The Overhead of Social Gaming
by Loral on March 10, 2007
Three weeks ago I wanted to sit down, relax, and play Call of Duty 3 on my Xbox 360. I put in the disc, booted up the 360, began loading up my saved game, and within 30 seconds "Soandso invites you to a game". I don't want to play multiplayer, I want to play single player. I decline the invite, disconnect myself from Xbox Live, and start playing again. But now I feel guilty. The guy who sent me the invite is a friend I haven't seen in awhile. All he wanted to do was go around shooting some newbs. What sort of ass do I have to be to disconnect from Live and play a single player game? So now I'm playing single player Call of Duty 3, sitting through the same stupid movie sequence I've seen fifty times, and feeling like an ass because I just blew off a friend of mine.
When did this sort of guilt infect our game play? Why should I feel bad for not wanting to connect to online games? When did these feelings of remorse and duty move us to play games we don't really want to play?
Often in war we hear soldiers say they aren't fighting for some doctrine or political mantra but for the buddy next to them. They're there to protect the friend sitting in the trench at their side. Like the Greek Phalanx, their shield protects the man to their left. They may not want to be in the war in the first place. They may disagree with the politics or the doctrine or the strategy or the tactics, but they are there because if they weren't, their friend's flank goes undefended.
Perhaps it is this philosophy that guide us to play games when we don't really want to play. How many times have I played Everquest for three or six or nine hours when my only real reason for being there was that other people could use my help? I didn't enjoy it. Likely I had played through the event many times. For example in the Plane of Sky for example, but the only reason I was there was because I knew that some warrior needed his sword or some mage needed a crown. Tunare knows I asked the same from others.
I never booted up Final Fantasy 7 because I was afraid Red XIII wouldn't like me if I didn't. That same pressure doesn't exist in single player games. I am reminded of those old Japanese LCD keychains where one had to take care of a virtual dog. Leave the virtual dog in a desk drawer for a week and you'd see this little sad dog, ribs showing, and sitting in its own filth. Who needs to feel the pressure of care and feeding from a device powered from a watch battery?
Single player games have very little guilt associated with them. You might feel pressure to finish a game even if you're not really enjoying it. You might consider it a waste of money if you don't spend some time on it. Right now I feel the desire to play Final Fantasy IV on my Nintendo DS not because its so wicked fun, although I do enjoy it when I play, but because I spent $30 on it and it's not seeing a lot of use.
As I write this I turn 70 degrees to my left and ask my wife, who is helping out a group in Everquest kill some tentacled cyclopean horror, if she *wants* to be doing what she's doing. "I don't mind it," she said "But I wouldn't be doing it if I wasn't asked to help." For a Saturday morning gaming activity, that isn't exactly a rave review. Yet this isn't uncommon in our MMO gaming. At best, it's something to do. At worst, it's stealing our own free time to focus on the desires of someone else. It is our desire to help others that drives us to spend our time in a game doing things we don't really want to do. When will that madness stop?
Twice before I wrote articles about the true strength of massive online games lying with the other players. The games themselves aren't the most exciting games ever created. There are bosses in God of War that outstrip just about every creature battled in a thousand hours of content in Everquest. It's the excitement of working with a team of other players, using our character's abilities as a part of a great mob-killing machine that drives us to play.
That strength can also be a detriment. Playing games with other players adds an overhead to our gaming experience. For every player added to a game, a hunt, or an event, there is the difficulty of coordination, scheduling, training, skill, and group balance. Blizzard knew this and designed World of Warcraft so that most of the game can be played without any of that overhead. A player can solo his or her way from level 1 to level 70. A lot of the most exciting events require a group and the overhead of building and leading that group often moves us to go back and collect 8 owl feathers simply because it's a lot easier to do so. There's no overhead and no guilt if you decide to leave after only collecting one.
I've spent a significant piece of my life over the past six years playing massive online games - Everquest in particular. I have over 10,000 hours logged in to my primary character. I've had a lot of fun over that career. Most recently my guild defeated Vishimtar in one of the best, most stressful Everquest battles I ever faced. I don't think I recall feeling so good after a game battle as I did then simply because of the added complexity and added responsibility floating on top of the 53 other players at the event.
The designers of massive online games would do well to recognize the overhead of multiplayer gaming. They should strive to make it as easy as possible for players to gather and get into the action.
At the same time, saying that all games will eventually go multiplayer is nonsense. Games like God of War and Zelda, Twilight Princess show us that there is a lot of room left for games that let players just sit back and play without having to worry about the social overhead of multiplayer gaming. Massive online games have the wonderful ability to, beyond any game style in the past, bring people together, help us meet new friends, and enjoy cooperative and competitive games far more than we ever could before. Other times, however, it's nice to be alone.
Loral Ciriclight
11 March 2007
loral@loralciriclight.com
Comment Posted by: Aarkan on March 11, 2007 09:28 PM
Dang, I wish I could sit down and play a single player game.. My consoles have gone untouched for a long time. I got a Wii for christmas and I have marvel and zelda but still I've put more time in on Wii Boxing and Bowling than of the games I bought. Heck on xbox I've bought a bunch of games just cause they've had live stickers on them and then am horribly disappointed because there is nobody on playing them. I find myself going back to any kind of multiplayer pc game... when I can't afford a subscription I go find one of the million free trials or beta tests or whatever and download and try out that game for a little. You may be bothered by the overhead though there is definatly the type of gamer, the gamer that I am, that craves nothing but the social aspect. Even if it is merely having a chat room open while killing some monsters.
Also a trend I've noticed over the past 5 years has been that more and more multiplayer isn't tacked onto console games as an afterthought but games are built around multiplayer (Halo 2) or have a completely unique type of multiplayer (Splinter Cell) and thinking back.. the last single player only game I played through was KoTOR2. It truly has to be an extrordinary game for me to go through it by myself and not get completely bored.
Comment Posted by: anonymous on March 12, 2007 11:01 AM
Loral becomes the anti-fanboy, news at 11!
Comment Posted by: RosesAreRed on March 12, 2007 03:34 PM
As Aarkan said, the social aspect may be the main draw to online games for some people.
Within the month, I have seen both Time Magazine and The Today Show devote an article and a segment, respectively, to a game called Second Life. I haven't tried it, but based on what the media reports, it's completely social ... designing the look of your avatar, dancing, dining, teleporting around to parties etc., and the players tend to be in the over 20, financially successful people .. not a lot of antisocial nerds "living in their parent's basement".
At the very least, it's an interesting commentary.
Comment Posted by: xsi on March 12, 2007 06:44 PM
I do play a lot of single player games, and whether or not I enjoy them more than MMOs has changed over the years. When I first started EQ (or before that, MUDs), a singleplayer game just couldn't match the social aspects of online play, including built-in commentary and feedback for my actions.
These days, I actually prefer single player games. I like the potential for strong storylines with finite plotlines. I like being able to move on to another game without feeling like I have too much time invested in the current one to do so. I like not having to pay a monthly fee to do so. It's rare that I play a single player game these days and think 'I wish I was playing this with a group of people.' Vampier trhe Masquerade: Bloodlines is one of the few games in the last few years where I wished it was a persistent world, just for the roleplaying possibilities, (only to almost immediately realize that MMOs almost invariable kill roleplaying)
I do still play EQ, but I'm not sure why. My wife and I sometimes log on to grind out some more aas, (though we are no hmm 5 expansions behind, content-wise), but we have no real goal in mind, and I'm not sure how much satisfaction we derive from the experience. On the bright side, we do spend a lot more time out in the RL, with martial arts, dinners, and friends, so I think the deterioration of our interest in EQ and MMOs has yielded some benefits.
Comment Posted by: Aarkan on March 12, 2007 09:19 PM
Most interests and hobbies and such are cyclical. Especially in what is now such a broad hobby as gaming where there are 2 million different flavors for you to choose from. It makes perfect sense to me that one week you'll want to be grinding away at EQ and the next week beating the crap out of people in Mortal Kombat. We have tons of choices and we should not feel guilty about any of them. Loral, you could have just sent that friend of yours a message saying "Hey man nice to hear from you again but I think I'm just gonna play single player for now." Just as if you got a tell to group and all you wanted to do was solo in a MMO.
Heck I wish I had more friends on xbox live :(
Comment Posted by: Menleniel on March 13, 2007 02:54 PM
Last night I played an hour longer than I wanted to. No shaman or druid I could lay the healing off onto. Sometimes a pause button would be nice. But it was the first time I'd xp'd in weeks so it wasn't too bad.
I was on vsoh the other day. Had lfg on. Got a tell to join a group. Suddenly realized I didnt' want to group.
Thats a real downside to mmo's. Your own actions really do affect other people. Sometimes its really hard, you start a dungeon crawl all motivated and then lose interest part way through. Really tough on us clerics who been trained to stick it out till the last person is rezzed. Thank god for corpse summons. If I really do decide to leave at least no one is left with a three hour corpse recovery.
Comment Posted by: Loral on March 13, 2007 03:53 PM
"Sometimes its really hard, you start a dungeon crawl all motivated and then lose interest part way through. Really tough on us clerics who been trained to stick it out till the last person is rezzed. Thank god for corpse summons. If I really do decide to leave at least no one is left with a three hour corpse recovery."
You are getting my point exactly. When did such overhead become part of what we consider gaming entertainment?
Comment Posted by: Aarkan on March 13, 2007 04:56 PM
That kind of situation only really happens in EverQuest though. In WoW if someone leaves a dungeon group you can find a new guy and port them right over and run right back through with no problem. EQ was made with the same mindset that MUDs were where you would just sit there and your mind would run through everything and you wouldn't get bored but as it turns out you do. In an FPS or a non-mmo game like your example started with nobody is relying on you, they can go and there will be other people to fill in the spaces right away. I think the issue is needing to be able to just step back a second and realize that it is just a game and if you're not having fun then don't play.
Comment Posted by: Ignignokt on March 13, 2007 06:03 PM
Honestly, if it's such a burden to be bothered to interact with others in a MMO, why play? Is it so strange that some players actually enjoy getting together if not always for their own benefit? Heck I've known raid leaders who seemed to thrive on the energy of the members who accomplish their goals, while taking a back seat themselves.
Is it difficult to grasp the concept of "scratch my back, I'll scratch yours?". Things that would be impossible solo become easily obtained with friends. That's why for some, single player games are the pinnacle of boredom--no challenge and no interaction. The human factor, that always makes gaming much more variable and stimulating. Let's face it, computer or console games where the strategy is known quickly become trivial and dull and end up on the shelf.
Comment Posted by: Keisa on March 14, 2007 11:03 AM
The best two things I did for myself in EQ were as follows:
1. I resigned as guild officer and swore off ever doing that again.
2. I quit playing cleric.
Being a guild officer became like a second job. I was always messing in other people's business, settling disputes, debating guild rules, and dealing with endless loot disputes. While there are definite elements of being a leader that are satisfying, dealing in everyone's dirty laundry daily gets old fast.
As a cleric (and officer), I often had 6-8 tells by the time my client finished loading. No matter what I had planned for my day, half a dozen other people had other plans for my day. Over time, I got over feeling guilty when telling some yoyo I wasn't going to help him on his epic because I haven't seen him lift a finger to help anyone else. I got over feeling guilty when leaving a party at 12:30am and knowing the party would break up when I left even though I had been looking for a replacement for myself for over 30 minutes. I got over lots of things, but still, there was that pressure not to disappoint someone. I spent more time doing stuff for other people than doing things for myself.
On one of my retreats where I hid from the guild and didn't let anyone know I was playing the game, I started a little beastlord. Little did I know that character would become my main.
I still help people on epics and group to late at night. But no one seems to care too awefully much when I leave a group, and I surely don't have any guilt leaving. I now play the game for myself and work toward my goals first and foremost. I help other people because I want to and it makes me feel better, not because of some misguided feeling of duty.
Don't play the game for other people. Play first and foremost for yourself. If you do, you will find that you enjoy the game much more, and you will be able to share that enjoyment with others.
Keisa
Comment Posted by: Menleniel on March 14, 2007 01:17 PM
They need to make it easier to just stop and "not play if you are not having fun". Don't build dungeons where there are no safe spots, where a pee break is putting your group at risk. Now, without a mage in your group, its nearly impossible to add players. Add another way of getting people in or stop making every mob see invis and non pacifiable.
I still have fun grouping. Its the being tied down part we object to. If someone calls up and wants to go out I have to pass, "sorry, still have two hours of crawl left". I stay because I don't want to screw the group, but I wind up being resentful to the game.
Comment Posted by: Aarkan on March 14, 2007 07:35 PM
They added the Home button for that very reason and in EQ2 and WoW and Vanguard every character gets a Gate type spell so they can go home whenever you want. The issue is just with saying to yourself that YOU are playing a GAME and not working on your job with a bunch of other people.
Comment Posted by: YourLife on March 15, 2007 04:20 AM
"I have over 10,000 hours logged in to my primary character."
That's over 400 24 hour days or 1250 8 hour workdays. A year of your life. Pathetic. Try to justify it any way you can, it's still a pathetic waste of your life.
Comment Posted by: gordulek_stromm on March 15, 2007 11:15 AM
"That's over 400 24 hour days or 1250 8 hour workdays. A year of your life. Pathetic. Try to justify it any way you can, it's still a pathetic waste of your life."
I sincerely hope *you* have spent 10,000 hours doing things you find fun. If not, *that* is a pathetic waste of your life. :(
10,000 is a lot, though. ;)
Comment Posted by: Loral on March 15, 2007 02:32 PM
I met my wife through it. I wouldn't call it a waste at all.
Comment Posted by: Quesci on March 16, 2007 04:35 PM
Is this any different from a person who joins a softball league and is expected to show up every game, and play the whole game? Or a community theater enthusiast who is cast in a play? Or even just a group of guys who get together for poker?
In all cases you have made a comittment to your friends to participate in a group activity.
If you regularly find yourself in left field wondering why you are sweating in the hot sun playing a game you don't enjoy, stop signing up for the league.
Comment Posted by: Naladini on March 16, 2007 09:47 PM
"When did such overhead become part of what we consider gaming entertainment?" -Loral
March 16th, 1999 :)
I know where you're coming from with this article. I can't tell you how many great people I met through the years levelling up in EQ, only to watch them level past me to the point where we couldn't group anymore. I'm pretty comfortable with the life choices I've made, RL > Gaming and all, but there are still the pangs of guilt knowing how many kind and helpful souls have helped me, yet I haven't been able to directly help as well.
I don't think there's a way to design entirely around these aspects of human nature/socialization, other than to recognize the very real threat that human behavior will change, and eventually, more and more people will become desensitized to their online personas, and this kind of guilt won't been noticed as frequently because it becomes the norm.
Comment Posted by: Moreau on March 17, 2007 04:32 AM
I have always found Loral's articles informative and entertaining. This one describes my current situation ironically. I started playing this EQ in 1999, but after years of raiding, I find myself preferring the solitude of single player games like Heroes of Might and Magic V, Prey and FEAR.
Raiding does resemble a part-time job, and the return on investment is difficult to quantify. I definitely do not agree that 10,000 hours is a waste of time. In fact, in the audience of gamers, to be a "newbie" is an embarassment. Furthermore, aircraft pilots boast about their logged flight time among their peers. Some people go to Las Vegas, other hit a dimpled ball around a golf course, and I activate a computer program that gives me an incredible amount of entertainment.
In my case, the "gamer's high" that I seek is the story. For example, the Planes of Power was EQ story telling at its best. There were numerous characters that we interacted with throughout our progression. I realize that the loot is now obsolete, but that story was enchanting.
Lately, in my opinion, the developers have had difficulty consistently creating that effect. I'll start with Gates of Discord. There was interaction, but the difficulty at the time made me feel more like a failure (dying 150 times in Vxed and Tipt) than a hero. In Omens of War, the Epic 1.5s and 2.0s made everyone feel victorious, and the Asylum of Anguish will always be my favorite "Storm the Gates of Hell" style raid. Fortunately, Omens provided us with the means to defeat the Gates expansion, so slaying the mob at the end was satisfying though late in coming. Depths of Darkhollow failed to create the same immersion that Planes had. I think it is because we reused so many zones ("Oh boy! back to the Hive again...") Prophecy of Ro looked like it was created by 3 different teams who never spoke to each other. The Arcstone/Relic team, the Devastation/Rage team, and the Takish Ruins team. Three different story lines may work in some movies, but I think it fell apart in EQ. I have no idea where the Theater of Blood came from, but I guess that could have been a 4th team. I have not progressed very far into The Serpent's Spine or The Buried Sea, but the progression seems to have a smooth story feel, though finding a group is what has prevented me from enjoying more of those stories.
In a single-player game, you can follow the story quite closely. In fact, that is why cheat codes are so popular in console games. Players love the stories. I know I do. I recall finishing Final Fantasy VII in 5 days years ago. In an MMORPG however, your enjoyment of the story may be impeded by other players. They may even want to create their own story and play a braggart, or even a fool.
So, we face a fork in the road, either take the easy road and win many easy games (like Prey, FEAR, Tron 2.0, Empire Earth II, WORLD OF WARCRAFT). You get to enjoy many wonderful stories if you do so. Or, if you want to take on the challenge of the most difficult MMORPG ever created, which is endlessly frustrating by both intentional and accidental design, you play EQ.
The best part is, you can have it both ways.
Comment Posted by: Wolana on March 17, 2007 10:54 AM
Fascinating... I think you've captured the feelings many of us old timers get in EQ-- the boredom vs the "but they're my *friends*!" conflict.
I started EQ in spring 1999... my current main was born Aug 17, 1999. That's a hell of a long time to be a wood elf druid! :)
Unless we have a particularly exciting raid planned, I find myself torn between an almost addictive need to log on and see who's on and what's going on, and a reluctance to immerse myself in the "who's putting a group together? doesn't ANYONE wanna do TBS progression? I need my spells!" mode once again.
Being old enough to be at least the mother and in many cases the grandmother of my guild mates means I'm also "gramma Wol" or "auntie Wol" to many of them. I like the fact that they're glad to see me; I'm usually glad to see them. And I don't mind being the comforting listener (spent almost 40 years doing that as a high school composition/literature teacher!).
I feel like I'm getting together with friends and family every time I log on. But I sometimes wish I could find a single person game that engaged me more deeply... where I can play for the story and the scenery and simply restart from my last save if I do something stupid-- no one loses time, exp, or a chance at gear/progression if I screw up.
I had a 2-year RL relationship with a man I met via my first guild. Lost the guild when I cut the guy loose, but wound up in a raiding guild which I think was an excellent trade-off.
Met the folks who are now my best RL friends through my first guild. They've not EQ'd in years, but I spend every Xmas with them, visit at least 4-5 other times each year, and in 18 months will be living near them full time when I move from overpriced Connecticut to beautiful rural Chesapeake Bay area Virginia.
I consider some of my guildmates to be real life friends. I've met a number of them IRL; but even some whom I'll probably never see face to face are friends as truly (or even more truly) than people I am friendly with IRL.
When someone sustains a death in the family, the guild is there with sincere condolences and often offers of RL help. When someone has a joyous event (marriage, baby), we're there with little gifts and congratulations.
It is NOT JUST A GAME!
I don't know if WOW folks can say that; I'm willing to bet Vanguard SoH folks will be able to say that. The more interdependent a game makes folks, the more real their connections become.
So yeah, I'll continue to log on even when we aren't raiding to see who needs me as an ear or a healer... and to see folks I need, as ears and to help me finally do my 1.5 (BAD druid... raiding Demi Plane and no epic 2.0!)
Sometimes I'll be so bored I'm reading websites w/ my cleric hydra windowed out... sometimes I'm so engaged that I ignore the phone call (since it's not a "friend" but some unknown).
But I don't watch TV, and I don't go to Vegas or Atlantic City or Mohegan Sun, and I need not to go shopping and buying stuff, and I'm totally unathletic... so other than EQ and reading, I have no hobbies :)
Yes, I'm obligated to my friends and guildmate family; yes I have tasks because I'm a guild officer (and was a GL for a year!) that are not always welcome.
But nope, not ready to pack it in yet (though I have a feeling the next big exodus of guildmembers may be the final straw breaking this camel's back).
Comment Posted by: Armarant on March 17, 2007 06:37 PM
Wolana wrote:It is NOT JUST A GAME! I don't know if WOW folks can say that; I'm willing to bet Vanguard SoH folks will be able to say that. The more interdependent a game makes folks, the more real their connections become.
---
its getting real old when people come down on WoW just because they dont like it. I think WoW fosters relationships more then EQ in the fact that all classes can work together very well in a grouping enviroment there is no special class requirements to just play the game so people who wouldnt group together in EQ can suddenly enjoy each others company in WoW.
as far as Interdependence building connections go there are times for Interdependence and a time for being alone. while I wish to be alone sometimes I also wish to have contact with people who I am friends with thus a MMO while it should foster a group envrioment should also foster a enviroment where you can feel like your able to strech out every once in a while and not group. either that or watch all your customers goto WoW. you know.. whatever works best for you.
Comment Posted by: Sluz Bukit on March 17, 2007 07:10 PM
Amarant, you are really starting to sound like a dyed in the wool WoW fanboi, leaping to the defense of WoW over any tiny inference it might be slightly inferior.
Wolana didn't come down on WoW so much as she said she just plain didn't know, you took it upon yourself to read between the lines there.
I've played WoW, it has it's merits as well as it's bad points but both of those views are subjective, it's the player's personal perception that is the important thing.
I liked WoW, but I liked it as a SOLO game, as a group game, to me, it was weak, not because the game doesn't foster groups, but because the game removes most of the NEED for groups (you can get by just fine without them) wheras EQ actually requires a group, the necessities of the two games are definitely different.
By EQ demanding groups for just about anything that is meaningful you are forced to choose your compatriots, you want to hang around with people you like after all. This has the knock on effect of grouping people together for extended periods of time that like each other, this in turn strengthens those bonds & does, no doubt, create an environment where not just ephemeral, but very solid & real friendships are formed.
Not to say this doesn't happen in WoW, just that in all likeliehood it happens less often, relatively speaking of course.
As far as overheads to social gaming or MMo in general, well I guess if you aren't happy logging in every night you should consider a change of pace once in a while, a bit of variety even in ones hobbies isn't a bad thing.
I have played eq since '99, i took a couple breaks but have always enjoyed the game i see as a hobby & a lifestyle, to me eq is as much about the people in it I am playing alongside each day as the game itself.
I can't say I've had much of this feeling of logging in for the sake of others, I just enjoy the game, maybe you've just gotten jaded.
Comment Posted by: Teremar on March 19, 2007 01:59 PM
What the people who keep posting that "WoW is all about soloing" apparently don't realize is that, while you can level up solo, leveling up in WoW is just not a big deal. Anyone who plays at all seriously gets to the maximum level in fairly short order, and there are no AAs after that. Progression at that point is all about gear, and the opportunities to improve your gear solo are slim indeed.
Pre-expansion, the WoW endgame was frequently described as "raid or quit." The expansion has added a lot of endgame progression for small groups and PvPers. Solo? Not so much.
So saying "WoW is all about soloing" based on the early levels is roughly equivalent to saying "EQ has terrible graphics" based on the fact that the Karanas are ugly. Both demonstrate the fallacy of composition.
Getting back to the topic, I've noticed that if I don't want to play with other people, it's usually because I'm tired. Not falling-asleep exhausted, but enough to make the effort of being social, well, an effort. Recognizing that takes a lot of the guilt out of deciding not to socialize when I don't want to.
Personally I don't use voice chat because my hearing is bad. But I imagine it makes the social aspect that much more intrusive and demanding. True?
Another major factor is that instances, missions, etc. create an implicit contract to stay with the group until the mission is finished. People put a lot of pressure on others to keep that contract. Personally, it's starting to make me pickier about who I make that contract with. If it's getting late and I'm pushing it by joining a group already, if I then notice people in the group with stupid names (I play on a role-playing server) or using a lot of chatspeak (u for you, etc.) I'll sometimes make an excuse and leave before we even get started. I probably miss out on some good groups that way, but if I did it more often I'd avoid a lot more bad ones.
I also heartily agree with Keisa that "essential" classes involve a lot more guilt. Being needed isn't always a good thing.
Comment Posted by: RosesAreRed on April 1, 2007 03:28 PM
Voice vs chat channels. I'm puzzled why anyone would think that typing a message is more "immersive" than using a microphone and earphones.
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