Posted at 14:24 by Joe Martin with 51 comments
Those of you who listened to last week’s Gaming Podcast will know that, between the filthy jokes and my off-mike laughing fit, we talked about our lunchtime gaming habits – specifically COD4. We play every lunch time and occasionally after work too, with ‘we’ being most bit-tech, ComputerShopper and Micromart staff.
In the wake of our most recent after-work game an interesting dilemma presented itself though and we schedule our next big match for November 10th. The day that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 goes on sale. Thus is was asked; do we carry on playing COD4 for the time being, or do we switch over to the sequel?
Strangely enough, only two people said that they wanted to switch to the new game. Many reasons were given – shortage of funds, can’t be bothered to install, PCs that won’t run it, etc. My own reason however was simply that I wasn’t ready to leave COD4 just yet and don’t feel I’ve got everything I can out of it.
I prefer the rocket launcher, personally
You see, nearly everyone who plays in our lunchtime matches has unlocked every weapon and perk and mastered every level. They’ve been playing the game since release and they all take their profiles home and play with them there too, racking up more kills. I don’t do that – I played the game for a bit after my review, then I left it alone for ages. I’ve only returned to it in the past few months and still haven’t progressed far enough to unlock the P90, even.
That’s just me though and, judging from the tactical discussions and rages that go on, I’m one of only a handful of players in our group that actually play COD4 just for the fun of it. I like the RPG side of things and unlocking the next weapons, but I’m not actually bothered about winning or losing or completing challenges. Instead, I just enjoy playing multiplayer in the best possible setting – a LAN. You can tell I don’t take it all that seriously by the fact that my favoured weapon is the rocket launcher, with which I’ve scored some fantastic kills.
Jedi Knight multiplayer lightsaber battles are still amazing
I’m not saying my way of playing is better obviously – not considering how much enjoyment Harry (who did vote for the switch) gets out of the game and establishing tactics and rivalries (though Harry could get enjoyment from anything, I think). It’s just my attitude to the game and why I’m not ready to leave it yet. I’m still having fun.
It gets me wondering though – why do people leave multiplayer games, considering there isn’t really a proper ending? I’m not a big multiplayer usually, so this is a tad new to me, but what makes someone finally want to throw in their Level 50 Rogue in WoW or makes them move from Left 4 Dead to Left 4 Dead 2. I know people who never move on from some games and who still play Jedi Knight or Outlaws religiously, so what sets them apart from the ones who do move on?
Let me know your thoughts and reasonings in the comments below.
In the wake of our most recent after-work game an interesting dilemma presented itself though and we schedule our next big match for November 10th. The day that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 goes on sale. Thus is was asked; do we carry on playing COD4 for the time being, or do we switch over to the sequel?
Strangely enough, only two people said that they wanted to switch to the new game. Many reasons were given – shortage of funds, can’t be bothered to install, PCs that won’t run it, etc. My own reason however was simply that I wasn’t ready to leave COD4 just yet and don’t feel I’ve got everything I can out of it.
I prefer the rocket launcher, personally
You see, nearly everyone who plays in our lunchtime matches has unlocked every weapon and perk and mastered every level. They’ve been playing the game since release and they all take their profiles home and play with them there too, racking up more kills. I don’t do that – I played the game for a bit after my review, then I left it alone for ages. I’ve only returned to it in the past few months and still haven’t progressed far enough to unlock the P90, even.
That’s just me though and, judging from the tactical discussions and rages that go on, I’m one of only a handful of players in our group that actually play COD4 just for the fun of it. I like the RPG side of things and unlocking the next weapons, but I’m not actually bothered about winning or losing or completing challenges. Instead, I just enjoy playing multiplayer in the best possible setting – a LAN. You can tell I don’t take it all that seriously by the fact that my favoured weapon is the rocket launcher, with which I’ve scored some fantastic kills.
Jedi Knight multiplayer lightsaber battles are still amazing
I’m not saying my way of playing is better obviously – not considering how much enjoyment Harry (who did vote for the switch) gets out of the game and establishing tactics and rivalries (though Harry could get enjoyment from anything, I think). It’s just my attitude to the game and why I’m not ready to leave it yet. I’m still having fun.
It gets me wondering though – why do people leave multiplayer games, considering there isn’t really a proper ending? I’m not a big multiplayer usually, so this is a tad new to me, but what makes someone finally want to throw in their Level 50 Rogue in WoW or makes them move from Left 4 Dead to Left 4 Dead 2. I know people who never move on from some games and who still play Jedi Knight or Outlaws religiously, so what sets them apart from the ones who do move on?
Let me know your thoughts and reasonings in the comments below.
Comments (51)
Discuss in the forumsThat being said, the reason I stayed for so long in the first place was community and online friends. I suspect this is the case for a lot of multiplayers out there. No point shifting over to a new game if all the people you enjoy playing with are sticking around on another one!
Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies.
In both games they have changed drastically from when they were launched, not just the content wise but actual gameplay wise.
In general the "dumbing" down is what puts me off most MMO's in the long run. They start off a challenge and require teamwork and some thought to be good at, then the whining masses come in and everything gets ten times easier so old man joe can do it by himself.
Currently playing eve online and hoping to hell they dont go the same way as everyone else
halo 3 multiplayer is the only one i really good back to now and again, main because there match making system is damn good and even if i having picked it up in 3 months, i can jump right in and after about 5 games it feels like i never left :)
:|
I return to them every once in a while when I have a spare couple of hours (which isn't that often, admittedly) and play whichever one I fancy.
If anything, Life stops me playing :'(
Too much a spray+pray cannon tbh... Ruins hardcore mode half the time... :(
That and a 12 year old kid yelling into his microphone that there is a damn bee in his room!
Really. I played almost all MP games for months and then suddenly stop just because I start to like this new awesome game.
But the people you play with also make a big difference. If half your guild leaves, the game can die for you even if there's still more to do in the game.
Other games require you to be team player for some rewards, and i dont' have time to meet people and ask for help. I am there to play the game becuase i like the game play and not to be a social bee.
Computer or Peer player, your all going to get a head shot which is the fun part of the game, not being buddy buddy with Sally or Sid...
The first reason was one by one the people i played online with for years started to not turn up for matches and lost interest in the clan and gaming in general. The second reason was the increase in people using hacks and dodgy settings.
I've pre-ordered operation flashpoint 2 to see if i can get back into some team based action. I'm hoping a few of the guys i do sim racing with over at gamers-crib will join me :)
Same thing happened when I stopped playing that and moved on to WoW, which is the game that broke the trend. I eventually left that due to boredom and the ridiculous amount of free time it drained.
I like this video interview with the content designer.. he's got those mmo eyes rofl
GWkbUx5dhdM
what makes you quit.. if you start off liking a game- especially a mmo, nerfs making the game easier is a big problem.. saddle poppers always get their way in numbers and have ruined some pretty great open pk mmo games
that's the problem going forward.. games will get so easy, who will care anymore but the masses of cookie monsters
you used to be able to really set yourself apart from that pack of mustard faces.. I don't mind grind really in mmo's, see it like a challenge to find ways/areas to level up in the most efficient amount of time- most of the time that's not easy and the squeelers who live by the wiki of course call you a liar- but it's much more satisfying knowing you are one of the only people who can do it
without that ability to set yourself apart.. even in fps games- the difference between a good player and a elite player should be so far apart it makes the good player look like he's sitting on a saddle that's sitting on a tony hawk skateboard.. halo comes to mind as a pure saddle popping fps- and practically all mmo's out today have been degraded.. can't speak for aion haven't tried it yet and it's getting good feedback :(
@Thread main topic
Ahem, let me start by saying what attracts me in the first place. Hardcore, complex dynamics that afford the players the ability to compete in a manner that can be said to have counterparts in RL due to the "game's" demand for one to use RL tactics or develop tactics that would be real if the fictional universe existed (EVE, Jedi Knight, Starfleet Command series).
In addition I find the need to have a way to compete, usually a league or ladder (in a normal non subscription game). In MMOs there are two ways this is achieved levels (which i find artificial) or conquered territory, as in the case of the Emperor of all MMOs, EVE Online.
I left the Starfleet Command games when they no longer had viable leagues (where I was always in the top 5). The mass exodus from SWG is well documented, because the devs did not respect the desires of the player base. If a game is nerfed or modified beyond all recognition that would also cause me to leave (there needs to be a recognition that balancing and patching should not be a cause for you to whine and leave, adapt or die!)
I consider myself to be a very hardcore gamer, if you have perused my comments in the hardware section I have no problem spending thousands of euros per year to have the best equipment.
But dear Reader, elite equipment does not make a great warrior (though sub-par equipment will preclude you from attaining the rarefied heights).
It is the killing, competitive, willing to train hours a day HEART that makes the Elite PC Gamer, so in conclusion when a game does not reward, or even better, engender these values I will take my Romulan excellence elsewhere...
Yours in Laughing Murder Plasma,
Star*Dagger
An increasingly common statement overheard in EVE.
"There is no RL, just extended AFK"
and
"You need to get your priorities straight young man, Gaming first then other silly things like RL!"
Yours in Humorous but True Plasma,
Star*Dagger
As for Battlefield 2 and others like it, I tend to leave them alone now because I don't have the committment or the ping to keep up with the 12-year olds who do nothing else.
the only 2 games i really played online were tribes & tribes 2 ... there were a couple of reasons that i quit playing ...
round bout the same time i finished school, and had to start working full time again, most of the regulars on the 2 servers i frequented started playing BF more than tribes. and then T:V came out, and utterly ruint the franchise.
while the T2 servers were still there, patching stopped. and people stopped playing. even when they made Tribes & T2 free, there still were no players, and the popular servers disappeared one by one.
to this day, i still haven't found a game that pulls me in the way T2 did. i was already playing 20-30 hours of tribes a week ... it just got stupid when T2 came out. every moment i wasn't working that my GF wasn't in town, i was playing T2.
now that i think about it - T2 was the only game i ever went out to buy the week it came out.
All I can say is: EVE should have existed when I was all of 14 and playing ELITE... :(
the latter is crap(imo) where most people just "pray & spray", poor rankings(i like the points system in CS rather than a levels in MW, omigod he has lvl32 !!!1).
i forgot to add another reason , i have no RL friends who game online(or at all).
Although, I haven't played cod4 in a while, I would pick it up again because it is still an enjoyable game. I played cod 4 on the 360 because all my RL friends play it on the 360 which requires the gold membership and I don't feel like paying the money for anymore, otherwise i might have never stopped playing.
Maybe if I didn't have to pay to keep playing a game (like SWG, FFIX, WoW, COD4 for the 360 anyways,) I would still be playing a lot of games I stopped playing.
You know it takes a lot for a person's patience to keep playing some games, but it takes a whole new level of patience to keep playing a game and to be paying money for it.
I have a wife+2kids (under 3 yrs old)+mortgage and demanding job that limits the amount of free time that I actually have. I very happy that my employer doesn't restrict my net access and I'm able to keep up with tech stuff here at BT.
Other than that I would only mirror several of the comments already made - most games are just better with friends and when they stop hanging out in vent than it's no fun pubbing. Plus 'all the kids get younger, while I stay the same age' makes it hard to get excited about pwning 13 yr olds in CSS.
My biggest gripe would be with time commitments and how hard it is to find a decent game in L4D. I mean seriously, when was the last time you made it to the final with 3 of you friends in VS? I try and get in every other day with my m8's in vent and it takes us 1,5hrs to find a game that make sit pass the 3rd map because of all the raging that is so commonplace.
Valve still steers the FAIL BOAT on the lack of proper match system in VS.
I'd rather spend time playing single player games then where I have more control of my time.
Personally, I rarely get to play games with people I know: I barely know any PC gamers, and I often keep funny gaming hours (10-10.30 in the evening, some evenings, and Saturday morning). So for me, it's always with randoms, and that means the game has to stay fun even if you aren't enoying it with anyone but yourself. It's essentially a single player game, and like all single player games, it can become samey, so you need new content to keep you interested.
i also have problems with my times online finding my friends as most of the time i only get later in the evening or friday night / saturday morning for any full on sessions
BF2 / America's Army - Used to play these two an awful lot but had to split my time with other online games and something had to give, after not playing for sometime it become increasingly difficult to compete with the higher ranks and more experienced players.
Guildwars - I still go back to this one and haven't truly given it up but having achieved a lot in the game I am left with near constant grinding to achieve anything more, which is a shame as I love the game and even got to know some of the people outside of the game, so only pop on now for the odd hour or so.
For this reason I've never got beyond level 40 in WoW. I've also just started playing Eve and just started to get bored with that too, as I reach personal goals like owning a Battlecruiser and being able to do L3 missions.
See for me, total opposite :D
Constantly playing something lately :)
"get a sentry on that roof before they get up there! ah too late - spy camping up there already. ok next time we need to be first up!"
i eventually quit MP in some games because it ends up being the same thing over and over. thats especially true with cod4.
Hear hear. My friend just quit WoW for similar reasons, and I suspect once I get to raiding Trial of the Crusader (which looks rather boring) I'll quit too.
I can only offer my experience;
1) Time.
Time is a major factor for lots of people, they get into a game only to find their unable to play as much as they like and its like a relationship - over time there is distance created and you forget the things that drew you to it. Sometimes when you come back you find your not as good as you were or the things you liked before dont have the same appeal.
2)
Money. Some games like WOW require monthly subscriptions or more money being invested into it for whatever reason (add-on packs, extra maps etc etc) and people get tired of shelling out money simply for something they dont really want when they are content with what they are doing there and then which inturn suffers at times as other players they gained the most enjoyment with actually decide to get these added extras....which brings me to my next point:
3) People;
The people you play with make a big difference, playing WOW is no fun on your own or many online games for that matter. I play Gears 2 on my own allot but I dont ever feel like im truely enjoying it as much as I use to. The people I use to play with have moved onto other things and it makes me feel like im left behind or clinging onto something when others have moved on. Also its not as enjoyable for some on their own
4)Boredom;
Boredom sets in for everyone at some point - You find your playing a game and you dont know why anymore because you know everything there is to know about it, you have played it through many times and it just doesnt offer the same "wow" factor or "fun" factor anymore.
5) Frustration;
Sometimes people like a game but wont stand the certain elements of the game - intentional or not. I can bring my example of Gears of War 2 into this; Its a great game when its working the way it should but thats a rare thing. The game lags, is inconsistant and I find a shot to the head is hit or miss on whether it will kill someone or not. Such things have caused me frustration and made me drop the pad or quit games simply because I am not willing to stand for that. Everything you can do is right yet the game itself is broken leading to frustration and no chance in hell.
Others may experience this in other ways, COD4's last stand perk I believe or that martydom one where they drop the grenade on death - that really pisses people off and sometimes a game has an element of that which is a huge downer for some people and cause them to quit.
6)Sequels;
As you say sequels may come out which draw the users away onto a fresh challenge and another arena to test their skills in or another chance to excel at another game. It may have the necessary tweaks or changes players wanted and they may feel it is a better game due to this, enough for the switch.
7) Other games;
Other games may come out that simply draw the players attention away and they may become engrossed with them instead and opt to go devote their attention there. I thought command and conquer was great until warcraft 3 came out and then I dropped CnC like a bomb and went with Warcraft 3 as it was a better RTS. Better franchises draw players away.
8)Life:
Life may do this and its probably a big reason. Studies, relationships, social life outside of their bedroom etc. Lots of things can. I know for me since im buying a house, moving positions at my job and having to learn new things, travel by pedal bike allot more this is all having affect on me meaning I have less time as other areas of life keep me more busy and are more important.
The question you ask is like asking how long is a piece of string as theres lots of different individual answers for every person.
hows that?
That said, I am still addicted to COD4, if only because of Airstrike Rape.
gaming is supposed to be a few people playing together for fun, those people clearly see it differently.
and lack of friends to play with me. what's the difference in playing along in a game (be it FPS/RTS, don't play other games online) when the opponent is computer or human? for me, the main difference is the ability to be able to talk to them after a game, over the internet you sure can't do it.
i still play LAN coop games such as L4D or CoDWaW Zombie mode, and CnC3 or Sins of Solar Empire. that's it, rarely game online due to it becomes repetitive and boring when everyone are using exploits.
Just playing with friends on a good RTS or an FPS and being able to chat and just enjoy the time is a great experience.
I'm currently playing EVE, which isn't really an MMO type that I would normally try, but my brother talked me into giving it a go and I'm glad he did. EVE appears to be on the right track to keep me interested for a LONG time - Dominion, Incarna, Dust 514 (with housing!), New Eden... Here's hoping.