Online or single-player?

[Synobun]

I was equal parts singleplayer and multiplayer from age 12 to 20. From 20 to 28 I was exclusively singleplayer. Now I'm somewhere around 70% singleplayer, 30% multiplayer. I've been making an explicit effort toward playing with others again. I still occasionally lose it and go back to avoiding multiplayer. From March until last week, I'd been saying no again to every friend who asked to play with me. It's just... easier to not bother.

The multiplayer shift has been enormous. As a teen, I played Call of Duty 2 and 4, San Andreas Multiplayer, G-Mod, Minecraft, and all the Paradox/Civilization games. Especially the latter; I put in over 1300 multiplayer hours across EU4 and CK2, and then a couple hundred with Civ 5. Now that I'm back playing with people, it's been Call of Duty: Warzone, Overwatch, and Hunt: Showdown. None of the Paradox games or Civs. I think I've avoided trying to find people to play with for those games because my tolerance for sitting in a chair for long periods of time is gone. With FPSs, I can stand up and take a break every 15-25 minutes. You can't really do that with a grand strategy game without annoying whoever you're playing with.

 

[Gorbles]

With FPSs, I can stand up and take a break every 15-25 minutes. You can't really do that with a grand strategy game without annoying whoever you're playing with.

Yeah I've found this as well. For me it's partly having kids as well, but working from home is a very sit-down lifestyle and I try to keep moving when I can.

That and they finally brought TF2 into the 64-bit world which solved the massive performance issues I was having on my completely-overspecced-for-Source PC, and it's honestly kinda great as a time capsule. The community hasn't changed (not really a positive haha), but neither has the game. I get the same feeling I got out of it 10 - 15 years ago

 

[Core Imposter]

How many of you were playing computer games when the original Doom was released?

 

[Broken_Erika]

How many of you were playing computer games when the original Doom was released?

Does Hangman count?

 

[EgonSpengler]

How many of you were playing computer games when the original Doom was released?

The first PC game I played was The Oregon Trail in '85, but I never played it more than a few times. I think the first PC game I really played the heck out of was Gunship (1986) by Microprose. The first multiplayer game I played was Warcraft II in '95, but again, not a ton. StarCraft (1998) was the one that got a lot of play with me and my friends.

 

[Gori the Grey]

How many of you were playing computer games when the original Doom was released?

I looked on with envy at those who were.

 

[Gorbles]

How many of you were playing computer games when the original Doom was released?

I've got to ask: why?

The answer's no, but it's a bit of a curveball in the single-player / multiplayer discussion. My parents couldn't afford a computer until I was around 10.

 

[Core Imposter]

Wait, who had a Magnavox Odyssey?

I am just curious about everyone's gaming roots. Sorry to hijack.

Who played Avalon Hill wargames?

 

[Gori the Grey]

Who played Avalon Hill wargames?

I tried. My best friend's older brother owned some. We tried. But the rule books were like 32-pages long. Reading that much was not beyond us, but taking it in so as to imagine how you would strategize within a game was. I'd like to try it again some time. I never see the games around.

 

[Core Imposter]

I tried. My best friend's older brother owned some. We tried. But the rule books were like 32-pages long. Reading that much was not beyond us, but taking it in so as to imagine how you would strategize within a game was. I'd like to try it again some time. I never see the games around.

Yeah. My cousin had a ping pong table in his basement that we took over and set up a game and played every Sunday afternoon after church. Games would last months, mostly till his Dad just wiped them out not understanding the hours we had put in pushing counters around and rolling that die for results. Panzer Blitz was the game that got played the most. I still have maybe close to 20 titles here on a shelf. Oddly I haven't gotten into the computerized versions of these games much.

 

[Kyriakos]

I have played a computer adaptation of Avalon Hill's Civilization.

But back then I was using XP, and the game was infamously bugged.

 

[Core Imposter]

That one I never had for sure.

 

[GenMarshall]

The only multiplayer games that I've played so far recently are Overwatch II, WoW, and Helldivers 2 (I used to play TF2 years ago).

Single player games, I've mostly stuck with pre-2015 titles (Few exceptions include Anno 1800).

 

[Plotinus]

How many of you were playing computer games when the original Doom was released?

I played lots of games before that. Zork (1 & 2), Dragon's Lair (1 & 2), Microdot, War in Middle Earth, Rick Dangerous, Populous (1 & 2), Sim City, Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, Turrican, Midwinter, Golden Axe, Lemmings (1 & 2), Shadow of the Beast, Syndicate, Elite II: Frontier - why, even Civ 1 - all kept me going for many hours. All released before Doom. I'm sure I've forgotten a whole lot more, too!

 

[Narz]

AI getting too tough?

Well mostly I just play chess and dominion online and yes AI is too tough in chess (and too weak in Dominion)

But mostly games are more fun against other humans.

 

[PhroX]

How many of you were playing computer games when the original Doom was released?

I remember being really diasppointed when Doom was released as my PC only had 2Mb of RAM and thus couldn't run it.

 

[Tee Kay]

I played single-player exclusively until very recently. Nowadays I sometimes play Civ5 or AoE2 with friends versus computer. Rarely I play against human opponents and only among friends.

Like Plotinus, I play games mainly to get away from other humans. It took a lot of trustbuilding effort on the part of my partner in particular (who's an avid multiplayer gamer) to get me to dip my toes into playing with friends sometimes.

 

[amadeus]

yo fab I’mma all up in that sizzingle player mode ykno’msayin’ cuz homies ain’t down with the classics kno’mean rite

 

[Birdjaguar]

I played a lot of Steve Moraff's games in the late 80s until Civ came out.

Who played Avalon Hill wargames?

You mean the board games? If so, I had them all beginning with the original Gettysburg and Tactics II. On a computer i played the SSI wargames and the TalonSoft Battleground series. I was a consultant and playtester on their Borodino game Napoleon in Russia.

 

[Core Imposter]

I played a lot of Steve Moraff's games in the late 80s until Civ came out.

You mean the board games? If so, I had them all beginning with the original Gettysburg and Tactics II. On a computer i played the SSI wargames and the TalonSoft Battleground series. I was a consultant and playtester on their Borodino game Napoleon in Russia.

Yeah, makes sense as you are little bit older than me. I missed out on the earliest titles. And you are from a couple hours from where I was born. Almost like we could have been friends. Yeah, nah.