/spin offs (and one of the few ones I’ve never played, I enjoyed the PSP ports more, although the GBA ones where a lot of fun too). The main Sims games are on PC and they are the ultimate life simulation games. You can build a neighborhood whichever way you like, including building houses, you can create your own sims/families to populate those neighborhoods and then watch their life unfold. It’s as close to a life simulation as you can get right now; Sims age from baby to elder and then eventually die, they can have their own babies and pass on their genes (literally, the offspring takes characteristics from both parents) and among the way they can live their life in various ways. They can have normal jobs, run their own business, go out into the town, grow gardens and fish, have pets (and breed them too), go to college, take vacations, etc. Of course, a lot of those activities come from buying expansion packs, and obviously no console port can emulate what the PC version does, so they get creative with them. But most of the day tot day life consists of taking care of their basic needs, like eating, sleeping, talking to other sims, etc, and that carries over in most spin offs.
On top of that, you can download stuff to customize every single part of the game, from hairstyles and clothes to furniture, mods that alter the gameplay, houses made by other people and even the textures of sky if you so desire. It also has a lot of fantasy elements to keep the game fun, like supernatural creatures you can play as (like vampires, aliens, werewolves, etc), fun objects like chemistry sets that you can make potions with and a bunch of other stuff. Since the game is a sandbox with no story or objectives that you must complete, most like to make little stories play out for their Sims, or make up challenges that make just surviving harder, or to reach a certain generation, and many others. This is why the community for all the games (even the Sims 1!) are still very much alive. There’s always someone creating new content and other people sharing their stories online. Truly, it is one of the most unique experiences I’ve ever had, and the only reason I have a gaming PC. It’s because there is no other game like that, and it’s impossible to create it on consoles.
Your enthusiasm shine through, Kumiko!
Ah, now I know what you mean, as my daughter has been heavily into the Sims 3 ever since its release. She tried 4 too, but just didn’t like it like the third series.
You’re right, all the expansion packs make it extra fun, and she’s always watching clips on YouTube from other players. Otherwise, she’s not much into gaming, but this game keeps her coming back.
The only multiplayer game I play these days is Hearthstone. Years ago I was a big fan of MMOs though.
Most of the console games I buy tend to be single player story heavy experiences. Multiplayer gaming is big business for stuff like Call of Duty, but I suspect most of your readers are FPS diehards. That would explain your poll results.
Hearthstone, I’ve heard of that before. A friend of my daughter is playing that.
Well, the poll results where bound to be influenced by my reader audience, right?