Did MP ruin your SP vs AI experience?

[Tanaka]

My dos centavos,

Playing against randoms is, overall, kind of ok.  Most of the random people I've come against in MP games seem to be ok.  There seems to be less jerk-clowns than there was back in the early days of MP gaming.  But I think it's because of the type of games I play against others that dictates this shaky civility. 

Playing against people you know is really fun however.  Even when I get crushed by a friend in a game I'm ok with it because I know the guy who beat me is a nice guy in real life.  Not sure if I'm making sense to anyone.

The only problem I have with playing games with real people online is because, and rather selfishly I must admit, I'd rather play games by myself due to time constraints.  Playing alone for me is one of the few ways I decompress after a stressful workday.  Once I calm down, I'm good for playing against/with other humans.

Oh absolutely the key here is finding people you like playing against and can count on to stay the course. Just playing some Joe Rando that you have no idea how reliable they are or cannot relate to is a bad idea. Look for those you have similarities to and can relate to. Sense of humor, love of strategy games, frequents the forums, etc...

[ArizonaTank]

My dos centavos,

Playing against randoms is, overall, kind of ok.  Most of the random people I've come against in MP games seem to be ok.  There seems to be less jerk-clowns than there was back in the early days of MP gaming.  But I think it's because of the type of games I play against others that dictates this shaky civility. 

Playing against people you know is really fun however.  Even when I get crushed by a friend in a game I'm ok with it because I know the guy who beat me is a nice guy in real life.  Not sure if I'm making sense to anyone.

The only problem I have with playing games with real people online is because, and rather selfishly I must admit, I'd rather play games by myself due to time constraints.  Playing alone for me is one of the few ways I decompress after a stressful workday.  Once I calm down, I'm good for playing against/with other humans.

Oh absolutely the key here is finding people you like playing against and can count on to stay the course. Just playing some Joe Rando that you have no idea how reliable they are or cannot relate to is a bad idea. Look for those you have similarities to and can relate to. Sense of humor, love of strategy games, frequents the forums, etc...

+1 Reliability is really critical...particularly for long games. It sucks to put a bunch of effort into playing a game over several months, only to have your opponent ghost you at the end.

I also agree that it is better to play someone you know at least somewhat personally. 

[Gusington]

Being alone and playing is a huge +1 for me too.

[Wburn]

What really bothers me is playing a solitaire game such as World in Flames and my opponent beats me. :-\
Usually I do prefer multiplayer using the Matrixgames PBEM++ since it relieves me of downloading and moving a file to a save folder.

[Skoop]

Don't forget PvE can be really fun.  You'll see this in DCS, half the servers are PVE.  Can be really fun teaming up with your bros in F16s and accomplishing missions against AI.  Or steel division campaign where your friends can help you fight the battle against AI.
It's a little of best of both worlds.

[FarAway Sooner]

I love playing MP in co-op games.  Part of that is because my schedule is crazy erratic, so I can only count on close friends (with an interesting in gaming) to tolerate my starts and stops.

Mostly, though, I play SP.  I play more PC games co-op in a PvE mode than I do MP against other humans.

[Tanaka]

What really bothers me is playing a solitaire game such as World in Flames and my opponent beats me. :-\
Usually I do prefer multiplayer using the Matrixgames PBEM++ since it relieves me of downloading and moving a file to a save folder.

Vs ths AI? I thought WIF had no AI?

[W8taminute]

What really bothers me is playing a solitaire game such as World in Flames and my opponent beats me. :-\
Usually I do prefer multiplayer using the Matrixgames PBEM++ since it relieves me of downloading and moving a file to a save folder.

Vs ths AI? I thought WIF had no AI?

LOL!

I think Wburn was making a joke there.  Implying that he gets bothered when he beats himself.  (there is no ai in WIF so he plays both sides)   ;D

[-budd-]

Briefly MP ruined my SP experience. Started playing pbem for the first time around 3 years ago or so. Hit it hard and heavy, had as much as 7 different games playing pbem. Pretty much had given up SP for that period. Lasted about 6 months for me before i burned out. All my opponents were good, respectful, considerate players. Now i'm about 70% SP and 20% MP, the other 10%, which is a surprise to me is hotseat. Never thought i'd enjoy hotseat, but i just do a turn a day in hotseat mode, and i'll be damned if i don't forget the what and where of the other side. I still play pbem, i have just one like minded opponent these days. We both like to play a lot of different games, we're pretty relaxed about it and we're not min/max players. I think the most important parts of finding someone to pbem with is your like minded about games and roughly the same skill level, we play for fun. We currently have 4 games going, Decisive Campaigns Ardennes, World at War Bull Run scenario, Shadow Empire, and Shenandoah Studio's Battle of the Bulge. I'm an average player so most times the AI is fine for me. As far as games are concerned i'm a jack of all trades, master of none.

[Tanaka]

What really bothers me is playing a solitaire game such as World in Flames and my opponent beats me. :-\
Usually I do prefer multiplayer using the Matrixgames PBEM++ since it relieves me of downloading and moving a file to a save folder.

Vs ths AI? I thought WIF had no AI?

LOL!

I think Wburn was making a joke there.  Implying that he gets bothered when he beats himself.  (there is no ai in WIF so he plays both sides)   ;D

Haha gotcha!  ;D

[Tanaka]

Don't forget PvE can be really fun.  You'll see this in DCS, half the servers are PVE.  Can be really fun teaming up with your bros in F16s and accomplishing missions against AI.  Or steel division campaign where your friends can help you fight the battle against AI.
It's a little of best of both worlds.

Yeah I 've always wanted to try this. Are there any turn based strategy games that are PvE? Don't really enjoy real time games...

[Tanaka]

Briefly MP ruined my SP experience. Started playing pbem for the first time around 3 years ago or so. Hit it hard and heavy, had as much as 7 different games playing pbem. Pretty much had given up SP for that period. Lasted about 6 months for me before i burned out. All my opponents were good, respectful, considerate players. Now i'm about 70% SP and 20% MP, the other 10%, which is a surprise to me is hotseat. Never thought i'd enjoy hotseat, but i just do a turn a day in hotseat mode, and i'll be damned if i don't forget the what and where of the other side. I still play pbem, i have just one like minded opponent these days. We both like to play a lot of different games, we're pretty relaxed about it and we're not min/max players. I think the most important parts of finding someone to pbem with is your like minded about games and roughly the same skill level, we play for fun. We currently have 4 games going, Decisive Campaigns Ardennes, World at War Bull Run scenario, Shadow Empire, and Shenandoah Studio's Battle of the Bulge. I'm an average player so most times the AI is fine for me. As far as games are concerned i'm a jack of all trades, master of none.

Yeah I guess I am in that period. Never tried hotseat. Agreed sounds like the same type of player I am. I want to get DCA when it goes on sale. How do you like it so far?

Never heard of WAWBullRun? Have Shadow Empire but just cannot get into it...I guess that would be a PvE turn based game!

[Father Ted]

For me it depends on the type of game.  A FPS or combat flight sim holds no interest for me if it's not PvP.  This is not because I'm any good at these sorts of games.  It's because I generally play games of that type to try to create a feeling of being there and bots' behaviour always detracts from that.  It's also quite a social thing for me.  The games I play generally have quite a low player-count, and we know that to keep the fun coming we need people to hang about, so the communities are invariably friendly.

On the other hand I'm quite happy playing any wargame against the AI. I'm probably not a good enough player to have my experience ruined by AI that sucks, so there's no drive to seek out real opponents. I've briefly tried PBEM, but found the lack of immediacy of turn-taking off-putting.  I'll have to find a  strategy/tactical game that works "live" I think to enjoy PvP.

[W8taminute]

What really bothers me is playing a solitaire game such as World in Flames and my opponent beats me. :-\
Usually I do prefer multiplayer using the Matrixgames PBEM++ since it relieves me of downloading and moving a file to a save folder.

Vs ths AI? I thought WIF had no AI?

I think Wburn was making a joke there.  Implying that he gets bothered when he beats himself.  (there is no ai in WIF so he plays both sides)   ;D

Haha gotcha!  ;D

You sneaky rascal you!  Haha!! ;D
Nice one!
LOL!

[W8taminute]

I love playing hotseat by myself.