Partnering with Player 2
Discovering the joy of multiplayer gaming
As the clock ticks over to 22:00 and eyelids droop, a single thought splits my lips apart.
“Halo?”
Five minutes later, controllers clasped in our hands, my flatmate and I are aboard the Pillar of Autumn, ready for a Legendary adventure. It was awesome.
Though, as I sat there, slaughtering Grunts on Installation 04, I lamented lost years of not scratching an itch I had become accustomed to.
Single-player may not all I believed it to be, and I wish I had found out sooner.
Multiplayer gaming has just not been my forte. Couch co-op doubly so. As a bit of a loner (a ‘Solo player’ or ‘Lone wolf’ if I want to sound cooler) and with no siblings, gaming has almost always been a companionless endeavour for me.
I am the last stand against the Covenant armada, I wielded the Keyblade against the Heartless and my blade is that which sealed the evil Ganondorf. I have also endlessly started and restarted peaceful Minecraft playthroughs too many times to remember, enjoying the relaxing hunt for diamonds.
However, throughout each and every journey, it is I alone who must complete my goal. I am unassisted except for any in-game NPCs input to lend a hand, but other players? None to be seen.
At times, you might find me lurking in a multiplayer lobby, mic-lessly assiting (or hindering) my teammates as best as I can. These experiences are certainly not bad, Overwatch is one of my favourite games of the past few years, but my recent epiphany has enlightened me in the enjoyment to be had.
My Halo endeavour is just one example, well before this Fortnite was my flat’s game of choice.
Battle-royales know how to up the tension, watching as 100 falls to 50, then 10, then 2. The pressure is only exacerbated with friends surrounding you, cheering from the sidelines or providing covering fire as you charge in.
Win or lose, it is easy to perpetually demand “One more game!”, until the clock ticks to 01:00, or maybe 03:00.
Sure, this same combat against sleep can be found in most gaming scenarios, but with friends at your side, the fight is substantially easier to prolong.
I hesitate to follow in EA’s footsteps, writing an obituary for single-player gaming, though I can certainly see their point of view.
There are still cases in which solo gaming can provide time to recharge the social batteries and plenty of brilliant solo stories exist, but so far every multiplayer adventure has been a vastly better experience for me. The Covenant fall faster and the blocky worlds we create emerge more stunningly than those designed on my own.
If you have been like me, avoiding multiplayer for whatever reason you have decide upon, university is a fantastic opportunity to discover gaming with a friend.
Whether it’s Halo or Minecraft or anything else in between, share the time with your friends and flatmates. I only wish I had this discovery before my final year.
