As far as I remember, voice chat can be disabled in L4D2. But yeah, it can't be in some games, so their creators deserve a separate cauldron in hell.

I mostly play the first one. The feel in it is just different, I never did quite get into second one. Thankfully in L4D1 it's not that often that people use microphones. I recently tried playing Dying Light multiplayer and it's just a no-go for me. Everyone, and I mean everyone uses voice chat there.

Edit.
I did some digging and it seems that it's possible to disable voice chat both in L4D and Dying Light. For some reason I never thought about it. Maybe I'll give it a try in the future.

I do online multiplayer at least a few times a year. Hamachi, Game Ranger, and Galaxy. No DRM just dreams of freedom and riding a bike where I like.

My Golden Age were Quake 1 and later Q3A and BF42. Some TFC too. Never cared much about it afterwards. The tone got rougher, it became more of a competition than having simply fun and a good time.

I sometimes watch MP streams on Twitch and I don't feel like I'm missing much. The only game that really captured my attention was GTFO with its obviously great co-op, but since there seem to be no DRM-free version around...

I recently started playing some multiplayer but honestly only for achievements. If there were none, I wouldnt touch it.

I find single player to be more fun in general since you can easily retry things and continue to get better while multiplayer, there is always a larger element of uncertainty due to playing with other people. Playing games with no mic is fun although its probably better with friends. Playing multiplayer with mics is hell though since there are always toxic players that just ruin the mood. You can be having a good game but it always gets awkward when there is one guy spouting "s my d", "you suck" etc. even if you are on the winning team.

Okay, hold on. This is the thinking that confuses me. Because someone is holding a carrot above your head, that's nothing more than a card with your name on it in a virtual trophy gallery, you decided to engage in something you normally wouldn't have?

I didn't even sign up for an EA account when I was playing Need For Speed 2012.

Lol I do have a focus on getting the platinum which is irrational. Its not rational and I know it.

I never fully stopped the online mp gaming, although there is a steady decline in my time spent in multiplayer for sure. Mostly it's about newer games not really interesting me, unless it's something like dork soulz or burnout paradise of sorts with mp feature built seamlessly in (drop in, drop out for co-op/pvp/whatever), or something like co-op survival game etc. The last ones I played quite a lot were wave-based fps like Killing floor 1 and Payday1.

Second thing is that nowadays there are too many games to choose from and the userbase is quite fragmented, attention span we give games before we move on to the next thing seems shorter too. There is a general lack of commitment to that ONE game for an extended period of time I feel. Thus finding people to play a certain game with might be a challenge on its own, esp. if it is past its launch/peak period. MP-only games I pretty much avoid for that reason, as they tend to die out very fast, esp. the smaller true indies.

Finding people to multi-play on gog though is an absolutely monumental task, at least for older games and classic arcade genres that I play. Maybe you fare better, but heck... if you see a game you very well know you want to play online too, either have a friend or group of friends to play it with at ready, otherwise get it somewhere else instead (e.g. steam). Unless some form of crossplay or built-in remote-play becomes a thing in the future here, I don't see it getting any better in that regard.

Many years ago, mostly because I prefer to play in shorter periods when I have some time to spare (and that's not very often these days) but also because I want variation and immersive stories. If I had more time and more gamer friends I might pick it up again.

How short are we speaking?
Yeah, I tried to understand things like League, Overwatch, and whatever the hell a MOBA is...(I've had explained at length, but I'm good.)

After a point it just becomes visual noise.

You remember Warcraft 3?
Remove the resource gathering. Remove the base building. Remove the units. Remove the strategy.

Whatever remains is the MOBA ;)

It kinda varies but usually I like to play for 30-40 minutes, take a break and then start again after maybe 15 min. After posting my reply, I kinda rememberd I left out playing couch co-op with a friend which we do sometimes (right now playing It takes two on PS4).

Diablo II, Diablo III, Everquest 2 and Guild Wars 2 are the only online games I've ever played.

GW2 was my favorite, followed by D2. EQ2 has a special place in my heart since it was my first online game.

D3...was more of an experiment...for those who know what I mean lol. But it was a failed one, though I did rake in a bit. Lesson learned, don't ever play games for the wrong reasons.

If I ever go back online, it'll be for a VRMMO, a fantasy world type and one that truly sings to my heart. I wonder if Full Immersion fantasy world (read the Nova Terra book series for what I mean; but more D&D-ish lore & freedom, w/o the dice limitations) will ever exist during my lifetime. Wishful thinking I guess...
.

Never was a multiplayer guy, just limited to some LAN Parties. Modern MP games are incredible time demanding with ranks, level and all those things and I barely have time left to add another thing to my routine.
Other problem is that there is many things beyond your control in MP games, like server maintenance, cheaters, bad connection, no servers in you zone, multiple updates, so when I have just an hour to play, one of this problems can significantly reduce my experience.
So, I prefer to stick with SP games because I can go at my own pace, I can update when I want and install the games at any time.

I never stopped but I have reduced my time with online games in recent years. I used to play a lot of MMOs but now I only actively play three MMOs (RuneScape, Elder Scrolls Online and Star Wars: The Old Republic) and even then, I don't play either as much as I used to. The only online game I play a lot is Fallout 76 as it's the best online game, in my book. Oh, and technically, No Man's Sky expeditions as those are online content.

I slowed down on the genre when I began to realize that it took up all my gaming time for something that would eventually be erased because every online game shuts down at some point. This was about the same time that I started really digging into the DRM-free movement, too.