Before we get started, I’d like to point out that today’s article is more of a concern, a fear, a worry, a…oh, you get it. Normally, we like to base our topics on established trends in the video game world rather than getting all worked up over things that haven’t even happened yet. However, as a fan of a quality narrative campaign in games, it worries me to see the rumblings of a trend that I feel could be detrimental to our beloved medium. The trend I’m speaking of is the inclusion of an online multiplayer mode, specifically versus, in games that don’t seem to need them.
The two games that really caught my attention on this subject are high profile sequels: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams. The original installments were single-player games driven by wonderfully developed narratives. Bioshock hit the mark in its attempt to drop players into the middle of Rapture and the mysteries within it while Uncharted delivered the experience of living through an Indiana Jones-esque adventure flick. Both games triumphed in championing the notion that games could be taken seriously as a legitimate narrative medium. Then the sequels were announced, followed by the announcement that each would feature an online versus component. This lead to the simple question: why? What is the purpose of shoehorning a versus mode into a franchise that was founded on story? Furthermore, who is the addition of these modes catering to?
Looking at the question of why these modes were added to the sequels, the most obvious conclusion is that they exist to give the player more value and to keep them interested in the game. Not to mention, when Bioshock was released, one of the major, albeit unfair, criticisms hurled in its direction was a lack of multiplayer. The critics leveling those complaints are the ones that, I attest, are doing nothing but holding the medium back as a true narrative art form. What would be the point of having a versus mode in Bioshock? Just to show that gamers are a juvenile lot that salivate at every chance to shoot at one another? How can we say that we are more than childish, no-attention-span-having, hyper-barbaric fantasy seekers when games that finally start to push at the “games as art” barrier are deducted points for not including shoot-everything-that-moves-mode? Oh, but this time we get to do it in an underwater city. Seriously, grow the fuck up. A game’s existence as a shooter does not mandate a versus mode any more than my existence as a male mandates that I grow a beard, no matter how manly beards may be. The games are meant to tell a story. Including a versus mode in Bioshock makes as much sense as including a versus mode in a game like Assassin’s Creed, but I don’t recall the community outcry for “Altair-online-super-stabby-slayer-mode.”
Speaking briefly on the idea of perceived value, who is really getting value from creating these new modes? Last week we saw that only about a third of all Xbox Live users even have a Gold membership. That is only a third of the 31 million Xbox 360 owners who even have the ability to utilize these features. Why is there such a rush to accommodate an overwhelming minority in the gaming community? It was also stated that even in a franchise like Halo, who popularized console-based online multiplayer, the number of unique online players is fairly small when compared to the number of units sold. Gamers need to break free from the perception of getting more bang for their buck, especially when the added bang doesn’t get used. Additionally, developers’ willingness to alter a game’s purpose in order to meet the needs of the I-have-to-shoot-everything lowest common denominator only serves to further cement video games at the bottom of the artistic medium list.
Now that I’m done ranting, I have to admit that the public’s perception of gamers who love a good deathmatch is actually not even my main concern here. The aforementioned fear I have of including these modes into these games is the potential cost of including them. Of course, dollars and cents is not the cost to which I am referring. The real potential cost here is the risk of compromising portions of the narrative mode in order to accommodate the inclusion of the multiplayer portion.
We’ve all played our share of mediocre games that attempt to win players over with quantity rather than quality. Games like the newly released Wolfenstein or even John Woo’s Stranglehold. These are games that both attempted to include a compelling single player campaign as well as deliver a solid multiplayer experience. Sadly, they didn’t achieve either one, and both games faded into the bargain bin ether rather quickly. It would be a shame if Bioshock’s or Uncharted’s single-player campaigns took any sort of noticeable hits due to the development team having to worry about catering to the multiplayer minority, especially if the new modes only manage to generate as much excitement as the multiplayer portions in games like Wolfenstein or Stranglehold. All of that extra work will have been for nothing, and in the end, the gamer is the one who loses the most.
As I said at the outset, this is mostly a “what if” sort of concern. After all, the pre-release reviews of Uncharted 2 seem to be glowing. For Bioshock, gamers still have a fairly lengthy wait to see how the new additions pan out. However, even if both games manage to blow away expectations in the campaign department, I can’t help but feel that unless the multiplayer modes really add something to the overall experience, I will be cursing them with every slight frame drop, control hiccup or texture pop-in I come across. Finally, keep in mind that I love multiplayer as much as the next guy. I’ve spent many a night glued to Call of Duty and Gears of War. I’m also not saying that multiplayer is somehow inferior to single-player or that those who enjoy it are in any way beneath players who prefer a good story mode. Instead, just be aware of a game’s intent or purpose. There are certainly games out there whose foundations exemplify all things multiplayer, I’m just not sure a game based around the philosophy of Objectivism and the idea of control vs. free will is necessarily one of those games.