The State and Effect of Multiplayer
MMOs need it, RPGs ignore it, shooters always attempt it and Major League Gaming broadcasts it. Multiplayer won’t make or break a game outright, but it can define the experience so completely that it obscures other important factors. This can be a saving grace for some games as players are still able to get a good experience out of a bad game (I’m looking at you, Tony Hawk: Ride). Though the execution of multiplayer has certainly changed with the rise of the internet, the dynamics have only changed with the number of people that can fit on the internet, rather than how many can fit in your living room.
We haven’t really seen much innovation in multiplayer gaming beyond the two general types, cooperative or competitive, but there’s no real need for improvement on what already works. However, we have seen the lines between the two blurred quite a bit. Most online games have us working together against other players while still competing for higher scores or better gear, while games like New Super Mario Bros Wii are cooperative and competitive all at once. MMOs provide a sort of combined experience, where we can play alone in a persistent world with the constant option of grouping up with other players also in our world. The delivery and combination of multiplayer game types has evolved over the years to include class options (i.e. Team Fortress 2, Baldur’s Gate, Diablo), the emergence of clans/guilds and the necessity of quality matchmaking systems to improve the player’s experience, but where do we go from there?
Story seems to be the mechanic most difficult to implement in a multiplayer setting. Most narrative-centric or open world games have their multiplayer modes exist as simple capture-the-flag or deathmatch games sharing only the characters and controls of the single player game. Linear titles like Resident Evil 5 or Gears of War have seen full coop integration, but what about a game like Final Fantasy or Mass Effect?
Baldur’s Gate was a good game made great by the ability to play through the campaign with a friend. When its purported offspring Dragon Age: Origins was announced as single player only, there was concern to say the least. We know now that Dragon Age is one of the best RPGs of the decade, but what if? Multiplayer tends to exponentially increase the replay value of a game, which could do wonders for a 60 hour experience like Dragon Age, but sometimes it’s just not necessary. Likewise, the inclusion of multiplayer in Bioshock 2 caused a bit of a stir. Though shooters are ripe for multiplayer modes, it was the narrative and the aesthetics of the game that made it great, not its mechanics. However, it looks like the multiplayer will have its own unique storyline separate from the single player, giving us more of the good stuff, supposedly.
The variable that is the player can break or glitch a single player campaign easily enough, but adding a second person to that mix can complicate things that much more. Adding multiplayer elements can lessen a great single player experience, primarily because of the need for balanced gameplay and a cohesive narrative. Attempting to give two players an equally engaging experience can restrict the pace, the narrative and the characters. The more freedom a game gives the player in both gameplay and narrative, the less accommodating the game will be for two players. Narrowly focused (albeit complex) games like Street Fighter or New Super Mario Bros Wii use the player as variable to great effect, but a game that relies more on character and progression wouldn’t benefit in the same way. Bioware’s upcoming MMO (hopefully arriving Spring 2011) Star Wars: The Old Republic hopes to take steps to bridge this gap.
We already know that the teams at Bioware are master storytellers, and they hope to transfer that same genius over to an MMO setting. This would apparently mean that we will have the same control over our character and its decisions and morality as we do in other Bioware titles, while requiring all that information to interact properly and noticeably with the unique characters of hundreds of other players.
No matter how big the subscription base of an MMO, the Wii clearly dominates the mass market of multiplayer gaming. Though not necessarily a gamer’s platform, there are way more of them than there are of us. Majority rules, and so does the Wii. Fortunately, the Wii serves as a sort of gateway drug for those new to gaming, and has really taken multiplayer further than any platform or game. Grandpas, hippies, sorority girls, politicians; everyone is playing the Wii. Even Microsoft and Sony are getting into motion controls. The standard controller certainly isn’t going anywhere, but the alternative is growing with no signs of stopping.
The addition of shoddy multiplayer never broke a perfectly good game (i.e. Uncharted 2), but it certainly has its own time and place. Final Fantasy X where you play Tidus and your friend plays Yuna? Terrible idea. No versus mode in Soul Caliber? Even worse. What the masses want from their single player or multiplayer experience is expanding rapidly. Let’s hope the games can continue to expand with them.
