Is Single-Player Better Than Multiplayer? | Slightly Civil War

For me, it greatly depends on which game is made singleplayer and which one is multiplayer.
I'm a sucker for cooperative gameplay that involves base-building and fulfilling roles. Clumping some baddies together for your friend to blow up? That's uniquely satisfying.
That said, there are some experiences that money can't buy... and singleplayer games let you mod them to get it.

Also single player developers can simply make the game fun. Whereas Multiplayer devs are forced by players(and CEOs) to make game controls bad and mechanics annoying. Because multiplayer gamers are paranoid that too easy a game or too smooth of controls will allow other players to get far ahead(bad players' perspective) of or catch up to them(good player's perspective). Which companies are happy to play into since this allows them to add constant p2w power creep in lieu of actual game. When the reality is that it'd be easier to catch up to a sweaty player if the game was easier and you would have more players staying to enjoy the game overall and therefore a larger population of bad players to PK with the only downside being that they might beat you sometimes.

Single player Video games are definitely better than Multiplayer Video games

This is cringe

SOOO MUCH SHIIIIT!!!

If you want to play with friends play a single player game it’s way more fun

"every single day matchmaking algorithms are getting better" and every single day AI is getting better, soon we will have AI that is indistinguishable from human players and multiplayer will vanish entirely.

I'm a lone wolf wooo 🐺

I'm with single player 🎮😎

Fun with friends is nice and all, but nothing beats a well-crafted experience

c u s t a r d

Multiplayer games will always shut down eventually. Single player games will have the same consistant experience today, tomorrow and until the sun dies.

I will throw Final Fantasy XIV in there when speaking of story, a MMORPG

I like living in a world where I can enjoy both, but if I were to choose to only play 1 for the rest of my life, I’d go with single player, a lot of my favorite online multiplayer games have an option to play offline with bots or something anyways

It's nice to know the best human intelligence has to offer is represented by people zigzagging, rabbit jumping, and spinning around in circles.

BTW

Ingredients

200ml double cream
700ml whole milk
4 large egg yolks
3 tbsp cornflour
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

The scheduling pain is real! And it's a pain to find good MP games for 2-8 players with various amount of free time and skill, that isn't just Free-for-all shooters (or maybe 4X games); not to mention varying economical situations (E.G: when one or two people have gotten bored with a certain game and others have game budgets).

I'll stick to single player I hate playing with other people

It sounds like they recorded themselves saying different words independently then edited it together. The pacing sounds weird.

If Jack gets to use the idea that matchmaking is getting better, Yahtzee should've argued that the game AI keeps improving faster

For my 2 cents.... I just don't understand how a game keeps being fun for THAT long when its all you play!

I had the same issue with MMO's. Sure they're fun to trod along in, but everything quickly gets to this finely calculated meta that instantly ostracises everyone who isn't ALREADY at that level.... and the amount of investment to GET to that level is.... a job. Not work, not like 'oh ew I have to put in some effort'... no it becomes a job. 'Oh well I'd love to go out tonight but you know, its raid night, gotta put in my time or everyone at the *coughofficecough* guild will get upset at me.' 'Oh sorry I have to put in some overtime on leatherworking to get the gold I need to be *coughfashionablecough* effective in my next mission'.

I just personally don't get it.

So, Yahtzee advocating the merits of singleplayer games over multiplayer? Imagine my shock. Although he did seem much more restrained than usual when ranting about it.

I work 10 hour days and have things to do most weekends. I simply can't contend with someone that has 8 hours a day to do nothing but play the game I am trying to have fun playing. That being said im playing a lot of titanfall 2 lately and the entire player base could probably fit in a small stadium so I'm ready to be waffle stomped every once in a while

Single player narratives are certainty superior. However, there are some multiplayer games that allow the players to make their own story. Sea of thieves is a great example of this. Every time you set sail you can never tell what's going to happen.

This seems a rather silly debate to me, although I suspect that's the point. :p I've been saying for a while now that there is a difference between video games as an artistic/storytelling medium (generally single-player experiences) and video games as essentially a sport of sorts (generally multiplayer games). These are inherently two different creations and I think it makes a lot more sense to differentiate between the two when discussing the medium rather then falsely conflate them. What becomes interesting then are games that have both of these within the same package, using the same game mechanics, but for different purposes (e.g. real-time strategy games or shooters).

Yathzee the isolated edgelord vs Packard the communist

If there were never any multiplayer games ever made the industry would be infinitely better for it.

Considering Yhatzee's incredibly well understood stance, they should've skipped convention and assigned him the opposite. Would've made this more interesting. Skipped everything after how long it took me to write this. Giving Yhatzee this position just meant it was destined to be him making all the points we know he will.

to me there is no definitive answer. are there certain types of multiplayer games/modes that I dislike? absolutely. but the same could easily be said for the way some single player (modes) are designed (e.g. tedious "achievements" like "collecting [x]" are not a substitute for interesting gameplay).

and while I would still lean towards single player games, in the end it probably comes down to each single game (e.g. I have no interest in playing a game like "Fifa" alone. I my friends to come around, hang out with my friends and play together - or don't two player games count as "multiplayer"?).

I'm guessing Yahtzee doesn't 'feel' much when he plays any kind of multiplayer game because he doesn't 'feel' much around other human beings in general (outside of rankled disdain perhaps) - which he pretty much says in the video! Thus, I'd hardly lump all multiplayer games and experiences into the 'numbing' category when it is Yahtzee himself who seems like a rather numbing person! Hold up a mirror and all that hmm...Plus, he's always harping on about how important the interactivity of the video game medium is, why it is one of its chief elements that makes it stand out from other mediums, yet he clearly discounts the value of one of the greatest forms of interaction available - interacting with other human beings! How self-contradictory we humans are hmmmmmmm...now excuse me whilst I go suck on my snark fillet.

I am a firm believer that it really, really depends on the game. Also, the best multiplayer is cooperative multiplayer, not competitive multiplayer.

The wolf's cry persuaded me

Can we have a debate about whether or not eggs go in custard?

Honestly, I would agree with Yatzee. I'm surprised he didn't bring up longevity when it comes to single player versus multiplayer games.

Especially as you can experience single player games after they've peaked compared to struggling to find a game in a 10 year old multiplayer experience that has a dwindling player base.

I will always be with Yahtzee on this one. A game where only 50% of the players at most are having fun is not a worthwhile experience, and to the people that say "It's about the journey not the reward", there is little reward at the end of mastering a multiplayer game (unless you have your own online community). It's not like learning to brew your own booze or make a model railway. All you get is a "You Win" sign for all the months, if not years of misery you have endured to learn every detail so you can beat down the very people who are going through the same struggle you used to do. "gitting gud" in competitive multiplayer just means you now have a free pass to ruin the fun of everyone less skilled than you.

If you're going to play a game, it shouldn't have to be a hobby, it should be something you can enjoy at your own time like, you know, WHAT EVERY GAME IS, not just one behind a screen.

depends on what you are looking for, but for me Yes! A lot better!

As someone who prefers single player experiences, I think Multiplayer is can be more enjoyable in the right scenarios. Resi-5 & Resi-6 are both very flawed single player experiences but go to multi-player & those flaws are buried under all the sudden enjoyment you'll be having. Any bad Single-Player experience can be softened, or even converted to fun, with another person with you.

I will argue both sides in a simple fashion.
Single player has a more tailored experience, but multiplayer has a more 'varied' experience ranging very hard in both directions of amazing and awful so you get a more broad and fun experience. It can be summed up as immersion vs fun breadth.

Yahtzee "Awoo-ing" is... surreal.

"Human opponents are smarter than AI"

I see you haven't actually queued up with randos.

*Jack is talking about how people cooperate
*Jack is talking about online gamers
Those two points are not compatible, somehow.

I'm a bit dissapoineted, that you haven't mentioned local multiplayer...
couch gaming with my family/friends is my favorite kind of gaming.

There's still no link in the description :/

I prefer single player because I don’t really have any friends. Also Single Player is the least susceptible to monetization abuse. Sure square-enix and Ubisoft corrupted some of their single player games but most single player games are free of the corruption. (Just got Serious Sam 4 instead of Avengers and I’m having a blast.)

I think the fallout 76 experiment answers this. Started with just people then were forced to add NPCs to improve the game play

Yahtzees first argument is golden.
Like a golden turd on a marble, outhouse pillar.

Hell is other people.