Agreed. I play very, VERY, little multiplayer games. I find the vast majority of multiplayer games full of nothing but rude 12 year olds and sometimes, rude and immature adults. The only exception to this are some MMO's where i usually try and find a family style guild. Laid back and like to have fun, over comparing e-peens. I might break away and play some BF3, but it doesnt happen often. Im just there to have some fun, i dont give a flying shit about my K/D. Though to be honest, im having a absolute blast in Planetside 2 with an outfit called Better Red then Dead (BRTD).

This but I would say, that on the other hand multiplayer was cast aside because implementation was hard.

On the other hand with most non computer games singleplayer was most likely often cast aside because that is very hard to implement there.

That idiot must play too much facebook social games to say single is gimmick!

Or only started playing PC games since around 2000 or so. Pretty hard to agree with the article when one has been playing truly fantastic SP-only games since the 80s, or even earlier.

And no, I don't agree that talking with others about SP games somehow makes them 'social' affairs. Does that mean if I were to anonymously discuss loneliness then I would no longer be alone?

Given that using some readily available (and easily findable) tool it take about 2 minutes to unlock any Steam achievement it won't really be that much of a "proof".

I prefer playing solo games or games that have a story then you can do multiplayer if you want. I hate being forced down the multiplayer route. Gah most of the best games i have played mostly rpg are meant to be single player only.

I have played a number of mmos and although playing with people can be fun it depends on the people you play with if you are on a server full of idiots of loot hogs well i tend to leave it.

Wish people in games development would stop coming out with these stupid comments.

Funny how we all prefer our RPGs to be single player while the pen and paper RPGs many of us want them to emulate were effectively co-op only.

Well a co-op cRPG would be great. That's a world of difference from an MMO, though.

People who think that I would do that are people I don't care about in the first place.

Yeah this guy isn't biased or anything. I mean Apple?

lololololol!!

I'm pretty tired of the online gaming fad. That's why I'm on GOG and I have a Wii.

Haven't played it, but I suppose so. I was thinking more an RPG whose main campaign is designed to be played through by multiple people though. Which is true of a bunch of modules but not the main game, yeah?

Exactly. Developers are morons and seem to think "multiplayer is better".

The reality? Multiplayer is easier. For them. No need to program AI opponents, far less need to provide new challenges since player challenge eachother.

We keep seeing single player where it should not be (eg Call of Duty), and multiplayer where it should not be (eg ME3).

The worse example of this is most MMORPGs in the last decade. An MMORPG should do provide a world where players find it manditory to band together to achieve goals - and the best goals is against eachother. PvP and user created content is the basis of all good MMOs.
Any attempt to have a story in an MMO and content created by a developer is foolish. These games should be coop-RPGs, similar to borderlands where you can jump in with a few people to do dungeons. Removing the unused MMO aspect will allow for far more engaging gameplay, less lag and no subscriptions.

Saying single-player is a gimmick is completely stupid.

But many single-player games that I have played have some sort of interaction with other players does seem to elongate it's popularity. It really depends on how it is presented.

Take Dark Souls, the entire game is a single-player game, but it does have a player vs player feature and a co-operative feature that has given it a much wider fanbase and engaging atmosphere, it handles it well in both a gameplay and story respect.

Another example can be Dragon's Dogma, half of your party in that game can be compromised of other players' pawns. Again handled well on both a gameplay and story respect.

Multiplayer in games like Mass Effect 3 however is pointless and garbage. It was only tacked on to compete with games like Call of Duty and Battlefield and to fish out extra crappy 'dlc' maps and guns.

I'm no expert in the matter but I think some more in-depth research into the field could help with how single-player games and multiplayer go forward.