Love/Hate: Multiplayer games

Being a kid from the 90s, I never really got into multiplayer games. I knew that it was something that true hardcore elite geeks would do with their friends, with their high-falutin' Pentium 2s and copies of StarCraft. Not me, i was happily playing with my Sega Genesis, in the middle of a platformers. Fast Forward to the 00s, when multiplayer games seem to become (at least here) a big deal. Soon people were hooking up their Xboxes and whatnots to the internet, and playing against real human beings.

I love the idea of multiplayer games, and the social status that they come with. With multiplayer games, you and your friends can live between large distances and still come together every week to kick some nazi ass, or go through the dragon's cave, searching for that +infinity robe that will surely make everything all right. It also gives you more challenge over the bots that regularly play against you, as now you're fighting against humans, with real human reflexes. Surely it means you'll have a greater challenge?

Yes and no, what if you're fighting against some....unpleasant individual, whose reason to stay alive is to play multiplayer games all day long, searching for noobs to humiliate and destroy in a round of "King Of The Hill"? Or, what if you're playing against some member of the youth, who just activated his 48 hour Xbox Gold account, and insists that you don't mute your headset? Damn those people annoy me.

If you're a social person who has managed to gain friends from multiplayer games, then it should be ok! There are people you know and respect, who are willing to have a game of Team Fortress 2 or Halo, and enjoy the experience of actually being able to play together and enjoy the warm, fuzzy feeling that you get when you KNOW that you have a life outside videogames, as well as friends, who are well-balanced.

But let's say that you're feeling like practicing against unknown people, and get stuck with the team from hell. I'll let you imagine what that group might be.

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..

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Done Yet?

Good.

Now, it might be that these people haven't understood the etiquette of online play, and project the personality that of a anonymous fuckwit. "I shall frag him for his sins" you think, and the ringing in your ears still hasn't subsided when you're ready to go to bed.

I am not saying that online playing is bad, it's a good oppurtunity to meet people from forgein lands that you might ever be able to visit otherwise. Who knows, maybe between the long hours you spend fraggin noobs and capturing flags, you'll be able to gain a new, wonderful and valuable friendship. Of course, that doesn't mean that there are people in online games, that you'd never want to meet real life. It might be that the veil of anonymity makes them behave the way they do, or they just might be like that in real life.

All in all i'd say that if you're willing to at least try online multiplayer games, do so. I'm far too anti-social to play with people i've never met before, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't do that either. Go on, give it a shot. Maybe you'll find your future wife through a heated game of Deathmatch.

Stranger things have happened.