Gaming is a social past time now, usurping the roles once occupied by things such as hanging out at the mall or going to the movies. When I grew up, my favourite hobby was just on its way toward general acceptance (I was ten when FFVII came out...), but wasn't quite there. To this day, I still have people look at me oddly when I shout “Objection” at the conclusion to an Ace Attorney game.
Don't get me wrong, I have a PSN account and Xbox Live Gold, and quite enjoy talking to people in a party while playing a game. I just never play games with the people I'm talking to. In fact, the last multi-player game I played was Brawl.
Many games companies will tack on a last minute multi-player component to a game to help it sell well, be it competitive or co-op: some work well and some fail horribly. As much as I want to blame Halo and the like, there isn't anything wrong with being able to play a game with other people, provided it's done well. I just don't want to.
I grew up playing games alone. To be honest, there was the odd bout of co-op in Sonic 2 & 3, and whenever my brother brought his friends over we would play Goldeneye or Super Smash Brothers. Generally, though, it was a singular experience for me. I wouldn't even trade my Pokemon because I got too attached to them... still do, sometimes. (Naming Pokemon after Ace Attorney characters is unnecessarily awesome, by the way.)
The biggest thing, though, is that a lot of games I enjoy are single-player affairs. RPGs (no, I will never touch an MMO. I grind enough as it is), Adventure games, rogue-likes, etc. I've never been into the traditional competitive genres of fighting or sports games, and I only just started with FPS games in the last couple of years. A quick scan of my gaming shelves reveal maybe ten games with an interactive multi-player aspect (time trials are not being counted), and ten times as many that do not.
With the rise of gaming amongst the general populace and the internet bringing gamers together, people are playing with each other around the world and forming friendships with people they otherwise never would have met. And I continue to toil away at the grind in a voluntary isolation. There is no need for a 2P in Cross Edge or Touch Detective. And I'm content with that.
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I promised myself that I will finish Half-Life 2 before my "single-player phase" disappears again.
Airboat sequence will ruin your life. Like 5 hours airboating around.
I really like talking to people while playing SP games too! I like multiplayer affairs but only really when there is some experience system or some sense of progression akin to a SP game.
I too, am a solo gamer. And I'm just fine with that.
I think its because just dealing with people in a multiplayer context - be it co-op or competitive - wears on you eventually. Once you realize most "hardcore" online gamers are just going to be cowardly dicks all the time, you lose your patience for them.
Well, that and I can't stand mouthbreathers... I mean REALLY can't stand them. I think its because I used to do audio production and theater and breathing into a mic is just something that is not done. People talk about how awesome voice chat is but that shit makes me miss text chat.
Its like Agent Kay said, "A person is smart, but people are stupid." Sometimes, you just get to that point where you don't want people in your leisure activities and I think that's fine. A single player experience - or several of them - can be very refreshing. Or even considered a vacation from multiplayer.
Now that I am older and my friends and I, for better or worse, have real jobs and adult(ish) lives, getting together to play games happens maybe once a year. I have tried xbox live before and even played WoW for about a year but I never was inclined to chat much. That communal experience just wasn't there for me.
So now, the single player experience is core. It's where I thrive as a gamer and where I find new experiences to keep me playing games and interested in whats happening in the gaming world. I don't mind the emphasis on multiplayer now in games but I just don't want the single player experience to suffer for it.