So, I've always been more of a single-player kind of gamer.
This isn't to say I don't like company when I play something. I love same-screen multiplayer games, and I'm a fan of watching other people play - especially horror games. Where I scream and throw the controller away from me in the middle of the intro movie, some of my friends have this sadistic ability to not only keep their character walking in a straight line while being hunted by some monster/ghost/zombie (whereas I simply walk straight into walls and become the most convenient target ever), they can also hold out long enough to see what happens AFTER something like this comes on the screen:
Apparently that image is from Siren: Blood Curse. I can't verify that because there's no fucking way I'm ever going to try this game, especially now.
But watching others play horror games in the moments before I run out of the room is a lot of fun, especially when it becomes something like watching a horror movie with the ability to affect the screen with your psychotic shouts of warning (provided your friend listens to you).
But I am completely off the topic I wanted to talk about.
Ignoring these more immediate multiplayer experiences, I'm more of a lone gamer. Which I've come to realize is like being a lone gunman in a town of mercenaries - no one really needs you, and you're not likely to get a whole lot of attention.
And that's kind of how gaming feels for me right now.
Online gaming is where the gaming community is right now - it's involving and ever-evolving, and I can see why people would prefer a game where they can experience a unique situation (unique in that the players dictate a lot more of what happens than single-player games allow) with their friends that they can later talk about with their other friends together, than the latest RPG or platformer that everyone would have to play individually by themselves in order to talk about.
I'm not saying no one plays single-player games anymore, but the online game gets way more attention. And if you want to really feel like you're a part of the gaming community (which I totally imagine as this amorphous blob of people who talk too much and say very little (...like me)), you have to be involved in the online experience.
Even games that are primarily single-player have been getting in on the online trend, like Metal Gear Online or the multiplayer feature of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
I'm sure there's something deep to say about the state of society and the increased popularity and demand of online games, but I'm not writing an academic paper and I have no credentials in such an area of research, so we'll just leave it at this vague acknowledgment unless one of you few readers wants to discuss some theories further in the comments section (DOUBTFUL. But please do, if you're interested. I would love it.)
Maybe it's just an avoidance of commitment that deters me from really enjoying an online game. I don't like for my hobbies to become obligations, and that's what online gaming feels like when other people come to expect or rely on my regular appearance.
Mostly, though, this whole realization of the importance of online gaming just makes me feel old (I'm not even 25 yet), nostalgic, and like I'm bringing anti-social behavior to a whole new level by not completely joining the MMO-masses.
I will say I do enjoy online gaming to a degree and will partake in it semi-frequently, but it's kind of like waving a white flag. I don't have a whole lot of choice if I want to be able to talk to friends about gaming after 1999. I reference games from before then all too often, as it is.
