Multiplayer as a dedicated mode in gaming is only growing. Yet, despite all of the “anti-social” gamer stereotypes gaming is an inherently social experience. After all, whether we play single or multiplayer based games here we are in a shared space discussing our time in games rather than spending more time gaming.
Not much is worse than being systemically taken apart in multiplayer by well-played teamwork.
Lately, I’ve come to appreciate multiplayer modes and how multiplayer gives us dedicated gaming time together, with friends and strangers, as well as how multiplayer can be inclusive rather than cater to its winningest veterans.
Clearly, the most recent multiplayer news remains the multiplayer only Titanfall. But Titanfall is only the precursor of multiplayer based titles on the consoles. MOBA’s, MMO’s and more are migrating to the home gaming consoles. Multiplayer is in the living room to stay.
Whoever designed the "Training Pod" rendered that comforter really well. I am sleepy simply looking at it.
Titanfall
In Titanfall the auto-lock on weapons, the Sprint Always On feature, the tactical ability to see other players through walls, playing as a Titan or using my Titan as bait for enemy Pilots, and the list goes on for why I, as a multiplayer noob, am enjoying the multiplayer only game. While I am not the match winner in each game, I am making my way up the levels and am at level 38 out of 50 to reach my first regeneration. A nearly impossible personal accomplishment in other multiplayer games.
Wall running within the safety of the tutorial. I wish for more single player or tutorial type modes to practice wall running.
However, a particular game changer is Titanfall’s tutorial. Multiplayer modes are often alongside a single player mode. Most often, single player has a tutorial whereas multiplayer doesn’t but multiplayer has a different control scheme and purpose than the single player. Titanfall’s tutorial layered its gameplay with first person shooting as only one of many gameplay features. The tutorial included wall running, use of auto lock weapons, controlling Titans, special abilities and using all the features simultaneously.
In actual multiplayer matches, higher level players have different weapons and abilities but entry level players are competitive. Learning how to play and which gear best complements a playstyle is more important than outgunning enemy Pilots.
Interestingly, the Last Titan Standing multiplayer mode is a great arena for fine tuning Titan gameplay. This hallway in the tutorial was the hardest for me.
I was lucky to find a fellow Titanfall Xbox 360 teammate here on Game Informer Online. While I am unable to use a headset for voice communication due to incompatibility with my hearing aids. I enable voice chat via my television’s speakers allowing me to hear other players which makes me feel more like “a part of a team” but I can rarely understand any speech. I could use my Kinect for my own voice but without actual multiplayer friends I haven’t because I am unsure how strangers would react to the complication that I can’t understand other players.
Teamwork during the Epilogue is great fun whether camping the evacuation point or making a mad dash for the evacuation ship.
With only Xbox Live’s text messaging system, I joined a lobby with my new GIO teammate. In the match, even finding each other on the map was difficult. But once found, I would follow my new friend attempting to provide support for the higher skilled player. As I experienced (purposeful) teamplay I found myself wanting to shout “Behind you!” or “Up there behind the railing!” to warn my new friend about unseen enemies. My short epic moments included quickly revenging my teammate’s death when the enemy nonchalantly thought that the threat was eradicated or covering him from behind when an opposing player attempted to land a surprise kill.
I experienced the thrill of working together, even nominally, and communicating as best possible with the Xbox Live’s text messaging system. The appeal of multiplayer teamwork is clear to me now.
Hearthstone deconstructs its cards one feature at a time but trying to explain the game shows its complexity.
Hearthstone
If you haven’t yet played Hearthstone you are likely sick of the new coverage it receives following its availability on a new device. The magic behind the game is truly its tutorial. Players of all types continue discussing the game because even the most “I know nothing about collectible card gaming” players are able to learn and enjoy the game without investing hours into internet research and hundreds of dollars on card packs.
The ensuing battle is no joke but totally winnable.
Hearthstone is a complicated game that the tutorial makes simple. The tutorial deconstructs several layers of simultaneous gameplay into bite sized chunks. The game itself is well-designed but it’s the tutorial that gives players of all experience levels equal access. Use of mana, special card abilities, and a Hero’s power are introduced one at a time but cumulatively until the player is using all of the mechanics simultaneously. In fact, the message before the tutorial’s final match which is a test of the player’s newly learned Hearthstone skills is hilarious, “This fight is totally not fair. Blame the terrible game designers.” The fight is indeed hard but no matter our frustration, as gamers we logically understand that the match is utterly winnable if we use what we just learned in the tutorial.
The tutorial single handily converts the complicated into simple gameplay. Yet, me explaining to non-Hearthstone players why my discovery that playing a card which bestows Taunt on adjacent cards alongside a non-activated stealth card was a revelation is gibberish (this is my new favorite combination).
Communicating with preset text messages allows for limited conversations but not for verbal harassment.
At the same time, Hearthstone rigidly controls how players communicate. Competitive multiplayer brings out the anger is the calmest of us. Losing a close match or having a Legendary card nullified is rage inducing and we are prone to inappropriately verbally lashing out in the anonymity of the internet. Hearthstone provides six preset text messages that players can use during matches. Players can still use the text messages in unexpected communications such as clicking “Well Played” sarcastically after an opponent’s poor move. At the same time, players can still mute the opposing player if a player is spamming the text messaging.
While the absence of a more open chat leads to players asking for the feature. All players don’t default to voice chat. Given ongoing complaints of verbal abuse in competitive multiplayer, players’ tendency towards muting other players appear to be growing suggests that gamers will participate in multiplayer that strictly defines how players communicate.
A multifaceted game distilled into piecemeal chunks for a better understanding of the game.
Injustice: Gods Among Us
Fighting games have an advantage regarding introducing players to gameplay and player interaction. Fighting games are based on fighting combinations that are committed to muscle memory and smartly executed against quick moving real world opponents.
NetherRealm Studios is particularly adroit in Injustice: Gods Among Us with providing a tutorial that introduces basic strategies and gaming mechanics while showcasing that each character has unique fighting styles. A fast moving match is broken into its individual components. Players overwhelmed by the options can skip difficult lessons and focus on preferred moves in order to build their personalized fighting skillset.
FIGHT! Winning against other players is a completely different beast given the breadth of options.
Practice mode, Story mode, and the S.T.A.R Missions provides non-competitive multiplayer opportunities to learn and practice with all of the fighters’ specialized combinations. In fact, Hearthstone’s recent announcement of a single player mode is indicative of players’ widespread requests for a single player mode within competitive multiplayer based games that comfortably allows for a learning curve without putting the player’s rank at risk.
All too often I have jumped over from a cherished game’s single player unknowingly into multiplayer modes that are disconnected from the single player experience. Mass Effect 3’s co-op multiplayer, while enjoyable, was utterly removed from my preferred playstyle of maximizing use of pausing the fight with the combat wheel. Or the recent Tomb Raider’s single player was turned into shoot-em-up maps for a game that heavily combined the third person shooter with platforming.
A good tutorial that makes the player feel accomplished is the secret to player longevity and word of mouth buzz.
The new wave of multiplayer on consoles would do well to recognize that while players clamor for the ability to jump right into the game. Preventing in-game frustrations with a clear and engaging tutorial that makes complex mechanics feel simple is the secret to long term commitment while new games continue to release.
For Injustice: Gods Among Us, player communication is the default voice chat where players can smack talk unfiltered. Yet, not all or most players use that option. Certainly competitive multiplayer can consider allowing all players to choose between a dynamic voice chat or preset text messages.
The mainstays of competitive multiplayer are at a crossroads of change for a next generation of gaming. Maintaining the status quo doesn’t introduce new players and grow the player base. The games that use the transition to reinvent competitive multiplayer bring in new players as we set into the next 10 years of gaming.
Do multiplayer games need a tutorial?
Do any tutorials that you have recently played stand out?
Should multiplayer games have a single player or "versus CPU" option?